How Many Bugs In The Box?

This was our story during our Seeds, Flowers and Leaves theme.  It seemed like a good fit considering we had also been looking at some of the insects that live in our playground and playing with toy-bug sensory trays.

 
We practised "How many....?" and numbers 1 - 10.

Nature Scavenger Hunt

To finish off our theme on seeds, flowers and leaves, we went on a "Nature Scavenger Hunt". Using a print-out of the photos above, the children searched the playground to find the different things.  Not only did it get them using their new vocabulary spontaneously, it also encouraged them to take a closer look at the plants and insects which share the space where they play each day.

I did this activity after a guessing game which was played at circle time.  The children had to guess how many bugs I had put in a bottle.  After passing the bugs around the circle, we read the story of the week "How Many Bugs In The Box".

Julia teaches her pet to use the I-pad

Julia, from Group 4, has a very modern pet! It loves using new technology, especially the iPad.  I wonder if it has an account on Fcaebook and twitter?

What are you doing this weekend with you pet?

Sorting Seeds

Here are some more photos from our lesson outside on seeds, leaves, flowers and fruit.  The kids in Group 4 had a great time at our Discovery Table.  One of the best things about the lesson was getting to use our new magnifying glasses.  Another popular activity was the seed sorting tray, which involved using tweezers to sort different types of seeds.

Looking Closer At Everyday Things

Our English class today was outside in the playground exploring seeds, flowers, leaves and fruits on our very first Discovery Table.  The children also enjoyed taking a closer look at these objects with our new magnifying glasses.  I loved to see how interested and focused the kids were on cutting, sorting, and inspecting everything.

Nature Drawings

Group 3 did some beautiful drawings in the playground today which were inspired by flowers, leaves and seeds.  This activity is part of our theme Growing Things, which takes a look at what plants and animals need to grow.  The language focus today was on describing the objects on the table using number, size and colour and well as the naming the things we were exploring: flowers, leaves and seeds.

They also had a great time exploring the materials on the Science Discovery Table.  This was a great way for them to experience the new language in an authentic way.

Discovery Table

We took the lesson outdoors again this Friday and explored our theme with a Science Discovery Table.  The children had the opportunity to explore and discover seeds, leaves, flowers and fruit.

They had a great time touching, manipulating, studying and exploring these items.  There was also an area set up for free creative drawing, inspired by the items we were looking at.

 

Read about the benefits of sensory play at the Early Childhood News website.

What do seeds need?

Young children are naturally curious and constantly exploring the world around them. Classroom science provides the opportunity for children to extend this natural curiosity and building of theories. The children in Group 4 did an experiment to test the conditions which a seed needs to germinate.

The target language was sun, water and seed.  We asked the key questions "What does a seed need to grow?" and "What will happen to these seeds?".  We learned about making a hypothesis, observed the seeds during the week and then discussed the results.

Make them Playdough

By the way, here is the recipe for the playdough I made.  It's really easy and a great way for kids to build their finger muscles.  Homemade playdough is better for this than the one bought in the store. It's not as soft so it's more work for their fingers.  Instead of food colouring, try using TANG.  It will give it colour and a great smell.

Play Dough Recipe:

• 1 Cup Plain Flour
• 1/4 Cup Salt
• 3 tsp of vinegar or lemon juice
• 2 Tablespoons of Oil (We made the original recipe with 1/2 cup and used olive oil, but some reader feedback said this was too oily)
• 1/2 cup of water
• Food Coloring

Method

1. Mix the dry ingredients in a saucepan
2. Whisk in the water over low heat
3. Mix in the vinegar
4. Pour in the oil
5. Continue to mix over low heat until it forms a playdough texture
6. Split up the dough, and knead in the food color (when it’s cool enough to touch)

Growing Things

We start September with a new theme - Growing Things! As part of this theme we will look at what plants and humans need to grow healthy and strong.  To do this I will use a project abased approach which will integrate content and language learning.  There are opportunities to explore a broad range of skills that children are developing, not just the language itself. Projects introduce, practice language and integrate language skills in a natural way. There is also evidence that, through repeated exposure, patterns of a second language can be internalised by young children in much the same way as they are with the first language.

We started the week off by playing games to introduce vocabulary for fruit and revise body parts.  We used homemade playdough to sculpt a banana, an apple and an orange.

Next, we played a balancing game to revise the vocabulary for fruit and body-parts.  The children had to try and walk around the room balancing their fruit on different parts of their body.  It was a lot of fun.

 

Experiementing With Colours and Flowers

We did a fun experiment in class this week as part of our theme - Growing Things.  We began by revising our primary colours and the children added food colouring to water to test to see what would happen when we mixed the colours.  I passed the flowers around the circle so everyone could see, touch and smell them.  The flower were put into vases with coloured water and the children tried to guess what would happen to the flowers.  We observed the changes over the week and were amazed to see what happened.

 

I think these photos are great.  You can see just how engaged the children are in the activity. Click on the photo to get a bigger picture and a closer look at the group during circle time.

Semester 1 Meeting

Last night, I was joined by over 70 family members to talk about the progress of our children in the first semester of our new English programme.  For those who were unable to attend and for others wanting to see the extra videos and photos, I have included my presentation in this post.

Please feel free to come and talk to me about your child's individual progress or any of the materials your child's portfolio.  Don't forget that the portfolio's are due back next week!

Thanks to everyone for coming and for all the support I have received so far on this bilingual adventure!

Pet food

Still on the topic of pets, we played in our fine-motor centers with different pet related materials.  There was everything from bird seed to dog biscuits, puzzles and playdough.

Big and small

We played a game in class today where everyone had to find big and small objects in the room.  Then we colored a picture of a big and a small dog.  Good job group 3!

Gustavo finds a small horse.

Gabriel fins a small pig.

Miguel finds a big table.

The class hard at work coloring their picture.

Looking after our pets

The children in Group 5 are caring for their pets in class today.  They are so responsible! Look at home they wash, feed and play with their pet rocks.