I Feel Happy When I Listen to Music!

Who doesn't love to listen to a good song?! My little kids are studying about words to use to talk about feelings and specifically this day about what makes them happy. I used cardboard for the guitars. I made sure to cut them out before class because the cardboard was a little too hard for them to cut, although I do like them to be able to practice using scissors. The students painted them and glued the paper details. They pretended to play them the following classes as we sang our hello song and they would repeat the sentence: I feel happy when I listen to music.

The piano was drawn onto white paper but the black keys were srips of black paper the students glued onto their white keys. I let them choose the color of the paint they wanted for their hands. I painted each student´s hand and helped them stamp their pianos. We took around 3 classes to do all this. When the pianos were drying, I showed them a video of a little girl around their age playing the piano and they were mesmerized. The following class they were able to "play" their pianos and also repeat the sentence we've been practicing: I feel happy when I listen to music.

I got both art ideas for this class on Pinterest. I'm always inspired by what I can find there.

Comments

We Wish You a Merry Christmas!!

Last days of class and everything is Christmasy! I used paint and markers to liven up my students' paper portfolio envelopes with a holly ribbon. The kids loved them! They then added their own Christmas theme decorations to their portfolios. We also made holiday bookmarks which were pretty easy to make with leftover craft paper from the year. And look who I got to take a picture with at the mall! 🎄

My Little Garden

Based on a story my fourth-graders read in class about a girl who wanted a garden in her small apartment, I had the class think about what a garden needs. Students first wrote what a garden needs to grow strong and glued this paper with their answer on the back of a green paper. They then made flowers and stems to create their garden. We folded 2 slips of paper to make the stem so the flowers would pop off the page. It was facinating to see how each garden, despite having the same elements, was so diferent.

How are you today?

No matter how old my students are, we always start the class by me asking them how they are, or sometimes them asking each other. To help with this opening routine, I made this feelings wheel and now when I ask my fourth-graders how they are, they use a clothespin to attach to the image of how they are feeling. Recently, I've been choosing a mini-teacher and they have to choose 3 students and ask them how they are. They then show the class the student's answer on the feelings wheel and ask the class how he or she is. The class has to give a complete answer, he or she is excited, for example. In a classroom where I can't use screens, this wheel has been a great helper.

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

Search This Blog