K2's Termly Overview
Term 1
Children get to learn about the different pets that they can have and how people take care of them. They will also learn the difference in each pet's living condition and create the houses that these animals live in! They will experience hands on activities and why every pet has different characteristics. At the end of the term, we want children to be filled with empathy and love for animals everywhere they see.
Term 2
Children are always excited when it comes to seeing different vehicles on the road. This term, they get to learn the different parts of a vehicle. For example, cars have 4 wheels and wipers. Motorcycles have 2 wheels. They will learn additionally about road safety and what are the safety signs that they should know and follow through to keep each other safe. This helps gain their moral values and safety especially when crossing the road. They get to understand what are the DOs and DON'Ts when they are facing roads and traffic lights.
Term 3
Diversity is something that children are still new to. Introducing children to various cultural food is easy but making them is what will excite and tap on their learning and interests. Children are cultivated to learn how to make dishes from a variety of cuisine and races. They also get to showcase a mini performance based on Malay, Indian and Chinese dance to understand more and appreciate the different races and culture in Singapore.
Term 4
The last term is a very funfilled experimental journey where children learn how to plant various succulents and simultaneously learn how to help make the environment cleaner and greener through these plants. They get to observe and make predictions what will happen to the plant and the changes they see. These helps children nurture their intellectual curiousity.
Fun with Patterns on a Train!
The Kindergarten 2 Rainy class are always so excited about patterns thus this week's activity is all about making patterns while simultaneously creating a train out of it! They will be using various coloured rectangular papers and have fun pasting the patterns with glue. This week's lesson is all about 'ABB' pattern.
Rationale:
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Children have very strong interests towards a variety of transportation but mostly trains. They share how they love travelling by train and that their favourite shows are "Chuggington" and "Mighty Express"
Diving into their interests and turning it into a fun filled numeracy activity motivates the children to learn about patterns in an exciting and positive way! Children will be provided with glue, coloured rectangular papers as well as black circular papers to paste their wheels!
Lesson Objectives:
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1. Children to predict what comes next in a pattern
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2. Children will be able to create an 'ABB' pattern
Listening
What is listening:
"Listening can be understood as more than just a tool or ·instrument: it can also he understood as
an ethic, a way of being that permeates all practice and relationships" (MacNaughton & Williams, 2009)
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Why listening?
Children are able to understand better when they listen. As time goes by, they will be able to strengthen their communication skills and retain information better.
The more they listen, the better their vovabulary, grammar and reading ability will be. (Johnson, 2020)
How did i use it?
I recapped with children the pattern that they learnt in their previous lesson and guided them what pattern comes next clearly and precise. Listening comes in when
they are asked to volunteer and form the pattern on the board themselves. This challenges them to think back and observe whether they were listening.
Questioning
What is questioning:
"Questioning is done to check for children's understanding, recall or get the child to think critically." (MacNaughton & Williams, 2009)
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Why questioning?
Questioning helps with clarification and understanding of children's learning. It also helps children to remember something better as well as top stimulate their
minds into thinking of something critically.
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How did I use it?
During the tuning in, I pasted the patterns and constantly provided them with various questions such as "What do you think comes next?" "How do you know this is the right one?"
This helps stimulate their thinking and understanding of the topic in a more advanced and challenging way.
Scaffolding
What is scaffolding:
"Scaffolding is the process of providing temporary guidance and support to children. The guidance may be verbal or non-verbal." (Vandermaas-Peeler, Way and Umplebv, 2002)
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Why scaffolding:
"Scaffolding is helpful because it helps young children who are new to a school environment build confidence while learning.
If a child gives the wrong answer to a question, a teacher using a scaffolding method can use that incorrect response coupled with a previously learned skill
to help the child come to the correct conclusion on their own." (Rock, 2020)
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How did I use it?
In the video, it can be seen that one of them was struggling to form the next pattern. Instead of giving them the answers, I pointed to the colours
and ask them to tell me what the colour is. Afterwards, I pointed to the next colour. This helps them familiarise the sequence and understand what comes next.
Facilitating
What is facilitating:
"Facilitating refers to all things that teachers do to make children's learning more possible, such as scheduling, selecting materials, organizing space,
and interacting verbally and non-verbally with them. (MacNaughton & Williams, 2009)
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Why facilitating:
A learning environment that is helpful and supportive will guide children to be
self-motivated learners and achieve more learning goals. (MacNaughton & Williams, 2009)
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How did I use it?
Providing and selecting materials is important in wanting children to be engaged in what they do.
I introduced to them the different coloured papers and glue, and released explicit instructions to prepare them for their activity.
I prompted them with questions to observe
whether they understood and are looking forward to using the materials provided to learn about patterns in a fun way.
Click the video below to watch the lesson being conducted!
Time Stamp
Listening
1:30- 1:50
Around this time stamp, I recapped with the children what they previously learnt and ask them to volunteer to form the pattern on their own to observe if they were listening. I asked "I hope you were listening because I want some of you to volunteer yourself and create the pattern on the board by yourself"
Questioning
3:01 - 3:20
Around this time stamp, I asked various questions such as what, why and how to form the patterns to check their understanding of the topic and correct the pattern when needed so. I stimulated their thinking by asking "What do you think comes next?" or "Why is the colour purple next?" and even "How can you complete this pattern on the board?"
Facilitating
4:00 - 4:20
Around this time stamp, I introduced them to the materials they needed for the activity and gave explicit instructions to prepare them for what they have to do. I asked them "what shape is this?" and explained to them "You are going to use these shapes to paste on the piece of paper" I proceeded to lead by demonstrating a pattern on the piece of paper. I provided the necessary materials needed to tap on their creativity and interest on patterning.
Scaffolding
7:30 - 8:00
Around this time stamp, One of the children was lost and did not know the pattern so I ask her friend to try and help her so that she could understand better and scaffolded her slowly by familiarising with the colours first. I pointed at the first colour and asked "What is the colour shown here?" The child will reply with "Orange" and then I ask "what's the next colour that you see?" She will then be familiarised and can confidently guess what the next colour or pattern is.