Parts of the House

Sometimes you need to put the paper down and practice English hands-on!  We try to do that as often as possible in English, especially as the kids have fun and don't realize they're learning.  With the 2nd and 3rd grade we are reviewing the parts of the house, like the garden, bedroom, kitchen, garage, etc.  We placed small animals in different rooms and asked the children 'Where is the snake? 'In the bedroom.', and so on.  Not surprisingly, the kids loved playing with a doll house AND animals!

Peace!

'Where is the turtle?' 'In the kitchen!'

Alex trying to remember an animal's name...

Placing the animals for the 3rd grade

The house!  It's filled with animals!

Spring has sprung!

With warmer temperatures in the air, the kids are itching to go outside and play!  We have kept their attention with celebrating the explosion of color that occurs every spring.  Each class has painted Easter eggs, colored Easter bunnies, painted flowers, and in general celebrate color!  For the pictures below,

we have the 1st grade with the flowers on our door.  These are special flowers that are made by

painting large swaths of paper in many different colors, then cutting out petal shapes and arranging

them like a flower.  Not bad eh?

By now they know the colors in English by heart!....More or less!

We have a lovely little garden, don't we?

Flower Power!

A close-up look at a flower.  Head teacher Bea found this great method

for making these flowers, and it has worked out beautifully!

SPRING IS HERE!

Finally!

It´s time to set out the Easter eggs for the kids to find.  And the kids have made the eggs!  The three year-olds painted eggs of many colors then put stickers on them.  Then we gathered them in a basket.  Aren´t they beautiful!

                                  Everyone showing off their eggs before they cut them out:

And all the eggs in the basket!

Carol's Cafe:  It's time to have dinner!

Many different classes are reviewing food vocabulary.  We thought it would be beneficial to have them practice ordering food as well!  We made Carol's Cafe with a menu, table, and place settings.

Each child ordered a beverage, first and second course, and dessert ('I'd like a coffee'!)  Then they had to pay their (oftentimes expensive) bill (25 pounds for a salad and chicken? Outrageous!).  In the 4th grade, the children acted as waiters too, asking their customer 'What would you like...?'

'What would you like to drink, Mr. Sergio?'

'I'd like a Coke please.'

Time to pay the bill: 20 pounds (Oh so expensive!)

Waiter Lucia serving Mr. Brian

ELMER: A Many-Colored Elephant!

Elmer the elephant is many colors: purple, green, pink, blue, red, black, white, orange and more! Whew that's a lot of colors!

Elmer is beautiful and makes the other elephants laugh with his jokes.  But one day he becomes sad and doesn't want to be different from the other grey elephants.  He finds some grey berries and covers himself in their juices, becoming grey!  

He returns to his herd and the other elephants want him to be himself: many-colored!  They decide that one day a year they will become many-colored, and Elmer will be grey.  It is great fun!

What color are the other elephants children? GREY!!!

They really like this story...

Every child receives a many-colored elephant.  They have

to tell the teacher what colors it has.  Then we put them on the door

for all to see!

How cute are they?!?!

Walking through the jungle, what can you see?

Today, the children went on an excursion through the jungle.  They saw many animals like…

a giraffe

a lion 

a tiger

a snake

a crocodile

an elephant and...

a turtle!  

When we returned from the jungle, we colored our favorite animals that we had seen that day.  

Then we played a game with flashcards called "What's Missing?".  

To play, we sit in a circle and the teacher places the cards face up in the middle of the circle.  The children look at them, then the teacher says "Close your eyes!".  The teacher picks up one flashcard and says "Open your eyes!".  The students raise their hands, the teacher calls on one of them, and then the child answers which card is missing.  It's a ton of fun!

Time to post the names of the animals.
At first some confusion...

But they learn quickly!

Crocodile is next!  Andrea has
the card to post on the door.

There it is!

Getting the children ready for a
group picture can be tough sometimes...

But it all works out in the end.
 Look at those cute and intelligent faces!

Big Eyes and Long Hair!

The words "big" and "long", "small" and "short" can be confusing for children who are learning English.  Oftentimes they say "big" when they mean "long". So we played a game where they had to use all the words for size.  They learned....

and laughed too!

What long hair he has!

She´s got...SMALL eyes

This is a great look.  So stylish!