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

   My third-grade class just finished studying about living things that produce their own light. I love using black paper to highlight other colors and thought black would be the perfect color for this activity. To start, students used gold and silver pens to draw the living things we have been studing. They added sequins to make the drawings pop out even more on the black background and some students added googly eyes to their fireflies. We glued their drawing onto another paper so they could not just write the names of their drawings but also add why each living thing uses light. They were all very engaged and amazed at how beautiful these creatures and fungi are.

 Still on the topic of camouflage and hiding in habitats, students used paint to create a colorful and then brownish background for their bugs and small animals to hide in. We first placed different colors of paint on a cardboard paper, spread the paint out with popsicle sticks (I think that was the best part), waited for the paint to dry, and then drew the animals with a black pencil. We glued some green paper to resemble the forest floor at the bottom. When they were done, they wrote about which animals they added to their forest. I wanted them to practice the plural there are , so they drew 2 of each animal. They glued their text to the back onto a paper handle, so they could easily take their work home and hang it up somewhere. We all loved the final result, and it was one more way for them to creatively practice the content and vocabulary from the story we read in class.

 My 3rd-grade bilingual class is studying animals and what they need to survive. We started talking about how we can describe animals, for example, a tiny, round, black, and red bug. Guessed it? Yeah, that’s a ladybug 🐞 They read about how they can use colors, shapes, and sizes to talk about different animals.  They then made ladybugs out of red paper, drew some details, and glued them to water bottle tops. They also made a leaf for their ladybug because one of the things they mentioned animals need to survive is a home. Different animals have different homes. We taped the leaves to popsicle sticks, mostly so they wouldn't get lost. At the end of the class, we made a game out of everything.  They placed their leaves on the floor. The ladybugs were placed around a meter away from their leaves. The students had to flick the ladybugs and try to get them as close to their leaves as possible. The student who was able to get their ladybug the closest won the game.