STEM I: Science week, suggestions and websites.

Hello everyone!

  Ja estem en plena setmana de la ciència, i reenganxem el bloc amb propostes orientades a combinar English i STEM.

 Entenem per STEM la ciència, tecnologia, enginyeria i matemàtiques ( in English Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths). L'objectiu es promoure aquestes especialitats entre els petits i joves de la casa mitjançant jocs, activitats, manualitats,... En alguns casos trobareu també la variant de STEAM que inclou l'ART com a fil conductor.

 Us deixem amb un llistat de les nostres webs preferides per treballar aquest temes, a més de recomanar-vos buscar activitats STEM o STEAM a Pinterest, on trobareu mil i una opcions i suggerències!

 Ah! I no oblideu que tenim Supermoon this Monday!!

 Have a great week and enjoy English with your family!

Learning about FOOD II

Food is one of our favourite topics, as there are many different ways of working English around Food. With our youngest students we love listening to the funny versions of Do you like song of Super Simple Songs

There are now 4 or 5 different versions, that help us work on grammar structure Do you ? Yes I do / No I don't, plus vocabulary.

We also use the opportunity to talk about BREAKFAST/ LUNCH and DINNER ( or supper). We made a poster with our older students about what do they have for each meal?

We will also be talking about what do we use to EAT. I take a box with a spoon, fork, knife, glass, plate, bowl, napkin, tray and cup ( plastic of course!). We look and repeat orally the vocabulary, then write it down on a paper. 

 I also use the opportunity to ask them what is their favourite food and get the conversation going around!!

Have a great day!

Story telling!

Aprofitant la setmana cultural que fem a l'escola per Sant Jordi, vaig explicar un conte en anglès als alumnes de P5. Vaig escollir el conte de Jane and the Dragon, amb un principi que ens recorda a la llegenda de sant jordi, pero amb una herïna en aquest cas que vol demostrar que també pot ajudar i sobretot un final sorprenent amb noves amistats i tot!

El conte totalment in English, va començar amb un calentament amb cançons i vocabulary. El relat amb accions per involucrar els petits no va durar més de 15 minuts i vam acabar l'activitat fent un colour by number d'un drac.

A les extraescolars estem treballant també storytelling, i els grans hem de decidir un conte per explicar als més petits (infantil). Volem fer un puppet show, i aquests són alguns dels títols que tenim en ment:

- The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson. A part de ser una història divertidíssima amb uns protagonistes molt definits, tenim infinitat de material a la web per treballar el conte a classe.

-Aliens love underpants by Claire Freedman & Ben Cort. Divertida i original, amb moltíssimes possibilitats per ser representada.

-The three little pigs. Ens agraden els clàssics, sobretot si donen tant de joc com the three little pigs. L'avantatge és que el públic ja coneix la història i pot seguir el conte sense problemes. A més hi afegiríem alguna cançó.

Com veieu encara no ens hem decidit, ens recomaneu algun conte in English??

English Books for Sant Jordi

Roald Dahl is a classic, and you have probably already read or seen some of his most popular stories such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or Matilda. You will find other great titles such as Fantastic Mr Fox or the Enormous Crocodile, shorter stories full of fun and originality.

 Rod Campbell has some great and funny books for younger children, such as Dear Zoo...the main character writes a letter to a Zoo asking for a pet and ....well, you need to read the book to discover what happens. He also publish a fantastic animal ABC book and the Noisy Farm. 

Eric Carle is a fantastic author, full of originality and creativity. We love Brown Bear, Brown Bear or the Hungry Caterpillar. You will definetly get it right with these books, specially for toddlers and preschool.

Dr. Seuss has bestsellers all around the globe that are over 50 years old, but still engaging and beautiful. The Lorax or Top Cat are amazing, and highly recommended.

Julia Donaldson is probably one of the most popular writers with a never ending collection of books and stories. We are great fans of the Gruffalo, but also enjoy her classic The Magic Paintbrush. And if you want to help your preschool and primary students, there is a fantastic new collection Songbirds Phonics, with a wide range of books and levels, aiming at working on various phonetic sounds. They come with funny pictures and instructions for parents or tutors on how to help children enjoy.

Hope you have a great day, week and Saint George celebration! After all, Saint George is the Patron Saint of England and children celebrate his legend as a knight in shiny armour!

Paper Christmas tree

One of our favourite sites and facebook page and pinterest board is Red Ted Art.  Just to get great ideas, inspiration and motivation, I assure it is worth it!

 Si voleu idees genial, originals i creatives, heu de fer-vos seguidors d'aquesta pàgina. Comparteix moltíssim material a més a més de projectes i idees.

We decided to try out the paper Christmas tree, and it was a great success!!

Aleksandar working on his tree!

We both made a Christmas tree each ( fantastic for adults too!), plus we got to do some origami!

Click here for the link in Red Ted Arts page to download the paper trees and enjoy!

Sock snowmen

Back to our handcrafts! We decided to start getting our Christmas decorations ready. After discussing what to do first, Aleks and Pau decided they wanted some snowmen, as we don't get any snow in Torredembarra!

 This is what we did! ( great for ages 3 to 8 year olds!)

We used some old baby socks, white for the body,and coloured ones for the hat! We filled our snowmen with cotton, but I have seen a very nice version with rice. It makes them more stable! We used thread to tie the sock, and then some leftover material to make a scarf. Some old buttons, little paper pompons and felt pens did the rest! They really enjoyed it and even took them to school to show their friends!

EARTH DAY

I m in the middle of celebrating Spring, Nature and Earth day at our English activities this month.

I have come accross some fantastic ideas and inspiring units and wanted to share with you some of them!

Younger students love learning about Spring, nature and specially BUGS. Check out Crafts by Amanda where you can find some beautiful and fantastic ideas to do with kids. We were inspired by her to do our own twirling ladybirds and children loved it!

Another fantastic set of ideas comes from Renae at Every Star is different . You will find a fantastic flower unit, inspired by Montessori.

At the helpful Garden you can find some amazing material, It was great to come across a Montessori Botany nomenclature set for primary 3 to 6 years. We used it in our activities and children loved listening and learning about parts of plants and trees.

Thanks for reading! Hope you have a fantastic Earth Day!