Welcome to Yinghua Academy Kindergarten

1. Welcome to Yinghua Academy Kindergarten

2. Bio of the Teacher – Wu laoshi • Bachelor and Master of Education in Special Education • Taiwan Teacher Certification in the areas of Special Education and elementary level. • Forth year at Yinghua. • Teaching philosophy: Children learn from doing and by doing, they learn.

3. HuangLaoshi- Education Assistant • Master of Business Administration at Metropolitan State University • One year at Mind Building Training Association in Taiwan • Two month volunteering at Xin Xing Academy

4. Main Topics for Tonight • Chinese Language Arts curriculum • Singapore Math • Science • Whole School and Classroom Expectations • How to get involved at school • Important Events

5. Main Goals for Kindergarten • Be ready for first grade - Chinese Language Arts - Math - Social Studies - Science - Play

6. Chinese Language Arts • Reading Readiness: The student will develop book and print awareness • Phonemic Awareness: The student will develop phonemic awareness and basic knowledge of the Chinese characters • Decoding and Word recognition: Recognize some words • Comprehension: The students will develop and apply strategies and skills to comprehend text that is read, heard, and viewed

7. Chinese Language Arts • Literary Response and Analysis: Identify types of everyday print materials • Vocabulary: Basic academic and functional Chinese vocabulary • Listening and Speaking: Students will listen and respond to oral communication • Writing: Handwriting skills and hold pencil correctly

8. Kindergarten Chinese Language Arts Curriculum My First Chinese Words 36 Book set from Better Chinese I Love Chinese: The 14 book set from Better Chinese 青(qīng) 田(tián)story books Singapore reading materials Reading materials from China

9. Basic Concepts of Immersion Education Language acquisition vs. Language Learning Chinese immersion environment Connect sound to print and connect print to meaning (Same as MN English Language Arts standards)

10. Immersion Teaching Strategies • Use daily routine phrases • Visual aids • Body language • Facial expressions • Sing Chinese songs • Recite Chinese poems • Nursery rhymes • Read stories

11. How to Get off to A Good Start Writing Chinese Characters Be familiar with the 18 basic strokes Follow the writing rules Use the proper stroke order when writing characters Practice is the key

12. What are Chinese Characters? Multiple types of characters (e.g. pictographs, ideographs, compound pictographs, compound ideographs, semi-phonetic compounds, etc..) Starting with simple characters, such as pictographic characters

13. Examples of Pictographic Characters

14. Example of a Chinese Character

15. When Your Child Graduates from YA Kindergarten Your child-- Will be able to understand the classroom directions from teachers in Chinese Will be able to express their needs and wants with Chinese speakers Will understand the basic strokes and formation of characters Will be able to write at least 80+ Chinese characters Will recognize at least 150-200 Chinese characters

16. Extend Your Child’s English Vocabulary • Read to your child • Language-rich environment • Monthly language rich activities calendar

17. Singapore Math • Singapore Math Method - follows a spiral progression - Principles: Three step learning model, moving from the concrete, to the pictorial, to the abstract -consistent and strong emphasis on problem solving and model drawing

18. Singapore Math Suitable for immersion program -Builds upon preceding levels -Explanations of math concepts are exceptionally clear and simple

19. Science • Follows the MN Science Standard • Follows the Core Knowledge Scope and Sequence • Integrates with Chinese Language Arts in the immersion classroom ,e.g. observe plants growth • Fosters a science attitude: "The success of science has more to do with an attitude common to scientists than with a particular method. This attitude is one of inquiry, experimentation, and humility before the facts." - Paul G. Hewitt, Conceptual Physics, Second Edition, p. 3 • Hands on activities, experiment experiences

20. Science Elementary school children are in a concrete operational stage of their development. (Piaget, 1958) --Invisible things must be represented in concrete form to enable these children to grasp the concepts.

21. Social Studies • In kindergarten, children often study aspects of the world around them: the family, the school, the community. • Foundation: relationship with the world and to foster curiosity

22. Play is important to Children (Piaget) • Play, along with the basic needs of nutrition, health, shelter and education, is vital to develop the potential of all children. • Play is communication and expression, combing thought and action; it gives satisfaction and a feeling of achievement. • Play is instinctive, voluntary, and spontaneous.

23. Play is important to Children • Play helps children develop physically, mentally, emotionally, and socially. • Play is a means of learning to live, not a mere passing of time. • Play is the child’s way of learning. • Play is the work of the child (Pieaget)

25. Core value • Safety • Speak Chinese • Learning • Happiness • Global Citizenship

26. Find these information in my classroom pages • Kindergarten Curriculum Map • School Wide Calendar • Class Schedule • Class List • Kindergarten Classroom Rules

27. A Happy and Successful Year • Read to your child everyday • Good rest and eat well • Check sent home folder every night • Check our Classroom Page weekly (password: 2014newyinghua) • Arrive at school on time and pick up on time • Individual snack in the backpack • Turn in homework on time • Learn with your child • Be involved • No toys from home!! • Label everything

28. Exciting Events • Star of the week • Three field trips - Afton Apple Orchard: Thursday, Oct 7, 2014. • Grandparents’ Day- Friday, October 2 • Chinese New Year Performance- Date Changed: Saturday, Feb. 28, 2015. No school on Mon., Mar. 2, and Tues., Mar. 3. • Academic Performance- in May

29. Communicate with Us via… • E-mail: huitzu.wu@yinghuaacademy.org • Notes in the folder • Class Coordinators • Main Office • Report an Absencego to the Yinghua home page and scroll to the bottom, there is a link in the black bar at bottom.  Click on that link and fill in the form, the school will receive an email with the information.