Project: This is my family!

At the end of our third unit, students were ready to talk about their families in front of their classmates. 

You can see how proud they were:

   
   
This was an optional project. Thank you boys and girls for sharing your family photos!

   SOME FAMILIES ARE BIG, 

   SOME FAMILIES ARE SMALL,

   FAMILIES ARE DIFFERENT,

   WE LIKE THEM ALL!!! 

HAVE A NICE WEEKEND!!!

Three songs to practise food!

These songs are very appropriate to practise food and "Do you like...? Yes, I do/ No, I don't" structure.

Treasure Box VIII: Eight in my Family song

We have done this brochure to draw a picture about "Eight in my family song" and write family members. 

  

We had all the drawings decorating our corridor. Let see if you can find your family picture in the following presentation!

Students really love this song! I hope they sing it at home as much as they have done at school! 

Remember to write the title here!

Family poem and song video

In the following videos, you can see students saying "The hand family poem" and singing "Eight in my family song". I hope you enjoy it as much as we did! Have a nice weekend!

PRIMARY 1 D

PRIMARY 1 E

PRIMARY 1 F

Classroom routines VII: What's for lunch?

We have just started with our fourth theme and it is about food. For that reason, we have included "What's for lunch?" routine. 

This is our menu poster!

The classroom helper read the menu at the school canteen and we say it in English. The helper sticks the labels and  completes the menu in English! 

And this is TODAY'S MENU!

   

We are also remembering "one potato, two potatoes" traditional song learnt at the beginning of the School Year:

Treasure Box VII: The Hand Family Poem

We did this craft-work to practice "The hand family poem!" It is a different way to remember family members.

Andrea Aldaz and Rakel Fagoaga, both English teachers who worked in Ezkaba School, shared it with me and whenever I teach family topic I try to introduce because students love it! Thank you Andrea and Rakel! 

The Family Poem!

Aitor from Isabel's classroom had this great idea and he wanted to share it with us. Look at the family members drawn on plastic spoons! Thank you Aitor, it is a great idea!!

Aitor's family members!! 

Remember to write the title!

Classroom routines VI :Ready to answer a question?

Our fifth routine is "Ready for a question?". Students who want to answer one question raise their hands and the helper asks the following questions. We started with very simple questions:

      

When they were ready, we introduced new questions. 

       

Now we have included the following question: 

We practice food asking this question!

BUT NOT EVERYDAY! Because it will be quite boring!

We just say it, when we don't remember the answer!

Treasure Box VI: Litlle Red Riding Hood minibook

We made our second mini-book to learn "Little Red Riding Hood" story and to practice parts of the body.

Our second mini-book!

Not only students learned the story, they also completed the following tasks:

Name characters

Write and draw parts of the body.

Name parts of the body.

AND THAT'S ALL!!

You can wath the following video at home: 

Remember to write the tittle here.

Classroom routines V: How do you feel today?

Our third routine is about feelings. Sometimes we all feel happy, but other times we are just not in the mood and we try to talk about it. It is quite difficult to talk about feelings in a foreign language but it's worth it!

Our poster about emotions!

I always have one of the following faces on the board. I choose it depending on how we feel!

A couple of years ago, Noelia Davila, an English teacher in Ezkaba school, shared with me those funny pictures to practice emotions in the English class . Thank you Noelia, my students love them! 

Have a happy day!!

Treasure Box V: The Gingerbread Man puppet

We have learnt "the Gingerbread Man" song. The song, apart from being really catchy, was great to practice parts of the body! 

You can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread man!

We also did the following activities: 

Draw the parts of the body in the lyrics.

Draw a Gingerbread man and match.

Students wanted to sing it all the time, they really loved it! We also danced and had a great time moving our puppets and our bodies too!

Those are some of the puppets students made at home!!! 

Thank you girls and boys! Now my classroom is full of puppets! Here you can watch Maisy cooking a Gingerbread man, we read this book in our classroom:

Remember to write the title here!

Classroom routines IV: Who is missing today?

The helper just counts how many students are in the classroom. It is a fast routine and it helps to learn numbers. We count to 25!

We write down how many students are in our class and how many are at home . And that's all! 

Treasure Box III: Incy Wincy Spider song

Our second craft-work was about the well-known "Incy Wincy Spider Song". 

  

Students had a great time climbing up and down the spider while they were singing along the song. We also learnt to sing it with finger actions. At the beginning it was quite tricky but they ended up doing it great!  

Incy Wincy Spider climbed up the water spout.

Down came the rain and washed poor Incy out.

Out came the sun and dried up all the rain.

So Incy Wincy Spider climbed up the spout again.

This is a traditional version but you can find millions of versions searching the net: 

Students really liked this funny version where spiders run a race. It's really catchy! I hope you enjoy it too!

Remember to write the title here.

Classroom Routines III: What's the weather like today?

"What's the weather like today?" is our second routine. It is really simple, we just look through the window and say if it is sunny, windy, cloudy... Sometimes we also open the window to feel if it is hot, warm, cold, or freezing. The helper has to choose the correct flashcards and stick them on the board.

This is today's weather!

We have a chant to say what's the weather like and we mime the song. Those are the posters we have in our classroom: 

    


In the following video you have a song to practice the weather:

             
  

Classroom Routines II: What day is it today?

"What day is it today?" is our first routine and we keep on doing it since September.

This is today's date in our classroom board!

First of all, the classroom helper moves the pink arrows and choose the correct day and month from the posters.

Days of the week

Months of the year

Once we know it, the helper has to choose and stick the correct labels. Notice that the labels for days are blue and the ones for months are purple. This way is easier to pick the correct one.

Once the date is on the board, we say it all together. As it is a routine we repeat everyday we try to make it different changing our voices, whispering, using funny chants, singing the date... Empower your own imagination!

We also have seasons flashcards!

At the beginning of the school year we watched the videos below. You can watch them again and find more on the net, there are millions and students enjoy learning by singing. 

         

Classroom Routines I: Presentation

I strongly believe that classroom routines help to increase independent learning and create a positive affective atmosphere. 

For that reason we start each lesson choosing a helper to go over classroom routines. We follow our alphabetically ordered list to give students opportunities to practice.

This is the helper's chair.

It could also be understood as "learning by doing" because the helper is the one managing the classroom. I have noticed that being the helper increases their motivation too.

                    

I will post about our classroom routines:

•  What day is it today?
•  What's the weather like today?
•  Who is missing today?
•  How are you feeling today?
•  Ready to answer a question?
•  What's for lunch today?
•   What's on my shopping bag?
•     What animal is it?
•  English tablet!
•  Preposition box!
•     Can I borrow your pencil, please?
•  And the ones we will include!

We go over some routines every day and we keep rotating others. We wouldn't have time to practise all of them just in a 50 minutes session and it will also be quite boring to repeat all of them every single day.