This week we started Zhong Ban. Zhong is middle and ban is class. So we started a three year  old class! So as of this week we have:
Oak Tree Class: (4-5)
Candy
Mike
Joe
Sam
Becca
Steve
Joy
Kyle
Belle
Tim
Apple Tree Class: ( 3 )
Bill
Annie
Lily
Tommy
Emily
Go go
Yawny
Ben
Matt
Noah
Jon
Abby
Rosie
Grape Vine Class: ( 2 )
Bobby
Sky
Bob
Chuck
Hank
Adam
Seth
Mary
Danny
Jim

You Can look at the class Names above to see more information about each of the students! And pictures of each child!

Because the students are now broken into small groups according to their age, it's very very good! The five year old class is now working on sentances! And they are doing well! We have been working on , "How many balloons?" And they answer, "There are ___ Balloons!" I asked them how many bears and they even got good enough to say, "There are five red bears and three yellow bears" They are really doing excellent.

The middle class has been reviewing things that they learned when they weren't split up, because the class was going a bit too quickly for them so we want to make sure that they are at the level they should be. So we have been reviewing colors, animals, body parts, numbers, family, directions, and a few other vocabulary words.

And who ever said two year olds couldn't learn a second language? Well the chinese seem to think they don't need to teach two year olds, but my two year olds are doing very well. They are learning to count to ten. And they can recognize and say, red, yellow, blue and green. And they can sing many songs. They know the "Good Morning Song". With hands motions for each phrase. They know "If you're Happy...", "Rock Around the Mulberry Bush", "Goodbye Song", "The Color Song", and "Ten Little Indians".
They are beginning to recognize and say dog and cat! We do alot of TPR. Which is I say the word and they recognize and point to the word instead of saying the word. Because with two year olds, even in their mother tongue their listening skills develop quicker. They are using a different part of the brain. So it helps them to learn quickly. Even with the older classes we use a lot of TPR, especially on Monday Morning.

At the moment, our Schedule is:
7:30 Arrive
8:00 Breakfast
9:00 Excersize
9:15 Free Play Outside
10:00 Oak Tree & Apple Tree English Class
10:30 Grape Vine Class
11:00 Oak Tree & Apple Tree Activity Class
11:30 Lunch
12:00 Take a Nap
2:30 Cooking
3:00 Chinese classes
3:30 Free Play Outside
4:30 Supper
5:00 Go Home

Activity Class:
Monday- P.E.
Tuesday- Craft
Wednesday- Song Time
Thursday- Story Time
Friday- T.V.

These are the Songs we Sing:
Good Morning
If you're Happy...
B-I-N-G-O
Rock Around the Mulberry Bush
I'm H-A-P-P-Y
The Wheels on the Bus
Animal Sounds
Sing a Happy Song
Friendship March
Hokey Pokey
The Color Song
10 Little Indians
Father Abraham
This is the way...
Eensey Weensey Spider
I want to eat...
Head and Shouldars, Knees and Toes
Zippety Doo Dah
Do Re Mi
Goodbye Song

Rhymes:
Two Little Feet
Mommy I Love You
Playful Puppy
Mr ZipperBopper
Mr Thumpkin

We do so many activities and games in our classes in order to make them fun! We work on Skills, especially with the two year olds because we want to to pass a certain level in order to enter into the three year old class. We want to make sure they are moving very quickly so that our future English program will imporave and become better. And the children will be able to know alot of English and many sentances by the time they are five years old and ready to graduate from this kindergarten.
Beginning Vocabulary List 初级词汇表 颜色 Red红色
Yellow黄色
Blue蓝色
Green绿色
Purple紫色
Pink橙色
Black黑色
Brown褐色

Animals and Sounds or Motions 动物及叫声、动作 Dog “Woof”狗“汪汪”叫
Cat “Meow”猫“喵喵”叫
Bird “Tweet” 小鸟“啾啾”鸣
Bear “Roar” 黑熊“嗷嗷”吼
Rabbit (wiggles nose) 兔子（动鼻子）
Monkey “Ee-Ee” 猴子“噫噫”叫
Lion “Roar” 狮子“嗷嗷”吼
Giraffe (stretch neck)长颈鹿（伸脖子）
Kangaroo (jumping) 袋鼠（蹦蹦跳）

Fruit & Vegetables 水果和蔬菜 Apple苹果
Banana香蕉
Grapes葡萄
Orange 桔子
Eggplant茄子
Tomato柿子
Potato土豆
Carrot胡萝卜

Family 家人 Mommy妈妈
Daddy爸爸
Baby小宝宝
Brother兄弟
Sister姐妹
House房子

 
Body Parts 身体部分 Eyes眼睛
Ears耳朵
Mouth嘴巴
Nose鼻子
Hands手
Head头
Shoulders肩膀
Knees膝盖
Toes脚趾头

Clothes 衣物 Hat帽子
Shirt衬衫
Pants裤
Socks袜子
Shoes鞋

Directions 动作命令 Sit down坐下
Stand up起立
Turn around转圈
Clap hands拍手
Raise your hand举手
Stomp feet跺脚

Shapes 形状 Circle 圆圈
Heart 心形
Square 正方
Triangle 三角
Star 星形

Numbers 数字 1 – 15 1至15

 
Phrases to Repeat, Reply and Follow 重复、回答及跟读的语句

“Hello”
“Good Morning”
“See you later”
“Put your chairs against the wall”
“Are you Happy?”
“Yes!”
“Time to say Goodbye”
“Goodbye!”
“How are you?”
“I’m fine!”
“Is it fun?”
“Yes!”
“Wash your Hands”
“Bring your Chair”
“What’s your name?”
“My name is…”
“What is this?”
“Are you ready?”
“Yes!”
“Is it the same?”

On June 1st, the Chinese people celebrate Children's Day! Of course a kindergarten will prepare a grand celebration! Usually, the children's parents will be asked to particpate in the celebration. This year, because of the Hand, Foot and Mouth disease the parents are not allowed to visit the kindergarten.
The Hand, Foot and Mouth disease is spreading throughout China. Only young children are able to have this disease. It begins with a fever and cold like symtoms and they develop a rash. In one kindergarten 30+ children died from this disease. So the Chinese government has put a ban on visitors (even parents) going to kindergartens. The government has advised parents to keep the children at home as much as possible and not let them in public. Many kindergartens have been shut down because of the ban. In our area the majority of kindergarten's have been closed because we are near swamp lands. During the summer the threat of this disease is high. We live in an area that not only has many swamps, but also farm land. We have to be extremely careful. And there is always the threat that our kindergarten may be shut down.
 Because of this we wanted to give the children an extra big celebration. Song lao shi asked me to prepare the day's activities. The children love the English program so much, so he wanted to make sure that the children did what they enjoy most.
So we had a carnaval! The teachers spent a full week preparing for this event! We had nine boothes. Each booth we played a different game. We seperated the boothes into two different sections. We had the Inside games and outside games.

Inside Boothes:
#1: Face Painting
#2: T-shirt drawing
#3: Making Pizza
#4: Ring toss
#5: Knock Down

Ouside Boothes:
#6: Spray Painting
#7: Water Sponges
#8: Balloon Games
#9: Water Balloons

Of course you can imagine how happy the children were! They had never seen anything like this! We gave them tickets which were color coded to match the booth. And they went to each booth to complete the task. After each task they were given a prize. The teachers made some of the prizes! We gave them tissue flowers, paper pin wheels, colored t-shirts, stickers, candy, balloon hats, and lots of kisses!
The two year old and the 3,4,and 5 year olds were in seperate groups. This is what the schedule looked like:

Xiao Ban (Olive Branch Class):
9:00- Outside Games
9:30- Bathroom
9:40- Water
9:50- Inside Games
10:20- Extra Time
10:30- Free Play (Bouncy House)
11:00- Sing and Dance
11:20- Break
11:30- Lunch

Da Ban (Oak Tree Class):
9:00- Inside Games
9:45- Bathroom and water break
10:00- Outside Games
10:45- Bathroom
11:00- Sing and Dance
11:30- Lunch

All the fesivities were recorded and will be put on DVD! It was a wonderful time and the Children were so happy! After we were finished with the carnaval we made our way into the lobby of the school (which is often used for big activities because it's a big space) and we stood in a circle and sang some of the children's favorite English songs.

We sang:
Good Morning
Rock Around the Mulberry Bush
If You're Happy and You Know it
Animal Sounds Down on The Farm
The Wheels on The Bus
I'm H-A-P-P-Y
Sing a Happy Song
Zippety Doo Dah
Do Re Mi
B-I-N-G-O

After Singing and Dancing we went to have lunch. The table was covered with Fruit! Apples, cherries, peaches, Watermelon, bananas, and some other Chinese fruits! Then they brought out this beautiful cake! It was four layers and said "Happy Children's Day" in Chinese characters! You can't imagine how beautiful the cakes are in China! And this one was one of the best! Then for lunch we had my favorite; bao zi! Yum Yum! But the children were too interested in the fruit and cake to eat  regular old bao zi!

At the end of the day we gave them candy, and new clothes to wear home!  The children were all smiles! They couldn't be more content or happy!