The Potluck!

At the end of the calendar year or the end of the school year, we often enjoy celebrating with a potluck with our classes. This is a great time for building the sense of community within our centre as we all get to share our favourite dishes with each other.

Not only is a potluck a great time to try some delicious new recipes, it's also a great time for practising English!

Speaking
1. Present a short description of your dish including the main ingredients or why it is a special dish for you. This includes a lot of vocabulary, presentation format, and allows you to share your own experiences!
2. Make small-talk with a friend about the food on the table or about your favourite dish. This year, before the potluck, we talked about sources of local news - radio, TV, websites. I encouraged them to try to find one news item a week and to take the time to understand it. That way learners will have something to talk about with old and new friends.

Reading
1. Read and follow a recipe or two as a class! The class can create a dish or a series of dishes to share with the larger group. This builds on reading and understanding the genre and format. It also builds on the concept that reading has meaning.

Also, look here for a teacher's guide to Potluck published by http://grassrootsbooks.net. The link to the book is here: http://www.grassrootsbooks.net/ca/potluck.html


Writing
1. Write out the recipe for your dish. Recipes could be added to a class or site cook book. Students could also take photos to include in the cookbook. This can build on sequencing skills, using the imperative verb tense, format, and genre. It can also build on the concept that print is permanent and consistent each time you look at it.
2. Make a food label for the table so that people know what it is. This can be very important for individuals with food allergies or restrictions. This builds on the concept of the importance of labelling and reading labels for restrictions or allergies.
3. Write invitation cards (or an email) for the potluck celebration. These can be for students, teachers, or administration. This also builds on understanding genre, format, and numeracy skills.

But most importantly...

Enjoy eating the food!

Apple Season

Apple season is one of my favourite seasons. There are so many learning activities that we can do with our learners with the theme of apples in mind.

1. Go to an apple farm to pick apples. This could involve trip planning by the learners, reading a farm map, and practising numeracy skills by weighing apples and calculating the prices.

2. Apple taste test. Bring in a few apples of several different varieties, and conduct a taste test with all the learners. Each learner can sample a slice or two of different varieties of apples paying attention to apple qualities such as the sweetness, tartness, and crispness. The class could then vote on their favourite by doing a survey and completing a tally chart. Learners could make graphs that display the class' preference for the "best" apple.

3. Make apple sauce with the class. Learners can peel, core, and chop the apples. Learners can take turns stirring the apples until the apples break down into the sauce. This could be another taste test and surveying opportunity by making different apple sauce recipes. You could add a pinch of cinnamon or a spoonful of sugar. My vote would certainly go to plain, unseasoned, and unsweetened apple sauce made from MacIntosh apples.

4. And of course, apple season would not be complete without drinking apple cider. See Beautiful Things - Apple Cider and Pumpkin Pie for an activity on describing apple cider with the five senses.

Beautiful Things - Apple Cider and Pumpkin Pie

Apple season! My favourite time of year!

Seasonal foods may be new to some of the learners in your classes. 

Build in cultural experiences by bringing in culinary favourites for this time of year.

Be sure to ask about allergies, and be aware of dietary restrictions around lard as it is often in pie crusts.

Build from what the learners know, and expand vocabulary.

Use the five senses to describe pumpkin pie and apple cider.

Literacy Considerations
1. Change activities often. Do this kind of activity 20 minutes before break time to break up the day.
2. Begin with speaking. Have students orally describe and discuss words with a partner or a small group.
3. View learning as a social activity. Have learners enjoy the food and drink with a partner or small group.

Outdoor Things to Do in the Summer

When schools are out in the summer, individuals and families often seek fun things to do. Outdoor activities may differ in different parts of the world. What do boys and girls usually do in the summer? What do adults do? One idea is to make a big class list and check off who has done what, and who will do what.

This Hamilton Conservation Authority Facebook link has a list of some ideas: https://www.facebook.com/HamiltonConservation/photos/a.111847857651.118338.7446247651/10152650367427652/?type=1&theater .

If you are teaching during the summer, you could try out some of these activities in school or on a field trip. You could tally up who has done the most things.


I have done 33 things on this list. How about you?

Themes: Canadian Culture, Leisure, Health and Safety
Grammar: Imperatives, cardinal and ordinal numbers, go / try + gerund

Reminder: Start with oral language first. This kind of language development could also be really fun if incorporating TPR (Total Physical Response).

Have fun!

"Eat your Weedies!"

Edible weeds in your neighbourhood? Why not learn about them!

With a teacher experienced in identifying edible weeds, several activities are possible across the levels.

A good resource book like this one can be helpful.  You could use it for your own information or adapt it for higher level learners.

You could
1. Talk about learners' own experiences foraging for and growing food. Do TPR to connect actions and vocabulary. See this link for some ideas for Phase I learners on using TPR and song for learning new vocabulary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJuOR9jTpV4

2. Talk about foraging in Canada - do people do it? Where? Why? What times of year?

3. Collect some edible leaves and flowers and have your students take photos of them, or trace / draw them.

4. Compare shapes, sizes and colours of leaves and flowers.

5. Take your class on a walk around the block to pick your own salad. Follow or make a map while you are at it!

6. Sample all the edibles and describe the taste, texture, and smell.

7. Have a local guest speaker come to class and talk about edible weeds.

8. Read a flyer (adapted as necessary) about a course on this topic: http://haltonenvironment.net/?tribe_events=eat-your-weedies-2

9. Find and follow some recipes using edible weeds. Write your own recipe.

10. Read and discuss issues around excessive foraging / harvesting (adapted as necessary): http://www.thespec.com/opinion-story/4034957-foraging-is-fine-but-not-on-rbg-property/

 Garlic Mustard 

Some recipes are here: http://the3foragers.blogspot.ca/2014/04/garlic-mustard-recipe-roundup.html

Wood Sorrel (has yellow flowers) - Check out the warnings before you eat this.

Be careful, though! If you cover this topic with your learners, be sure you are providing all the correct and relevant information. Some edible plants may have look alike plants that are poisonous.

Winter Wishes

The end of the year celebration at school usually includes all students at all levels. The teachers tap into their creativity to meet the needs of the learners. This year, our students ranged from Literacy Foundation to CLB 6. To start off our morning, we designed an activity that included some student collaboration, speaking, fine motor skills, following instructions, and writing.

We started by having students put together a puzzle.

I designed the puzzle in Word, saved it in Adobe, and printed it as a poster. I enlarged it to about 375%, so it printed off into sixteen squares. The images I chose were not distinct enough, and we decided to add colours. Students used the colours to determine how the lines matched up. I gave them some clues such as that the puzzle was 4 x 4 squares. I also put up squares six and seven to get them started. Students of all levels participated in this.

This puzzle had the question for our next activity. First, each student expressed their own answers. Some students required a sentence starter, and others said a few sentences.

Then, we moved on to writing our sentences and decorating some winter-themed images.

Teachers and higher level students assisted lower level writers by writing down the learners' sentences or words. Students then copied their message onto the paper.

  

Happy new year to you all! I hope your winter wishes come true too!

Life Cycles

Spring is here! 

New life abounds. 

Fresh scents, and many shades of green. 

Rain, frost, and sun. 

Introducing biology basics.

Life cycles.

Activity Steps for Students
1. Sequence cards of the life cycle of an animal / insect / amphibian / plant. (I used http://www.enchantedlearning.com/sequencingcards/)
2. Research the life life cycle on-line. Create a simple handout.
3. Find a youtube video that shows the complete life cycle.
4. Present the information from the handout and show the video.

Ant

Student selected video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2gilSwvQik

Butterfly 

Student selected video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wH8EE03wvNM

Frog 

Student selected video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GGuEr-MQf4

Mosquito 

Student selected video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwIqGbhq4T8

The addition of the youtube videos added a greater dimension to the presentations. During the videos, I heard students say the following: "Wow!, I didn't know that!, Two tongues?!, Whoa!, So many eggs! Where do all the eggs come from?!".

 Furthermore, during the research part of it, some students read and understood a lot more information. Students had many questions about each life cycle, and some students were able to answer the extra questions. Another student actually researched the answer on-line during class so she could share the information with the class.

Follow-up
1. Students can write questions about their handout for their peers to answer.
2. Make a class booklet.

This unit includes the following key approaches and strategies for Literacy learners:
work collaboratively, plan time to complete the project within the deadline, ask for help when needed, use technology, use pictures and format to understand text,  follow directions, identify the main idea and supporting details of a text, plan a presentation, and copy information.

Additional Resources
http://www.sparklebox.co.uk/topic/living/life-cycles.html#.UXm9iMrm86r

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

Make your own snowflakes using templates!

http://funschool.kaboose.com/fun-blaster/winter/printables/winter-snowflake-designs.html 

Great for practice following directions, folding paper accurately, using scissors, and being creative!

Great for multilevel groups.

There were a few originals among the templates. Can you spot them?

Guess the image

A special thanks to my creative colleague, B.B.,  for sharing this idea with us. She found it at http://www.greatgroupgames.com/zoom-in-game-thanksgiving.htm! She set up several of these sequential photos based on thematic words. Great for including horticulturally related items such as foods. All the food item vocabulary can be pre-taught with realia in class, and followed up by making some delicious recipes or sampling some apple cider.

Thanksgiving Tree

Poe-Tree!

My Garden
This is my garden, I'll plant it with care,
Here are the seeds I'll plant in there,
The sun will shine,
The rain will fall,
The seeds will sprout and grow up tall.

Poetry and song are great tools for reinforcing vocabulary and the rhythm of the language. Here is a link to some garden poems (like the one above): http://www.readinglady.com/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=38

How do your gardens grow?

What a great time of year to get your hands dirty! In our community there are loads of opportunities for people to join Community Gardens. People can rent a plot for as little as $10 a year. Or people can volunteer to tend to the local Victory Gardens that grow food for local soup kitchens and food banks. Whatever you choose, there is certainly a lot to dig into to gain valuable language skills!

Perhaps you can rent a plot for your own class to collaboratively sew the seeds of learning. Perhaps you could go on a field trip to observe and describe what is growing in your own community.

Possible language activities are as follows:
1. Go through a simplified seed catalogue that has the picture of the vegetable or herb. Decide as a class what seed you'd like to grow.
2. After choosing the seeds, you could calculate the sum of all the seed packs you'd need and role-play purchasing the seeds from a cashier. Count out the change.
3. Create an LEA (Language Experience Approach) story about how to plant seeds.
4. Measure the growth of the seeds weekly and create a chart. Learners could draw pictures of the growth each week.
5. Get out your culinary hats! Use the veggies and herbs to make your own salads or appetizers to share with the class. Take photos during the process and make a picture story.

Outcomes: Express own preferences, complete simple addition and subtraction, describe own experiences, measure using a ruler, draw basic shapes, listen to and follow instructions, sequence photos, begin to write sentences to describe a photo.