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

I used this activity with all my groups this year, even adults. On the first day of class, I had them draw themselves. Depending on how old the students are, you can ask them to also write something about themselves under or next to their drawing, so you can get to know them better. Throughout the year, I used these cards to form pairs or groups and choose a helper or someone to read or answer a question. Sometimes I'd let one of the students pick a card too instead of me always doing the shuffling and picking. They were a great classroom management tool, and they really helped me save time. I let the kids take home their drawings on the last day of class. They enjoyed the opportunity to compare how much their drawing styles had changed from the beginning of the year to the present.  

Lots of fish in the sea! In this activity, my second-graders first added some drops of light and dark blue paint on one side of a sheet of paper and then folded the paper in the middle to make the ocean background for their fish. While the paint was drying, they drew their fish on a magazine page. I gave them many colorful circles to fold in the middle and glue onto their fish to be the scales and one googly eye. After the paint had dried and they had cut out their fish, they wrote that fish can swim and have tails and then glued their fish onto the ocean paper. The following class, each student came to the front of the class to share their fish and read their sentence.  I always love that although they are all doing the same activity, each one comes out just a little bit different. 🐟  

My third-graders are still on the topic of how animals grow and change. After listening to a chant about changes in animals as they grow, we made these 3D spiders. Before they glued the spider legs to the yellow paper, they drew a spider web and wrote the sentence: spiders grow and change. The following class they made little playdough spider eggs and glued them to the web. We'll be using these spiders on the last day of class when parents come to our open house to see what their kids have been doing.  Just look at all the happy spider faces protecting their eggs! 💗  

My fifth-graders have been studying about mold and mushrooms. We created this paper mushroom art to illustrate an activity in which we discussed what they knew about mushrooms and what they would like to know about them. They wrote their ideas on a separate sheet of paper to glue on the back of their mushroom gardens. I was surprised at how much they knew and how curious they were. We all came to the conclusion that mushrooms are fascinating, especially the biolumenescent ones. We're saving these to show parents on the last day of class when we have an open house for them.  

 I guess you can tell which story this is. That's right, my 5th graders read an adaptation of Jack and the Beanstalk. We were studying the sequence of a story and they had to answer two questions about the story and then had to complete a chart with what happened first, next, then, and finally . I thought the chart was somewhat dull so I asked them to draw a part of the beanstalk and write their answers and the sequence on the leaves of the beanstalk. I thought the process and the outcome was a lot more memorable and also pleasing to the eyes. Some students even got creative and added some 3D paper butterflies. Love how the same activity always comes out different and shows each child's personality.

  LOVED how these sunflowers turned out! My fifth graders were studying about how harmless things can become harmful and they read a text about sunflowers taking over a park. We used the scraping paint technique to make the background for the flowers and I asked them to use only black and white to draw the flowers so they would stand out. On another piece of paper, they had to write about the plants they had in or around their house. They then glued it on the back of the sunflower paper. We will most likely make a book with all the work they have been creating. Viva colors!

Students made a jungle with a sleepy snake in a tree to illustrate a trip to the jungle with their families. We used pieces of a thin cardboard from food boxes as tree trunks and different shades of crepe paper for the tree leaves. They finger painted the trunks and and the jungle and wrote a trip to the jungle on their work after everything had dried. I gave them the snake already cut out of red paper so they just had to add the details they wanted and glue it wherever they believed a snake would like to be in the jungle. I don't think many of them have ever been to the jungle with their families but who knows, maybe they will one day.   

Loved these compass roses my 5th graders made using old magazines . We were exploring the question: why is it important to learn about other places? Of course the topic of maps came up and this craft was fast and easy to make. They were able to use the craft to explore the spelling and pronunciation of all the cardinal directions.   

Children are often ecstatic to celebrate their birthdays, and what better way to do so than with a delicious cake! Recently, my second-graders and I explored the idea of celebrating birthdays with family by creating smeared paint cakes. To make these cakes, I provided each student with a piece of craft paper onto which I added drops and lines of various colors of paint. The kids used a piece of cardboard to smear the paint and create a beautiful effect. Although a squeegee would have been ideal for this activity, I unfortunately did not have one on hand. During the following class, the students were asked to add their age number of candles to the cake, write "I celebrate my birthday," and add additional details using a black marker. The resulting artwork was truly interesting, and there were many gasps of awe and appreciation as we admired each smeared paint cake. The artwork was later used as the cover of the students' portfolios, which they will soon take home to share

    My second-graders recently created colorful Chinese New Year dragons using paper. As we were learning about different family traditions and holidays celebrated around the world, I provided them with pre-cut dragon heads and slips of paper, and they used their creativity to glue the pieces onto black paper along a line I had drawn. If time allows, in the future, I would love for the students to cut their own paper and draw their own lines to encourage more independent production. The black paper really made the colors of their dragons stand out! In the following class, the students also wrote 'Happy New Year' on the black paper using white pens or pencils

I did this actvity with my advanced teens group. In one class they had to choose some colors and squirt paint onto a white piece of paper 3 times and fold the paper in the middle so the paint would create different patterns like in a mirror. I didn't tell them what it would be for. I also told them not to write their names on the paper. The mystery made the actvity even more engaging.  The following class I handed the papers out randomly, asking them to hand back the paper if it was their own. Next, they had to use vocabulary words we were studying to write sentences about the person who had made the images. I asked them to imagine they were studying the student's personality through the "painting" they had created.  They had to really use their creativity and also make sure they understood the meanings of each new word they used. They all had fun trying to come up with their sentences and then trying to find out who the paper belonged to. Last, when students got thei

My second graders are still studying and talking about what families can do together. One of the topics we covered is that families celebrate holidays together. So, we talked about New Year's and watching fireworks. They wrote: Families celebrate holidays together. They then could illustrate their sentence with paper fireworks made from colorful strips of paper. We all were truely excited with the results.  

    The new year has begun and we're starting off strong. I asked my second-grade class to create little paper monsters to discuss their family routines. Rather than discussing their own routines, they came up with routines for their monster families. It was easy and fun for them to create, and not at all scary. Some monsters didn't have mouths, so the kids said they couldn't brush their teeth in the morning All in all, it was a great activity that allowed the students to use their creativity and imagination.  😉