I am the slowest when it comes to technology! I don't know what happens, but I feel every time I sit down to add to my website something seems to go amiss. As our Thanksgiving break is winding up, I've had the opportunity to scroll through my photos of our year, and I have been reminded how lucky I've been to have such an amazing group of kids this year! Things finally aligned and the windows opened for me to finally download a few of our activities we've been able to enjoy thus far. I think fall is my most favorite time of year as the weather cools down and we're surrounded by the majestic red, gold, and orange foliage. We're able to celebrate Halloween and Thanksgiving. Most important of all, we can celebrate pumpkins! I love what our pumpkin unit has to offer in language development. We were able to use our five senses to describe what we smelled, touched, and saw. It was hilarious to watch their reactions and to use Chinese words to describe their experience. We were also able to integrate math as we practice counting by tens, and had a competition among the groups to find which pumpkin had the most seeds. This last week, the children were able to create their own pumpkin man or woman. This was a fantastic opportunity to hear them put their language to use. They were able to access their vast imaginations to create a person, and then presented their pumpkin man to the class. They used the language to name their person, tell how old he or she was, who their friends were, and what they liked to do. The language becomes so much more meaningful when they can attach it to something they've created rather than memorizing words and phrases that are never integrated into their learning. I look forward to their creations every time. We were all able to laugh and giggle in Chinese as each piece presented was unique and creative. Two weeks ago, I had an amazing opportunity to attend an arts integration conference that explained how to not only use STEM in the classroom, but how to add art to become STEAM. I walked away with my mind exploding with new ideas of how to integrate this into immersion and my science instruction. I look forward to new projects and new ways to enhance their language growth. I will keep you all posted! Cheers! Ms. Ridge
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