House dominoes

I found this activity recently and thought it could make a great game for learning rooms in a house. What do you think?

Vocabulary game idea: Snow

This is a short and very simple activity which is great for vocabulary revision with the 3 and 4-year-olds.

Basically, you throw little papers with pictures of key vocabulary in the air saying “It’s snowing!”, and let kids pick them up. They enjoy it so much! The only rule is to pick the papers up one by one. Then they come to the teacher, or better yet, the class puppet, and give them the paper they have, saying the word on it. Then they can go back for another one.

It’s really easy to prepare, just filter black and white clipart images of your topic on your browser, copy and paste them on a Word sheet, and print out several copies. Then cut them out and there you have it, the "Snow” game that will last you for years.

Here’s an example of what I mean:

You can also mix in several topics and have your students split the “snowflakes” into categories, or use them in any way you see fit. Have fun!

Flower poem and gap-fill activity

Here’s a very simple poem about growing a flower for the little ones. You can add hand gestures to make it easier to remember.

Also, there’s a gap-fill activity I do with my 5-year-olds once they’ve learned the poem. I write the words on the board so they can copy them. I hope you like it!

Clothes shop game

Here’s a great activity that integrates Cooperative Learning and clothing vocabulary.

You’ll need paper dolls and paper clothes for dressing them (you can use real dolls and their clothes if you have them, of course). Feel free to print out and use the ones I have here:

You also have this version for colouring in:

So it goes like this. I divide the class into groups of 4-6 students (I do this activity with my 5-year-olds). Each group gets a paper doll. I show them the paper clothes I have in my “clothes shop”, but before “buying” them, each group needs to discuss and decide the clothing they need.

We use the “Pencils in the middle” technique for this. They each get a numbered list for taking notes (drawings) of their decisions. You can use this sheet: (cut it to get 3 lists for 3 kids):

“Pencils in the middle” is a 2-step technique. First, the group makes a decision without drawing or writing anything. Then, everyone takes a note of what has been decided.

So I would ask everyone: “What will clothing number 1 be?” Each group has to decide on the first item. After the decision has been made, they can each draw it or write it down on their list. When I see that almost everyone has finished, I call “pencils in the middle”. At that moment, kids have to put their pencils away and put their hands behind their backs (this helps them inhibit the impulse of grabbing the pencil before the group decision has been made). I would ask another question like: “What will clothing number 2 be?”, and so on, until they have 5 items of clothing on their lists.

The rules for this structure are:

• Use indoor voices
• Everyone participates in the decision making
• Don’t waste time
• If you haven’t finished drawing or writing when I call “pencils in the middle”, you’ll have time at the end of the activity to finish

While working with this technique, kids learn to compromise, come to an agreement and cooperate. See another Cooperative Learning activity HERE.

After everyone has their list ready, they take turns coming to the “shop” to buy clothes. It goes like this:

Teacher: Hello!

Student: Hello.

T: What do you need?

S: I need a sweater.

T: Here you are.

S: Thank you! (gives me some imaginary money)

T: Thank you, bye!

S: Bye-bye.

Kids get really motivated with this game, so I find it really easy to blend in some structured cooperation.

How do YOU teach clothing vocabulary? Let me know!

Let’s make a snowman!

SNOWFLAKE SONG

I love this song!!! You can play it while teaching about winter, snowflakes, snowman…

      

Easy Christmas crafts for decorating the classroom

Here are some easy Christmas crafts I’ve tried over the years. They are not meant to be taken home by the kids, but to decorate the classroom for the holidays. That takes some of the pressure off as they don’t have to be perfect, and it’s nice collaborative work as all the kids contribute to one final product.

Christmas tree:

Christmas lights:

Snowman: