Fun Facts about Octopus

Date: 8^th April 2014

Day: Tuesday

Time: 4:00-5:00pm

Class: Starfruit

Theme: Underwater World

Teacher: Teacher Yeong

Fun Facts about Octopus

The children spelled the word “octopus” on the board before I introduced the parts of the octopus to the children.

Then we watched a short video on the fun facts about octopus. Then I also showed them a video about the blue ringed octopus.

Video Sharing: Fun Facts about Octopus

Video Sharing: blue ringed octopus

Worksheet: Looking for Mistakes

Date: 7^th April 2014

Day: Monday

Time: 4:00-5:00pm

Class: Starfruit

Theme: Underwater World

Teacher: Teacher Yeong

Worksheet: Looking for Mistakes

After reading a short and simple storybook which not related to the underwater theme, the children did a worksheet on searching for mistake.

There were 6 mistakes in the picture where the children needed to point it out and circle it. After that, I got the children to colour all the pictures that they had circled.

While the children were doing their worksheet, I got some to do some individual reading on vocabulary.

Listen & Follow

Date: 4th April 2014

Day: Friday

Time: 4:00-5:00pm

Class: Starfruit

Theme: Underwater World

Teacher: Teacher Yeong

Listen & Follow

Today, I plan to carry on an activity related to the book that I shared with the children yesterday. However, the children couldn't get the idea of what I needed but at least they tried.

I divided the children into 2 groups where it was about 6 in a group. The children needed to act out according to the lines that I read. 

They were in discussion on how to present it.

"Some creatures are spiny."

"Some creatures are fat."

Couldn't decide what to do?

The children did when I read: Some creatures are long.

The other group did the same thing.

Form a starfish after I gave some clue to them.

The children tried to form a starfish by their own.

Book Sharing: Sea Creatures by Pamelo Chanko

Date: 3^rd April 2014

Day: Thursday

Time: 4:00-5:00pm

Class: Starfruit

Theme: Underwater World

Teacher: Teacher Yeong

Book Sharing: Sea Creatures by Pamelo Chanko

This is not a storybook. Yet it’s a book about how to describe the sea creatures. The sentences are very simple and short. However, some of the parts I still needed to do some extra explanation.

The lines in the book are as followed:

-          Some creatures are long.

-          Some creatures are fat.

-          Some creatures are spiny.

-          Some creatures are flat.

-          Some can glide, and some can dive.

-          Some have eight arms.

-          Some have only five.

-          Some are bumpy, and some are hairy.

-          Some are bright, and some are scary. 

Book Sharing & Role Play

Date: 2^nd April 2014

Day: Wednesday

Time: 4:00-5:00pm

Class: Starfruit

Theme: Underwater World

Teacher: Teacher Yeong

Book Sharing & Role Play

A few children were absent when I shared the book on “Sharing a Shell” the other day; therefore, I read it again today. This time round, for those who had listened twice, they could understand and remember the storyline as well as the character in it.

Therefore, I suggested that we shall have a role play of this story. Surprisingly, the children all agree and got excited. I looked around the classroom and decided that the red chair shall be the shell.

These were the list for the role play today:

Role	1st Round	2nd Round
Hermit Crab	Zen Hong	Pin Jee
Sea Anemone	Huey Xin	Thong Xuan
Bristle Worm	Yi Xuan	Ye Wern
Sea Gull	Thong Xuan	Zen Hong
Fish	Edmund	Yi Fai

When the children were ready, I started to narrate the story but in a simpler form. For the first round, as the children were not very familiar with the next plot, they seem to not know how to react accordingly and needed help.

The crab (Zen Hong) & sea anemone (Huey Xin).

The sea anemone sting the big fish (Edmund).

The bristle worm (Yi Xuan) trying to squeeze in the shell.

The crab & sea anemone looking at the bristle worm coming out from the new shell.
(Zen Hong, Huey Xin & Yi Xuan)

However, the situation got better with the 2^nd round and some of them could even act quite bravely.

The crab (Pin Jee) & the sea anemone (Thong Xuan).

The sea anemone sting the big fish (Yi Fai).

The bristle worm shares the new shell with the crab & the sea anemone.
(Pin Jee, Ye Wern & Thong Xuan)

All the children had a good laugh at their own acting and they enjoyed it very much. 

Book Sharing – Sharing A Shell by Julia Donaldson & drawing

Date: 31^st March 2014

Day: Monday

Time: 4:00-5:00pm

Class: Starfruit

Theme: Underwater World

Teacher: Teacher Yeong

Book Sharing – Sharing A Shell by Julia Donaldson & drawing

I got this lovely and interesting story to share with the children – “Sharing A Shell” by Julia Donaldson.

This story is about a hermit crab who found a new found at the rock pool. Then a purple sea anemone came to join the hermit crab as a friend. At first, the hermit didn’t want to share his shell but when the sea anemone scared away the fierce fish with its sting, both of them became friends.

Then suddenly one day, a bristle worm came and wanted to share their shell too. At the beginning, they refused until the bristle worm convinced them that he will clean up the shell bright and shinny.

However, when three of them grew bigger, the shells became too snug and too heavy. Hermit crab started to complain and wanted the sea anemone to leave. After they had split up, they became sad and lonely. They became friends again when they found a bigger shell. They cherish each other this time.

I gave each child a piece of blank paper to draw related to the story that they had just heard.

We also revised all the vocabularies that we had learn throughout our lesson.

Observing the crab & Book Sharing

Date: 28^th March 2014

Day: Friday

Time: 4:00-5:00pm

Class: Starfruit

Theme: Underwater World

Teacher: Teacher Yeong

Observing the crab & Book Sharing

I have a frozen crab in hand. It’s a crab with flower pattern on it. I took it out from the fridge for the children to observe it. While the children were observing and touching the crab, they kept on complaining that the crab was pretty smelly. However, most of the children dare to touch and came forward to look at it.

This is the crab that we were observing.

Zen Hong was laughing while holding the crab.

Book Sharing – A House for Hermit Crab by Eric Carle

This is an interesting story about a hermit crab that is growing up. Hermit crab usually will exchange shells when they have outgrown their shell. Along his adventures of growing up, the hermit crab also picked up sea creatures such as sea anemone, starfish, coral, sea snail etc to be put on and decorated his shells.