5th Grade 9/13-9/22 2012

We've done so many things recently. We are done the whole human body section, students will have their first science test on Tuesday. We are lucky like my friend got a deer and I can have the leg in the class to demonstrate muscles, bones, nrevous and circulatory system.

Most of the students were excited and few didn't like it that much. But it was so good to let them see something real and different. It is not a chicken leg, it's a deer leg!!

Everything that we have, this deer has it too. They have been asked to fully wash their hands after they touched it. We had a lot of fun on observing the movement of the joint. They see the real deer tendon and ligament. I was going to brain to head to show the brain but not sure will it be too much or not. Maybe next time.

Students also finished their science project. They did good amd we all like it. They will bring their project to show the higher graders one day and teach them the human body.


                  
You might wonder why there is English on it. Are they supposed to learn and do it in Chinese? Well they actually learned it in Chinese. But as a 5th grader, they will have TCAP for science this year and it is very importatn to let them know all the terms in English as well. My first school was a Chinese Immersion school in Minnesota, one of the very first in the United States. They just won the Top 10 school in Minnesota last year and the Chinese level for students was incredibly high. But even for them, they still need a science teacher to teach them science in English in 5ht grade because those terms are just too hard to won't make sense for them.

                                                        Sorry Shai, I can't post your face.

We had our first field trip too, the Science Museum. We had a staff to teach students more human body lessons. It was fun, they have so many cool supplies to let kids experience the systems. Unfortunatly I was not with my class. I will get the photos as soon as possible.

We slightly change the curriculum this year. We used to have science and social study one by one. But we decided to have all the science first, then the students can have all of them before the TCAP. So we will have science all the way to Chrsitmas. After that we will have social study and maybe 3 weeks science review before the TCAP.

From next week, we will have the earth science. Kids will enojy it.

6th Grade 9/13-9/22 2012

The saddest day so far for me as a teacher. One of the students from 6th grade class left for a new but not so good school because of some personal reason. Having the same group of kids for 2nd year. I don't feel they are just only my students. More than that, I feel like they are my family and my own kids. Especially I had a such a small class, I get to know each them very well. There is no word can describe my feeling. I know the school is still going, kids are still learning and I still need to teach. But I understand I am missing a piece in this class.

I didn't realize how will it feel untill now. I am worried about her, afraid of the students in her new school will be rough to her. I am afraid the teacher will not treat her well and won't take care of her.

I was very very sad when I had to take her name away from the grading/student list. She did very well on all the test and didn't miss one single homework. The only student improved on the TCAP math over 30 points last year.

All I can do is to cross my fingers everyday and wish everything is going to be good for her and she will have a good education in the new school. I deeply wish her future teacher will treat her well and keep all the progress with her. Thanks for letting me to be your teacher for over 1 year and thanks for all the energy and smile you brought us for the past 14 months. You are always one of us, we will always miss you and we wish you the best. Welcome back to visit anytime!!

                                                        Sorry Bay, I can't post your face!!

I hope this won't happen again becasue I don't think I can take it again. I can't take it if I loss any of my kids again. Please not again.

At the mean time, we still need to do what we are supposed to do even we are all sad. They received their second math test and first science test. Everybody did good!! But we still have some old issue, uncareful mistakes. Students so far know everything they need to know but they can't get a good score like the TCAP last year because we made uncareful mistakes. This is gonna be a huge lesson and practice this year.

Overall I am satisfied with them so far. They grew so much from last year. I am proud. Losing a good friend in the class might have some impact to them. I am not sure of the new dynamic but I will hold the class together still.

6th Grade 9/2-9/12 2012

Having the same group of students two years in a row is a very unique experience. I enjoy it a lot, I believe the students too.

We finished the water cycle project and we had two great movie, "The Inconvenient Truth" by the ex vice-president Al Gore, and "The day after tomorrow" for the global warming issue. If you combine the two movies together, you will understand more because there is a strong connection between these two movies. Especially when the first one is kinda boring for the kids and then they can have a real good disaster movie, and all the sudden they realize the theory in the second movie was actually metioned by the first one.

Students did a very good job on the project. Basically for me they all got an A on this one. Different style but full of creativity. It also has everything they should have on it. Very proud of them.

Besides the water cycle and global warming. We also talked about water conservation, which is a very improtant topic. Student know that people around the world do not have enough water or even access for it. But they didn't realize that some people in the US without enough income couldn't pay for water either. The fast and best way to let them understand the pain and frsutration without water is to having them experience it. They need to draw a number for a box to get their "Shower water container". Whatever they got, they can only use that much water for a full shower at home. (Everything is from my house and I hand washed it)

Of course it has different size and our lucky girl Ges had a chance to pick first and she got NO.6, the smallest one. Everyone crossed finger to get No.7, it was a fun process. After that they need to write down a 200 words essay about how did they feel and how can they do to conserve the water. It turned out great, I had many great and deep thoughts.

We are done algebra for math and you know what? All the students passed the algebra test and it was not a easy one. Some students didn't do good on the TCAP last year but I watched them doing math everyday and I know how good they are. This year we will work more on the test aking skill. I to be honest don't like it, but somehow that skill is important for students.

We had Solid Figure and Nets as our topic for the past two weeks. Student kept drawing nets, cutting nets for fold it to a solid, and draw 3D structure for things like cube, cuboid, triangle prism and cylinder. After that they need to label how many faces on each different solid.  It was an everday practicing process and it is a good way to let them practice having patient. They were tired of doing it but they all got it in the end.

We actually used those cubes with labeled numbers as the dices to do a traditional Chinese fun gambling. People usally do that during the Chinese New Year. Like myself and my family. Students promised me that they won't gamble with money first then we started it. They use their free outside time as a bet. They win they get more time on that day, they lose and the time will decrease. I ONLY won one time out of 11 students. They were all happy and I was happy too, if they understand everything they learned, what is wrong to let them have more fun and more free time as a break?

5th Grade 9/2-9/12 2012

We were learning about the human body for the past two weeks. My 5th graders were very engaged and I was happy to see it. We had respiratory, circulatory system and digestive system lab.

Students took turns to be a little doctor with the stethoscpoe to learn how does a normal breathing sounds look like. It is hard for them because they didn't have any experiences before. But all the students can find it and hear it after the practice, some said it sounds creepy, some said it is weird and some even siad it is scary. But they all had fun and they do know how hard to be a doctor to help others.

We also had a digestive system lab. We put different items such as real prairie dogs bones, egg shells, gum and muffin into Coca-Cola and real human body enzyme solution. They also have questions about what's gonna happen if we drink too much coke, or swallow a gum. They best way for them is to show them. We only keep the reactions for a week becasue that is enough. Students saw the change on different items that they usally eat or drink. Also they saw the impact too.

                                                                    after one week

For math, we did a little shopping in the class. Students need to make their money and purchase the thing they would like to buy from me. Then they need to sell it to make a profit. The reason for having this activity is because students was not sure what does profit mean in their math question. Such as Mr. Yao paid 2 dollars to buy a cake and sold it wtih 4 dollars. I am supposed to earn 2 dollars since I paid 2 for that. But they think I should earn 4, because I sold it with 4 dollars. We talked about this idea during the game, how to save the money and how to make the biggest profit, either you earned the most cash or buy the highest value product. I am glad they all got it. It is a very important lesson for all the students, they need to know how to save money without spending it easily.

They received their Chinese name on Sep 1st. I spend a month to observe each student and I choose the best character that eitehr fits their personality or my expectation for them. They used to only have their Chinese nick name, such as 小麗。 But from now on, they have real Chinese last name and a first name. Please do make sure to ask your child what does it mean.

Time passed fast. It is mid september already. I will keep helping students to have the best education.