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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Spring - Lesson Plan 2 - Plants

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.

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Tiny garden - Pot labels

Do you have a little garden in your school?

So why don't allow your pupils to grow flowers and vegetables in it?

Even if you don't have space, and the only area you can use is the windowsill, few pots and a selection of seeds might improve the enthusiasm of those young learners.

Plants like radishes and lettuce grow very fast. Your students will be able to collect them after few weeks, with great satisfaction. 

Slower plants like charts, strawberries or tomatoes, otherwise, can teach them that there is the right time for everything. 

Decorate the pots with labels to remember which plant is in it and how to take care of its life. It could be a craft activity to teach them new vocabulary.

You can also teach 'responsibility' handing tasks out to each one (or to each group if they are very young).

Tiny Garden - Pot Labels

An example of simple labels that your kids can easily make. 

Cover them with a plastic film so you can avoid that water damages the drawings and the paper.

HERBARIUM

Introduce your pupils to the magical world of plants!

As we already well know they will enjoy doing some crafts, more than a boring explanation, so why don't make them start by exploring their gardens and taking notes on what they can see?

The first activity could be making a book, called an Herbarium, used in Botany to classify plants. They can pick flowers, dry them and stick them in this book made of sheets of heavy cardstock.

I personally prefer to leave plants where they are and take pictures of them, and so will some of your students, while others will enjoy a direct contact with the plants best.  

Here there is an example of my Herbarium made of pictures and drawings that your students can also do. 

It's a good exercise to improve their ability to pay attention!!!  

If they have a good level of English, they could find interesting a little research on the plant and write a summary of its most important characteristics. 

Here http://www.education.com/activity/article/Herbarium_Sheets/

is a page where you can find out how to make a traditional one.