viernes, 4 de septiembre de 2015

Playground, Recess, Park Verbs for ESL Elementary Students

Park, Playground, recess resource

                                             
Books: give children access to lots of books. I always include a book in each blog post because I know how hard it is to find the adequate  reader and how expensive they are abroad.
 Read the story aloud to the class. Point to the pictures, words, letters, sentences and periods in each page. Have the book easily accessible so the children can grab it to read at any time. Parents can help at home, give them access to the stories you use if they are online or have them borrow from you.

I have this funny character clip art, I have made more books using this guy. I have called him Mr. Big Nose.

Park Board Game:  you can create your own board game using the pieces provided and a colored file folder.  The players will move game pieces in the spaces naming the verbs. Give them simple rules to follow. Students can play in small groups or with the teacher.

Command chain.
Teacher: run. Jump.
Students: run. Jump ( perform the actions)
Teacher: run. Jump. Walk.
Students: run. Jump. Walk.  ( perform the actions)

Playground Verb Bingo Game: Print 2 copies of the verb cards .Glue one set of the cards onto a colored file folder. Make copies of either the blank format where the children will draw 4 of their favorite actions in the playground or the spelling Bingo where children will write 6 verbs. Call out Bingo with the other set of cards.

On the board: have  a student come to the front. Have him/her walk.
Teacher: He is walking.
Write walk + ing on the board. Explain that the ING is for actions that are occurring as the same time as we speak. Practice with more verbs

Actions and numbers: 
Teacher: Hop three times.
               Run until five. One, two, three, four, five.
                  Walk steps. One, two.
       
Playground Verb number cards: All the cards have a number and and an action verb.
Teacher: Number 1.
Students: Jumping/jump.
Teacher: run
Students: Number 4.

Match Cards: use them as memory cards or as matching picture card to a word card activity.
Have students mime all the actions.
Teacher: jump!
Students: (Mime ) Jump ! Jump !
Have a student come to the front.
Teacher: Can you hop? Show me, please.
Student: (hops) I can hop. Point to himself.
Class: He can hop. (Points to the boy.)
Use the HE /SHE pointer.

Flash cards help children learn key vocabulary. Pronounce each word as you demonstrate and interact with the flashcard. The flashcards can be used as word wall, hang them using a clothespin.

Have children find the words in the flashcard as they read the story book.
Flashcards Activities
Activity 1: Teacher: What is he doing ?
                 Students: He is running.
Repeat with all the other flashcards.
Also, have students find a similar action in their student book and point to it.
Activity 2: Place all the flashcards on the floor .Have students throw the bean bag to the verb and mime the action.
Teacher: The girl is walking.
Activity 3:
Teacher: What can she do ?
Students: She can walk.Activity 4: place the actions flashcards on the board ledge. Point to each one and ask the class if they can do it and have them perform the action.
Teacher: Can you run ?
Student: Yes, I can. (Students run.)
Activity 5: place all the flashcards on the board. Name an action and have a student come to the front, point to it and name the action. 
Activity 6: place the flashcards on the floor.  Have enough bottle caps in a box.
Teacher: He is riding a bike. Put one bottle cap on the flashcard.
                She is walking. Put two bottle caps.

Graphing and pocket charts: use the printables for both.  The children can use a card with their name to place below their favorite playground object.  

Sentence Association game: This game is always a favorite even with adults. It as simple as matching a sentence with a picture.

Anchor charts: use them for children to refer to. An anchor chart too far away from their sight is not useful. Children can create an anchor chart small enough to keep near at their group table and check it when needed. I did this one with a file folder.It is a resource for children to remember new vocabulary words. Place a border around the anchor chart if displaying in class to give focus to the chart.

Write on cards: place clear contact paper or  place the sheet into transparent paper sheets protector. Students can write with white board markers and then erase it.

Create your park scene .
Teacher: This is a park. Look !
Point to all the park items.  Students read the colors assigned to each park item.
Playground Scene Diorama!

                                           Flashcards: here are the playground items.

More flashcards featuring children at the park.

  Example 1: 

Review the items that can be found at the playground or park using the flashcards.

Example 2. Print the slide as in my example or use any other playground item. 
Use the clear plastic sheet and a white board marker. Dictate what to draw.
Teacher: Draw a ball on the slide.
Teacher: Draw a butterfly under the slide.
Teacher: Draw a bird behind the slide.
Teacher: Draw a flower in front of the slide.
Watch the Video

Worksheets!

Create a playground.

The possibilities are endless. I will make mine to share here as an example. Please show me your student’s work. (ei98srl@gmail.com) 

You can create your own version without the templates here using magazine cutouts or toys around the house.

Here is a video on how I put everything together. The idea is to start placing the park elements into the park scene and say a sentence.

The girl is in front of the swing. Keep going to practice prepositions. This will be fun to show on distance learning.

Here is another video on how it can be done as a speaking activity.

Students can create their own park and make their own video. Students can use toys or make their own items using playdough.

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martes, 11 de agosto de 2015

Feelings and Emotions Activities for Elementary ESL

 Link to the resource:

                                  Watch the video of the resource:


The shapes and feelings book: here´s a book to review shapes and colors. Students will fill in the blanks with a feelings word and draw the mouth expression accordingly. There´s another version where students will also fill in the shape word. Nice to cover the vocabulary and grammar.
Emotions shapes printable book

The family and feelings book: students will review family members as they draw the mouth expression and write the feeling. This is also included in the family blog post and TPT unit.

Feelings Clip Board: use it in your literacy center for active learning. Students can independently put the clip word corresponding to the picture. They can practice the new words and solve the problem at his/her own pace.
I glued the word onto wood clothespin.

Monsters Feeling Book: There´s a colored version to be used as a reader.  
There´s a second version to be used as a coloring book. Students have to read in order to color the monster by reviewing facial parts and colors. It will give children the opportunity to practice coloring inside the lines with patience and improving motor skills. Students will have to focus on each part of the face. 
I included puppets to along to identify emotions and name them.

Word wall: Display the pictures and words on the wall or bulletin board. Use it before, after or during reading or writing activities. It can be used individually, small groups or the whole class as a permanent reference to the new words creating a rich print environment.
I am adding the flashcards.

Trace the word cards: children learn to read  and spell faster when they write with their hand. The benefit with extend beyond the childhood years by preventing writing difficulties in the future.

Pocket chart: this activity teaches sight words and vocabulary. I use a commercially made pocket chart and make all the cards in the same format so you can mix them accordingly to your class. The pocket charts are not used enough in the English class, in most Latin countries they are not even available. If you make one I´d love to see it.

jueves, 7 de mayo de 2015

Mother´s Day Activities for Elementary ELL

LINK to this resource and more:

It is difficult to find easy activities for the Holiday.
 I designed a complete the book for Mom.

The pages are  for the children to complete following their mother´s characteristics.
 The numbers for the age. The children can cut images from magazines, bring pictures from home or draw their own pictures.

Photo booths and Props are popping everywhere, I made mine for Mother´s Day.
 Use them for greeting cards, fun classroom pictures for the year book or the celebration if you have one.
And very simple cards are included:

viernes, 1 de mayo de 2015

Body Theme for Elementary Language Learners

Get the files for the parts of the body resource for teaching Elementary English Language Learners at my TPT store:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Body-Theme-for-Elementary-ELL-1836555
body resource for teaching Elementary English Language Learners

 Watch the video of the resource:

Emotion, play and surprising activities are the secret ingredients to learning. This resource is help students describe the parts of the body and to describe people, family members and later on even animals.

Body unit draw book: Let them recognize that everybody in class is different.
Have the students draw  their bodies as they read the sentences. 
The grammar points are: possessive adjectives (This is my face) and demostratives (These are my legs)
Body unit draw book
Watch the video of the printable  book:

To learn Body Words Board Activity 1: Draw several shapes as torsos on the board . Have children come up to the complete the body.
Teacher: karla and Paul, draw the head.
Continue with more body parts until the drawing is complete. Go over all the body parts and label them.   Then, have children draw themselves with their complete bodies and label all their body parts.
learn Body Words Board Activity

Board Activity 2 Divide the class in several teams. Have a student from each team go to the board. Say a body vocabulary word and have the students write it on the board as fast as they can.  Give a point to each team that does it correctly. Continue with more words.

Children can count with their fingers. I printed onto cardboard  a right and left hand. Then I glued all the numbers onto clothespin. Students have to number all the fingers in the hand.
  
Adjectives Left and right related to the body: teach directionality during this unit. Have students hold both hands in front of themselves. Use the hands and arrows available for this purpose. You can make them smaller and paste the hands on their tables to remind them of left and right. Have students say right hand and show it to you. Do the same with left hand.
Adjectives Left and right related to the body


Pocket charts help children manipulate language in a special way. This time I included the adjectives Big and small as a sorting body part activity. if you don´t have a pocket chart do it on a file folder, on the table or the board.
adjectives Big and small as a sorting body part activity

Or make puppets with the cutouts and make big and small body parts patterns.

Another version, using complete sentences or making sentences.

Make words: print letters onto different colored paper or construction paper. Give students the letters to make body parts words as in a crossword.

Spelling: approach spelling as problem solving instead of a memorization activity. Teach spelling strategies and skills. Here are some ideas.

Task cards: motivate students with these cards instead of a regular worksheet. Students will have to deal with one question at a time instead of a whole page in front of him/her. I create the task cards with all the grammar points in mind and you can use the ones that suit your class. Use them to review before tests. Students can work individually or in pairs. Save paper by printing  and laminating the set. Students write on their notebooks.

Worksheet: there is no perfect worksheet, but make changes to make it work. After I did the worksheet as in the instructions I cut everything out and created a label all activity by labelling the body parts and then the colors.

Body Unit Domino game benefits group learning experiences and reinforcement of the new language.

Body half game: print as many as you need. Give one half card to each child and have them walk around finding their other match and stand together. They can ask questions: Do you have the arm ? Make it a speaking activity.

Tracing helps with :
-       Eye-hand development and use of the writing tools: pencils, crayons, markers,etc
-     fine motor skills
      Develops the awareness of key concepts of print  in  the new language, even more when the language alphabet is completely different
-       teaches directionality about the ley movements for letter and word formation
-     The result is a neat worksheet or card that makes the child like independent handwriting that has been lost for the excessive use of technology.    
     Students can show the card and say: This is an eye.

s

Picture and word matching: this kind of activity help develop the word recognition skill necessary to reading. Students can see very letter in each word in his own work area instead of looking at it on the board that several meters away from him/her. Children need to focus on recognizing words readily  to move on to meaning.

There is a bundle for the body unit at the store. Check it out.

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domingo, 22 de marzo de 2015

Easter for Elementary ELL

Easter small cards: play match the pairs of cards. Students will have to observe the cards  and concentrate.


Easter read and color book: have students construct meaning from the text and pictures. Then have them color only what indicates a color. The rest has to be blank.


Easter Pocket Chart: a wonderful resource to have in the class for those children who are kinesthetic learners. Children can work alone using the pocket chart. Explain to the children how the pocket chart works.


Get the files:


Easter Egg book: This book can be easily made just by coloring the picture and tracing the phrases. It can also be made by coloring, cutting out and gluing the pictures onto each egg. The phrases are very easy to read. I punched a hole and placed a butterfly clip.


Easter Letter Tiles: have the students make the Easter words by using the letter tiles. Then, invite them to make new words by using each letter of the word.


Easter worksheets. Use them in a dynamic way having the students interact with each other as they complete them.


Get the files :

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More Easter activities at my other blog:www.eflpreschoolteachers.blogspot.com