An unforgettable moment...

My daughter is turning 10 on Saturday. All of a sudden, I noticed that she's growing too fast... In some days, she is going to be a pre-teenager and I'm going to lose my baby... Forever... Time passes by too fast and the only thing we have are the memories. My daughter's teacher, Vanessa Araujo, understood the necessity of etching memories on students' heart in and she did that in a way that touched us (both students and parents) profoundly... 

During a parents' meeting conference, she gave us a piece of cloth and asked us to write a message for our little ones. She explained that as it would be a surprise for them, it would be very convenient if we didn't tell them anything.

Having written that, I confess I didn't expect what was to come. She made a patchwork bedspread with all the messages.  This is the result...

In the first class right after vacation, she showed students their parents' messages. Many students cried as they read the messages. Others thanked her for having the opportunity to know how loved they are. The important is that even for nine-year-old children it was a very touching moment.  This is certainly one of the most beautiful classroom activities I have ever seen. The lesson taught at that day became an unforgettable  moment students will never forget, not only for the messages they received themselves, but also for all the joy and emotion of their friends. As Vanessa says "what you (students) have, nobody can take of you". After this wonderful lesson, I think that for the next children's day I'm going to give my students much more than candies and stickers... I'm going to give them memories...

My version of the same idea

For my first day of class, I decided to use the sunglasses project. I prepared a whole class for this simple project and I'd like to share it with you...

Material needed: one paper sunglasses per student, scissors, colored pencil. 

Preparation in advance: Take some flash cards or a PowerPoint  presentation with pictures related to vacation to the classroom.

Time: 60 minutes

I welcomed students and asked them to sit on a circle on the floor. Then, I showed them my paper sunglasses, very similar to this one...

By the way, This one, as I mentioned before, I took from Pinterest. 

So, I invited them to guess what  I did during my vacation. After that, I told them they were supposed to draw something nice that had happened to them during their vacation. But they couldn't tell anybody about it, since they would play a guessing game. 

After 20 minutes drawing and coloring things, I worked with vocabulary. 

I created this "page" on an Ipad app named Popplet. It has a free version (that you can only create one vocabulary cloud) and a paid one. I usually use this app to work with vocabulary, but I know there are many other uses of it. It's worthy downloading it. Take a look at the one I created for this class...

It took me less than 5 minutes to make it I elicited vocabulary and drilled pronunciation. To consolidate the new structures, I played a hot potato and a miming game.

When I felt students were familiar with the new vocabulary, I played the guessing game. In two groups, students discussed about their vacation. Then, student from group A showed his /her sunglasses to group B. Students from group B had to guess what he/she did during his/her vacation.

To wrap up, after playing this game, students were invited to write a paragraph about their vacation. The sunglasses and the paragraph will certainly become a bulletin board which pictures I post later! 

I hope you enjoyed this class!

Ideas for the first week of class

Starting a new semester is not an easy task. I've been looking for ideas and I'd like to share with you some of the best projects ideas I found on Pinterest. I hope you like it!

This is a getting-to-know-you project! 

In advance, teacher cuts the students' profiles.

Students are to cut from a magazine or draw things they like and paste on their profiles. Then, in pairs or in groups, the class try to find out what the pictures are about. I think it is a really nice activity for the first day of class!

Another very nice project I found on Pinterest was "We were looking back on summer, this is what we see". Take a look...

This is a variation of the same project...

Students are to draw what they did during vacation. Then, the class can have a very nice conversation about it. Did you like it?

Another very cute idea...

Students draw things  they did during vacation again... But now, using colored chalk on a black sheet of paper... How about this?

Let's welcome students? This is what I found to make it possible...

Some ideas to start a very nice semester!

Break a leg!

Revising the semester

Last week of class... I wanted my students to revise all vocabulary and content we learned during the semester. I  was looking for a different activity when a student came to class holding a huge letter... My class was ready! I asked my students to open their books and hands on... This is the result!

Did you like it?

Vocabulary Bank

My 3rd grade students are learning the parts and the names of the insects in English. They were having some difficulties to recognize them, though... So I came up with the idea of having a  vocabulary bank which was visually appealing for them. I looked for images on google and copied them on a card paper. Then, I divided students into pairs and asked them to color the insects and write their names. Then, they helped me to hang them on the wall.

Simple and effective. See the result...

Did you like it? Give me your feedback!

QR code treasure hunt

Last year, I discovered a tool that brought novelty to my classes. The QR codes. They are an optical label that has information about anything you want. These codes lead you to a video link, or a website, or a photo, text message, even Google Maps... That is, the options are various! So, as a teacher looking for an adventure, I decided to create a treasure hunt using these codes. 

One class before, I asked my students to download a free app named QR Reader, 

which is a scanner that reads the information on the code, on their own devices and asked them to bring their gadgets to class. Having done that, I had to create the codes. Easy! Using the same app, I created the codes with the information I wanted them to follow. For example, the information on the first code was: Go upstairs. Talk to Maria. So, if they followed my instructions, they would find the next hint and so on. 

Needless to say they had fun!

I also created a kind of vocabulary search. I created codes with definitions and spread them around the class. The codes had definitions for the lesson target vocabulary. Students had to write the word that was defined.

Did you like it? Lots of preparation, but lots of fun too!

Earth Day

Another beautiful project that I took from Pinterest...  Coffee filter, markers and water spray... Some sentences like: " Protect the Earth", "Save water"... And this was our bulletin board for the Earth Day...

Calendar

I've had this calendar forever and I had never thought of a practical and effective use for it in my classroom besides the  decoration. But then, giving it a second look, I noticed how useful this can be for a teacher in need of a project!

To start with, the days and months are pieces that you can put where they are more convenient for you... I wanted my second and my fifth graders to learn how to say the dates in English. So, I started the class by having all students sit down in a circle. Then, I gave the students the months of the year and asked them to put them in order. As a follow-up, I asked students when their birthdays were. The only information I needed at that stage of the lesson  was the month. After this, I gave them the numbers and started calling them out, so students had to put the numbers in the correct place. Back to the circle, I repeated my question : When is your birthday? Now, I wanted them to give me the complete answer. For further practice, I gave them a piece of paper to ask when their classmates birthdays were and take notes. To wrap up, they had to memorize their classmates birthday to play a memory game. This class lasted 1:30. 

I hope you have enjoyed it!

P.S: I bought this calendar at Trend. The site is www.trendbm.com.br

Parts of the body and shapes

This project I called production. I asked each of my students to bring a shoe box to make a robot. I wanted to practice not only parts of the body, but also shapes, a content that they had previously learnt. Before the class, I cut circles, squares, triangles, rectangles and ovals so that they could be the  parts of the robot's body. We practiced the vocabulary and they started making their robots. When they finished, they were to write the parts of their robots.

Parts of the body II

Still practicing the parts of the body...

My second graders drew a monster...

I took a picture of the monsters they drew using my iPad. Then, I projected the images on the board so that they could present their monsters... They had to say:

This is my monster. His / her name is... He /she has... heads, ears...

 

They loved seeing their monsters on the big screen!

Simple and very effective!

Mr. Potato Head

I had to teach parts of the body for my second graders... I started searching for projects  on Pinterest,where I saw a post in which the teacher drew the parts of the famous mister and used it to review for the parts of the body. Using my magic trick ( I used a magic trick of mine, which is project the image on the board and just trace it on a hard sheet of paper and cut. Here is the result...

After some drilling, I gave the students the parts of the Potato Head so that they had to come and put them in the correct place... Students simply loved it!

Counting high with "Up"

I'm very proud of this project!

I was teaching my second and third grades to count from 1 up to 100 by ones and by twos. I wanted a project which helped them to visualize the numbers and their multiples. Searching on Pinterest, I came across a similar project and that's where my inspiration came from. 

The first step was to draw a house similar to the movie "Up!". If you are as talented as I am, you'll love this trick I got from a friend. I projected the image I wanted on the board and then I simply copied it. That is the result...

Having done this, I was ready to start my project.

Part 1

I made one as an example and posted it on the white board.

I taught the numbers for my second grade and revised them with my third. 

For recognition, I asked them the following questions:

What color is number twelve? 

After doing this for a while, I played a memory game with them. I said the number, they were to tell me the color of the balloon the number was written on.

Part 2

The second part is the work to be done!

I have 12 students, so I divided them into 4 groups. Each group had one poster to color.

I asked them to color the house the way they wanted.

Part 3

After coloring, it's time to blow the balloons and use scotch tape to attach them to the posters. But before this step we agreed on a few things.

They could only speak English, that is, if they spoke Portuguese, they would be invited to sit down.

I had one student counting the balloons, another writing on them and another one attaching them to the poster. I was very strict with Portuguese.

They practiced a lot... Not only the numbers but also the sequencing!

Follow-up

I kept on practicing the numbers and sequencing and multiples the following classes using the material they produced... It was a really nice project!

Toy Store

 Hi there!

As it is the first post, we'd like it to be a very nice one! The topic of my class was toy store and how to deal with money, so I decided to make it more meaningful for my students. For this very reason, I took an old cardboard box I found on the street,  wrapped it in some cloth and scrap paper, bought the toys in a  $ 1,99 store and this is the result.

The objective of the class was to work with the vocabulary related to toys in a toy store, practice the numbers through prices and solve simple math problems. 

After having exhaustively worked with the vocabulary (dolls, bike, skateboard, yo-yo, jump rope, cars and balls), students were to label the toys and solve some related math problems. As a follow-up, students will bring some fake money to class and will practice buying and selling toys. I hope you enjoyed this project!