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.

GARDEN SCRAPBOOK

This activity is suitable both if your school or house has a garden or even a little park in front of them. It consists of drawing or taking pictures of a part of the green area during the different seasons to observe how they change depending on the weather. 

Your kids can put leaves and flowers in it. You can provide them a seed catalogue, so that they can cut out pictures of the plants their seeds are going to grow into. 

They can draw, cut out and label every kind of wildlife they see. It will make the work even more exciting!

Here, an example!

These activities, apart from keeping the task of learning a little bit more participatory, also raise their awareness about the environment all around. That's the first very important step towards growing up to be sensitive human beings.

More 'green' stuff: THE LORAX by Dr Seuss
TINY GARDEN AND THE ERBARIUM

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.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Roald Dahl was born in Wales of Norwegian parents. He had an unhappy time at school - at Llandaff Cathedral School, at St Peter’s prep school in Weston-super-Mare and then at Repton in Derbyshire.
Dahl’s unhappy time at school was to influence his writing greatly. He once said that what distinguished him from most other children’s writers was “this business of remembering what it was like to be young”. Roald’s childhood and schooldays are the subject of his autobiography Boy.

Every Christmas, during my childhood, I used to watch the movie inspired on this book.  

Little Charlie and the four old grandparents in only one bed, the incredible moment when he finds the Golden Ticket etc. 

Everything has magically come back to my mind. It surprised me and it made me laugh once again. 

I loved it! 
Here you can find some activities for your class:

http://www.leapinginto5thgrade.com/CharlieChocolateFactory.htm





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. 

                                                   

THE ADVENTURES of HUCKLEBERRY FINN by Mark Twain

Sterling has published this collection of classic novels abridged for young readers. The intention is to give them a sense of independence and the satisfaction of finishing a "grown-up" book. I bought the version which has two audio CDs included.

I think it's an interesting project. It helps to improve both reading and listening skills.

Listening and trying to understand a different language it's the first step in a new language world.

After that the student will have got enough self confidence to start speaking it.

Learning languages is magic!

Action Comecoco!!!

'Paper origami fortune teller'
Teach your students and play one of their favorite games
at the same time!