All You Need is Paper (and a little love) ESL/EFL activities

 I had to teach some basic math vocabulary to a bilingual group and what better way to get kids interested in math than with cookies, even if they are made of paper. I used the inside of a cereal box to draw 6 cookies and drew from 1 up to 6 chocolate chips on the cookies. I drew the minus, plus, times and equals signs on small pieces of paper and also made a cute paper pocket to store the whole set. Students made the cookie sets in one class and each student got to present a different math problem for the class to read and answer in the following class.  I added all the steps for them to make the chocolate cookie math set onto my slides and even added some cookie math problems for them to answer so they would know what they had to do with their chocolate cookies. It was all easy and fun, plus they could save their cookie math sets to be used at other moments with their families, friends or in another class. It would be a nice touch to have them make real cookies in another class, espe

My first grade group has been studying seasons. We made this 3D paper tree to reinforce spring vocabulary. Even though we are still having online classes, it was pretty easy for them to follow along. I used a peice of cardboard I had as the base for the tree. I also used half of a tea box so I could stand my tree up. My students didn't have the same colors of paper I had but all the trees cames out great.          

  I saw this idea on Pinterest to be used as a card and I adapted it to be used with students. It's for them to track how they feel each day so they have to each create their own. The students can customize their trackers and draw whatever they like to be colored showing their mood of the day. They can draw hearts, balloons, flowers, an animal or a light bulb like I did. Encourage them to use their creativity. The mood tracker can be used every class or at home every day and then shared with the class when it's complete. Depending on their level, they can share why they felt sad or happy on that day. They key for the different feelings can also be adapted. The class can add more or fewer feelings, just be careful with the space you have to write. I was able to fit in exactly 31 bulbs. To make the tracker fold the paper in the middle, then fold each side back once. Watch the video to see how easy it is.

This paper activity can be used in so many different ways! My first grade class is studying cities and the helpers who work in a community. We made this craft today to practice asking and answering about each helper. They showed their helper and I would ask them: where does the (firefighter) work? We drew 4 workers but more can be drawn. I let them choose which ones they wanted to draw. After folding each paper in the middle, they are glued back to back to each other. I made the same craft with my second grade class but instead of helpers we drew different kinds of transportation. I added a popsicle stick in the middle to be able to hold onto it and spin it around. Use your imagination with this and let me know how it goes.  

  Here's a really creative activity plus craft to practice places in the city and the use of there is/are. Students have to create 3 layers of their city by adding 3 different paper levels. The first buildings are drawn and colored on a sheet of paper, cut out and glued onto the blue creative paper which should be cut in half. The other 2 levels with the smaller buildings and the cars on the street have to be longer strips of paper than the blue one so they can be glued by their tips onto the first paper. After the city is ready, students should write about their city and glue it onto the back of the blue paper. Each student can show and describe their city to the class. The cities can also be placed around the classroom (we hope next year) for everybody to be able to check out and read about their friends' cities. Encourage students to be creative with their cities and only use yours for inspiration.                                    

I had seen this art project on Pinterest and recently a friend sent me the idea on Instagram. My first grade bilingual class is studying communities and one of the places was a park with slides and swings. I didn't want them to just draw a playground and I thought making a model of a playground on an online class would be too challenging, so I decided to make this paper project into a crazy wild playground. All the students needed were strips of paper which they could decorate if they wanted to and a cardboard or some other paper to glue the strips onto. They loved the idea and it was really easy for them. When they were done, they all got to show their swings and slides to the class. And here is my wild playground.  

Kids love a guessing game! I'll be using this activity to review pet names. I'm having a student pick a color and then a number. They have to guess which pet is behind the door. If they guess correctly, they get a star. After we play, they can choose any pet and make their own door for the rest of the class to guess. I used 3 sheets of creative paper cut in the middle. This way, I was able to make 2 doors with each paper. I drew the pets on white paper, cut them out, and glued them in the doors after I had already drawn the doors and made the details. I didn't draw a cat and a dog because these are the easiest ones and we had made cats and dogs in other classes. I glued all the doors onto a piece of cardboard, so I can hold them all up at the same time for students to easily see. I really liked the final result and how all the colors look together.  

I want to do this when we finally go back to our classroom. Students in groups would make their take one posters with activities people can or can’t do and place them around the classroom. Everybody would go around the room and take slips of things they can do.  They then would sit in their groups and compare what they can do. After, they would write  sentences using their slips.  Last, students can also be divided into teams to mime the sentences.