Grammar Comic Strip

Technology today offers us teachers a large variety of mediums through which to present grammar structures. Last week I discovered a great comic strip maker called toonlet and tried my hand at making a few strips. I can't wait to show my 5th grade.  

These strips feature my favourite grammar robot Serious Grammaticus, who has started to become popular among my students. Maybe I should start writing his adventures down!

Calligraphy Club: Printable Handwriting Practice Sheets with a Poetic Twist!

I' ve been using fountain pens since primary school and I have come to realise that those writing instruments have shaped the way I write. 

To begin with, as one of my students once told me, fountain pens are like toothbrushes, they are very personal. They adjust the ink flow to the writer's writing angle and pace, and they don't require any pressure, which means that one is able to write in a fluent motion. This means that the fatigue caused by writing for a long time is minimised. Moreover, fountain pens cater for both left-handed and right-handed students, not only because of the adjustable ink flow. Many brands have issued fountain pens for children that offer both left-handed and right-handed grips. 

One of the most difficult things to teach a child learning to write is how to hold their pen properly. Fountain pens adress that issue, too. If you don't hold the pen correctly, the ink flow is obstructed and the pen won't write. In other words the writer is "taught" by the pen how to hold it correctly in order for him or her to be able to write. 

Using fountain pens increases motivation to write. Many of my students actually HATE writing. A large number of them believe that their handwriting is horrible and that there is no way to fix that. Using fountain pens reshapes this belief, since it helps them transform the appearence of their writing within a couple of weeks. It gives students the satisfaction that they have accomplished something they thought was beyond their reach. 

You don't have to spend a fortune in order to buy your child a fountain pen. As a matter of act I advise you not to. There are plenty of quality fountain pens in the market that range from 1,50 to 10 euro and are especially made for children. I also advise that you buy cheap bottled ink to refill the pen. It is cheaper and eco friendly. You might also want to invest in a fountain pen correction pen that will last the whole school year.

So you made your trip to the fountain pen store and got your child a pen... Now what? There are many websites that offer handwriting practice sheets that you can use. I for once prefer to make my own, not only because I can choose the font but I can also play around with the content. In order to help my students get familiarised with poetry and songs that I love, I use poems and songs for my handouts. I have also bought a cheap calligraphy notebook that I give to the students that finish early. 

Here is the first calligraphy handout I made for my calligraphy club, featuring a poem by one of my favourite poets: Shel Silverstein. Print and enjoy. There will be more soon. 

I Can Do It Class Project, based on E.Carle's From Head To Toe. Εργασία των μαθητών της Γ' Δημοτικού της Σχολής Χιλλ

Just a thought before I start...
It has been a long time since the last time I posted something and I am afraid that was a very conscious decision. The Internet is a world of freedom and information, in which the possibilities are endless. Unfortunately, the possibility that someone may use your photos and text without permission in their own site or blog is equally possible. I was unpleasantly surprised when I found some of my work on other blogs, without a reference to my blog, so I decided to stop posting until I had shorted that out. I am still trying to find ways to secure my work, I am still learning you see, so if anyone has any advise or thoughts on this please let me know. 

I Can Do It Class Project

Last month with third grade we learnt the verb "can". I was looking for consolidation activities when one of my colleagues, Zoe, suggested I use Eric Carle's From Head To Toe. The lesson plan I made was based on the PPP, Presentation, Practice, Production model. 

Presentation 
Firstly, we read it in class and then we had our own circle time asking each other questions. I have recorded that session and is going to be used in the students' Goodbye Interactive CD. 

Practice 
Then we watched the youtube video based on the book and we learnt the song. There is no need to tell you how much children love action songs! We all had so much fun dancing around to it in class. The video below is from youtube. 

Production 

The lesson couldn't be complete without some production activity, so I thought of writing our own books. We named them I Can Do it! Each student wrote five questions and answered them according to whether they could do that action or not. Finally we illustrated or books. I made a flipbook out of their scanned work, which you can see bellow. 

I can do it! by third grade students.

Student Poetry Projects Using Powerpoint - Εργασίες Μαθητών της Έκτης Δημοτικού της Σχολής Χιλλ.

Don't you just love it when your students take initiative and transform what you have given them into something of their own? 

 I was trying to go through my last year's materials, in order to tidy up my messy computer, when I came up with projects made by my 6th Grade students. It all started when I made PowerPoint presentations of their grammar poems, which the students loved. Some of them were acquainted with the use of technology and offered to make presentations of their own. I have included three of the presentations that they made, and I must admit I am really proud of the work they have done. I have more Student Projects in one of the computers at school, which I am going to include in a later post. I hope you like them as much as I do. This is what happens when children try something off the beaten track. 

• The first presentation is contributed by Irene M. (12 years old.) It was presented during our Earth Day celebration. 

• One more presentation by Irene M. 

The last presentation of the day belongs to Kostis G. (12 years old) 

I am looking forward to this new school years projects. I am sure my new students will amaze me as always. 

Poetry Club: New Poetry Video - Νέο ποίημα από το English Poetry Club της Σχολής Χιλλ!

It has been a very busy and prolific year for our 6th Grade Poetry Club. This is the last video of the year, now my students have one each. These videos are also part of my goodbye gift to them, a PowerPoint Show including pictures, their videos, projects, and of course their Year Book. Stay tuned for more. 

Poetry Club: Using Original Poems to Teach Grammar

• When I was a teenager, I came across a poem that changed the way I perceived the world. It was a long poem with a one word title: IF, written by R. Kipling. I strongly believe that we have to use authentic materials when teaching, but this kind of materials is difficult to come by. Most of the poems, articles or books are too difficult or inappropriate for young learners, or they don't contain enough of the target structure. This is why I was so happy when I realised that If, the poem in question, is one long, well structured, neat conditional. 

• My 6th Graders dug their teeth into the poem and with great effort they constructed their own If poems. These poems, and more, constitute The Second Poetry Collection by the Living Poets Society. What follows is a sample of their work.

If If you are always a friend of justice and never betray it, If you stand up for an innocent man, Even when it is almost sure that he is doomed, If you help a man even if he doesn’t deserve any help, You’ll be more than a man, You’ll be a good man. Kostis G.

If If you can have friends that are true If you can open your heart to everyone that needs and loves you If you can always be yourself If you can do things and don’t mind what others say You’ll be a man my son. Dioni M.

If If you are not afraid to try something new. If you learn to fight for the fair If you don’t give up in difficult moments If don’t care only for yourself Or you learn to appreciate what you have Your life will blossom Kilo M.

If If you go to Sahara without a map, If you climb Everest without a rope If you swim with Sharks If you see thrillers and you laugh Then don’t be sure you are really brave When you are alone without help. Irene M.

If If you are always a friend of Justice And you never betray it If you stand up for an innocent man Even  when it is almost sure that he is doomed, If you help a man Even if he doesn’t deserve any help You will be more than a man, You’ll be a good man. Kostis G.

If If you can watch a movie again and again And keep laughing at the same thing If you can control your mood If you can feel it’s already summer when you hear music If you can imagine that book continuing If you can make your anxiety go away just by singing Then you know how to have fun. Zoe K.

If  If you can be there for your friend in hard times, If you can be yourself all the time with him, If you can support his decisions, If you can share, laugh and argue in the same time, If you can accept his difference, Then you can call yourself a true friend. Ariadne V.

If If you can always tell the truth, If you can stay calm when other people hurt your feelings, If you can face any situation without running away, If you don’t give up And try hard, You’re a man. Aris

If If you smile often, If you turn on the oven, If you bake it to golden, If you let it all shine even, If you don’t make it alright the first time, If you try with soul and mind, Then, you’ll be a real poet. Electra

If If you can be true to people, If you stand by your friends, If you say the truth, even if it’s hard, If you forgive even when you’re wounded, If you try to love someone, even if you hate him, You’ll be a Man, my son. Marina

More Poetry 

• Poetry Club

• Poetry Club :Grammar Focus: 1st and 2nd Conditional

• World Poetry Day

• World Poetry Day part 2

  
  

It Is OK To Be Different Class Books

Last week we read Todd Parr's "It is OK To Be Different" with 4th Grade. The children wrote and illustrated their own It Is OK books. Here are samples of their work. 

Kizoa slideshow: IT IS OK TO BE DIFFERENT - Slideshow

Teaching Through Music.

Music is a very efficient teacher. Most of the vocabulary and grammar I have learnt as a student was through the music I used to listen to as a child. Nirvana taught me what a mosquito is at the age of 9, Nina Simone taught me how to make wishes using the structure I wish + simple past and Pearl Jam what the words Corduroy and Rearview Mirror mean. 

One cannot deny the power of music and the effect it has on our ability to remember. It makes perfect sense to me if we use popular music to teach English, especially when it comes to young adults. What is more there are learners that learn better through the auditory approach. One can use songs  to teach skills such as listening for gist or listening for detail, or even as a model text for creative writing. The possibilities are endless. 

One day my 6th grade came to me with the wish to talk about Bob Dylan's Blowing in the wind. They had been working on this song with their music teacher and they thought it would be a good idea to bring it into my class. So I split the class into groups and appointed each group a part of the lyrics. The children had to analyse the lyrics and in the end we presented our findings in class. 

• Their homework assignment for that day was to produce a similar text, using the song as a model text. The grammar focus of this assignment was asking questions with wh- words, modal verbs and subordinate clauses. They produced really interesting texts, one of which I turned into a poetry video. 

Another way we can use music is for general writing purposes. I have made a music journal booklet, that unfortunately don't use with all of my students. I hope someday I will. 

• In this Journal, students can write about their favourite songs, add thoughts and feeling, and even draw. Hopefully at some point I will have a sample to share. For now all I have is a sample copy that I have filled in myself as an example. 

World Poetry Day part 2 - Παγκόσμια Μέρα Ποίησης στη Σχολή Χιλλ!

Today at school we celebrated World Poetry Day our own way.

• In fourth grade we wrote biography poems, which we turned into posters. We also wrote our poems on leaf  shaped pieces of paper in order to decorate our Poet Tree.

• Here is a sample biography poem. For  obvious reasons I have removed the student's real name. 

(Student's first name) 

footballer, animal friend, boy

friend and brother of Chrissie 

fan of Panathinaikos, Kobe Bryan
 and Christiano Ronaldo,

who feels happy, pain and hungry,

who fears killers, undertakers and spiders

who wants to see Christiano Ronaldo

resident of Koukaki, Athens

(Student's last name)

Our bare Poetry Tree
waiting for the young
poets to fill its branches.

Writing away...

Deciding what goes where.

Decorating the tree.

Our Poet Tree in bloom!

• 6th grade also contributed to our poetry tree with copies of poems we have written throughout the semester. You can have a look at their first poetry collection which was officially released today, in the photo gallery page. We invited all the other children to a special poetry video screening. In order to make the videos I used Power Point and then turned the presentations into wmv files. It is a time consuming process but it delivers great results. 

• Poetry Club: 

Grammar Focus: 1st and 2nd Conditional
Level: Advanced

• We have been working on the 1st and 2nd conditional for the past couple of weeks now. I used poetry to design our follow up activities, which required the students to reproduce two famous poems. For the first conditional I used part of Rudyard Kipling's "If". Their projects are still in progress, so I am going to post more details in the forthcoming weeks.

• For the second conditional I used "Tread Softly" by W.B. Yeats. I was surprised by how well the children reacted to difficult texts that were written so long ago.

• As visual stimuli I used two amazing videos made for the above poems, which you can view below. These people have done an outstanding job! If you like the videos visit their channels on You Tube, it's totally worth it. 

Bookworms  

• As teachers we always complain that children have stopped reading. Though it is absolutely true, we have to ask ourselves if our children have stopped reading because we have stopped reading as well. We also have to ask if we have stopped teaching reading the way it should be; fun. Too many reports, quizzes, tests and deadlines may well spoil the fun. What follows is a list of books I like to read even as an adult, and try to use or hope one day to be able to use in one of my classes. 

    Mystery Books for Restless Young Minds

• Mystery books are a great way to sparkle that mystery flame in a classroom. It keeps the kids on their toes, exercises the brain and is a good way to teach inference and problem solving skills.Above all it is absolutely fun.  

  The Case of the Chocolate Fingerprints (Clue Jr. #3)

Eight cases for your students to solve within minutes! Time for some careful reading and catching the culprit!I use it for quick lesson starts in unruly classes and as a model for creative writing projects. The possibilities are endless.In weeks to follow I will include a creative writing project we did with my older students based on this book. The children in pairs wrote their own mystery stories that the rest of the class tried to solve. A kidnapped queen, a questionable policeman and a murdered bookshop owner were some of the characters the children made up. We sure had fun!!  

http://www.amazon.com/Case-Chocolate-Fingerprints-Clue-Jr/dp/0590262173