Skating Fun at Kalona Elementary

It's great as the holiday approaches to see students and staff getting together and bonding.  Yesterday as a reward for students meeting their PBIS goal, teachers and staff took the whole of Kalona Elementary to the Wellman Skating Rink.  It was a great time for students to see their teachers in a different light and gave teachers time to get to know their students out of class.  Here is Mr Brown showing his awesome skating moves!

We're Back!!

好久不见！Hǎojiǔ bùjiàn Long time no see!  It is the end of the first Quarter and with it I am sure you have noticed quite a few changes in Chinese at Mid Prairie!  The first and biggest change is the addition of Mr. Grant Brown.  He comes back to Mid Prairie after spending the last few years living and working in China.  Brown Laoshi is now teaching Elementary Chinese at all three of our elementary schools and it is great to have him here.  Also, you may have noticed a small change as I have stepped back to a limited role teaching Chinese at Kalona elementary as I am now there to help English language learners in our Elementary schools.  I still get to teach Chinese at the middle school and with our new nine week exploratory it is a more intense and purposeful class.  We are always seeking to give the best teaching at Mid Prairie and this year is only going to get better and better.  Expect to see a lot of changes in the future as we improve things here on the blog and in class.  It is always fantastic to teach students at Mid Prairie and with the school's and communities continued support our programs will continue to grow and flourish.  Check back often as we post more updates and add more features for students and community members alike.  再见 Zài Jiàn!  See you later!

O'Brien Laoshi

A big change at the Middle School for Mid Prairie Chinese!!

Hello everyone, it has been a hectic year to say the least.  As we come to the end of the year it is a great time to reflect and talk about some of the things that will happen next year and the impact it will have on our Chinese program.

One of our biggest successes is the continuing of our Chinese at the Middle school.  Students have continued the great learning they have been doing at the elementary level in Chinese and expanded those skills in the Middle school.  It is with great pleasure to announce that that will continue and as the middle school goes 1:1 with Chromebooks we will be there with Chinese and the students will be using their devices to further their language learning.  In addition we will be going to 9 week courses up fro our 6 week courses we have done for the past two years.  

There are going to be some other big changes coming up so stay tuned for further announcements about Chinese here in Mid Prairie!!

Kalona Chinese Students Shape Dances

Right before our students went off to Spring break third through fifth grades learned about shaped in Chinese and made you tube clips demonstrating the shapes using dance.  Click on the links below to view.

Mrs. Wood's 5th Grade Girls

Mrs. Yoder's 4th Grade Boys

Mrs. Hartsock's 3rd Grade Girls

The Spring Music Program!!

The Spring Music Program for KE is Tuesday, March 20. All students are involved and have been working to prepare for the program. We have some great songs and fun music with which to welcome the long awaited warm weather.

Mini Concerts - Beginning this week on day 5, (Friday) will be the first Mini-concert. It will be in the gym from 8:05 to 8:25. As in the past, kids will be let in to their classrooms a little early and then Doreen will announce when the gym is ready. I'd like grade levels to sit together as much as possible - kids arrive at different times so that may not completely work as the gym fills up.

This week we had special visitors from the University of Iowa Confucius Institute give a wonderful presentation about Chinese New Year at Wellman Elementary School for the 3rd, 4th and 5th graders.

Thank you to the Confucius Institute for this great learning opportunity that the students and teachers really enjoyed!

Thursday evening approximately 50 students and parents welcomed in the Chinese "Year of the Horse" at Wellman Elementary School. 

The participants enjoyed Chinese snacks, games, coloring, scrambled words, watching a story, singing songs, and making horse puppets.   

Thank you to everyone who helped.  新年快乐！ Xin nian kuai le!  Happy New Year!   

This was a busy week for the Mid-Prairie Chinese program!

Below - Washington Township kindergartners did a great job of learning to use chopsticks to pick up Cheerios and marshmallows, and also read fortune cookies to discover more about their potential futures. Their place mats showed the Chinese zodiac.  The year that just started is the Chinese Year of the Horse!

Below - Wellman 5th graders practice using chopsticks to pass Cheerios and marshmallows from one teammate to the next in a race to see which teams can get their morsels of food inside the bowl at the end of the race--without dropping!

Below - Wellman 2nd graders cheer each other as they master the skills needed to use chopsticks. Each student in the groups of four had two 30-second turns to put Cheerios in their bowls. After they finished, they counted in Chinese the number of Cheerios. The winning groups had about 70 Cheerios in their bowls!

Chinese New Year at Mid-Prairie