Science is one of the subjects that children who attend bilingual schools here in Spain have to study in English.
Most science books present just boring descriptions of things that children don't understand but have to learn by heart anyway to pass a monthly test.
I personally love science, especially because it's connected to real life, but, over all, because it's based on the scientific method, that let reality speak for itself, while we only have to make predictions, observe a phenomenon, and take notes to decide whether our predictions were right or not.
This means that science classes might potentially be something really engaging for children.
Unfortunately, this is not the case, at least according to my personal experience.
But, I won't complain about the missed opportunity of saving Spanish children from their boring science classes. Not at all!
Instead, I'll post about an experiment I personally conducted to observe the life cycle of plants and particularly of Dandelions (click on the picture above). Something you can easily do in your classes or at home to help kids understand and remember scientific terms in English.
Find some useful flashcards here. and a complete lesson plan here
More about science and the scientific method in the excellent children's book The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate.
---> 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.
It's still springtime, isn't it? It's time for another post about it. Have you already read the first one I published in March? If you're looking for original ideas to use in your class you should definitely take a look at it.
'Plants' are another trending topic during this season and also a good excuse to teach eco-friendly habits!
I introduced the subject using, of course, a book illustrated by Eric Carle: The Tiny Seed.
It's kind of a long story for the short attention span of my preschoolers, so I had to illustrate a shorter version of it with finger paint. I selected 8 scenes and kind of rewrote it using repetitive patterns and questions to keep the children's attention.
The best part? When they saw the giant flower, taller than the house and the trees.
They all screamed stuff like '¡Alá! ¡¡¡Es gigante!!!'
I don't know if I've ever told you this, but I usually read a story twice, because the second time, since they remember some parts of if and already know some of the key words, they are more attentive and interactive.
Then, we learnt The Flowers Growing Song, to feel like a tiny seed!!!
OK, the kinesthetic learning style is one of my favorites. I admit it.
Then, we took a much closer look at the different parts of a flower using this puzzle on page 8 of this Garden Pack 2, and we play with this fun game, on pages 9 and 10 of this other Garden Pack, that teaches children what a plant needs to grow
The 3 packs (the link to the first one is in the previous post) are full of ideas and activities. If you have a lot of time to spend with your kids--that's not my case--I warmly recommend you make the most of them.
Finally, I gave them a precious gift: a little transparent bag with 3 sunflower seeds to plant at home.
They were all very impressed.
More activities about plants and gardening here and here.
--> 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.
