October at Tiger Cub Immersion School was filled with fun explorations of our community. Our theme of the month was “Community Helpers,” and we learned a lot about what different members of our community do, as well as how we can contribute to our neighborhood.
We explored the roles of various community helpers through a variety of books and hands-on activities. Stories such as "What Does A Teacher Do?", "A Day in the Life of a Moose Firefighter", and “I Have a White Coat” introduced students to the roles and responsibilities of teachers, firefighters, and doctors and nurse, knowledge which the students applied in their dramatic play as they pretended to put out fires and care for patients. Hands-on activities like creating uniform flip books and collaborating on a neighborhood map helped to further students’ awareness and understanding of not only the neighborhood around us, but also how our community helpers interact with and contribute to our daily lives. We also took the opportunity to discuss ways in which we can help to make our community better, such as taking care of plants, cleaning up litter, and donating toys and clothes.
In addition to learning about our community, students also worked hard on their language skills. We added many new Chinese characters to our repertoire this month, including 果 (fruit), 面 (flour), 水 (water), 木 (wood), and 冰 (ice) from the book “Going to the Supermarket” and 大 (big), 小 (small), 鸟 (bird), 兔 (rabbit), 狗 (dog), and 家 (home) from the fun story “Animals’ Homes.” On top of learning to read and write these characters, students also practiced using them to complete sentences of various forms, such as describing which items they have bought and identifying which animal’s homes they see.
In our math classes this month, we explored a variety of two- and three-dimensional shapes, as well as how the two are related. Students learned to identify circles, squares, and triangles, as well as cylinders, cones, pyramids, and prisms, and they also practiced folding two-dimensional nets into three-dimensional solids. Additionally, students also practiced measuring lengths of objects and making patterns, among other topics.
Beyond the academics, October was also a month of festivities, with both the traditional Double-Ninth Festival and the spooky night of Halloween both taking place this month. Celebrating the Double-Ninth festival, students made their own Double Ninth “cakes” with gelatin, chrysanthemums, goji berries, and raisins, and painted artwork featuring symbolic plants like dogwood, chrysanthemums, and peaches. Towards the end of the month, students worked on making Halloween decorations, from painting their own miniature pumpkins to collaborating on a jack o’lantern, and on the last day of the month, we held our annual Halloween celebration, featuring a parade and trick-or-treating on our playground.
Looking ahead to November, students will begin exploring a new topic: “Autumn.” We look forward to seeing how much the students will learn and grow next month. Come back for more updates!
Students in the Preschool class learned about the role and responsibilities of a teacher through a short book called “What Does A Teacher Do?”, which they colored and assembled themselves.
Students first decorated their ambulances and nurse hats using colored cray-pas before cutting them out and assembling them into final products. They also engaged in dramatic play using these props, pretending to care for their patients.
Students colored and cut out pictures of many different community helper roles and created a flipbook for mixing and matching different parts of their uniforms.
Students collaborated in designing the map of their ideal neighborhood.
Students practiced writing the characters 大 (big), 小 (small), and 鸟 (bird) that they learned from the story “Animals’ Homes.”
Students carefully cut out the net of a square pyramid and then folded along the edges to form the final three-dimensional solid.
In celebration of the Double Ninth Festival, students made chrysanthemum jelly cakes with goji berries and raisins, which they brought home to enjoy with their families.
Students made leaf imprints and painted a bouquet of chrysanthemums using conventional painting tools as well as their fingers.
Students in each classroom collaborated in carving a large pumpkin and sculpting a face to create a jack o’lantern.
Students dressed up in costumes and participated in our annual Halloween Parade, followed by a trick-or-treating party on the playground.
