We visited Wuhan Guan Primary yesterday.  It was such an amazing experience!  Both the teachers and the students were so excited to see us.  They greeted us at the entrance with large bouquets of beautiful flowers and a sign to welcome us.  The school day is structured with 4 main subjects; math, Chinese, science, social studies.  In 4th grade, students start learning English.  The students have art and physical education two times a week and music daily.  

I was curious as to how they approached math instruction because their country as a whole is so advanced in math and science.  From our discussions with Summer (an English teacher at the school and our interpreter) and our observations of a 3rd grade math class, they use a lot of rote memorization.  They teacher shows them how to do something, she may use manipulatives within her instruction.  The students turn and quickly practice with another student.  Then they sing a song or chant to help with memorization, and then they remember.  This was her explanation.  They do have very small text books and workbooks to go along with the lessons.  When I asked about how they approach math fact memorization, we were told most students know all addition and subtraction facts before entering first grade because the parents work with them at home prior to starting school.  Summer said this is very important to parents and they spend a lot of time making sure their children are ready for school.  They learn multiplication and division facts in 2nd and 3rd grade.  This is taught and practiced in school as well as a lot of practice at home.  When we asked what they do when a student does not know their facts, she said they give them more papers to practice every night.  So failure to know your facts equals more work each night for students.  

The students were very well behaved and we were able to join them with their morning exercise and recess time.  The playground is a small courtyard in the middle of the school and the students spent their recess using jump ropes, yo yo's, hacky sack, and playing on bars.  There were so many students in a very small space so they could not spread out.  One student challenged me to jumping rope contest and I lost!  He said to Summer, "Tell her she may speak better English than me but I can jump rope more than she can!"  He thought it was so funny!  

The school building was very old but had air conditioning in each room.  A new school is being built for them at this time and they hope to have it ready in a year.  There is so much more to tell about this experience and we will have to share more when we arrive back home.