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.

The Beatles

Beatles songs are very useful to teach English.
They are easy to listen to, to remember, and to dance too!!!
Kids will enjoy the entire learning process.

I brought the lyrics to my class, one photocopy for each student, and the CD with the song. The first 3 times I explained the song and I sang with them. Then I let them mix freely in the classroom with the text...
It was really fun, they started marching to the sound of "we all live in a yellow submarine..." and ended with a conga line.
After 2 months I heard someone of them singing it.

You can propose a second activity to go into the lyric in depth.
Take a Beatles song, divide it in verses and write them with a pencil
on different sheets, possibly one for each student, underlining words they could represent with drawings.
Then pass out the papers and:
1st let them go over the words again with a coloured marker
2nd hand out pieces of coloured papers where they will draw the underlined items.

you can find a specific CD entitled ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE - BEATLES SONGS FOR KIDS
(produced by Music For Little People - www.mflp.com) if you want to save time on searching for the most appropriate songs.
I bought it on eBay for 10 euros more or less.

Fun in the Kitchen with Gingerbread People

Subject Areas:
Food, Body parts, Clothes, Family tree।
Language Items:
GINGER DADDY
is wearing a pair of striped trousers,
a white belt made of pink icing, etc.

GINGER MUMMY
is wearing a long dress, with two purple buttons
made of chocolate and a white belt made of icing, etc.

What are GINGER DAUGHTER/SISTER? GINGER SON/BROTHER wearing ?
What colour is her SKIRT?
What is her MOUTH made of?

Functions:
Describing people.
Make questions about their appearance, their clothes and colours.
Use types of candies and food.
Listening (the tale of the gingerbread man).

Game examples:
Give your pupils a paper’s template of the gingerbread men, women and kids, this way everyone will be able to draw his own family tree.

Show them a list of ingredients, previously prepared at home, that can be used to decorate their drawings.

Sketch the ingredients on the blackboard, so kids can copy them.
And then call and ask each one about one or two members of his ginger family.

More Activities:

In the Fridge and Tiny Garden
Body parts Cootie Catcher