Thanksgiving class favourites

 

Thanksgiving, is my most favourite holiday of all! Thanksgiving is the perfect time to teach our kids about being thankful. Taking nothing for granted, matters! Here are some ideas to teach  children how to appreciate the blessings in their lives.

Most of the following ideas, come from http://www.apples4theteacher.com, an amazing site I often visit! Highly recommended!

Thankful Paper Chain

Another way to remind your children of their blessings is to create a paper chain. This is similar to a regular paper chain – where you cut strips of paper and connect them together as loops, but there’s one difference. You write on the strips of paper before you connect them. Write the things you are thankful for with your children. For instance, “Grandma plays games with me” or “My teacher is nice.” The fun part of this activity is to make the chain as long as possible – showing all your blessings. A variation I tried this year was to ask my students to write the things they are thankful for on paper turkeys which they have made by tracing their hands on paper and later added eyes etc to make it look like a turkey!

 

Thanksgiving Tree

This is another take on the idea above and works really well if you have several kids in the family. Get each child to trace their hand on yellow, red, or brown construction paper. Cut out the hand shapes and write (or have the child write) what they are thankful for on the hand shape. Cut a tree trunk shape out of brown construction paper. Glue it on a large piece of poster board. Let the kids add their hand shapes as leaves above the tree trunk, turning it into a beautiful fall colored tree.

 

Thankful Book

This idea is similar to the others, except it’s more of a keepsake. Purchase a photo album or scrapbook kit and make a “blessings” theme. Add photos of loved ones, including stories about why they are special to you. Also, include pages of your favorite foods, favorite stories, favorite movies and all the other things that make you happy. Any time your kids feel down, you can open your blessing book to see all the reasons you have to be happy – and thankful for the blessings in your life.

 

Thankful collage 

The goal of this craft is to create a collage filled with drawings and pictures of all the things the  children are thankful for. I ask them to cut photos from magazines, or print some photos from their  computer. Older children can write captions under the photos or draw their own. After I have talked with my 4th graders about what they feel thankful for,and we brainstorm some relevant vocabulary on the board, I ask them to go home and make their  collage  and be ready to talk about it in class, before it is put up on the classroom walls!The big poster with all the individual collages , remains on the classroom walls till the end of the school year, reminding my students of all their blessings every time they look at it! Precious!

 

Working on picture books

Collaboration in writing

Most teachers tend to think that, writing is better done for  homework individually…I don’t!

When writing is done in class,  as a collaborative activity, it can have many of the same benefits of a group speaking activity:

Discussing the writing process obviously provides more opportunities for learners to interact in English, a benefit in itself.

Collaborative writing can also be a lot of fun! Especially, when it is related to pictures!

To start with, have students draw their own pictures or bring in photos. Or, you can provide pictures for them from books,  magazines, the internet and other sources.

Jigsaw writing   is a way of structuring collaborative writing, so that the process is clearly defined. This works well with picture stories or cartoon strips. I put students into small groups and read them a book story showing them the pictures at the same time….Then, I hand each group, photocopies of the book story and ask them  to write a paragraph- or simple sentences, for my junior students- describing what is happening or happened in their picture(s).

Putting the pictures in the right order to create their story book

Then, I  regroup the students into larger groups so that there is someone in each group who has written about each of the pictures, and ask them to decide on the correct order of the pictures and make any changes necessary to turn their paragraphs- sentences, into a coherent whole. Students can then read and compare the different versions of the story!

An artistic touch…

Each student, makes his book look unique!

Another idea is, to throw all the book  pictures or any other pictures available…. up  in the air(!) , and when all the pictures land on the floor, ask the groups of  students to collect any pictures they like more, decide on the order they wish the pictures to be and finally, collaboratively write sentences for each one of the pictures and make a new story!

Finally, they can be  asked  to share their stories with the other groups of story writers and make comments.

We can use pictures from books

In the next lesson, they can then put the pictures  together to make their own small book. Ask them to colour it, and give it a name, too …. This is a great motivator for the students. They will enjoy reading their books and will be looking  forward to writing more. You could also let them take their books home to share their stories, and new writing skills, with their families.

One of our picture books covers

 

With older students, one really fun  activity is  the following:  give students a short amount of time to draw an abstract picture (this works better if you have some crayons or markers ready to go). Tape all the pictures to the wall. Students then have to write a short paragraph giving the picture a title and describing what they think is happening in the picture. The fun comes after all of the paragraphs have been written. Students then try and link up which paragraph matches which picture. This usually results in a lot of mismatches and quite a bit of laughter. If there’s time left, it can also lead into a good conversation about modern art in general. I usually, ask the groups of students, to take their  pictures back   and write a  ….science fiction story book ,using all of their pictures in any order they prefer and share with the class

 

I like having a group of different level students composing a story together. It can be so useful, efficient and rewarding. Useful for everyone: weaker students have their peers helping them in a non threatening environment. They have time, they dare to ask for more explanation, they won’t shy away when something’s not clear. The stronger students can only solidify their knowledge! It’s efficient because instead of one teacher dragging along 15 students, then correcting 15 different stories, what we get is a cluster of groups working on their own and producing one hopefully well-polished writing in the end!

Younger students, are asked to write only one or two sentences for each picture.

And it’s rewarding – classroom time has been used efficiently and there is an end product everyone has contributed to.

I think collaborative writing using pictures, can be a really good way of getting students to write ‘by stealth’ but you do have to be careful that it doesn’t just end up with the stronger writers doing all the work…

There are many more  activities that can be used which give children a realistic reason to write. Whatever activity we choose to use should be one that is motivating and that taps into your students’ interests.

P.S. 
I have recently been introduced to Storybird. It looks fantastic, although I haven’t had much chance to explore it yet. It has beautiful artwork that you can use to make stories. If anyone has used it in class I would love to hear of your experience!

Handmade Storybooks

 

EVERYBODY CAN FLY HIGH

How many times have you had an idea and had no doubt in your mind that an idea was possible?  How long has it been since you allowed yourself to freely create?  How long has it been since you did something without listening to the nay-sayers or the negative influencers?

If you are in a creative rut, maybe let a child inspire you in more ways than one.  You might just learn something……

It was a couple of days ago, when my friend Despina Karamitsou, informed me about an interesting online platform called http://storybird.com where one can easily use famous artists’ paintings to make his/her own storybook!

Well, being in bed with sciatica and having an almost broken laptop both at school and at home, I thought… “This is an excellent idea to have my daughter Alexiana involved in working on something really creative …..using our imagination”!

So, we ended up working all afternoon on the idea! We have made two little books so far…the first one was created on Halloween afternoon and Alexiana, who’s the story writer, decided to name it  ” The sad witch”.

The second one, which I  am presenting to you today, is called “Everybody can FLY high”!

I have thought that this is an excellent idea to use in class,too….especially in my classroom, where we don’t even have either a laptop or a projector!!

The teacher, can either ask the students to work in groups drawing their own pictures and then decide about the storylines OR the teacher can provide the different groups of students with random pictures and ask them to come up with different versions of a  story related to the pictures!

Using http://storybird.com, of course, is the best thing one can do, but even in a classroom like mine, in a state school which lacks even the basics, arts and craftwork plus lots of inspiration and imagination,  can work miracles!!

I  like our new story ” Everybody can FLY high” cause, It helps me think positive about my condition these days in bed, looking at the ceiling and wishing for a speedy recovery! I need to FLY back to my students again and I LOVE Alexiana who is so thoughtful and willing to help me recover in her own way unique way:  by writing her own, POSITIVE THINKING STORY!

 

EVERYBODY CAN FLY HIGH

BRAVERY: Here comes, Superman!
He CAN fly in a magic way! He is STRONG and BRAVE to FLY high, too!
Jr class version:
Superman CAN fly high!
He HAS no fear!
He IS strong and brave!

WILL: Here comes, Mr. Elephant! He CAN fly because he is a HERO!
He doesn’t mind his weight! He has the WILL to fly ….!
Jr class version:
Mr. Elephant CAN fly high!
He HAS a plane.
He LIKES planes.
He IS a big hero!

 

HAPPINESS: Here comes, Miss Fairy!
She CAN FLY high because she is HAPPY and happiness helps us FLY really high!
Jr class version:
Miss Fairy CAN fly high!
She HAS a beautiful smile.
She LIKES her beautiful wings.
She IS happy!

GRATITUDE: Here comes, Mr. Bird!
He is LUCKY to be able to FLY high because he has real WINGS!
He was born to FLY high and he is really THANKFUL for this!
Jr class version:
This little bird CAN fly high!
It HAS real wings.
It LIKES clouds.
It IS lucky and thankful

DEDICATION: Here comes Miss Bee!
She CAN FLY high because she is BUSY! She works hard and she LOVES flowers! BEAUTY, helps her FLY high!
Jr class version:
Miss Bee CAN fly high!
She HAS many friends.
She LIKES flowers.
She IS busy!

 

FREEDOM: Here come, the ducks!
They are FREE to FLY high! They CAN TRAVEL around the world! They CAN reach the clouds!
Jr class version:
The ducks CAN fly high!
They HAVE a long neck.
They LIKE lakes.
They ARE free!

DARING: Here comes, Mr. Bat!
He CAN FLY really high, even in the DARK because, he is FEARLESS! He DARES TO FLY no matter how dark it is …!
Jr class version:
Mr. Bat CAN fly high!
He HAS small eyes. He LIKES dark. He IS fearless.

FAITH: Here comes, the little angel!
It CAN FLY high, too because, it is a BELIEVER! If we BELIEVE, we CAN do anything!
Jr class version:
This little angel CAN fly high!
It HAS a nice smile.
It LIKES heaven.
It IS cute!

FRIENDSHIP: Here comes, Mr. Kite!
He CAN FLY high because he has many FRIENDS who help him FLY in the sky! Children are his best friends!
Jr class version:
Mr. Kite CAN fly high!
He HAS many friends.
He LIKES children.
He IS NOT alone!

UNITY: Here come the balloons!
They CAN FLY above the clouds because they FLY TOGETHER and they SHARE the party fun and the children games!
Jr class version:
These balloons CAN fly high!
They HAVE beautiful colors.
They LIKE parties.
They ARE playful!

DREAMS: Here comes, the hot-air balloon!
It CAN FLY really high because it’s a DAYDREAMER! It helps people who DREAM about flying FLY high and enjoy the view, too!
Jr class version:
This hot-air balloon CAN fly high!
It HAS a dream.
It LIKES the view.
It IS huge!

LOVE: This is ME!
I CAN FLY high because I LOVE my mother so much and my LOVE, CAN help her FLY high too!!
Jr class version:
This IS me!
I CAN fly high, too!
I HAVE a loving family!
I LOVE my mother.
I AM blessed!

Here’s the e-book link: Everybody can fly high