Whale Class · Weekly Circle Time
Beijing
Week of Jan 18–22 · 13 min a day · ages 2.5–6, English learners
Print · laminate · ring-bind — your in-circle guide
Five words they'll own by Friday
Littles (2.5–3)
One word + a gesture is a win: “Beijing!” (point straight down — right here!), “Red!” (run and touch something red), “Lion!” (lion paws, big roar).
Bigs (4–6)
Sentence frames: “I live in Beijing.” · “The Great Wall is very long.” · “My home is in Beijing.”
The one big idea: the city under my feet has a name. Beijing has a wall, red gates and stone lions — and our classroom is standing inside it. Every day this week ends by pointing at the floor, because that is where the lesson is. The map, the block wall and the taped hutong all stay out all week and grow.
Wednesday is 大寒, Major Cold — the coldest point of the whole year, and the last solar term before spring. Spring Festival is next: 除夕 falls on Friday 5 February, so from here the year is counting down.
Day 1 · Where I Live
Today's words: Beijing
2 min Magic Box hook
Today the box is flat and light, and whatever is inside slides when you tip it. Whole class chants:
Tip it slowly — a soft papery slither. Peek in for a long time, then deal the postcards out one at a time like playing cards, holding each one up: a wall on a mountain, a huge red door, a grey stone lion, a narrow little street.
Everybody points down at the ground. “Beijing!”
4 min Teach · Beijing
Everybody stands up. Say it twice; the second time they do it with you:
Where do I live? (shrug, hands out, look round the room)
Right HERE, right here! (stamp both feet on the floor)
A wall, a gate, (stretch both arms wide, then push two doors open)
BEIJING is here! (both hands down at the floor)
Then the map goes on the floor and everybody kneels round the edge of it — nobody stands. Find China together, run one finger round its edge, then go hunting for the little dot up near the sea. Stick the first flag on it. Last of all, lay the photograph of our own front gate down beside the flag: our kindergarten is inside that dot.
Littles point straight down and say “Beijing!” Bigs owe you the sentence: “I live in Beijing.” “My home is in Beijing.”
Teacher fails: plant your flag far out in the middle of the sea, step back and admire it. “There we are. Beijing.” Fold your arms. Wait.
Chinese moment: lay the 京 card on the map beside the flag and say 北京 once — 北 is north, 京 is capital: the northern capital. Leave the card there; the row grows by one card a day.
3 min Song · I Live in Beijing — chorus + Monday verse
Beijing, Beijing — I live here! (point down at the ground)
Big red doors and a wall so long! (push the doors open, then stretch wide)
Stone lions sit by the old, old bridge, (lion paws, then freeze)
Beijing, Beijing — sing my song! (both arms wide)
Monday's verse: Where do I live? I live right here — (shrug, then stamp both feet)
Beijing, Beijing — my home, my dear! (hands over your heart)
The one song of the week — same chorus at every circle, one new verse each morning, the whole thing on Friday. Chords and the full sheet are on the Song tab. Sing it standing round the map, pointing down on every “Beijing”.
3 min Game · Find our city
“One, two, three — eyes on me!” The map stays flat on the floor. Everybody gets one little flag.
One child at a time crosses to the map, plants the flag and says the word while everybody else chants it back. Littles say “Beijing!” and that is a full win. Bigs plant it and give the sentence: “I live in Beijing.”
By the end there is a little forest of flags on one spot — twenty children all living in the same place, which is exactly the picture you want.
Use one very big map on the floor, not a wall map. At three years old a country is something you kneel on and touch, or it is nothing at all.
1 min Close
Standing round the map. Whisper → normal → shout:
Got 3 spare minutes? Maisy Goes to the City (Lucy Cousins) — read it, then close it and ask what our city has that Maisy's has not. They will say lion before you do.
📲 Share with parents
🐳 Whale Class today — Where I Live! We practiced the word “Beijing” together in circle time, with songs, games and lots of repetition to help it stick. By the end we were all chanting together: “Beijing… wall… red… LION! BEIJING IS MY HOME!” 🎉 Ask your little one to show you at home! 💜
Tap Copy, then paste into your class WhatsApp / parent group.
Day 2 · The Great Wall
Today's words: wall (Beijing comes back every day)
2 min Magic Box hook
Today the box is heavy on one side, and something inside rolls and thumps when you tilt it.
Roll it side to side — thump, thump. Lift out the ball of string, hand the loose end to one child, and walk backwards out of the circle unrolling it: down the mat, past the shelf, out of the door if the corridor is free.
Come back winding it up. Arms stretched as wide as they go: “Wall!”
4 min Teach · Wall
Everybody stands. Say it twice, small and slow first, then enormous:
Up the hill (one hand climbing up in front of you)
and down the hill, (the same hand running down the other side)
The wall goes ON… (one arm sweeping right across the room)
and it's going on there still! (both arms as wide as they go, and hold it)
Now the photo card: a grey stone wall, walking over a mountain, with a little tower where the soldiers watched. It was built to keep people out, a very long time ago — long before your grandmother's grandmother. Then the blocks come out and the class starts its own wall along the shelf edge.
Littles stretch their arms wide and say “Wall!” Bigs owe you the sentence: “The Great Wall is very long.” “The wall goes up the hill.”
Teacher fails: build your bit of wall by piling every block into one tall wobbling tower. Stand back proudly. “A wall.” Wait for the roar, and let them flatten it out for you.
Chinese moment: the 墙 card joins 京 on the map. Then say the real name once: 长城 — which is not “long wall” at all, it is long city. A wall so long that it is a city.
3 min Song · I Live in Beijing — chorus + Tuesday verse
Chorus twice with the actions — on “a wall so long” everybody stretches out towards the block wall they have started — then today's new verse:
Tuesday's verse: The Great Wall is long, long, long, (one arm sweeping wider each “long”)
Up the hill — big and strong! (climbing hand, then both fists up like a strongman)
Sing the three “long”s longer each time, holding the last one until you run out of breath. They will try to out-hold you, which is the whole point.
3 min Game · Build the wall relay
“One, two, three — eyes on me!” The blocks are in one basket. The wall grows along the shelf edge, left to right, one block at a time.
Child walks up, lays one block on the end, and the whole class counts the wall out loud from the beginning: one… two… three. Everybody adds exactly one, nobody adds two. Littles carry the block and shout the last number; Bigs tell you where theirs went: “This is block number nine.”
Leave it standing all week and let it grow a little every day — it is Tuesday's Magic Box object living on the shelf, and it is Tray 2. Never let one child build the whole thing; a wall that twenty people built is the actual history lesson.
1 min Close
Standing in one long line beside the block wall, arms wide. Whisper → normal → shout:
Got 3 spare minutes? The Great Wall of China (Leonard Everett Fisher) — the words are far too old for them, so do not read them. Turn the pages slowly and let them point.
📲 Share with parents
🐳 Whale Class today — The Great Wall! We practiced the word “wall” together in circle time, with songs, games and lots of repetition to help it stick. By the end we were all chanting together: “Beijing… wall… red… LION! BEIJING IS MY HOME!” 🎉 Ask your little one to show you at home! 💜
Tap Copy, then paste into your class WhatsApp / parent group.
Day 3 · Big Red Doors
Today's words: red (Beijing · wall come back)
2 min Magic Box hook
Do not open it. Knock on the lid instead, three big slow knocks — BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. — then look at the class as if somebody else did it.
Lift out the brass ring and knock with it, three times, on the floor. Then unfold the photograph very slowly, upside down first, until somebody tells you.
Everybody runs and touches something red, then comes straight back. “Red!”
4 min Teach · Red
Everybody stands. Say it twice, and the second time they knock with you:
Red, red doors, (push both hands forward, slowly, like heavy doors)
As tall as the sky! (reach right up on tiptoe)
Knock, knock, knock — (three big knocks in the air)
Come in, come in! (beckon with both hands)
Then the studs. Look at the photo together: the emperor's doors carry rows of gold studs, and the grandest gates have nine in a row. Count nine together, sticking nine paper studs onto a big red paper door as you go — one child, one stud.
Littles touch something red and say “Red!” Bigs owe you the sentence: “The door is red.” “I can see a red door.”
Teacher fails: hold up something obviously green and announce, with total confidence, “Red.” Nod slowly. Wait.
Chinese moment: the 红 card joins 京 · 墙 — 红色, and in China red is the colour of luck and of happy things. Today is also 大寒, the coldest day of the whole year. Teach one line of the 数九歌: 一九二九不出手 (hands straight into your armpits) 三九四九冰上走 (skate two steps across the mat). If you have 冰糖葫芦, this is the day for it.
3 min Song · I Live in Beijing — chorus + Wednesday verse
Chorus twice — today, on “big red doors”, everybody pushes the heavy doors open together, very slowly — then:
Wednesday's verse: Red, red doors at the palace gate, (push the doors, slow and heavy)
Push them open — don't be late! (one big push, then run on the spot)
Push the doors on the beat, all together, as if they weigh a ton. Doing something heavy in time is the bit two-year-olds can join in with long before the words arrive.
3 min Game · Only Red
“One, two, three — eyes on me!” Everybody stands on the mat. You call a colour; they only move if it is red.
Off they go, back to the mat, and again. Then let a Big call the colours while you play in the circle and get it wrong on purpose. Littles just run on the red; Bigs bring the word back with them: “The chair is red.”
Say the colour and hold up nothing — the word has to do the work. And keep it fast: five calls, then stop while they still want more.
1 min Close
Standing at the paper red door with its nine studs. Whisper → normal → shout:
Got 3 spare minutes? Bringing In the New Year (Grace Lin) — red on every single page, and it points straight at 春节, which is now only two weeks away.
📲 Share with parents
🐳 Whale Class today — Big Red Doors! We practiced the word “red” together in circle time, with songs, games and lots of repetition to help it stick. By the end we were all chanting together: “Beijing… wall… red… LION! BEIJING IS MY HOME!” 🎉 Ask your little one to show you at home! 💜
Tap Copy, then paste into your class WhatsApp / parent group.
Day 4 · The Stone Lion
Today's words: lion (Beijing · wall · red come back)
2 min Magic Box hook
Today the box is heavy. Pretend you can barely lift it; let two children try to pick it up and fail. Then the chant:
Tip it a little: something hard knocks against the side. Lift it out with both hands, slowly, and set it down in the middle of the circle with a thud.
Lion paws up, one big roar — and then freeze. “Lion!”
4 min Teach · Lion
Everybody stands. Say it twice; the freeze at the end gets longer the second time:
Stone lion, stone lion, (lion paws, curled up in front of you)
By the gate, (push the heavy doors open)
He can ROAR… (the biggest roar of the week)
but he has to WAIT. (freeze, absolutely still, and count five out loud)
Then look at him properly, all together: a curly stone mane, a ball under one paw, and on the other lion a little cub. They come in pairs — one on each side of a gate, all over this city. Two children become the pair, one either side of the classroom door, and hold the freeze while everybody else walks in between them.
Littles do the paws and the roar and say “Lion!” Bigs owe you the sentence: “The lion sits by the gate.” “The lion is made of stone.”
Teacher fails: roar enormously, then be the worst stone lion in the world — wriggling, scratching your nose, looking about. “Am I a good stone lion?” Wait.
Chinese moment: the 狮 card joins 京 · 墙 · 红 — 石狮子. And the old Beijing saying: 卢沟桥的狮子——数不清, the lions of Lugou Bridge, nobody can ever count them. Then pass the 兔儿爷 round, one pair of hands at a time, and let it go all the way round without a word.
3 min Song · I Live in Beijing — chorus + Thursday verse
Chorus twice — on “stone lions sit by the old, old bridge” everybody does the paws and then holds absolutely still until the next line — then:
Thursday's verse: Stone lion, stone lion, big and grey, (lion paws, low and heavy)
ROAR! — then he sits all day! (one huge roar, then freeze and hold)
This is the only verse with a hole in it. Stop playing for the freeze; let the room go completely silent for two whole beats before the last line. The silence is funnier than the roar.
3 min Game · Stone lion freeze
“One, two, three — eyes on me!” The quietest game of the week. Drum beating (or the bell ringing) means lion: prowl and roar. Drum stops means stone: freeze exactly as you are.
Count the freeze out loud so it always ends fairly — three for the littles, ten for the bigs. Nobody is ever out; a lion who wobbles just freezes again. Last round, a Big holds the drum.
Hold up the ball or the cub as you count — a lion with a job to do (“your paw is on the ball”) holds still twice as long as a lion just told to stop.
1 min Close
Everybody in lion paws either side of the door. Whisper → normal → shout:
Before home time: lay the hutong down for tomorrow — two lines of tape on the floor, a narrow grey street winding past the map, the block wall, the red paper door and the lion. Tomorrow the bus drives down it.
Got 3 spare minutes? Lion Dancer: Ernie Wan's Chinese New Year (Kate Waters) — a real boy, a real lion costume, and a lion that does move.
📲 Share with parents
🐳 Whale Class today — The Stone Lion! We practiced the word “lion” together in circle time, with songs, games and lots of repetition to help it stick. By the end we were all chanting together: “Beijing… wall… red… LION! BEIJING IS MY HOME!” 🎉 Ask your little one to show you at home! 💜
Tap Copy, then paste into your class WhatsApp / parent group.
Day 5 · Beijing Is Home + Big Review
Today's words: home — and Beijing · wall · red · lion, the whole week
2 min Magic Box hook
The box comes out bulging and will not quite shut.
Pull each thing out and hold it up in complete silence. They will supply the word before you can.
The postcards → “Beijing!” The string and the blocks → “Wall!” The paper studs → “Red!” The stone lion → “Lion!”
Last of all, one flat thing left at the very bottom. Lift it out and turn it round: the photograph of our own gate, the one they walk through every morning. “HOME!”
4 min Teach · Home, then the whole week
Everybody stands. We tell the whole week with our bodies, twice — slow, then fast:
A wall, (arms as wide as they go)
a red, red gate, (push the heavy doors open)
A lion by the door, (lion paws, then freeze)
A little grey street, (two flat hands close together, like narrow walls)
and a door that is MINE — (three knocks in the air)
Beijing is HOME! (both hands down at the floor, then over your heart)
Then the map one last time, with all the flags still standing in it: everybody in this room lives in the same dot. A hutong is a little grey street, and behind its red door there is a 四合院 — a square yard with a family round all four sides of it. That is somebody's home. Ours is right here.
Littles do the five gestures and shout the five words. Bigs owe you a whole sentence each: “I live in Beijing.” “My home is in Beijing.” “The Great Wall is very long.”
Teacher fails: on “a door that is mine”, walk up and knock on the cupboard, then try to move in. Wait to be redirected.
Chinese moment: the 家 card joins 京 · 墙 · 红 · 狮 — the whole week laid out on the map, and 家 is the one that matters: 我的家在北京. Say it once, all together, slowly. Then 你好 ready for the bus — every neighbour gets one.
3 min Song · I Live in Beijing — Friday verse, then the WHOLE song
Friday's verse: Wall and lions and hutongs too, (arms wide · lion paws · two hands close together)
Beijing is home — for me and you! (hands over your heart, then both hands out to the whole circle)
The finale: chorus → Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday → chorus, standing round the map with the block wall behind you. They learned it one verse a morning without ever noticing, and this run-through is the review of the whole week.
3 min Game · Beijing bus tour
“One, two, three — eyes on me!” Two rows of chairs, a paper steering wheel, and the taped hutong running past every prop in the room. Everybody on board.
At every stop the whole bus shouts the name — “Beijing!” “Wall!” “Red door!” “Lion!” — and then greets the neighbours standing there: “你好!” Bigs add the sentence before the bus can move: “The Great Wall is very long.”
The last stop is our own classroom door, with the photo of our gate taped to it. Everybody gets off. “HOME!”
Drive it slowly and make the stops long. The waiting between stops is where the quiet children get the courage to shout, and by the fourth stop they will be shouting the name before you have parked.
1 min Close + awards
Every child gets a “You are a STAR!” award to take home. Then, standing round the map with all the flags in it, all five gestures:
Got 3 spare minutes? Home (Carson Ellis) — every page is somebody else's home, and the last question is the one this week has been building to: what is yours like?
📲 Share with parents
🐳 Whale Class today — Beijing Is Home + Big Review! We practiced the words “home”, “Beijing”, “wall”, “red” and “lion” together in circle time, with songs, games and lots of repetition to help it stick. By the end we were all chanting together: “Beijing… wall… red… LION! BEIJING IS MY HOME!” 🎉 Ask your little one to show you at home! 💜
Tap Copy, then paste into your class WhatsApp / parent group.
Theme Song · “I Live in Beijing”
The one song of the week — sung at every circle. Same chorus daily, one new verse each morning, full song on Friday.
The four chords
Tempo: steady and marching, like walking a long wall, and a real stop after “ROAR!” in Thursday's verse so the freeze has somewhere to happen. Am appears once, in the third line of the chorus, under the stone lions — it is the sad-sounding one, and it is doing a job: the lions are old. One finger, second fret, top string.
Chorus — sing it every single day
CBeijing, Beijing — I Flive Chere! (point down at the ground)
FBig red Cdoors and a wall so G7long! C(push the doors open, then stretch wide)
CStone lions sit by the Amold, old bridge, C(lion paws, then freeze)
FBeijing, CBeijing — G7sing my Csong! (both arms wide)
Sing the chorus twice each time. The actions are the whole point — a two-year-old who points at the floor, pushes the doors and freezes like a lion has understood the week, whether or not a single word comes out.
One verse a day — every verse is just C and G7
Monday · Beijing
CWhere do I live? I live right here — (shrug, then stamp both feet)
G7Beijing, Beijing — Cmy home, my dear! (hands over your heart)
Tuesday · Wall
CThe Great Wall is long, long, long, (one arm sweeping wider each time)
G7Up the hill — Cbig and strong! (climbing hand, then strongman fists)
Wednesday · Red
CRed, red doors at the palace gate, (push the heavy doors open)
G7Push them open — Cdon't be late! (one big push, then run on the spot)
Thursday · Lion
CStone lion, stone lion, big and grey, (lion paws, low and heavy)
G7ROAR! — then he Csits all day! (one huge roar, then freeze and hold)
Friday · Home
CWall and lions and hutongs too, (arms wide · paws · two hands close together)
G7Beijing is home — Cfor me and you! (hands to heart, then out to the circle)
The build: each day sing chorus → today's verse → chorus. By Friday they know five verses without ever “learning” the song — and Friday's finale, sung standing round the map with the block wall behind them, doubles as the review of the whole week.
If you're brand new to ukulele
Practice this loop for five minutes tonight: C (4 strums) → F (4 strums) → C → G7 → C. That is the entire song apart from one bar of Am, which is a single finger on the second fret of the top string and sits under “the old, old bridge”. C is one finger, F is two, G7 is three, Am is one — learn them in that order and leave Am until last; the song works without it if you just hold C there for a week. If your fingers get stuck, put the uke down, give one child the drum and do the finger-play instead: the class will not notice, and the actions carry the meaning either way.
Print Pack · Wall + Shelf
One click prints the whole week: theme wall posters, the song sheet, and all the shelf material.
In the print dialog: A4, portrait, “Background graphics” ON (for the emoji art), color. Want only some pages? Pick a page range — the order below is the print order. Card sheets print best on thick paper or laminated.
Page 1 · Theme poster
Pages 2–6 · Word posters for the wall
Page 7 · Sentence frames poster
“I live in ___.”
“The Great Wall is very ___.”
“My home is in ___.”
“The door is ___.”
“I can see a ___.”
Page 8 · Song chorus poster
Big red doors and a wall so long!
Stone lions sit by the old, old bridge,
Beijing, Beijing — sing my song!
Page 9 · Ukulele song sheet
Whale Class theme song · ukulele · C (0003) · F (2010) · G7 (0212) · Am (2000), once, under the lions · strum: Down, Down, Down-Up
Chorus — every day
CBeijing, Beijing — I Flive Chere!
FBig red Cdoors and a wall so G7long! C
CStone lions sit by the Amold, old bridge, C
FBeijing, CBeijing — G7sing my Csong!
Monday · Beijing
CWhere do I live? I live right here — G7Beijing, Beijing — Cmy home, my dear!
Tuesday · Wall
CThe Great Wall is long, long, long, G7up the hill — Cbig and strong!
Wednesday · Red
CRed, red doors at the palace gate, G7push them open — Cdon't be late!
Thursday · Lion
CStone lion, stone lion, big and grey, G7ROAR! — then he Csits all day!
Friday · Home
CWall and lions and hutongs too, G7Beijing is home — Cfor me and you!
Each day: chorus → today's verse → chorus. Friday: the whole song, top to bottom, standing round the map with the block wall behind you.
Page 10 · Beijing 3-part cards — control cards (keep whole)
Page 11 · Beijing 3-part cards — cut apart (pictures + labels)
Pages 12–13 · Old Beijing / New Beijing sorting signs (2 full pages)
Page 14 · Sorting cards — cut apart
The first six belong to 老北京 old Beijing, the last six to 新北京 new Beijing — but never tell them that. The child looks at the card, decides, and lays it under “Old Beijing” or “New Beijing”. Control of error: once the class has sorted them together, draw a small grey dot on the backs of the six old things and a blue dot on the backs of the six new ones, so they can turn them over and check themselves afterwards. Then they tell you: “The rickshaw is old. The subway is new — I go on it with my grandma!”
Page 15 · I Can action cards — cut apart
Page 16 · MY BEIJING DOOR — worksheet (print one per child)
Colour the two big doors RED and the roof grey. Colour the studs gold — count them as you go. Then give each of your two stone lions a face and a curly mane, and colour the ball under the paw. Tell me who lives behind your door!
My name is
My home is in
Page 17 · “You are a star” awards — cut in half, one per child on Friday
This award goes to
This award goes to
Page 18 · Theme shelf guide (for you — tape inside the cupboard)
Four trays, left → right, easiest → hardest. Every tray is a circle-time prop that stayed out — what comes out of the Magic Box in the morning goes on the shelf the same day, already loaded with language.
| Tray 1 · Map of China puzzle from MONDAY's Magic Box | The Montessori map puzzle of China (or a big laminated map), a pot of little flags, and the photograph of our own front gate. Plant a flag on Beijing, then lay the photo beside it. Control: the outline of the puzzle board and the place names printed underneath the pieces. Language: “here · Beijing · my home.” Bigs: “I live in Beijing.” |
| Tray 2 · Build the Great Wall from TUESDAY, and it stays up all week | A basket of wooden blocks and a photo card of a real wall section with its watchtower. Build along the shelf edge, over the “hills” (two upturned books under the mat). Control: hold the build up against the photo card — is there a tower? does it go up the hill? Count it every day; it grows. |
| Tray 3 · Beijing 3-part cards pages 10–11 | Beijing 北京 · wall 长城 · red 红色 · lion 石狮子 · home 家, Chinese and English. Littles match picture→picture on the whole control card; Bigs lay the labels underneath. Control: the uncut control cards. Beside it the 12 sorting cards (page 14) and the two signs (pages 12–13): 老北京 or 新北京? And the action cards (page 15) face down: draw one, do it, say it — “I can freeze!” |
| Tray 4 · Stone lion pairing sensorial, from THURSDAY's lion | Five pairs of stone-lion cards, matched by the pattern on the mane and by what is under the paw — a ball or a cub. Look, compare, pair. Control: matching symbols pencilled on the backs. Beside it, crayons and the “My Beijing door” sheets (page 16). Sheets go home Friday with the award (page 17). |
Laminate pages 10–15 if you can — the cards get handled all week and they come out again for 春节 in a fortnight. The row of 汉字 cards the class built up (京 · 墙 · 红 · 狮 · 家) stays on the map all week — that is the display, no extra work needed. The taped hutong can stay on the floor into next week; Week 19 is China, and it walks straight out of this one.
End of Week Wrap-Up
Friday recap — read it at the last circle, then print it for the parent wall or WeChat photo.
Jan 18–22 · Theme: Beijing · Sound of the week: l
What we did
This week the children learned where they live. On Monday a handful of postcards came out of the Magic Box and we found Beijing on a map big enough to kneel on — and then found our own kindergarten inside it, and everybody planted a flag. On Tuesday we unrolled a very long string down the corridor to feel how long the Great Wall is, and then began building one out of blocks, one block per child, counting it out loud as it grew. On Wednesday we pushed open the big red palace doors and counted the nine gold studs; it was also 大寒, the coldest day of the year. On Thursday a stone lion came out of the box — four hundred years old and it has never moved — and we roared, and then froze, which is the hardest thing we do. On Friday we drove a bus down our own taped hutong, greeting the neighbours with 你好! at every stop, and the last stop was our classroom door: HOME!
Words we learned
Sentences to listen for at home
“I live in Beijing.” · “My home is in Beijing.” · “The Great Wall is very long.” · “The door is red.” · “The lion sits by the gate.”
Our littlest friends say one word with a gesture — “Beijing!” with a finger pointed straight at the floor, or “Lion!” with two paws up, is a big win at 2 and 3.
Our song · “I Live in Beijing”
“Beijing, Beijing — I live here! Big red doors and a wall so long! Stone lions sit by the old, old bridge, Beijing, Beijing — sing my song!”
We sang it on the ukulele every day and added a new verse each morning — Beijing, wall, red, lion, home. Ask your child to sing the chorus and watch their hands: they point at the ground, push two heavy doors open, stretch out wide for the wall, and freeze like a lion.
Dark Phonics · the l sound
In our Dark Phonics work we met l — tongue up behind the top teeth and let the sound run: lip, leg, log. Our silly line for it is “lazy lion licks!”, which could not have landed in a better week: lion, long, look, live, love. It is a sound you can hold for as long as your breath lasts — llllll — so have a competition.
Try this at home (2 minutes)
1 · Walking home, ask “Where do we live?” and let them answer in English: “Beijing!” That is the whole week's assessment, done in five seconds.
2 · Point out one stone lion and one red door on your way somewhere. They are everywhere once you look, and your child will start finding them for you.
3 · Old or new? Play it out of the car or bus window — grey roof tiles and little alleys are old, glass towers and the subway are new.
4 · Hunt for the l sound: lion, leg, log, lamp, light, love — hold the llllll as long as you can.
5 · Sing the chorus in the car. Four lines, four actions, and it ends by pointing at the ground.
Next week the map gets bigger: from our own city to the whole of China. And after that, 春节 — 除夕 falls on Friday 5 February, so the countdown starts now. This week's 大寒 was the last solar term of the winter: from here, spring.
Thank you — from the Whale Class 🐳
Weekly rituals (same every week, only the theme changes)
- Attention grabber: “One, two, three — eyes on me!” → kids: “One, two — eyes on you!”
- The Magic Box: any box with a lid. The chant, the shake, the sniff, the dramatic peek. Whatever the week's theme is, its key prop lives in the box. By week 3 the chant alone will get you silence.
- The two-tier rule: littles succeed with one word + gesture; bigs get a sentence frame. Never make a little produce a sentence — they'll get there by watching.
- Whisper → shout closes: end every day chanting the theme line quiet-to-loud. Calms them, then releases them.
- Teacher fails on purpose: once a day, get something wrong so they can correct you. ESL kids who correct the teacher are producing language without noticing.
Principal coverage map (if she asks)
| Geography: the child's own place in the world | Day 1 China found on a floor map, then Beijing, then our own kindergarten inside it, with a flag planted by every child · Day 5 the same map with twenty flags in one dot — everybody in this room lives in the same place |
| Cultural studies: our own city, old and new | Day 2 the Great Wall and what it was built for · Day 3 the palace gate and its nine studs · Day 4 the paired stone lions of Beijing's gates and bridges, and the 兔儿爷 · Day 5 胡同 and 四合院 named and walked · Tray 3's 老北京 / 新北京 sorting |
| Sensorial: length, and pairing by detail | Day 2 a very long string unrolled down the corridor — long measured with the body, not a number · Tray 4 five pairs of stone-lion cards matched by mane pattern and by ball-or-cub. Control: symbols on the backs |
| Language: 3-part cards, two scripts | Tray 3 Beijing 北京 · wall 长城 · red 红色 · lion 石狮子 · home 家 — Littles match picture→picture on the control card, Bigs lay the English labels underneath |
| Classification: 老北京 / 新北京 | Twelve sorting cards under two signs — hutong, courtyard, drum tower, windmill, rickshaw, 冰糖葫芦 against stadium, subway, bus, tower, bicycle, traffic light. Control: grey and blue dots on the backs, added by the class after we sort them together. It teaches old and new about a place they already know |
| Maths: counting real quantities | Day 2 the block wall counted from the beginning every time a block is added · Day 3 the nine gold studs counted onto the paper door, one child one stud · Day 5 the flags on the map counted before the bus leaves |
| Practical life + control of the body | Day 4 stone lion freeze — roar, then hold absolutely still while the teacher tries to make you laugh, counted out loud so it ends fairly. The quietest three minutes of the week and the hardest work in it |
| Chinese 中文 · 大寒 | One 汉字 card a day on the map: 京 · 墙 · 红 · 狮 · 家 · 北京 explained as northern capital and 长城 as long city (Day 2) · 卢沟桥的狮子——数不清 (Day 4) · 我的家在北京 said together (Day 5) · 你好 at every stop of the bus tour · Wednesday 大寒 with one line of the 数九歌 — 一九二九不出手，三九四九冰上走 — and 冰糖葫芦 if you can get it |
| SEL: belonging | The whole week is one idea — this place is mine and it has a name — and it ends with every child's flag in the same dot and every child's hand on their own heart. Day 5 greets the neighbours by name at every stop, because a home has people in it |
| Inclusion | Children who have moved here from somewhere else say where they are from as well as where they live — both are true, both go on the map, and a second flag is planted for the other place |
| Key phrases, age 3 | “Beijing!” · “Wall!” · “Red!” · “Lion!” · “Home!” · “你好!” — each one drilled with its gesture (point down · arms wide · touch something red · lion paws · hands on the heart) |
| Key phrases, age 4–5 | “I live in Beijing.” · “My home is in Beijing.” · “The Great Wall is very long.” · “The door is red.” · “The lion sits by the gate.” — one frame introduced per day |
| Movement game | Day 1 find our city (flags onto a floor map) · Day 2 build the wall relay, one block each, counted · Day 3 Only Red (move on red, freeze on every other colour) · Day 4 stone lion freeze · Day 5 the Beijing bus tour down the taped hutong, stopping at every prop |
| Songs | One song, deliberately: “I Live in Beijing” at every circle — chorus daily as a finger-play, one new verse per day (Beijing · wall · red · lion · home), full-song finale Friday round the map. C · F · G7 on the ukulele, with a single bar of Am under the stone lions |
| Books | Maisy Goes to the City — Lucy Cousins (D1) · The Great Wall of China — Leonard Everett Fisher, pictures only (D2) · Bringing In the New Year — Grace Lin (D3) · Lion Dancer — Kate Waters (D4) · Home — Carson Ellis (D5) — optional 3-min read-alouds |
| Phonics (Dark Phonics) | l — tongue behind the top teeth, a sound you can hold as long as your breath: lip, leg, log. “Lazy lion licks!” The week's own words carry it: lion, long, look, live, love |
| Assessment: age 3 goal | Answer “Where do you live?” with “Beijing!” and point at the ground, and name lion and red door on sight of a card — checked in Day 5's quick-fire prop round out of the Magic Box |
| Assessment: age 4 goal | Say “I live in Beijing” unprompted, find Beijing on the map twice on different days, and sort three cards correctly into 老北京 / 新北京 — checked on Day 1 and again for real on Day 5's bus tour |
Whale Class 🐳 · This page updates each week with the new theme.