Teach.Travel.Find.Design

Lizzy and I finished student teaching at Guiyang No. 4 Experimental Primary School today.  It was a bittersweet day for all.  It was also the the 7th day of school in a row and students will have the next three days off to celebrate May Day, the Chinese Labor Day. Lost in a sea of second graders I was disappointed that one of my classes was cancelled this afternoon.  Being the last lesson, I wanted to be fair and make sure all classes participated in the same activities.  Unfortunately, it had been decided that today was the day to practice an earthquake and fire drill.   My spirits were lifted when I realized we were, in fact, in the middle of a Chinese Fire Drill.  It's no secret that I've become attached to the third graders.  All four classes are great and we had a lot of fun with the lessons.  The students have lively personalities and are funny and spirited. Last week, I read Curious George and the students went bananas.  I read a different story o

Ms. Grant's 2nd graders expressed interest in the Chinese Calendar so I decided to do a little bit of research.  Please enjoy this information on the 24 Solar Terms and the Chinese Zodiac. 24 Solar Terms ( Jie Qi) In Chinese culture, the calendar year is divided up into 24 phases or terms based on the Earth's orbit around the sun.  Basically, it's like dividing each month into two phases.  The terms were first created as an agricultural guide in Ancient China and are still used today. Please enjoy these photos of the 24 solar terms from Guiyang No. 4's playground: lìchūn - Start of Spring - February 4   yǔshuǐ - Rain Water - February 19 jīngzhé - Awakening of Insects - March 6 chūnfēn - Vernal Equinox - March 21 qīngmíng - Clear and Bright, Tomb Sweeping - April 5 gǔyǔ - Grain Rain - April 20 lìxià - Start of Summer - May 6 xiǎomǎn - Grain Full - May 21 mángzhòng - Grain in Ear - June 6 xiàzhì - Summer Solstice -

As our time at Guiyang No. 4 Exp. Primary School is winding down, I found myself getting a little sentimental.  The students here are lovely and talented and I wanted to share more about them.  And, today was one of my favorite days.  My students and I shared a lot of laughs and I was treated to a private impromptu piano recital by one of the fifth graders. These third graders are the best!!!   Today, my lesson for third grade was on toys and one of our vocabulary words was robot .  Of course, I had the students show me how robots move.  The students LOVE performing and are great at it.  One student even mimicked the morning exercises in a robotic way, eliciting a roomful of laughter from his classmates.  We had a great time. My little robots One of my favorite things about having to walk up and down five flights of stairs repeatedly throughout the school day is that the walls are lined with student artwork.  A variety of pastels, paintings, calligraphy, embroidery an