At my school, each grade level has a “cultural focus” and spends a few months studying their focus area in an integrated unit. We are very excited that this year our focus is China! Over the next couple of months, our kindergarteners will learn all about the people, the geography, the animals and the cultures and traditions of China. My team and I have been working hard to create a completely integrated unit for our students. We kicked off our study this week and the students are OVER.THE.MOON excited to continue learning.
To begin our unit, we watched the brief introduction of the documentary “Wild China” found on Netflix. My students were amazed at the beauty and the animals that live in China. There is a great video available on youtube that you could have your students watch to showcase the beauty of China.
After watching the brief video, I charted all of the things that we already knew about China. This year I have one little boy who knows Mandarin and he was so excited to share what he knows about the language. We have learned how to say “hello” (ni hao {nee how}) and are practicing counting to ten!
To help my students learn our new vocabulary words for this new unit, I created nomenclature cards for them to use during our literacy centers. By using nomenclature cards, students enhance their vocabulary and practice labeling the new images from our thematic study. After they match their cards, in my classroom, students write sentences and illustrate them using their new words.
If you would like to grab these beautiful cards and read more about our newest thematic unit, head over to my blog!
Kristen
Nice Post!
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