Reading techniques: "Mice".

1. Skimming: What do you think the text is about?

2. Scanning: Answer the following questions:

• Which mouse can climb very well?
• Which mouse can't live in Antarctica?
• Which mouse can sleep for seven months every year?
• Which mouse eats seeds, worms and beetles?
• Which mouse lives with people?

3. Guessing meaning from the context: Join the words with the corresponding pictures:

4. Reading between the lines: Answer the following questions:

• Why is the Harvest mouse a popular pet?
• Why can the Dormouse hear very well?

5. Predicting: How many types of mice exist in the world?

6. Intensive reading: Complete the following box:

Produced by Cristina Beltrán Sabater and Eva Martín Vega. 

Kandinsky activity.

Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1955) was a Russian painter who was one of the first creators of pure abstraction in modern painting. 

We have chosen this artist because we think that there are a lot of interesting paintings for children. Kandinsky has several eye-catching artworks, so children are going to be attracted to them. All his paintings are full of colours and shapes, so we can teach different things such as: sizes, colours, numbers, shapes (circles, squares...), lines and so on.  

It will be great to devote one term to teaching and working a lot of artworks from Kandinsky. 

The painting that we have chosen is "Kandinsky circles":

First of all, we have to introduce this painting, so we can use the computer and the projector to show it to children. We are going to ask our children some questions in order to learn things about the artwork:

• Which shapes can you see in the picture? How many?
• Which colours can you see?  

We can do a game to make sure that all the children have understood the shapes. We can ask them to stand up and look for circular and square things in class, such as rubbers, the glue cap, papers and so on. When they have found them, we can talk about the sizes of them asking: Which rubber is bigger this one or the other one? and questions like that with all the materials. 

For instance, to make sure that all the children have understood the different colours we can play to "Simon says": "Simon says that the children who wear something blue have to stand up" or "Simon says that the children who wear something red have to jump"... 

After that, we think that we can teach the circles in a funny and tasty way. We can use plastic or paper plates and food that has circular shapes and different sizes, such as biscutis, vegetables in pieces (carrots, tomatoes, courgettes...) and so on. Children will have to put the bigger food under the smaller one in order to do something similar to the painting. We have done an example of the idea at home:

The last activity that we have thought is related to crafts. We have to give each child a piece of paper and colours (crayons, markers...). Also we can use plasticine in order to make the circles with that. Children will have to paint in the paper the painting of Kandinsky. When they have finished all the pictures, we are going to join them making a big mural in order to hang it in the wall of the class.

Produced by Cristina Beltrán Sabater and Eva Martín Vega. 

Activity "I can't hear you".

AFTER LISTENING:

We are going to do an activity related to improve the vocabulary about the actions asking them commands that appear in the song. So we are going to play to "Simon says": "Simon says clap your hands", "Simon says raise your hands"... 

         

    

Produced by Cristina Beltrán Sabater and Lorena Seco Molinero. 

Storytelling: "Handa's surprise".

WHY DID I CHOOSE "HANDA'S SURPRISE"?:

- I think that the book is appropriate for children because it has't long descriptive paragraphs, so they can follow the story without problems.

- There are a lot of repetitions, so children can predict what is going to happen. 

- The illustrations are very big and colorful, therefore if you read the story showing the pictures they can understand better it. 

- It is useful to learn vocabulary about the fruits and animals.

- We can teach interesting values with this story, such as the respect for other cultures or the friendship. 

ACTIVITIES ABOUT HANDA'S SURPRISE:

Before reading:

1. Activity related the fruits:

Instead of teaching the typical fruits (apples, pears...), we are going to teach the exotic fruits that appear in the story. 

We can do an assembly and we can bring them a basket with these fruits in order to touch them and learn the textures of the fruits (spiky, soft...), the colours, the size...

We can teach the importance of eating fruits everyday, so we can talk about why it is important (it is healthy, it is good for our teeth...), how many times they eat fruit... 

Finally, they can taste every fruit and they can say which is their favourite fruit. 

2. Activity about the animals:

We can go to the Zoo to learn the animals and we can take some pictures of the animals that appear in the story (monkey, ostrich, zebra...). The day in which we are going to read the story we can cut out the photos in order to make a puzzle of each animal. 

3. Prediction:

Before reading the story, we can show them the title and the cover of the book and we can talk about 

what the surprise might be.

While reading:

1. Prediction:

While we are reading the story we can ask them questions to guess what is going to happen. 

2. Activity related the numbers:

At the beginning of the story, when we are showing them the pictures, we can ask them "How many fruits there are in the basket?". So they have to count them and tell the number. Then, everytime that an animal steals a fruit we ask the same question.

After reading:

1. ICT activity:

In order to know if the children have understood the story, we can use the interactive whiteboard to do an activity. For instance, we can create a powerpoint in which we can ask them questions about the animal that is going to appear, the fruit that is going to disappear... So they have to use the mouse to choose the animal, to move out the fruits and so on.

2. Bingo:

We can play a bingo with the animals and fruits that appear in the story. 

3. Go Fish:

It is a very funny and famous card game. We can create several packs of cards in which appear the animals and the fruits that we have seen in the story. So we can make groups which are made up of four children and we can give each group these cardsto play.

4.  Activity related to art and drafts:

We can create masks about the animals that appear in the story, therefore we can give each child a mask that they will have to colour and cut out. Then we will put the string to the masks.

5. Drama about the story:

We can create a play about the story in which appear Handa, Akeyo, the animals... So we can use the masks that we have created. We can make two groups in order to act all the children and we can follow the same story of the book or create another one in which there are simple and short dialogues.

6. Activity about Africa:

We can talk about Africa: the country, the animals, the culture. If there is an African child in the class or in the school, he can teach us something about his country.

Activities about "The very hungry caterpillar".

BEFORE LISTENING:

1. Activity related to food:  

Teaching our children healthy eating habit is very important, so we can give them a box in which they can find healthy and unhealthy food (flashcards or real food) in order to recognise the healthiest foods. It would be advisable to choose foods that appear in the book, such as apple, pears, plums, lollipop, sausages...

2. Activity related to the life-cycle of the butterflies:

It is important that the children know the life-cycle of the butterflies to understand better the story. We can use little eggs with beans to show the beginning of them. It is easy to get real caterpillars with different sizes, so we can bring them to the class and show them to the children. Besides, the children can give them leaves in order to feed the caterpillars. And finally we can create a cocoon and a butterfly to explain the life-cycle. 

3. Activity about the days of the week:

We can use a song to learn the days of the week in English. We should teach it to them weeks before telling the story in order that the children have time to learn it. So the day that we are going to tell "The very hungry caterpillar" we can sing this song to remember the days of the week.

WHILE LISTENING:

1. Prediction: 

Before starting to tell the story, we can show them the cover of the book and ask them: "What do you think the story is about?" And while we are telling the story we can ask them some questions to guess what is going to happen, such as "What is going to happen now?" or "Do you think that the very hungry caterpillar is going to eat the pears?" and so on. 

2. Activity about numbers:

While we are showing the pictures of the story we can ask them how many fruits they can see, for instance: "How many plums can you see in the picture?" and so on.

AFTER LISTENING:

1. Activity about the comprehension of the story:

We can ask them some questions about the story: "Do you like the story?", "Which part do you like more and why?"...

2. Activity related to arts and crafts:

We can do a handprint caterpillar, it is easy and funny. We have to paint the palm of the children green and the fingers brown (we don't have to paint the thumb). Then children have to press their hands close to the piece of paper and create as much parts of the caterpillar with their handprint as they want. They can use all the paint they need. To paint the head we have to put some red paint on the hand of the children and they have to press it in the paper. Finally they have to draw the antennae and the face. 

Listening activities about "Aliens".

BEFORE LISTENING:

First of all, we can create some boxes with different colours (pink, green, yellow and purple). Then we give each child some objects with these colours, so at the end the colours will be repeated. In order to explain better this activity, the teacher will show them an example.

The activity will start when the teacher asks the children about a colour: "Stand up the children who have a yellow object", so they have to introduce the object inside the corresponding box. 

WHILE LISTENING:

We are going to play to "Simon says". The activity consists in saying for example one action that appears in the picture, so they have to do it. For instance: "Simon says drink a glass of water" and so on. 

AFTER LISTENING:

We are going to use a "Role play", so the children have to act like if they are in a bar. 

Produced by Cristina Beltrán Sabater, Patricia Martín Cano, Eva Martín Vega, María Racionero García and Lorena Seco Molinero. 

Why "Zog" is a suitable book for children?

From our point of view, this storybook is appropriate to tell for children while we are showing the ilustrations to them. Another reason is that the ilustrations attract to them due to the pictures and the colours. The topic of this book could be very motivating for chirldren because it appears some characters like dragons, princesses or knightes and it has an unusual end in which nobody dies. Also they can learn some values such as the aid to the others, the constancy in the work or the friendship. This book can develop some learning strategies like anticipate due to the cover of the book. We can work activities before, while and after telling it. To sum up, they can also identify themselves with the characteres of the story, for instance the dragons are growing like the children.

Produced by Cristina Beltrán Sabater and Lorena Seco Molinero.