The first day in the Gator Garage both sixth graders and PreK-4 students explored design thinking, but in very different ways. Younger students had fun creating their own design with tinker toys and then observing their classmates’ designs and making a few kind remarks. Sixth graders explored design thinking by first observing the makerspace and making maps and inventories to see where they could make improvements to the space.

Some time ago Sra. Brenna’s sixth grade class visited PreK-4 to give a lesson on prepositions with materials they had prepared themselves. It went well, but don’t take my word for it!

As language teachers we are taught that our brains love patterns when we are learning a different language and trying to maintain the expressions and sentences to enjoy the freedom of conducting conversations. I still feel very excited to see how the theory works effectively with my student learning practice in various grades, especially when these patterns are associated with rhymes, songs, chants and body gestures. This has also motivated me to use the digital storytelling to share with the whole community the excitement and the pride our students have experienced in their learning journey.

We all believe that the older students do a good job learning the sentence patterns. Sure, they do, as we can see from the following video of the fifth graders. Students actually did even more with the sentence patterns. They also acted out the meaning of the sentence patterns. Students were practicing a rhyme about the pronouns for people of different genders, creatures and objects in class. One group of the students told me they added the body gestures to show the meaning of the sentences and it helped them remember the rhyme very well. After their performance, this group of students were happily welcomed by the whole class. So they taught their method to their classmates. Then we all were excited to make the lovely video with a beautiful collaboration of the rhyme 你，我，他，她，它 (you, I, he, she, it).

However, the younger students also have their ways to impress me with how quickly and naturally they learn sentence patterns and make me think out of the box. So here we are with the video of the kindergarteners describing the twelve months in a year instead of thirteen months. The PreK-4 students were describing the body parts of the little rabbits, what they eat and how they walk. The PreK-3 kids were very happy counting the numbers from one to thirty in one video and practicing their Mandarin greeting skit in the other. It is amazing to see how patterns leverage the acquisition of the language learning. When you hear the words with patterns, surely enough it also adds the taste of rhythm, joy and confidence for an engaging learning experience.

Ms. Lloyd’s sixth grade humanities class is helping PreK-4 with their pre-reading and writing skills. For their first visit they helped the PreK-4 students sequence three cards in story order. First, the characters and setting are introduced. Second, a problem develops, or a situation starts. Third, the problem is resolved and the feelings of the characters are expressed. Using the sequenced cards the children told a story to their sixth grade buddy. This type of story telling helps not only with story order but in developing expressive language.

When the sixth grade visited the following week, the PreK-4 students dictated a story to their sixth grade buddy about medieval times, a theme we are studying. The PreK-4 students drew their own castle picture and based their story on their picture. The sixth graders made sure each PreK-4 student had a beginning , middle and end to their story about their castle picture. We shared our stories with the class and had a great time listening to all the exciting stories.

The PreK-4 students look forward to the next visit from their sixth grade buddies!

Pitch is defined as an auditory sensation in which musical tones are assigned relative positions by a listener on a musical scale. These positions are primarily based on their perception of the frequency of vibration. Students in PreK-4 are learning all about pitch! What “high,” “low” and “middle” notes sound and feel like in their bodies. To demonstrate their understanding of pitch the students had to physically show where I was playing the notes on the piano! The laughter and smiles were contagious as students quickly moved their bodies based on the notes I was playing for them.

I am always impressed with my students’ enthusiasm and curiosity of learning Chinese language and culture. However, when I witnessed students practicing for the celebration of the Chinese New Year at the assembly day, I was still surprised by their tremendous passion and excitement for learning and experiencing the immersion of the language and its culture.

PreK-4 students were happy enough cutting out their monkey pictures and making their own crowns for the 恭喜，恭喜 (wish you a happy Chinese New Year). Kindergarteners and first grade students had the opportunity to put the beautiful colors for their monkey pictures first. Even though it is a quite challenging song for PreK4 through first grade students, with the pleasure and excitement of being part of the practice, students just very naturally get the point and sing the song joyfully. Of course, from the video, each smile on the face reveals the happiness of the heart.