Summer Camp 2015: My House

At Summer Camp this year we learned about 'the house', among other things.
Since the location of the camp is a garden I introduced the topic by asking the children to fetch sticks and dry pine needles to build a simple flat model house in the grass. 
 
Then I let them choose which room was the kitchen, the living room, the bedroom, the bathroom, the garage and the garden and I placed the corresponding flashcards in each 'room'.

After everyone had agreed on the layout of the rooms, we played this simple game: 'Where is the cat (or any other animal or object you know your students may be interested in)?' In this game everybody closes their eyes and you hide the picture of a cat under one of the flashcards representing the rooms.  The children have to guess which room the cat is hiding in. Once they've picked the right room, you can let them hide the cat for the other kids, one by one.

Once the topic was introduced, we read a Cat and Mouse book 'Come to My House' which repeats the same pattern as the game. The protagonists go from room to room asking 'Where is Coco?' the cat family's pet parrot.  
The next step was learning the song 'Cows in the Kitchen', a pretty catchy song.
We studied animal sounds: moo, quack, meow, baa, oink and meh, with a game in which one kid reproduced  one of the sounds and the others had to guess which animal it belonged to. Apparently the most challenging sound to remember was the goat's Meh, as they kept confusing it with the sheep's Baa.


 

Then we built a cardboard house and stuck pieces of furniture in each room. While working, I left the song on in the background, so the children could continue to learn the words without realising. Other games you can play to teach songs in a more playful way are Musical Statues or Musical Chairs. Kids love them!The last step was painting the farm animals mentioned in the song with finger paint. The most fun part was trying to wash our hands in the garden sprinkles without getting completely soaked. Fortunately the heat wave that covered Madrid for the first 3 weeks of July allowed us to dry off quickly anyway.



 
Summer Camp 2014
Summer Camp 2013

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Summer Camp 2014: IN THE WOODS

I introduced the topic with a nature walk scavenger hunt to make the most of the fact that the classes were being taught in a garden with a lot of pine trees. Here you can download the list of things that the children had to find which you ca use to entertain them during your picnics.

There is a large number of books about woods and the animals that live there but my first pick was "Goldilocks". I showed the kids this video which is quite easy to follow for preschoolers who are attending bilingual schools and then we played several games such as 'Cops and Robbers' using the pictures in this pack.

We also tried to act the story out, we ate a lot of gummy bears and we made finger puppets… They loved it!

Another story we listened to, sang and acted out was "We are Going On a Bear Hunt". It's a good story for children who are learning English because it has a lot of basic sounds that aren't so common in other languages, so kids can practice some phonetics without even realizing.

After that, I scattered some colorful bear footprints around for the kids to run and look for.

A couple of other nice and entertaining stories that are set in woods with animal protagonists are: "I Want My Hat Back" by Jon Klassen and "The Gruffalo" written by Julia Donaldson (video).

During our handicraft time, besides finger puppets, we reproduced a campfire, a porcupine (see pictures) and an owl to make the most of all the dry sticks, leaves and pine needles we were surrounded by.

Oh! By the way, if you're looking for a story about an owl, Kayleigh O'Mara has written and illustrated one that children will definitely find interesting.

Also read: UNDER THE SEA  and AT THE BEACH

Enjoy your summer!

Lucy dedicates a lot of time and love to thinking about and writing the posts she shares with all of you. Because she believes that a better teaching is the key for a better future. If you find any help, value or joy in this blog, please consider becoming a supporting reader. A donation, in any amount, will be gratefully accepted. 

                                                   

     


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Summer Camp 2014: AT THE BEACH

As they say "Time flies when you're having fun!", and July has just flown away. I can't even believe it!

I had the opportunity to teach my own Summer Camp again in the same place as last year, with even more children aged 4 and 5.

This year we worked on holidays and I'm sure you've already guessed the topics: at the beach, under the sea and in the woods.

Let's start from the beginning: AT THE BEACH

First of all, I introduced the new vocabulary using this pack where you'll find flashcards and activities about beach items.

We played beach ball games and...

Simon Says at the Beach
Simon Says at the Beach is simply a game of Simon Says with beach theme movements like these.
Walk like a crab. 
Snap like a lobster. 
Swim like fish. 
Roll your arms like a big wave. 
Tip toe like you're walking on hot sand. 
Dig in the sand.

Sand Bucket Bean Bag Toss: set up sand buckets and play a beanbag toss game.

What time is it Mr. Lifeguard?
This is a fun game to play outside. You can change the name to suit any
theme.
The children all line up against a wall or fence.
And one child, (Mr. Lifeguard) or the teacher faces away from the
children, a good distance away from the children.
The children yell, what time is it "Mr. Lifeguard",
Mr. Lifeguard answers 1 o'clock, and the children all take one step toward
Mr. Lifeguard.
The children yell again, what time is it "Mr. Lifeguard",
Mr. Lifeguard answers (fill in the blank) o'clock, and the children all
take same number of step toward Mr. Lifeguard.
This continues until all the children are very close to Mr. Lifeguard,
then Mr. Lifeguard will answer it's midnight, and chases the children back
to the fence or wall that they started at. The first person Mr. Lifeguard
touches will be the new Mr. Lifeguard.

Beach Hide and Seek
Play the game the same as above, except hide the beach object. Then
tell the children individually whether they are "hot" or "cold" to the
relation of the object. Allow the other children to have a change to
hide the object, and tell children whether they are "hot or cold". It may be a good idea to discuss the meaning of hot and cold before you
play this game.

Beach Shape Fishing Game
Tie 3 feet of string to a wooden spoon. Attach a magnet to the end of
the string. Cut and laminate many different colored, and sized beach
shapes from construction paper (not too big though). Attach a paper clip
to each shape. Spread the shapes on the floor and let your child try to
catch the shapes. Have them try to catch the red shape.. or the biggest
shape. For a twist, label the shapes with letters or numbers. Ask the
children to catch a specific shape, or ask them which shape they caught.

We sang these songs:

My Beach Ball Song
sung to "Mary had a Little Lamb"
 
Once I had a beach ball
a beach ball
a beach ball
Once I had a beach ball
Bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce

Beach Song
Tune: The Farmer in the DellSong - words by Laurie Patsalides

I'm walking to the beach; (Walk in place.)
I'm walking to the beach. (Walk in place.)
I think I'll find a shell in the sand. (Pretend to dig.)
I'm walking to the beach. (Walk in place.)
Repeat with different motions for physical activity (running, stomping or marching).

And every day the kids enjoyed a handicraft activity:

Sand Art
Allow the children to glue sand to a piece of paper to create a beach scene. Add white torn paper for clouds, colored torn paper for umbrellas.

Make your own Leis
Supply the children with flower shapes, a hole punch and string. Have the children punch a hole in the flowers and lace them onto the string for a necklace.

Beach Towel
Have the children design their own beach towel with scraps of paper, ribbon, markers, crayons etc.

Beach Umbrella Art
Cut out a beach umbrella shape and have your child decorate it with paint, glitter, fabric, crayons, or whatever you can come up with.

Sunglasses Art
Cut out a sunglasses shape and have your child decorate it with paint, glitter, fabric, crayons, or whatever you can come up with.

I also showed them a book called "ToThe Beach!" written by Linda Ashman, which besides being a rhyming picture book, it is also really funny. The children couldn't stop saying "These people are crazy!"



Also read: IN THE WOODS and UNDER THE SEA

--> Quiero leer este post en español

Lucy dedicates a lot of time and love to thinking about and writing the posts she shares with all of you. Because she believes that a better teaching is the key for a better future. If you find any help, value or joy in this blog, please consider becoming a supporting reader. A donation, in any amount, will be gratefully accepted. 

                                                   

 

Teaching English Through Games: GUESS WHO?

Over these years of teaching children I got the clear idea that every single structure of grammar or word of vocabulary learnt using textbooks must be put into practice.

Why?

Because the use of the language during situations that require an extra effort to express themselves to reach a goal will make those structures and words stay in their brains forever.

How?

If your students don't have any possibility of having 'real English experiences' in their lives, what you can do is to provide them with games.

Yes, GAMES!

Playing any games in English is an excellent strategy to get them involved into the real use of English and you'll reach two important goals at the same time:

on the one hand you can get their full attention and participation with practically no effort, and on the other hand you'll have them practicing what they have previously learnt in a more natural and relaxed way.

One of my favorite games is 'GUESS WHO?'. 

It's really useful to work on questions using the verb to be, the construction have got and the present continuous in the 3rd person, besides vocabulary about physical appearance and articles of clothing.

"Is your person a man or a woman?"

"Is he/she fat/old/young/middle aged?"

"Is he bald?"

"Has he/she got blond/fair/dark/red/white/long/curly/ straight hair?"

"Has he got a moustache?"

"Is he/she wearing a hat/ eyeglasses?

I also recently found another "Guess Who?" , a kind of a copy, which is even a little more complex and complete than the original one because it shows pictures of whole children, not only their faces, wearing a larger variety of clothes and playing some games. 

So my students can practice more vocabulary about colours and clothes, and use the present continuous with the verbs wear and play.

100% engaging! I promise!

It would be so amazing to find even more versions of this game!


       

I design series of activities based on a communicative method that will help children to practice the grammar they're learning at school.

Many ESL activities, I see, are nothing more than 'fill in the blank' exercises that only teach kids how to fill in blanks and miss the whole point of learning to speak and understand a new language.

It's much easier and more fun to learn by doing, and you'll be surprised at how quickly you'll see valuable results. 

You can get my activities on my online store:

http://childreneslworksheets.bigcartel.com