The Window and its Cloud.

After writing the post: 

 grammatica-della-fantasia 

I could not help but experience with the first activity that the book proposes: THE FANTASTIC BINOMIAL.  It was during an after school club. Without anyone seeing him, one child wrote,  on one side of the paper the word CLOUD; another, on the other side, the word WINDOW. Then they have to invent a "title" in which the two words appear: they decided it would be THE WINDOW AND ITS CLOUD. And this is what they built using LEGO STORY STARTER... As you see, it is an activity which gives us a very simple starting point to stimulate the imagination and start up a story. 

STONE, PAPER, SCISSORS.

Do you like this advert to raise awareness about bullying?

SOCIAL AND NATURAL SCIENCES

This course I am teaching Social Sciences and Natural Sciences to first and second grade students. Sometimes we share pictures, videos and activities with them, so that they can work at home with their parents. We use a blog for that purpose. This is the link to the

 first grade blog:

       http://socialandnaturalsciencesforfirstgrade.blogspot.com.es/

And this one is the link to the second grade blog:

http://socialandnaturalsciencessecondgrade.blogspot.com.es/

Hope you like them. Suggestions are also welcome!

Dissemination in Malta

The teachers from our school have visited Malta this summer, doing another Erasmus+ project. It was a perfect opportunity to take an andvantage and tell other people about our project.
The teachers from other schools around the world were very interested and happy to find out about teaching with Lego blocks, Playmobil and Schleich. They also like our ideas we bring into the classrooms.

They are willing to introduce our activities in their schools. We hope they will enjoy them as much as we do.

Roll Call: how to turn it into a funnier everyday activity

Roll call is a everyday activity which is not really stimulating children most of the time,but at the same time it's need to be done daily.

The idea is to try and make it a more appealing routine.So... why not getting inspired by Lego?

 

Children need to find their own sticker in the box, a useful exercise for memory!

Once done, they need to put it on the yellow wheel, a useful exercise for fine motor skills!

Stickers left in the box do resemble children not at school

and finally... THE WHEEL BEFORE AND...

 AFTER ROLL CALL

and now: what about you? Are you at school or not :) ?

Grammatica della fantasia. Introduzione all'arte di inventare storie.

After visiting Gianni Rodari Primary School in Saronno, I would like to share with you one of the most inspiring books I have ever read regarging teaching in primary school: Grammatica della fantasia. Introduzione all'arte di inventare storie, by Gianni Rodari. It is a superb "manual" to stimulate the creativity of students.

This little book written by Gianni Rodari, teacher, journalist and writer of children's fiction, is a valuable tool for teachers and for all those who, through words and games, want to discover the colors of images and the power of imagination.

Written in 1973 after a series of meetings with teachers in elementary and middle schools throughout Italy on the theme of "Fantastica", the book by Rodari offers ideas, tips and tools for those who believe in the pedagogy of creativity and gives a right educational and instructional value to imagination.
I guess all these ideas, tips and tools can make a perfect match with LEGO STORY STARTER. Does anyone want to try?

Area Dice Game.

Don't miss the following game, taken from: http://reliefteachingideas.com/area-dice-game/ 

Area Dice Game

• A game for 2 or 3 players.
• Each player chooses a colour pencil or texta they will use in the game.
• Players take turns rolling the dice, using the numbers that they rolled to draw the perimeter of a rectangle or square & writing the area in the middle of the shape.
• Game ends when players run out of room to draw.
• Winner is the player who has used the largest area/most squares.

A couple of tips:

Have the students add up their areas as they go so that it is easier for them to work out the winner in the end!

I always take with me a class set of dice, just in case I can’t locate any in the classroom that I’m in. You can usually find cheap dice in discount stores or on eBay.

I also take with me a book of 1cm grid paper. I buy this from a newsagency. Grid paper is handy to have for games like this one, maths, graphing, and creating word searches & crosswords.

Welcome Erasmus people

Last week Erasmus people came in the 4°B class. Students were very moved but happy.
They have learned a special rhyme for them.

LET’S SAY HELLO

HOLA, HOLA says hello in Spanish

CIAO CIAO says it in Italian

HALLO, HALLO says it in German

Round and round we go with ways to say hello.

Round and round we go with ways to say hello.

BONJOUR, BONJOUR says hello in French

HELLO, HELLO says it in Welsh

CZESC, CZESC says it in Polish

Round and round we go with ways to say hello.

 Round and round we go with ways to say hello.

WELCOME, WELCOME

GREET OUR DAY

TIME FOR WORK AND TIME FOR PLAY

 SCHOOL IS WHERE WE

LOVE TO BE

FRIENDS TOGETHER

YOU AND ME.

After this, students worked in groups with lego blocks and playmobil to celebrate Columbus Day. Before they had heard the story of Columbus in Italian and then in English learned the main informations about his trip.

At the end pupils have said : "We liked speaking in English with this teachers.They are nice and gentle. It was very fun! We love English!"