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Holiday Fun!
Easter
With all the excitement around the upcoming Easter break, I decided to put the students energy at Emmanuel Christian School to good use!
I brought in my old friend Mr.Bonkers and I asked the students to teach him a lesson for me.
I told the students that he was a silly rabbit who was unfortunately not living the right way. Mr.Bonkers never listened to adults, gossiped, was rude, and was even rough with his friends. I told the students that his mother had begged me to help him get back on the right track and that I suggested my students help too considering they are not only smart, but also very kind.
Mr.Bonkers mother had come into the class while it was empty and had placed 5 easter eggs within random desks. The students had to find the eggs and open them one at a time. His mother had placed these verses there to help him recognize what behaviour nice bunnies have. Inside the eggs were 5 bible verses and the students took turns explaining to Mr.Bonkers what they each meant.
We sat Mr.Bonkers at the front of the class and although he was talking out of turn and hopping on his chair at the beginning of the lesson, by the end of the activity, Mr.Bonkers was very attentive.
Considering my students had once again proved to me that they were kind, thoughtful and loving little bunnies, we celebrated with tasty Easter treats and with some bunny face-painting!
Lastly, considering it is a Christian school, I performed this experiment to help the students understand what Jesus did for us when He died on the cross.
The penny = People
The red liquid = Sin
The lit candle = Jesus alive
The burned out candle = Jesus' death
The two top photos illustrate how before Jesus died for us, we were all covered in sin.
At his death the candle dies and it absorbed the red liquid.
The students and I then discussed how when Jesus died for us, he left us pure and sinless as he took our sins on the cross.
This experiment in essence allowed the students to understand the real purpose behind why so many Christians celebrate Easter.
Halloween
You have to love Halloween! Although during my stay at Edgewater Elementary I was teaching grade 6 students, I was reminded that all kids are simply kids during this time of the year! Again, I had to find a way to teach during such an exciting time! So, I created some fun Halloween activities for the week.
I started the days leading up to Halloween with a Halloween joke or pun and on the final two days of the week, students had to create their very own.
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What do you call someone who puts poison in a person's corn flakes? A cereal killer.
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What does a vampire fear the most? Tooth decay.
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What was the witch's favorite subject in school? Spelling.
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What's it like to be kissed by a vampire? It's a pain in the neck.
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What do you do when 50 zombies surround your house? Hope that it's Halloween!
On Halloween day we did some Rocket Math! Students were excited because they were not only using math manipulatives, but also able to eat them once they were finished collecting data!
At lunch hour we had a mini party to wrap up the day & the students let out some energy! That didn't last too long though considering they returned the following school day filled with sugar in their veins!
EASTER AS AN ESL TEACHER
The week before Easter break was one that was filled with chocolate, colour by number, cuddly bunny rabbits, and catchy easter tunes!
Rather than choosing what Freddy the Frog would wear for the day, students dressed The Easter Bunny according to the temperature outside. Clearly he ate too much chocolate as the Frog's clothing barely fit! The students found this quite amusing as well.
Students in cycle 2 had a riot finding out what their
Easter Bunny name is with the help of this chart. Throughout the week I kept hearing them in the hallways calling eachother by their Easter Bunny name and couldn't help but smile.
The students also watched an Easter story video and we then discussed the problem and the solution in the movie.
With the help of the video, we agreed that we often take those that we love for granted. Together we agreed that we would make an extra effort to thank them for all their generosity and remind them that we love them during our Easter break.
HALLOWEEN AS AN ESL TEACHER
You can never be too old for Halloween! Although during my time as an ESL teacher I only have the opportunity of seeing my students 1-2 times a week, I can still feel the students excitement in the air! So, I used all that energy and put it to good use by creating some fun Halloween activities for the week.
I started the days leading up to Halloween with a Halloween joke or pun with my cycle 3 students and challenged the students to invent their very own Halloween riddles/jokes.
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What do you call someone who puts poison in a person's corn flakes? A cereal killer.
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What does a vampire fear the most? Tooth decay.
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What was the witch's favorite subject in school? Spelling.
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What's it like to be kissed by a vampire? It's a pain in the neck.
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What do you do when 50 zombies surround your house? Hope that it's Halloween!
Cycle 3
Halloween Games
Cycle 2
Students in grade 5 worked in groups of 2 or 3 as they created and presented zombies!
Students had to describe their zombie's physicality (body, clothing) as well as their character (personality, interests, dislikes).
Although there were countless ideas that were shared, students had to work together on deciding how they wanted their zombie to look and act. This was a wonderful cooperative project as the students had to respectfully manage all their ideas.
As you can tell, they were extremely proud in sharing their work and extremely scary zombies!
Once all the hard work was complete and the students had presented their zombies, it was time for something a little less formal.
After seperating the class in two teams I was able to challenge them to a game of charades!
Students had to work as a team to find the word in English by using their French/English dictionaries if they did not know them.
This activity proved to being a successful way of teaching the students about the proper use of the F/E dictionary, as well as how useful they truly are!
In my younger grades I had them roll a pumpkin in teams of two. This allowed them to help one another whenever necessary. Considering we had been working on body parts in grades 1 & 2, I used the flashcards from class and displayed them to further assist the students during the activity.
In grade 3, the students and I learned about the most common Halloween costumes and discussed the costume they believe I should choose and put together for Halloween.
Some of the boys thought I should be a zombie, a murderer, a mad scientist, or a bruised army sergeant.
The girls however prefered me not covered in blood (no surprise there)! Many of them wanted me to be cute things such as a cheerleader, cat, or princess.
I was unfortunately not working at either school on Halloween, however I do plan on dressing up next year if I work on that day!
Cycle 1
Students in grade 4 were asked to create their very own monsters out of recyclable products from home!
Similar to the grade 5 zombies, students in grade 4 had to describe their monsters physicality (body, clothes), as well as its character (personality, hobbies, dislikes).
Considering it was the first time grade 4 students were ever asked to do an oral presentation in English, I decided to hold a monster fair for 2 classes. Like this, students were able to practise their oral numerous times with a smaller audience before I would evaluate them.
Once they were comfortable with their presentation we invited the grade 2 students to come and visit our monster creations!
The students loved the fair and truly appreciated the oppertunity to practise many times before I evaluated them. Many of them were able to answer questions more confidently considering the audience was smaller during their presentation.
Throughout the month of October students in grade 4 worked on body parts and adjectives which corresponds to C2 & C3. The last document shows the many activities we completed to become descriptive adjective pros!