Winter Lesson Plan

Winter has definitely shown up here in Madrid, therefore it's time to dive deep into this topic with my preschoolers!

I discovered, thanks to a Montessori blog, a Ukrainian folktale called The Mitten written by Jan Brett.

The story is about a white mitten, laying on the snow in the wood, that  soon becomes a shelter for several animals: a mole, a rabbit, an owl, a badger, a fox etc. 

To see how it ends take a look at this video.

The story teaches sequencing and a lot of vocabulary related to forest animals and the winter.

The tale is easy to retell so you can shorten it, printing out the characters cutting out a big white mitten and setting up a little drama time instead of reading the original book. 

At the end sneeze aloud and send the animals flying into the air… The children will be happily surprised!

Some activities to do after the reading and strictly related to the story are: color and decorate your own mitten or color only the animals that appear in the story. 

Here you can find the worksheets.

Then, you can go a step forward and talk about winter clothes, cut them out and stick them inside a handicraft wardrobe to practise there is and there are  

Finally for those of you who have a lot of time to spend in the classroom I would suggest to take a look at this interesting Snow Pack

Happy February!!!

More about WINTER? Take a look at this board game

---> El 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. 

                                                   

LESSON PLAN: Exploring Feelings With Cat and Mouse

Teaching the different kinds of feelings is important because it helps children recognize and express their emotions.  

But, how can we arrange an interesting and fun English class for preschoolers about this topic?

Pictures and drama will surely be useful tools to help kids learn about and explore their feelings.

So let's start with a picture book.

One of the books in the Cat and Mouse collection is exactly what we'll need: 

boredom, happiness, excitement, tiredness, thirst, hunger, sickness, fun, surprise, fear, anger, etc. are presented by the two protagonists who decided to go to the circus that has just showed up in town.

As in all the other books of this collection there's an audio CD and a dictionary at the end of the story to learn the right pronunciation and spelling of the new vocabulary.

After reading the book you can arrange a drama game, calling a child to the front of the class to pull a face to express a feeling that the others will have to guess. 

It might be necessary to hand out flashcards for clearer instructions. Here you can find some. 

In addition, once your students have learnt how to pull a face you can teach them this song about feelings.

Mr Printables.com

Finally, I found this handicraft somewhere on Pinterest and I think it would be interesting to reproduce it and let your students play with it. You'll just need some cardboard and patterned paper.

Have fun!

More about Cat and Mouse:

Meet the Animals 

Learn the Colours

Let's go shopping

Eat Good Food

---> lee el post en castellano

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. 

                                                   

Lesson Plan: Gingerbread Cookies... or Another Way To Impress Your Students

Run, run! As fast as you can! You can't catch me 'cause I'm the Gingerbread man!

Autumn has definitely snuck into our lives here in Madrid. It's cold and rainy, and I've already got a cold.

So, since it'll be impossible to go out to enjoy the rejuvenating Sierra of Madrid, I've decided that TODAY IS THE DAY! 

Time for some baking!

And, since I've already ordered my copy of the book The Gingerbread Boy on Amazon, I decided, in order to make the story and the experience unforgettable, that my students will also receive a couple of Gingerbread cookies. 

I will probably prepare a simple activity about 'the family', like the one presented on my previous post about Gingerbread People, to keep adding to the story.

But, the best part is going to be singing the chorus of  this really catchy song  while reading the book.

I can't stop singing it! 

If you decide to bake with your kids the RECIPE is HERE!

--> Quieres leer esta entrada en español? Aquí la tienes!



     

How to teach BEHIND and IN FRONT OF to pre-school kids

Teaching preschoolers is challenging. They can't read or write and their attention spam is directly connected to the interest they feel for what you're trying to teach them.

This month I've been teaching prepositions of place. 

If, on the one hand, ON and UNDER have been assimilated quite quickly, because, I think, they're just one-word prepositions, on the other hand, it looked that BEHIND and IN FRONT OF were more difficult to be learnt.

Till I got inspired by a picture I saw in an English book for children. It was a pre-drawn wood with monkeys hiding behind trees or placed in front of them.

What I did to make it more interesting was to paint trees on a piece of paper and use some stickers, colorful cats, to repeat the exercise.

The kids had to place whole cats IN FRONT OF the trees and cut those cats that they wanted to place behind the trees, to give the impression that they were hiding.

You can see the result in the picture. 

Lovely, isn't it?

Then I asked them to count how many cats were hiding and how many cats weren't, just to review numbers.

Of course, you can draw a different landscape according to the stickers you have at home.

Have fun!

Quieres leer esta entrada en español? Aquí la tienes!

Lesson Plan: Halloween songs, games and fun activities for children

I've been surfing the internet looking for Halloween games, songs and worksheets, over the past few days and this is what I came across.

For preschoolers:

Here's a list of catchy songs to learn or to use as a soundtrack during other activities:

Pumpkin Halloween Dance

The skeleton dance 1

The Skeleton Dance 2

--> Note that the Skeleton Dance will be perfect for learning body parts too.

Then I found these two games:

1) Circle game: Pass the Pumpkin

Form a circle and have the children sit on the floor.  Play Halloween music and pass a small pumpkin around the circle.  When the music stops, whoever is left holding the pumpkin receives a small prize or treat. (This game is from the book 52 Programs for Preschoolers).

I can imagine that smart children will fight for keeping the pumpkin, once they've discovered the trick. So I'm thinking that maybe it will be better to organize a half circle race without a prize.

Something like this, for example:

Have your students sit in a circle.

Choose two children at one point of the circle and give them, respectively, a picture of a pumpkin and a picture of a ghost, for example. The pumpkin will be passed by the first child to the next child on his right,  while the ghost will be passed by the other child to the next child on his left, and so on.

They must say the name of the card they are passing along. You should hear them saying "Pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin" and "Ghost, ghost, ghost"

The cards must travel as fast as possible till they arrive to the opposite side of the circle (opposite the first two children who started the race).

The children belonging to the half of the circle that's completed first, will be the winners. 

We're going to do the same with the pictures of a cat and a bat.

2) Halloween Hunt

Prepare sets of cards with the same pictures on each, representing typical Halloween characters. Use some blue-tack to stick them on the walls or on low surfaces in your classroom. Call out one of the pictures and the children have to find and touch the right one.

If you prefer something quieter, divide your students into small groups. 

Give each group the 4/5 different cards and then call out the one they have to show. This way they can do the activity sitting on their chairs instead of running around.

Next I'll give them a coloring page  representing one or more characters we saw during the games.

Finally, they'll learn about going trick or treating, 'cause I bought an enormous bag of Halloween candies!!!

ihihihhihhiih!!!

For older students I found these ideas: 

1) Introducing Halloween Vocabulary

2) Black Cat Hunt to practice prepositions of place

3) A Word Search

4) The Daily Routine of Monsters,  Zombies, Ghosts and Aliens

For Higher Levels:

The Murder Mystery

Happy spooky Halloween!!!

Lesson Plan: Teaching THE BODY to pre-schoolers

We accidentally started the new school year studying THE BODY.

It happened that I came across a really catchy action song connected to some parts of our body like arms, head, nose, hands, feet etc.

My students loved it and that's why I decided to make the most of their excitement  carrying on with the topic.

First, we made a little handicraft: I drew the head, the body, the arms and the legs of a puppet on different pieces of paper. They colored and cut them. Then, we connected all the parts with clips. You can appreciate the result in the picture!

They're still in my study but we'll hang them in class, as a decoration and also as a reminder.

Next we're going to play a circle game called 'Five in The Middle' to memorize these 4 parts: head, body, arms and legs.

You have to get the children to sit in a big circle. Give a flashcard to each of the children in the circle.

I prepared 4 cards for each body part, because I had 16 kids sitting in the circle. 

Five children have to sit in the middle of the circle without flashcards. 

The children sitting in the circle have to hold up their flashcards so that the children in the middle can see them. 

You call out one part of the body and the children in the middle have to run and touch the correct flashcard held by their classmates.

Children who touch the right cards swap places with the children that were holding them.

Then we'll sing the most famous song about body parts: Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.

Once they've learned the words and the movement try to speed up:

the faster you sing it the more interesting and fun it will turn out.

Finally we're playing Simon Says using verbs like move, touch, raise, lower, open and close.

In addition I'll use some worksheets I prepared where they had to complete some pictures with the missing body parts.

I'm also thinking about using a Mr. Potato Head. Will it help?

I'll tell you as soon as I find out.

More about teaching pre-schoolers here and here

Summer Camp in Madrid - Un resumen de mi campamento de verano en Madrid

It has been a hot July here in Madrid this year, but I was able to enjoy every single day of it thanks to the shadowy garden where I was teaching English to 4 adorable nearly - 4-year- old children. 

numbers and stamps

2 boys and 2 girls. 

The old women around us were surprised by their good manners and the attention they were paying me. 

As I've already told you, it was a great experience!

First of all because I only had 4 students: thanks to that it' was much easier to do anything I wanted, from playing active games to fingerpainting, with calm, positive attitude and a smile constantly stuck on my face.

Being affectionate is definitely a fundamental aspect, if your aim is to convince a young Spanish child that he or she is going to put up with you, speaking a foreign language, for 2 and a half hours from Monday to Friday, for 4 weeks!

glittery bees and flowers shining in the sun

The second important point about teaching only 4 children is that you can really make anyone happy, presenting activities that will suit each member of the group. 

That's also really important if you don't want to frustrate them in their attempt to learn English according to their aptitudes!

Last year I had a bad experience with a Summer Camp. Small children where forced to learn by heart some English sketches just to show off, to their parents, that they had learnt something. 

But it was a real torture! For them, because repeating several times the same unpleasant things at those ages is everything but fun, and for their teachers, who had to put up with their intolerance towards the routine…

So this year, since I didn't have a boss to please, I fiercely tried to avoid all of that. 

It has meant a little bit more of work and time spent thinking about a larger variety of games and activities, but I can tell you that parents were equally satisfied, because they found their offspring singing, saying words and expressing themselves in English, at home, more than usual.

And I firmly think that this is really all we can ask those little heroes.

Finally, I can say I've learnt every week a little more about what children like. 

Here's my list:

the glittery hungry gorilla

1) Glitter!!! : Put some glitter glue on anything you want them to pay attention to and they will take part in any game you'll introduce.

5) Fingerpainting: Painting with their fingers allows them to have a better control on lines and edges.

They're always required to paint inside the edged area and this technique gives them great satisfaction!

3) Plasticine: They can't make much more than snakes, snails and balls by themselves, but you'll gain their admiration forever if you can organize their beloved giraffe's birthday party or a green grocer's store with it.

fruit and vegetables made of plasticine

4) Stamps and stencils! They love them because, since they can't really draw anything artistically valuable, they help them to produce nice pictures without struggling too much with crayons.

5) Gifts: Give them their works to take them home. They will decorate their room with them and consequently they'll be surrounded by English stuff, for at least 2 weeks. Having constant references around it's the best way to make sure that they will never forget what they've learnt.

I REALLY HAD A GREAT EXPERIENCE!

More about the Camp: English in the Garden - Zoo Animals

English in the Garden - Zoo Animals

I'm a little busy these days. I'm teaching every morning a small group of children aged 3 to 4 in the garden of their house. 

The location is pretty nice: green grass constantly watered by sprinklers and tall pine trees to keep us in the shade during the hot summer of Madrid.

Here you can see some pictures of an activity I'd like to share with you, because the children found it easy, entertaining and satisfactory.

It's basically a big poster, representing a zoo -- inspired by the book 1,2,3… To The Zoo, by Eric Carle -- that the children have decorated with stencils of zoo animals.

The result was amazing! We've got rainbow tigers too!

    

CIRCLE GAMES - The Farmer in the Dell

Do you know this song? 

And this is the game you can play with your class

Children (10 or more) join hands and dance in a circle around the FARMER who stands in the center of the circle. 

When the FARMER chooses his WIFE, following the first verse, she joins him inside the circle. 

At the end of the second verse, the WIFE takes a CHILD. 

This continues until the last verse when everyone is in the circle except the CHEESE. 

The CHEESE gets to be the FARMER

Have fun!

Lyrics

The farmer in the dell,
The farmer in the dell,
Hi-ho, the derry-o,
The farmer in the dell.

The farmer takes a wife,
The farmer takes a wife,
Hi-ho, the derry-o,
The farmer takes a wife.

The wife takes a child,
The wife takes a child,
Hi-ho, the derry-o,
The wife takes a child.

The child takes a cow,
The child takes a cow,
Hi-ho, the derry-o,
The nurse takes a cow.

The cow takes a dog,
The cow takes a dog,
Hi-ho, the derry-o,
The cow takes a dog.

The dog takes a cat,
The dog takes a cat,
Hi-ho, the derry-o,
The dog takes a cat.

The cat takes a rat,
The cat takes a rat,
Hi-ho, the derry-o,
The cat takes a rat.

The rat takes the cheese,
The rat takes the cheese,
Hi-ho, the derry-o,
The rat takes the cheese.

The cheese stands alone,
The cheese stands alone,
Hi-ho, the derry-o,
The cheese stands alone.

June Intensive Course - Update - Inglés en Madrid con niños de infantil

Hola a todos!

Un pequeño post sobre lo que estamos haciendo, yo y mis brillantes alumnos de 1º y 2º de infantil, en un colegio de Madrid, durante este mes de junio.

Hemos hecho muchas preguntas: What's your name? What's your brother/sister/ mother/father/granny/grandfather's name? What day is it today? What's the weather like? Where do you live? How old are you?

Seguimos con las canciones: hasta ahora hemos leído, cantado, bailado y jugado con The Wheels on the Bus, We're Going on a Bear Hunt y Five Little Monkeys.

We're Going On A Bear Hunt.avi

The Wheels On The Bus Action Song

Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed - Original Song

Después hemos visto varios animales de la selva: bear, crocodile, lion, bird, giraffe, zebra, elephant, hippo.

Hemos jugado a Good Afternoon Mr Jones, para aprender esta palabra' afternoon' súper complicada :o)

También hemos jugado a What's the time Mr Wolf? para repasar números y animales ( se dan ciertos números de pasos según el animal elegido) y I can see, I can see…(a red bird) …across the sea, un juego donde se necesitan a captain/pirate y a shark más flashcards (o dibujos), que resulta muy útil para empezar a poner adjetivos delante de los sustantivos.

También hemos explorado las emociones haciendo muecas y por fin…pintado!

Hemos pintado palabras que empiezan por J (jump, jellyfish, jet, juice), K (kite, king, kitten), L (leaf, lemon, lorry, lion, Lollipop) M (mitten, milk, moon, monkey) y P (penguin, pie, pig, pencil). Las hemos revisado cada día con juegos y adivinanzas.

En fin, mucho trabajo! Y mucha diversión!

..............................................

Hi everyone!

This is a little post about my June Intensive Course. I'll tell you what my young students and I  have been up to over these past 2 weeks of English classes.

First we've been asking and answering several questions: What's your name? What's your brother/sister/ mother/father/granny/grandfather's name? What day is it today? What's the weather like? Where do you live? How old are you?

Then we've been singing along to these songs:

We're Going On A Bear Hunt.avi

The Wheels On The Bus Action Song

Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed - Original Song

We've been doing many activities to learn them such as reading their books, playing musical chair, musical statue and listening to them during painting time.

We've also seen the words for many wild animals, such as bear, crocodile, lion, bird, giraffe, zebra, elephant, hippo.

We've played 'Good Afternoon Mr Jones' to learn this word 'afternoon' that seems a little tricky to pronounce. 

We've played What's the Time Mr Wolf?' to review the numbers and animals, (every turn we pretend to be an animal, and we walk and produce strange sounds).

We've played I Can See, I Can See… ( a red bird) …Across the Sea, a game that needs a captain/pirate and a shark, to learn that in English adjectives go before nouns. 

We've played Cops and Robbers and Bump the Color, also.

We've explored our emotions by pulling faces and finally… We colored!!!

We painted words that start with J (jump, jellyfish, jet, juice), K (kite, king, kitten), L (leaf, lemon, lorry, lion, Lollipop) M (mitten, milk, moon, monkey) and  P (penguin, pie, pig, pencil).

We've been reviewing them every day through quiz games.

Actually, a lot of work, but also a lot of fun!