A Busy Week!

Wow, is it Friday already? We have had so much fun and learning this week!


Chinese
We started our Mandarin Chinese lessons with the book Almond Cookies and Dragon Well Tea. Then we continued with a short section of the Muzzy DVDs. Our words this week are po po for grandmother and gong gong for grandfather, ni hao for hello. Later in the week we made almond cookies from scratch and I heard they were very, very good!


Science
On Monday we started our plant journals. I asked the girls to observe what they saw and draw a picture that looked as real as possible. We will revisit the plant each Monday to observe the changes. Hopefully, we will soon be able to tell what kind of plant it is!

Katie and Tabrezia working on their plant journals.

We went to the farmer's market on Tuesday and had a lot of fun. There was a lady selling live sea urchins for uni. None of the girls wanted a free sample. Then we got to sample some dates and coconut pancakes. A man was selling fresh mango fruit cups and we had to get one because they looked so yummy! After spending some time listening to two men play the blues, we bought a very small watermelon and headed home.

Our week ended with a trip the the Birch Aquarium. We saw a lot of different types of fish, sharks, jellyfish and sea stars. There were even scientists feeding the giant lobster in the tide pool!

Music and Movement
Wednesday was ballet and jazz. The girls were excited and really had a blast! During the rest of the week I played songs for them on the piano as they sang along and danced. Due to the cooler weather, we were able to spend more time outdoors. The kids got to ride bikes and a scooter. I worked with them on their bounce passes and we practiced catching the ball as well. In October we will be starting our piano lessons!

Math and Science
We made almond cookies this week for cooking and math. The girls helped me count out 32 tablespoons of flour, divide the dough, roll each piece into a ball, and practiced one-to-one correspondence by placing an almond on each one. We also talked about hot and cold while drinking our dragon well tea from China, liquids and solids, and sweet versus salty tastes.

Samah brushing egg on the tops of her almond cookies.

Katie, Tabrezia, and Samah waiting patiently for the cookies to bake.

Language Arts
One of the best ways for children to build a good vocabulary and improve their grammar is to use language. When they hear good examples of it and have words introduced to them in a way they can relate to, it is more readily absorbed. Two of the best ways of doing this is through dramatic play and listening to stories. Well, at Polka Dot Academy we read a lot of stories! The children also get ample time for dramatic play. This week's play scenarios included riding in an airplane and going for a stay in a hotel. New words were also introduced during cooking and while at the aquarium. The more often they hear new words, the more likely they will become part of their working vocabulary.

This concludes another exciting week! Have a great weekend! I can't wait to see what next week will bring!