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!

Easter colouring pages

Here’s my selection of Easter colouring pages.

You’ll find more Easter mandalas if you click on this picture:

This Easter egg helps practise pre-writing abilities.

Here’s one that is also a puzzle:

This one is “full of flowers”:

Here are some more lovely Easter eggs:

Make a box for your Easter eggs:

Here’s a bunny face you can pin on your Easter basket:

Make a bunny-shaped Easter card:

HALLOWEEN COLOURING PAGES

Here are some Halloween colouring pages I like and use in my classroom:

 

 

Also, there are some fun coloring sheets on THIS PAGE. This one is my favourite:

St. Patrick’s Day TREASURE HUNT

This is an activity I do with my 5-year-olds around St. Patrick’s Day.

Some days before, I preteach some related concepts like “leprechaun”, “shamrock” and “pot of gold” using flashcards and this lovely song . They already know “hat” and “rainbow”. We take some time to find Ireland in a map. If you google “Ireland” you’ll come up with some really fantastic images and they’ll really get the kids’ imagination going.

Then we make our “leprechaun hats”.

The kids colour the pictures and cut them out, then I make a construction paper headband and staple the hat and the other two pictures on it. Now everyone is wearing something green.

Then we “discover” the leprechaun’s letter somewhere in the classroom and read it.

We decide to find the pot of gold so we go looking for the shamrocks around the school. Previously, I’ve put several envelopes with a shamrock sign on them in different places. But when we find the first one and I try to open it, it won’t. On the envelope there’s a question or a task for them to do. This shouldn’t be too difficult or too easy for them. I usually use something like this: “Name 3 farm animals” (as it’s last year’s vocabulary, so they might need to think a bit to remember) or “What’s green and can jump and swim?”. When they answer the question correctly, the envelope “magically” opens and inside it says where the next shamrock is, for example “Look for another shamrock by the window”. And so on. I think I used 4 or 5 envelopes last year, you don’t want to make it last too long as you could lose the children’s attention.

So the last envelope tells us to look for the nearest tree. We go outside to the playground and under a tree we find… A pot of gold! (chocolate coins, of course). It’s also nice to hang some sort of rainbow on the tree.

Everyone gets a “gold” coin and we decide to leave the rest for the leprechaun.

Obviously, it takes a bit of a preparation in advance but kids really enjoy it so I think it’s worth it. I hope this year I can remember to take some pictures and post them here later.

Please, tell me what YOU do for St. Patrick’s Day.

WITCH PAPER DOLL FOR HALLOWEEN

Your kids can make this cute witch paper doll when Halloween is just around the corner:

Brown Bear PRINTABLES

I just found this “Brown Bear” printable pack that I’m definitely using in my class. I love THIS STORY, it’s great for learning animals and colours as well as basic chunks like “What do you see? – I can see…”. I think I’m going to have my 4-year-olds colour the black and white pictures of the animals, cut them out and make their own little books.

I hope you enjoy it!

OWL AND MONSTER MASKS FOR HALLOWEEN

Here are two owl masks your kids can make for Halloween:

 

And a monster mask (from SuperSimpleLearning):

EASTER COLOURING WORKSHEETS

Here are some Easter colouring worksheets I like and use in my classroom: