I CAN TELL IT!

How are you?

I am going to write my post about the activities created with Disney characters last week.

We had to help children of eight and nine years old comming from a bilingual school to retell popular fairy tales using ICT.

Our group decided to choose ''SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS''.

Our fairy tale character was Patri, she was a coordinator who had to look after children during the activity.

We thought that it could be a good idea if we and the pupils dressed up to involve them in the story, therefore, Inma was the witch, kike was the prince, children were the dwarfs and I was Snow White.

We made paper caps which were representing the wool hats of the dwarfs and small posters with the names of the dwarfs to put up in the children's necks, on this way they knew who they were and what roles had.

Also, the decoration of the class was based on the Disney environment with pictures of the characters and the disposition on the chairs in a semi-circle to provide them confidence and security.

Firstly, we started with the presentations:

I am Snow White and he is my prince                                                        Do you know who is she?

Our first activity was a puzzle, it consisted on organizing some principal images of the story which we had selected before. We chose two volunteers to complete the puzzle and assistants to replace the volunteers if they did not know how to put the pictures.

In the second activity, we created a powerpoint with images of the story, students had to imitate the principal pictures with gestures while they were following the story, we could get their motivation.

The last activity was a contest, we divided students in two groups, A and B, each group had to answer some questions related to the topic, if one group did not know the answer, the other group had the opportunity to respond.

It was an assessment activity to know if pupils had understood and acquired the contents of the topic.

From my point of view, it was amazing!. We had the possibility to spend time teaching students of a funny way.

Sometimes, teachers explain us a lot of theory which we know that it is essential to have knowledge and culture, but also, it is necessary to put in practice the contents which we have learnt, I consider that it is a way to get on with students, therefore it is important create more activities like it.

What do you think?

BYE BYE!!

POETRY!

HELLO EVERYBODY!!

HOW ARE YOU?

I am going to write the different ways to develop the motivation and the importance of poetry for children.
If we want to show students the main points of poetry, firstly, we have to know what means the poetry for us, because in many cases when we were children, our teachers forced us to read poetry without any motivation getting a big hate for it.
In my case, the teaching poetry is a challenge which I must work a lot to obtain that my students can learn it of a distinct way .

How can we help students to develop the poetry?

-Try using objects or photos from a magic bag to stimulate their ideas, such as:

Imagine -

an angry ant as it ambles along,

a terrified tarantula tickling a trout,

and a curious computer

calling cautiously to the King.

Imagine -

silence closing its lips

and vowing never to speak again,

the humming bird’s wings flickering,

the sea turning over the beach,

scraping the pebbles,

while the weary lorries trundle by.

-It is essential to create good tittles to catch their attention, due to they will feel curiosity to read what is happening in the poems.

We can create a class list of objects, animals or mythical creatures telling them their secrets.

 

For example:

The kangaroo’s secret.

I’ll never tell any one but

I have a city tucked into my pouch.

The owl’s secret.

I’ll never tell anyone but

my amber eyes were once marbles.

The fox’s secret.

I’ll never tell anyone but

I’m a dab hand at dancing the fox trot.

-It is essential to create good tittle to catch their attention due to they will feel curiosity to read what happend in the poems.

Create a class list of objects, animals or mythical creatures telling them their secrets.

-Music is always a wonderful stimulus for the imagination, for this reason, we will play music of all different forms. We can use a roll of old backing paper or wallpaper and let the children draw as they listen to create a poem according with the elements which they have drawn.

When I Heard the Music.

When I heard the music -

waves washed over my toes,

stars burst like glittering beads,

and a wall sprung up brick by brick.

When I heard the music -

I remembered a scarlet coat,

playing in sand dunes by the sea,

and my grandma nodding asleep.

When I heard the music -

I touched the cold skin of a frosty bottle,

the jagged spikes of winter,

and sunlight glowing

in a pumpkin.

When I heard the music

I dreamed of tapping stars into place,

melting moons and frozen slices of sun,

bright bars of delight

and frightened fishes

like tiny splinters

of electricity.

When I heard the music

I strode down the lanes

and marched over hillsides,

I threw wishes at clouds

and muffled my heart beat.

We have to take in account these forms to help students to create poetry, to get the reading as an enjoyment not as a duty.


What do you think? I would like knowing your opinion!
Thank you!

POETRY IS TO PROSE AS DANCING IS TO WALKING.

BYE BYE!!!

Classroom library

HOW ARE YOU?

I am going to write about our library project called ''MAGIC TRIP'', in a bus.

The project is destignated to the first cycle of Primary Education in a bilingual school. Students made the project in Art&Craft lessons with the help of the teacher.

Our library is in a corner of the class, it is a bus stop where children can get, read and look up books.

The library is a shelves decorated with cardboards which the school offers to students, although some materials are obtained by the Cooperative of the children at the begining of the year.

To complete the classroom collection, the school supplies thirty one books precedents by Usborne collection, students have to bring at least one book to read.

Some of them are

1.    The wish fish.

2.    The lion and the mouse.

The project is at the back of the classroom, we used continuous paper to create a big bus where we can appreciate the appearance of the students, because there is a photo and a pocket of each child in each window to keep the sheets, they are called bus tickets, students have to complete them when they finish to read a book.

When they complete ten bus tickers, the teacher will give a personalized certificate.

Also, the driver’s place is change, one student is the manager of the class each week.The task is the organization of the library and give the books to their partners.

According with their personal opinions of each book, children have to stick in their own window one sticker, red if they do not like the book or green if they like it.

The road which joins the bus with its bus stop, it contains the key words, each child has to write the most difficult word and its meaning on the road.

Furthermore, they have to write one word per book which they consider important or essential in their books without repeating the words that are written by their mates in the road. It is called main words.

We consider that it is a good idea, due to students must to pay attention and comprehend the reading.

Moreover, at the end of the year, we will divided the children in groups and they will have to create a story based on the main words of the books chosen, on this way, they can develop their imagination to create characters and the story.

From my view, it is an excellent idea to develop the reading, the creativity and the imagination in our students.

They try to read the most possible books to get a personalized certificate, because they are very competitive with their partners, therefore, we have to create habits to build up the motivation in the children.

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT OUR LIBRARY PROJECT?

Do you consider that is a good way to develop the reading?

What things can you improve it?

Reading strategy!!

Hello everybody!!

How can we use the reading strategies?

-We can do activities and use techniques to develop the children's motivation.

-The use of distinct materials and resources to facilitate their understanding.

-The changes in the voice of the characters to differenciate them and comprehend their roles.

Are you ready to know my reading  strategy?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqOGmKNS6LI

This reading strategy is called ''Pick a corner''.

The teacher selects four corners, associating them four posters.

The posters are related to the children´s opinions, in this case, with the statements:

 

I AGREE.

I DISAGREE

I STRONGLY AGREE

I STRONGLY DISAGREE

Firstly, the teacher says a statement, then children have to go the corner which they think that it is the correct according with their thinking or feelings. Later, students discuss about why they have elected their options with their mates who are in their same corner and finally, they explain to the rest of the class their elections.

What do you think about this strategy?

 

FROM MY POINT OF VIEW…

   On one hand, they make use of this strategy in class is a good idea, because students can express their own opinions of an individual way.

Also, they can contrast with other partners their ideas and thoughts to improve them.

 Also, it can be used in different subjects and forms,

    On the other hand, in this strategies children can carried along by other student's opinions therefore, they have not in mind their own decisions due to they feel attracted to their mates.

How can you use it in class?

 I will use this strategy in a mathematical class to improve the mental operations and calculation of childen. I will explain my students that I am going to use three corners and in each of them, I am going to designate a poster:

IT IS CORRECT!

IT IS INCORRECT!

I AM NOT SURE

Firstly, they will close their eyes to think and operate in silence, secondly, children are going to write their option in a paper and finally, the will go to their corner. The teacher will prove if children are in the correct place before sharing opinions.

They will share their ideas with their group, and then with the rest of the class.

What do you think?

BYE, SEE YOU SOON!

FAIRY TALES!

FAIRY TALES!!

Hello everybody!

In my second blog, I am going to tell you how the stories experience changes according with the author who writes them like we worked in the practical class with the different versions of Cinderella.

DO YOU KNOW ... WHO ARE JACOB GRIMM AND WILHELM GRIMM?

They were two german brothers who are known by their tales for children. They were called the GRIMM BROTHERS.

They looked for new versions of the tales which were written by other authors to create different stories using the same characters (with new adventures and ends.)

The most famous tales of the Grimm brothers are:

-       Little Red Riding Hood

-        Rapunzel

-        Snow White.

-        Pulgarcito

DO YOU REMEMBER... WHAT WAS YOUR FAVOURITE TALE?

My favourite tale was ''SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS'', because I liked the princess tales, where a beautiful princess needed to be saved for a rich and handsome prince.

• Do you remember what happend in the Snow White  story?  You can read the story in this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jzW8sAXs1I

If you have read the story, you can check that is totally different to other version of the Grimm brothers 

http://www.ciudadseva.com/textos/cuentos/ale/grimm/blancanieves.htm

We can observe...

The same characters: Queen, stepmother, Snow White, the prince, the seven dwarfs

The same structure: -The queen was jealousy, She was not the most beautiful of the kingdom according with the mirror (Snow white was the most pretty)

The old woman and the apple, although in the Grimm Brothers version, the old woman divided the apple in two parts, one of it was for her and the other piece with poison for Snow white,

The prince saved the princess and they lived happely ever after.

If you prove the two versions,you can realise that are completly different according with the facts occurs, but the structure and the organisation are the same in the two cases.

WHAT IS THE AIM? The goal is that students develop their mind to imaginate things without any prototype.

• Do you think that can you use the fairy tales to work in class?

From my point of view, I consider that it is a funny way to foment the reading in students, I have thought some ways to develop it:

-The creation of a tale throught a story.

-Storytelling.

-The representation of a tale using costumes, they have to make them in subjects like art.

I show you some photographs of our costumes of ''SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS'' when my friends and me dressed up in the last Carnival.

Thank you!!

See you!