Lessons

Once I am in Spain, I hope to post about all the fun and exciting English lessons that I am teaching!

Do You Like...

I did this activity with the 4th Grade class.  We have been talking about different activities, for example  skipping, playing golf, taking photos, and so on.  We practiced using the phrase "Do you like......." with this game.  Each student received a chart and had to go around the class asking everyone which things they like and don't like.  Once we had all finished, we made a chart on the board representing the activities our class like and don't like.  

 Landforms

Acrosport

Van Gogh  - Starry Night 

Vincent Van Gogh is our artist of the year.  The students spent a few lessons exploring him on the internet, looking at different pieces of his work and talking about his painting style of using short strokes to create movement in his work.  Then, with all levels, 1st to 6th, the students were asked to recreate one of his most famous works, The Starry Night.

Hot Air Balloons - 3D Art

3-D Art Project number 2!  Going along with the 3-D concept again, we decided to make hot air balloons out of paper.
Step 1: Cut the pattern out of 6 different colored papers.
Step 2: Fold each shape in half the tall way.
Step 3: Group the colors in 3 and 3 -  (This makes 2 hot air balloons)
Step 4: Using a stapler, have students staple the shapes together to make a 3-D object.
Step 5: Attach fishing line and hang up!

Happy Valentines Day - 3D Art

For Valentine's day, we talked about the concept of 3-D with the students.  We cut out red shaped hearts out of cardstock paper and then decorated them using "love" colors.  Apparently some children's colors of love are a little different than mine, but it's all in the fun.  Afterwards we cut a slit on each heart and attached them together to make a 3-D ornament.  We then hung them from the ceiling in the entryway to our school! 

Flying Kites

To go along with our spring theme, the 1st graders made kites!  

Step 1: Glue 4 post-it notes together overlapping the edges.  

Step 2:  Trim the edges off each pos-it to make a diamond shape.  

Step 3: Using the parts cut off, cut out small bows.  

Step 4:  Attach a string to the bottom of the kite, and place the paper bows on at random.  

Step 5:  Hang and enjoy! 

My Nose (The Face Lesson) 

In class, we read the book My Nose, which talks about building and snowman and all of the parts of the snowman we have to add.  Then we gave the students each their own blank snowman.  They then had to fill in the face and the buttons of the snowman.

Carnaval

For Carnaval each class of kiddos dressed up as a different Renewable Energy.  Check out the sun I made.  You can also see the adorable 4 & 5 year olds in their windmill costumes!

Peace Day

Peace Day, which is celebrated in January in Spain was a day where we talked about respect, kindness and tolerance.  Because peace is a concept that is recognized all over the world, This is the display I made.  The kids learned throughout the week a song that went with this video: 

Afterwards, the students wrote on pieces of paper of different things in their life they can do to keep peace and be respectful.  Then they stuck those pieces of paper to the world.  

Gynkana

After Christmas, my schedule changed a bit and I added teaching classes of Physical Education, Math, and Science in English.  I really enjoy being in the content classes because it is something different than only teaching English language.  We played this game in my 5th and 6th grade class that was learning about healthy and unhealthy eating habits.  We mixed movement and physical education with health.  

The class was divided into 4 groups.  Each group received a chart with the columns Healthy and Unhealthy.  The groups received names of food (in English) and pictures of the food by completing 9 different physical activity challenges.  Each time they completed a challenge, the group received words and pictures.  The group had to then work together to glue the food photo to it's name, and put it in the correct column.  

Organizing the food Charts. 

Healthy VS Unhealthy

One task, use the objects to create a healthy food (this one is grapes)  

Make as many baskets as possible in 3 minutes.  

Knock down the cones using the ball.  

En Defensa Do Ensino Público

As many of you may know, education cuts are regular, even here in Spain.  One day during the students' recess time, the school gathered together, parents came to show their support and the children made a small presentation about the importance of public education.  Each class created a slogan expressing the importance of public education to them, and attached it to our banner EN DEFENSO DA ENSENO PUBLICO (In Defense of Public Education).  

Odaiko Field Trip

The first field trip of the year for the older students at my school.  We first visited the Museo do Islas Atlanticas, a museum about the Islands that inhabit the coastline of Galicia, and the species that live there.  Afterwards we went to a percussion show called Odaiko! 

Lava Lamps! 

Materials: 

~Clear Water Bottle

~Water

~Vegetable or Olive oil

~Liquid Food Coloring

~Alka-Seltzer Tablets

Step 1: Fill a plastic bottle 3/4 full of veg oil (or olive) and 1/4 full of water.  

Step 2: Add food coloring of your choice.  

Step 3: Add a Alka-Setzer tablet to your bottle and secure the cap.  Watch the reaction that is made! 

Step 4: Wait a few minutes for the reaction to occur and enjoy your lava lamp! 

Mazapan

Right before Christmas, the 3yr old's teacher invited me to their class to see them make Mazapan.  Essetially it was like a mixture between a sugar cookie and a gingerbread man.  The dough was made out of almonds, rolled out and cut into little men.  Then they covered them in egg yolks and baked.  I tell you what, these bad boys were delicious! 

Turkey Hands

I heard Mr. Turkey Say.... "Gobble Gobble Gobble" 

Soon it will be Thanksgiving day .... "Gobble Gobble Gobble" 

Thanksgiving is a holiday that people here in Spain don't know too much about.  Almost every person I talked to asked me what it is, and how we celebrate.  With my younger students I of course had to pull the good ole Turkey Hand project out.  I'm pretty sure I did this project multiple times while growing up.  It was a fun activity and the students really enjoyed it.  

Our 1st Field Trip

We went on the first field trip with the 3 yrs old to 7 yrs old students to Vigo! 

First we had our Merienda (snack) in the park.  

Then we walked to the theatre!! 

Then we had to wait a little bit.  

Let the show begin! 

My first puppet show in Gallego.  I figure I did pretty good and was surprised to understand the majority of the dialogue throughout the act.  These two little old men were a hoot.  They were dressed up like clowns and had puppets too! 

All in all our first field trip was ........ A SUCCESS! 

Halloween Murals

This project was completed with students that are in the 5th and 6th grades. It was a pretty casual layout.  We did a group brainstorm of vocabulary relating to Halloween.  Since these students are older they came up with quite an impressive list.  We had everything from moon, to zombie, to werewolf, to vampire, and so much more.  Next we separated the group into two groups.  Each group was responsible for designing either a cemetery or a haunted house.  The students had to work together to collaborate ideas and finish the project.  They definitely have an imagination that's for sure.  Below is what we came up with.  

Before and After

Before and After

Skeletons

For Halloween, I was brainstorming some things that we could do to "spice up" the entry to our school.  

Rosa, the art/english teacher at my school who was on a leave of absence sent me this photo in an email and I thought it was so unique.

So I took inspiration from this and we did our own version.  

1.) Introduce the term: Skeleton.

2.) Talk about action words.  Reading, playing, jumping, dancing, etc...

3.) Explain to the students that today we will be creating a skeleton being active.  Have each student brainstorm what they would like their skeleton to do.  

4.) Show the students the black paper.  Explain that first they need to draw their skeleton on the black paper.  Ask which color they are going to use on the black paper.  Talk about opposite colors.  

5.) Hand out the paper and crayons and let the creativity begin.  

Overall I was fairly proud with the results of this project.  I think the students did a good job imagining all the different actions their skeletons could be doing.  I also incorporated a lot of language learning by having the students explain what their skeleton was doing to the class at the end.  

Bat Mobile

I got this idea from Martha Stewart believe it or not.  I was trying to find a simple art activity to do with my 1st grade class for Halloween.  I did a little perusing and found this template for a Bat mobile.  It was a simple trace and cut activity.  I think it really helped develop my students fine motor skills of cutting, which they seem to need a little practice on.  This was our final product (Image above).  

If you would like the templates for our bat project. CLICK HERE.

Halloween BINGO

So I was thinking that it would be fun to introduce new vocabulary words to the students in a game format instead of always doing the same repeat the new word introduction to new vocabulary.  So I found this BINGO card online and it has worked pretty good so far.  

If you would like links to the PDF versions of these Halloween BINGO cards - CLICK HERE! 

I first had the students color and cut out all the possible pieces for the BINGO board.  Each student will receive a card with 35 pictures of Halloween related objects on them.  

The actual board only has space for 25 objects.  The students then glued the pieces onto their BINGO board.  

Before we got to actually playing the game, I reviewed the vocabulary that the students need to be familiar with.  The following words are what I simplified my list to: 

Mask; Vampire; Face; Hand; Spider Web; Pot; Broom; Pumpkin; Spider; Candy; Haunted House; Trick-or-Treat; Ghost; Frankenstein; Witch; Skull; Black Cat; Moon; Skeleton; Wizard; Witch's Hat; Cemetery; Bat.  

Supplies: Blank BINGO board; BINGO pieces; Scissors; Glue; Crayons/Colors; Markers(Scraps of paper to mark the boxes that have been called.) 

How to Play: 

1. Each student has their own unique game board. 

2. The teacher calls a letter (B, I, N, G, or O) and then one of the vocabulary words above.  

3. If a student has that vocabulary picture in the column of the letter called, they may put a marker on it.  

4. Once a student has marked an entire line of 5 markers in a row, they yell out "Happy Halloween!" 

5. The student then must read back the letters and pictures that they have in a row aloud to the teacher.  

Modifications: For younger students I created flashcards of the pictures while I called the letters and vocabulary to make it easier to identify which word we were talking about.  

Skeleton Body Parts

Halloween is approaching quickly.  In anticipation for this big holiday, we decided to introduce skeletons in our classroom and relate it with a topic that we have already covered, body parts.  

I first reviewed the body parts with the children while they were sitting on the floor.  They would repeat the body part and point to it on their body.  Next I showed them a picture of the skeleton to introduce Halloween.  We talked briefly about different things that are associated with Halloween and then began this worksheet.  

For most kids at my school, the majority of their Spanish is learned orally.  This exercise gave them an opportunity to practice writing in Spanish as well while readying and comprehending the topic.  

LINK TO WORKSHEET

Guess Who? 

With my 4th Grade class, they are learning about different hair styles.  We played the game guess who. First I had each of them cut out this template from their workbooks.  Then we decided which hair color each person's hair would be.  As homework the kids had to take this home and color it.  

The next time we came back to class, they played the game guess who in pairs.  For those of you who don't know how it goes, here are some rules.  

1. Player 1 chooses a person, but does not tell Player 2 which person they chose.  

2. Player 2 asks Player 1 yes or no questions about the appearance of the person they chose.  

3. Player 2 folds over the flaps to help decide which person Player 1 chose.  

4. Once Player 2 has successfully chosen the person Player 1 chose, roles reverse and they play again.  

I think this is a great oral exercise for students to practice speaking and asking each other questions.

It really helps with their comfort levels in speaking a new language.   

Symmetrical Monsters

Symmetry and Halloween scrambled into one! Today I taught my 1st grade art class about symmetry.  We decided to make the symmetry lesson a little more interesting by incorporating Halloween with it.  I did an example up front of folding a piece of paper in half, painting on one side, and then folding it over to "stamp" the paint onto the other side of the paper to make a symemetrical object.  I think the kids really enjoyed it.  Some made monsters, others made snakes, and some made pumpkins.  Here are just a few examples.  Enjoy! 

Color By Number Bears

With my first grade students, they have just started working with colors and numbers.  I decided to do a fun color by number activity with them.  They pretty much did this entire bear on their own, which shows me, they are ready to move onto bigger and better lessons! 

Weather Graphs

The students in 2nd grade are learning about weather.  Since it is pretty routine for the students to talk about the daily weather in English, I thought it would be cool to have them create a graph with 6 major weather patterns.

Box 1. Windy

Box 2. Sunny

Box 3. Snowy

Box 4. Rainy

Box 5. Cloudy

Box 6. Foggy

First I gave the students the sheets of paper.  Next I orally dictated what weather pattern was to be drawn in each box.  While doing so I walked around the room repeating the word.  If a student was struggling I would try to associate the word with an action instead of telling the student the word in Spanish.