The new KS2 Programme of Study puts a great emphasis on grammar, so we have been very busy building sentences! Here is how we have fun with grammar in Lancashire:
Lego:
To see our Lego movie we made on our iPad, click here.
I like the mixture of old and new, traditional and new technology, so after the playdough post, here I come with my iPad and some QR
codes we created recently. These are my first experiences, and my knowledge is
very limited but I thought that by simply describing what I have done might
encourage others to have a go.
Mother Day’s Cards:
There is no time to do “app testing” in the lessons but I always have pupils asking me if I need help during the break, so I
caught 2 girls in the corridor who volunteered to make a video. I
recorded them saying “Te quiero, Mamá” on my iPad.
converted the video into a Youtube one (unlisted).
copied the link into the “QR code creator” app, which made a QR code and copied it on my camera roll.
printed the QR code and glued it on the flower.
Now if you scan it with the “i-nigma” app, you can see the
video of the girls saying "Te quiero, Mamá."
Weather reports
In year 6 we covered the weather topic recently and the
last lesson was about giving weather presentations. The pupils came out to the board in pairs, they said hello, introduced themselves and
then said 2 sentences each about the weather in South America. We used a
clapperboard, glittery microphones, a long stick to show the countries and
spotlights, as well. We made a big fuss!
Following the description above, I created QR codes next to
the photos of the pupils and put them on the display. If you happen to walk by with your smartphone or ipad, you can watch the weather reports!
On this blog I can't show you the videos unfortunately, but I promise to make some QR codes where I will ask the parents/school first for permission and copy them here in the next few weeks.
Years ago my son went to a birthday party and came home
with a party bag full of small treasures - one of them was a small pack of
plasticine. While we were playing with it, I got inspired to try it in the classroom... We have had lots successful plasticine and playdough activities in my Spanish lessons since then, so I am going to share some work with you today.
With playdough it is really easy to make something within a few seconds, and because it is different and makes them smile, it will create excitement and a good working atmosphere.
We used plasticine and playdough to describe eye and hair colours, look at this blog post for
more info.
We practised writing our very first Spanish sentences in Year 3.
We used "y" to connect two pieces of information within a sentence.
We pracised the plural form of the noun.
We challenged our partners to guess the sentence, which is great to consolidate vocabulary.
What would YOU make with these? Comments are welcome!:-)
"Pupils should be taught to appreciate stories, songs, poems and rhymes in the language."
The theme was chosen by the participants of the previous hub meeting, who decided that after almost 2 hours of discussion on grammar we deserved to sing songs next time.
So here is the opportunity, don't miss it! We will take turns and share our favourite stories, songs, poems and rhymes.
"Are there 100 objects that could be used for enriching the teaching of languages in Key Stage 2?
I propose that the objects would have to have some kind of cultural significance, that they would somehow "matter" to the country or countries whose language is being taught. And I also propose that there doesn't have to be a list of 100. A smaller list may be just as suitable."
I got very excited about this "challenge" and decided to list the objects I take into my Spanish lessons. While my daughter was asleep in the afternoon, I went up to my office in the loft to take a"cultural look" at my teaching materials, and came down with a box full of treasures. This is the cultural selection only, if I had to bring down the other teaching toys and props, I would have to buy a bigger kitchen table!
Here is my list:
flag: (colours) castañuelas (jotas- a Spanish dance) Spanish doll (where we live, what languages we speak)
pictures from South America (Spanish speaking countries in the world, travel, colours, clothes, family)
Advent calendar (numbers and saying the date), the Three Kings
Spain scarf and football T-shirt (clothes, colours, adjectives,phonics-ñ) The scarf is always with me, I use it to blindfold pupils for mystery games.
kitchen clothes with recipes (food, using dictionary, clothes, role-play)
South American finger puppets (role plays, taking turns)
piñata (birthdays, saying the date, months)
capote and waistband (discuss bullfights, Sanfermines- saying the date, clothes and adjectives)
books and DVDs (blog post about the movie, for literature click on "poetry" on the word cloud on the right hand side)
worry dolls from Guatemala (family, travel, colour, clothes)
money from Spanish speaking countries (travel, shopping, numbers, plurals)
panpipes from Peru, rain stick from Chile, fan from Spain (weather, travel)
maps, train tickets, bus tickets (transport, directions, travels)
dragons and roses for Sant Jordi (role plays, Valentine's Day), Buzz who speaks Spanish in Toy Story- we learn the song "Hay un amigo en mí" for Valentine's Day from him.
Pencil case and big pencils from Spain (classroom items, travel, colours)
Dora the Spanish teacher (clothes, personal descriptions)
calendars (numbers, saying the date, months, name days: blog here ) alphabet poster, board game and cards from Spain
world map (travel, transport, where they speak Spanish, phonics), Day of the Dead cookie cutters (colours, shapes, opinions- blog post here), travel catalogues (travel, writing a postcard, Spanish speaking countries), jalapeños (phonics, food)
mantón (clothes, travel, colours)
aprons (restaurant role plays) paella (phonics, food)
We had lots of fun playing with these toys on Saturday afternoon!
Added on 27-1-2015
After reading Carmen's comment, I am adding one more picture....of course I had Spanish supermarket catalogues:-) I use them to show my pupils the Christmas jamón and I leave them on display while we do the "food" topic. Thank you, Carmen:-)
Another stolen idea from Twitter! All credit goes to the following inspirational secondary teachers: @reebekwylie (blog), @elvisrunner (blog) and @morgenmfl (blog).
This is what I did:
1, I labelled the bricks with numbers 1-6.
2, On a piece of paper, I wrote numbers and verbs - we are doing "hobbies" in Year 6 at the moment (I know I have 10 verbs and the bricks only go up to 6, but I can't be perfect for the first time:-).
3, I made a PowerPoint slide with the possible answers. I expected the pupils to
- give an opinion, or
- give an opinion and contrast it with another hobby verb, using "pero", or
-give a reason, using "porque".
As they found the same number on the bricks a few times, they could say their opinion in different ways during the game.
It is important that when one player takes a block out, he/she has to say the sentence before the game can go on.
It was a fantastic activity, the pupils loved it!
The verbs are from this song, a big favourite!
Next week, we are going to play it in Year 5 (we are learning to tell the time ).
I think Jenga will be my new addiction in the classroom! :-)
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