Children story about time: a visit to the Hot Air Balloon Festival

This a digital story book created by me focusing on aspect of time. It is about a child visiting a local annual hot air ballon festival. the setting is Malaysia which is familiar for my students. It can also be used by other teachers since hot air balloon is a common topic for most children. this is originally done using Power Point Presentation. Teachers will also need a paper analog clock or a real clock to highlight the time to the students during the shared reading.
example of analog clock:

The story~

Hot air balloon pictures references:

Samlee860407 (2010). The royal Kedah international hot air balloon festival @ alor setar, Kedah. Retrieved October 25 from

http://samlee86.com/2010/07/09/the-royal-kedah-international-hot-air-balloon-festival-alor-setar-kedah/

Anderson, T (2011). The royal Kedah international hot air balloon festival. Retrieved October 25 from

http://www.cronixsoul.com/the-royal-kedah-international-hot-air-balloon-festival-2011/  

workshop 4: teaching measurement using Jack and the beanstalk activities~

Jack and the beanstalk

Teachers can make a big tree trunk and beanstalk on the class floor using cardboards for the trunk and green paper for the beanstalk. The teacher will be the Giant . Then, students will need a small note book to jot down  their answers. 

For indirect comparison ,the teachers asks students to compare the height of the big tree with the height of the classroom tables, windows, chairs and the Giant. Students will have to stand or even lie down near the tree to make comparison. They will then need to write which object is taller or shorter than the big tree in their note book.

The teacher can also teach measurement by using non standard units. First, students will be asked to select a large unit such as their hands, feet, books and etc. Next they will use their selected units and measure the height of the big tree. eg:

big tree = 10 hands

After that, the teacher will ask students to choose a smaller unit such as eraser, coin and etc. Next, they will measure the big tree with the smaller units. eg:

big tree = ....coins

The teacher would then highlights on the different of the units by asking 

T: which unit you use less when measuring the big tree?

S: the large unit~

T: which unit you need more to measure the big tree?

S: the small unit

T: So, the larger the unit, the fewer you need to measure an object. But, sometimes, you need a smaller unit to measure small objects. Can you give me some examples small objects that need to be measured using small units?

S: a book, a bottle and a pencil case.

Making measuring devise for the Giant

Students will work in groups and the teacher, as the giant will tell the students that they need to give back the magic beans and it will be 4 cups of beans in a container. Then, the teacher will give each group a cup, a container, a jar of green beans and a marker. Students will then will have to put one cup a time into the container and label the container with the marker at the level of each cup. After they finish labeling the 4 cups of beans, the teacher then ask questions such as "are you sure that you have put 4 cups of beans, the giant will be really angry if it's not correct. why don't you check it by putting the beans from the container into the cup". these would scaffold their comprehension on the fact that each level that that they had label is equal to one cup and vice versa. Finally, each group will present the container with magic beans to the giant. It's so easy~^^

Workshop 4: teaching Geometry; visualising, shape attributes and location & direction

Visualising and focusing on shape attributes

Teachers can ask students to visualise a the table from the top and how it looks like. Then students are required to look for other object in the classroom that they can visualise into a shape. They could write the objects into a table. for example

In order to extend their understanding on shape attributes, teachers can teach students by using cooked or uncooked spaghetti:

Spaghetti is a good resources to teach kids in focusing to shape attributes. First, teachers can ask students to make the shape that they had visualised and wrote in the table. Then, teachers can highlight on the shape by asking questions such as"how many sides is there in the triangle?" "what do you think about the size of the sides in the triangle?are they the same?". These could be done with different shapes and the cooked spaghetti can be used for shapes for instance, oval or circle. 

Location & Direction

Firstly, teachers need to introduce to students the concept of right, left, forward and back. This video would be use to introduce the concepts before moving on to the next game:

Tourist map

This is a big map of a tourist spots in a small town located in Malaysia. It was made highly suitable for my Malaysian students since they would be familiar with the name of places, and road's names. Other teachers can just change these to be used in own respective class. The map is big for teachers to put it in front of class.  Teachers could also make the map for each group.

What do you need to play this game:

1.the tourist map

2. a counter for each group to move

how to play this game:

1. students will be divided into groups of four. then, they will choose a counter.

2. The teacher will demonstrates how the game will be played where each group will be a tourist guide and receive a mission to show direction to tourists in order to go to certain tourists spots. for eg:

"show the tourists how to go from Shangri-la Hotel to the garden."

Then, the group will discuss the direction and show to the whole class how they go to the location using their counter. 

3. The teacher starts the game and facilitates the game by scaffolding them using questions such as "where will you turn after that?left or right?"