A Portfolio in Natural Science

We have been working on so many different themes in all of the classes!

 The common theme we have all been working on is nature.

 In first grade, we have been learning about the Sun and the Earth. We learned that the Sun is a star, and the Earth is a planet. We also learned about the four different seasons - spring, summer, autumn-fall and winter!

What is your favorite season?

 In the second grade classes we have been learning about the phases of the moon, as well as the order of all of the planets.

We drew the different phases of the Moon, such as waxing Moon, full Moon, new Moon and waning Moon.

 In our journals, we created a beautiful drawing of the planets and our Solar System!

 Lastly in fourth grade, we did crafted a project about the parts of a flower.

We labeled all of the parts in English and Spanish. Inside the petals we wrote about the Sexual Reproduction and their roots.

If you click on these lovely photos, or here I have attached a link to the portfolio of the student´s work:

Plants in 4th grade! #CLIL

In Lucia's 4th grade class we worked with learning about plants and their parts! Her class did a creative project which included colored construction paper to make a flower which they were able to open and write descriptions inside the flaps. They labeled the parts in English in Spanish, such as "stem, flower, and leaves." They also wrote in Spanish about the sexual reproduction in flowering plants. They all worked so hard! Here are some examples of the students work!

 

Funny art projects!: from children bookmarks to origami

Every child loves drawing, origami and painting. As teachers we can offer them some methods of expressing themselves. This way we encourage them to experiment with different techniques. This is what we have been doing in our 3rd and 4th grade during this term.

Spend time with your students and have fun with this basic origami in your art classes! Here you are some of my students' designs. 

• 1st Technique: Children bookmarks

They are useful, adorable and they can make your students happier in your lessons.

Do you need help? How to make this bookmarks? Watch this video :-)

• 2nd technique: Flexagons

It is a fascinating geometric toy! Flexagons are folder paper polygons that can be flexed. They change form flexagon to flexagon very quick. It is a good way to teach your students the third dimension and to find hidden surfaces at the same time they learn geometry.

How to make this great paper toy, the Flexagon? Check this video!

Download the template from babbledabbledo here.

• 3rd Technique: Funny toothy pictures!

Surprise and laughs! Our students created crazy creatures just with a piece of paper. Very easy and fun for your class. Isn't is wonderful? 

Do you know how to make one? Here you are this video "Folded Surprise Animal Drawing Project". Enjoy!

• 4th Technique: Ancient jars

After our history lessons about Greece and Rome, it was a good idea to work some art techniques about it. So Ancient Greece and Rome overloaded our class! Each child received a piece of paper with the shape of the jar and they decorated it. They really got into it and did all kinds of decorations, as geometric patterns.

Download the template of the ancient jar here

Eureka! Experiments and energy! #Stem

Children are very interested in science and teachers need to promote this capacity to innovate in the class. This is why STEM is an ideal way to teach them and to improve their English. When children start to work with experiements they start with a new philosophy, a new way of thinking in Natural Science. We encourage them to think in a connected way. By using questions, we stimulate the students to investigate, to compare, to make predictions, to test ideas and to share them.

Children learn concepts in a different context  and they feel really motivated. This is the result of our project about 'Experiments and energy'. They had to research and to share their experiments to different children at school and also to explain their use in English.

https://www.slideshare.net/tbernet/experiments-about-energy

Experiments about energy from Mrs. Egea's Class

Creativity in the class with: Machines!

This time, our class has been working the topic about 'Machines'. They have created a good model to explain it to our class and to other classes too. They love doing this kind of activities because school and families come closer and they can see their own results.

It has been very important to tell the material they needed for their machines and how they have done it. Of course, they have explained some difficulties they have found in their way. Oral expression here it is quite important. Do you want to learn some words about machines? Here you are!
Enjoy!

Hangout abriendo fronteras en eTwinning: "See you next year"

eTwinning siempre tiene momentos para el encuentro entre el centro "Don Saverio Valerio" de Gravina in Plugia en Italia y nuestro colegio . Con la cercanía del cierre del proyecto al final de curso, hemos vuelto a reunir a las clases a través de un hangout para intercambiar las experiencias vividas a través de este trimestre sobre "Education Creates Smiles". 
En este caso ha estado lleno de pinceladas y de color a través de la historia del arte y las obras seleccionadas por los países sobre Modigliani, Franz Marc y Picasso. 
Una de las tareas más interesantes del hangout ha sido descubrir a qué artistas pertenecían las obras en grupos, así como explicar porqué se sabía a través de evidencias utilizando el inglés. Ha habido también juegos de italiano y español para sensibilizar al alumnado sobre lo similares que son las lenguas procedentes del latín y se le ha dado una pincelada final a estas lenguas a través de un poema en italiano que nos propusieron para estudio de Gianni Rodari, autor muy querido en esta clase, titulado "Filastrocca di primavera".

A modo de conclusión, hemos de resaltar que ha sido un proyecto muy relajante para el alumnado e integrado en los distintos currículums the los países. Las materias principales implicadas han sido ciencias naturales y sociales, las lenguas, el arte y, por supuesto, tecnología digital. Un aspecto a valorar ha sido el alto interés mostrado por el alumnado por la animación a la lectura gracias a los autores trabajados a lo largo del año, como Gianni Rodari, Gloria Fuertes y Roald Dahl. Se ha creado gracias a ellos un mundo de fantasía lectora dentro y fuera del aula y han podido disfrutar de distintos géneros literarios con distintos escritores europeos.

Nuestro último compromiso ha sido realizar una valoración justa del proyecto, que hemos creado para disfrutar aprendiendo y para despertar esa motivación intrínseca por la educación. Tras esta valoración, el objetivo siguiente será continuar con nuevos retos para el curso próximo y "poner un nuevo eTwinning en nuestra clase". 

Countries of Europe

In classes 4a and 4b we have recently been studying the main countries of Europe. We have been describing and explaining facts about each country. The countries we have been focussing on include France, Spain, Italy, Demark,Germany and Portugal.

We then created a flipbook of the main countries in europe. I have posted a great example of one of the childrens flipbooks below. On these flipbooks we included information such as the flag colours, capital, currency, language, population, close countries and famous monuments.

The children, then prepared some presentations, posters and Padlets on different countries in Europe. These works were very good and informative. Some groups created performances were they would move around the class room and pretend to be on a guided tour of a country visiting the famous landmarks. The presentations included information about the famous food dishes as well as famous things to see in each country.

If you are interested in learning more about the different countries of Europe I have attahced a very good link that children have been using for these project with resources and the Webquest as a guide about this topic!

• Europe and the European Union

Children also had the opportunity to develop the critical thinking challenge with a game "the Mystery Country", similar to "Mystery Skype". In this case, children by groups had to guess the country by asking yes or no questions. This way they developed geography skills, listening and speaking skills, how to use and find information, collaboration and communication.

¿Ideas? Os presentamos cómo organizar "A Senses Worshop"

Los sentidos pueden ofrecer un gran abanico de posibilidades para que el alumnado de 4º de Primaria pueda desarrollar una metodología activa y  dar lo mejor de sí a lo largo del proceso. Los puntos clave para trabajar bien el taller son:

• Trabajar en equipo.
• Respetar a los demás y buscar soluciones para conseguir los retos de cada día.
• Pensar en la organización de las tareas.
• Tomar decisiones y consensuar.
• Realizar una investigación conjunta.
• Conocer el tema en profundidad: los sentidos en la vida real.
• Probar y poner en marcha lo planificado o "proyectado".
• Hacerse responsable de un equipo y del intercambio entre grupos de clases.
• Buscar siempre los puntos de mejora.
• Partir de la rúbrica de evaluación cómo guía para el mejor desempeño.

El taller ha consistido en ingeniar una serie de experimentos para distintos rincones, cinco, según los sentidos, en los que cada grupo pudiera demostrar a través del juego y la experimentación el funcionamiento de un sentido y su importancia para nuestro cuerpo.

Cada día realizábamos una reflexión antes de comenzar la tarea de la sesión, la pregunta clave era: "¿Qué hemos conseguido y que debemos mejorar?". De esta forma, cada representante de su equipo trasladaba a la clase un breve resumen sobre el punto en el que estaban cada día y, a la vez, animaba a los demás a centrar la atención para conseguir en el tiempo establecido los logros.

Una vez conseguido el montaje del taller, se invitaron a clase a distintos grupos de 1º y de 3º de Primaria para que formasen parte de estas sesiones por rincones. Nuevamente, el alumnado de 4º se tuvo que coordinar para atender a grupos pequeños de entre 4 y 5 niños de las clases con menor edad.

Para conseguir nuestro gran reto, hemos destinado tres semanas intensas. Entre los recursos que han utilizado, destacan las tablas colaborativas en línea de Google Drive en las que fueron recopilando la información más relevante en el idioma. Este sería el resultado de la tabla en inglés:

• COLLABORATIVE CHART ABOUT THE SENSES EXPERIMENTS

El taller ha garantizado diversión y sorpresa a todas las edades. 

Yoga in the class: The Spiral Mandala

Yoga in the class is a powerful tool you can use to improve the children well-being. This is why, we have been working on yoga this time in Natural Science in the unit: "Healthy habits". By taking moments throughout the sessions in the class to pause and practise some techniques with the children, they will gradually increase quality in their activities and they will develop a good habit.

When can we practice Yoga during the morning at school?
Since last year, some of our teachers are very interested in working on Yoga and Mindfulness at school because it has many mental and physical benefits in the class. Imagine that they start a new lesson after a very active session like sport or after the break. They feel stress and anxious after these lessons, so it is time to 'STOP'. It is better to practice some yoga techniques for some minutes and respiration exercises. After that they will be ready to start with more concentration and eager to learn.

Why Yoga in the class?

• It is a good opportunity to develop the body, the mind and the spirit. The children and the teachers feel happy after this practice.
• It is a non-competitive form of exercise and children enjoy.
• It has many benefits, like strength, balance and flexibility.
• They develop concentration, focus and attention; moreover, creativity and imagination.
• They learn how to breath, how to relax and self-control.
• And the most important, as they feel good, they respect for others and they can work better in the class.

In order to get a better environment during our lessons and to reduce anxiety, we can incorporate into our daily routines some minutes for yoga. We can use different techniques for breathing, a guided exercises of 'asanas' or, - very relaxed one!-, the visualization. Children enjoy with all of them and we can practice them in English or in Spanish as we want, because the language we use is quite easy and if we tell a story, we can do it according to the level of our students.

This time, we have created a game called 'The Spiral Mandala'. I gave to each child an eye to decorate and to colour according to their creativity. Then we organized the mandala in a big poster by sticking with glue each eye and a different 'asana" as an spiral shape. But, how to play?
You just need the poster,  a token, a dice and pleasant motivation.

Why the eye?

The eye is a symbol of observation and offers the evidences we need to interpret the things we have around us. The spiral is a mandala shaped, but 'infinite' because it can be seen in both directions again and again. It is perfect for meditation and to focus on an element.

How to play?

1. A pupil throws the dices and counts from the eye in the centre to the positions (eyes) outwards.
2. He/she explains physically the 'asana' to his/her classmates and they repeat the position during four or six breaths (inhalations and exhalations) depending on the possibilities of each one. It is important not to force the posture and to practice them in a calm and slow way.
3. When it is finished the position, the student who threw the dice, throws it back to his/her classmates again and another student catches it (this is very funny to them) and the game continues again as before.
4. The game finishes when we want because the mandala is 'infinite'. If we reach the end, we can start again from the last outwards eye until the achieve the central one and so on.

Don´t forget before you start yoga in the class:
Warm-up exercises
Asanas (they should be short and slowly. Don´t forget to breath properly)
Breathing exercises (through the nose)

Moreover if you want to practice more with your students you can also practice some 'Minfulness exercises' to focus attention, some relaxation or positive affirmations. This way you will have the PERFECT environment in your class to start your lesson :-) My favourite mantras for kids are:

• Yes, I can. I can work hard.
• I can help to others.
• I can and I want to listen to others.
• I am ready, I am ready.

If you want more about this experience for teachers in Spanish: 

https://goo.gl/iqnH1V

Good luck in this adventure! 

Legends: Nessie Monster

As part of the class 4a and 4b we recently studied the topic of Legends! The children made different legend stories ranging frm the Trojan warriors to the Greek Gods, how cool! They then presented their legend to the class and acted out the story. This was really cool and intresting, I decided to tell me own Legend story which was about the Loch Ness Monster, which is a mythical beast found in my home country, Scotland!

The story told the tale of a young boy who ignored his family and friends warnings and visited the famoud Loch Ness Monster which was said to have great big teeth, six eyes and a love for eating children! The boy wanted to see for himself if the stories were true although he knew that all living things have good points and bad points. The boy travelled to the lake and found the scary monster but soon realised that the monster was actually nice and friendly and they made friends. The moral of the story is to not judge a book by its cover!

After I had told the Legend story and scared the children we did a drawing of the Loch Ness Monster. I have attached a few of the drawings below, they were all really good and scary looking!!

If you want to find out more about the Loch Ness Monster there is a really great film about it called the "The Water Horse", we will try and watch it in class as well. I have attached the link for the trailer below. In Spanish "Mi mascota es un monstruo".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuvPpCMgA9U

¡Parques Naturales en Europa! #eTwinning

¡Un trimestre de lo más "natural"! De esta forma llamaría a la temática que hemos estado desarrollando a través de tareas y proyectos durante estos meses. Ha sido una andadura que nos ha permitido conocer mejor nuestro entorno cercano y también el que hay en dos puntos muy interesantes de Europa: Italia y Alemania.
A través de eTwinning nos planteamos como un reto especial el hacer una propuesta de investigación colaborativa sobre los espacios naturales de nuestros países. Para ello tuvimos que decidir qué zona sería la de estudio a través de una votación en clase. Desde el C.E.I.P San Miguel se propuso el Parque Natural de Doñana y de esta forma surgió esta presentación con Genial.ly para aportar información para nuestros socios europeos.A su vez Italia propuso el Parque Natural de Alta Murgia y Alemania el estudio de la biosfera de la reserva del Elba.
Si bien la investigación ha durado puesto que se ha investigado, se han buscado imágenes de intercambio y se han creado distintas exposiciones con los cuartos, el resultado ha merecido bien la pena. Al alumnado le gusta estar activo en clase e intercambiar sus logros. A la hora de exponer oralmente sus exposiciones, han surgido bastantes preguntas curiosas sobre la fauna y flora o sobre el entorno natural entre los participantes. ¡Todo esto y más lo iremos dejando en nuestro espacio del Twinspace del proyecto!
¡Seguiremos trabajando en esta línea!

#sanmigueldearmilla

#Bacterias EveryWhere! 4th Grade #experiments

Las bacterias tienen mucho que ofrecer. A pesar de que algunas de ellas son muy nocivas para los seres vivos porque pueden causar enfermedades, hay otras muy beneficiosas que las podemos tomar en forma de alimentos probióticos y de medicamentos y hacen que nuestras vidas sean mucho más saludables y hacen que no nos pongamos tan enfermos a lo largo del año. Esto es lo que hemos tratado de aprender en cuarto sobre las bacterias.

Para ello hemos tenido en clase a una invitada especial que nos ha explicado a través de dos experimentos cómo se puede hacer en nuestros propios hogares el kéfir y el té de kombucha. 

Para los niños y las niñas ha sido algo muy novedoso, sobre todo cuando hemos dejado los dos alimentos reservados en un lugar a temperatura ambiente y en oscuridad. Hemos tenido que esperar dos días para disfrutar de ese estupendo kéfir, con un sabor similar a los yogures líquidos probióticos. Le añadimos para tomarlo azúcar de caña integral o panela, que es el azúcar más sano que hay en el mercado.

En cuanto al té de Kombucha había que esperar aún más días hasta que la capa de Kombucha creciese otra vez. Sin duda ver crecer tanto los búlgaros del Kéfir como a la lámina de Kombucha ha hecho ver a los más pequeños cómo las bacterias beneficiosas también existen y que son muy importantes en nuestras vidas.

Además hemos trabajado buenos hábitos para evitar las enfermedades a través de gérmenes o bacterias, sobre todo hemos hablado sobre la importancia de la higiene del cuerpo humano, como lavarse la manos y los dientes.

#sanmigueldearmilla 

C.E.I.P San Miguel de Armilla

Una clase diferente con PIXTON! #gamificacion

En una clase de inglés o "science" puede ser de gran ayuda para la plataforma PIXTON para la creación de cómics. 
El alumnado de 4º ha emprendido una nueva aventura utilizando la creatividad, el diseño gráfico, los bocadillos de los personajes, la elección de fondos y la elaboración de un proyecto a través de una aventura digital.

Como hasta el día de hoy nos hemos centrado en el bloque temático de "Water, Air and Land", el tema orientado hacia la naturaleza ha sido el escogido para las distintas producciones.

El proceso ha sido sencillo, PIXTON ofrece a los docentes que trabajan a través de Edmodo un perfil para crear un salón de clases y te permite adjudicar trabajos a nivel de grupo. De este modo, el alumnado tan sólo tiene que entrar a la plataforma con los datos de acceso ofrecidos por el docente y seguir la ruta recomendada para la realización de su cómic. Una vez lo envían, la docente puede ver los diferentes trabajos aportados. Además el mismo alumnado lo puede compartir en plataformas seguras a través de la red.

A los padres y madres de clase se les ha recomendado que descarguen esta aplicación desde Google Play para instalarlo en las tabletas o móviles que utilicen sus hijos e hijas, de forma que puedan desarrollar aún más las habilidades de creación, de competencia lingüística y digital. 

¡Es una opción para trabajar de una forma diferente el cómic muy divertida y motivante!

Si queréis descargaros esta aplicación, lo podéis hacer aquí:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=air.com.pixton.editor&hl=es_419

Congrats Kids! You have done a great work!

Enjoy your comics in English:

• A day in the zoo https://Pixton.com/es/:q1qj0kl6
• Alejandro and Sandra's Day https://Pixton.com/es/:zcl6o90l 
• A wonderful weekend! https://Pixton.com/es/:rdahq1v9
• What an adventure! https://Pixton.com/es/:kpsupf8h
• A day in the forest! https://Pixton.com/es/:e1bgyz0v
• A day in the fair! https://Pixton.com/es/:5jz0h0lf
• A party day! https://Pixton.com/es/:zt42mtd5
• A funny day in Africa! https://Pixton.com/es/:s77hefzv
• Nature is fun! https://Pixton.com/es/:e1bgyz0v
• A wonderful day with my best friend! https://Pixton.com/es/:ya3bpuoz
• A day in the countryside! https://Pixton.com/es/:y3dx55wg
• A Dracula Story! https://Pixton.com/es/:qvl9p4k1
• Santa, the jocker! https://Pixton.com/es/:mxmrb4rh
• The War The War https://Pixton.com/es/:jwd0wli8
• Day in the beach https://Pixton.com/es/:2mi28wvv
• A trip! https://Pixton.com/es/:83fsnwkw

Y ahora llega el momento de leer en español (Nota: Si ves en alguna pregunta o afirmación que no aparecen las tildes, es porque en el ordenador NO nos daba la opción de escribirla, así que nos las podemos imaginar como ¿¡Qué!?, ¿¡Cómo!? :-D ) ¡Buen trabajo a todos y seguid trabajando! ¡Espero muchos más!

• Una aventura en el salvaje oeste https://Pixton.com/es/:6oec47sk
• Un día con mi hermana https://Pixton.com/es/:utj58dmp
• El gran viaje https://Pixton.com/es/:9e3unmqo
• Un día en el supermercado https://Pixton.com/es/:79jr5sn6
• Un día en la playa https://Pixton.com/es/:ybyaxwoj
• Un día de Halloween en casa https://Pixton.com/es/:snubetyn
• Un dia en la atracciones con Roberto https://Pixton.com/es/:696bnjpb
• ¡A tope con el gimnasio! https://Pixton.com/es/:4o9349m2

Fotobabble in action and "My little Owl"

Why not? This last week we were working in art a project about "how to create an owl". Children loved it. However, how to promote English in art? Here you are! They had to search some information about this little animal.

• Listen to the story about a student in 4th grade.

http://www.fotobabble.com/m/UndsMTkzREhlcVU9

So this is another option, they followed the steps to create a wonderful and creative drawing and they added an audio about the work the had done of the animal. Try Fotobabble or our San Miguel Kids Radio.

Excellent work! :-)

Print Easy Owl PDF Template

More examples about the drawings about the owl in the 4th grade?

El próximo 26 de Septiembre...#coeEDL

No dejes pasar la oportunidad de participar en la Celebración del Día Europeo de las Lenguas el próximo 26 de Septiembre del 2016. Somos 47 miembros que podemos promover la diversidad de las lenguas.
Nuestro alumnado puede aprovecharse de ese aprendizaje lingüístico y de los beneficios de interculturalidad en pro del plurilingüismo que cada vez está más presente en los centros.

Flyer #coeEDL
Más información sobre el Día Europeo de las Lenguas

¿Sabías que...?

• Hay más de 200 lenguas habladas en Europa.
• 24 lenguas oficiales de la UE.
• Aproximadamente 60 lenguas regionales / minoritarias.
• Comisión Europea es una de las instituciones de interpretación más grandes del mundo, con más de 1.750 lingüistas y 3000 intérpretes independientes.
• 77% de los ciudadanos de la UE comienza a aprender Inglés en la escuela primaria.
• Muchas lenguas tienen más de 50.000 palabras, pero la mayoría de las personas sólo utilizan alrededor de 100 de ellos en la conversación diaria.

Integrated Prehistory Project! 3rd and 4th graders in action!

Prehistory is a good option to create an integrated project, such as social science, English and Spanish languages, art and ICT. This is why some teachers planned together a great project to create a real class environment, to motivate our students and to give them an opportunity to learn with a smile in their faces. This time our 3rd and 4rd graders had to work on these objectives:

• To situate the prehistoric period on the timeline.
• To learn and to use the vocabulary about this topic.
• To desmostrate their understanding of the prehistoric life through art, creative reading and writing and our podcast for San Miguel Kids Radio.

The key questions were: 

1. When did the Prehistoric period begin? When did this period end?
2. What was it like to live in prehistoric times?
3. Who were the first settlers in Spain?
4. What do we mean when we say that people were hunters or gatherers?
5. When and why did people start to live in caves?
6. When did people start to farm? Were they nomads or sedentary?
7. What did early humans make their tools with?
8. Why did early people make cave paintings?
9. What were the differences between the Palaeolithic, the Neolithic and the Metal Ages?

Art lesson: Kids created drafts of drawings about the Prehistory, such as animals, the hunt, tools and other situations that brought to their minds Prehistory. For this task, they could use computers in the classroom and they played with some links in Social Science.

After the drafts, they prepared paints, brushes and paper and they started to create the wonderful posters for our BIG CAVE in the corridor of the school.

Our wall panel was the best place to display a presentation about Prehistory with some their drafts about the prehistoric drawings. Have a look to this roof! Isn't is awesome?

Social Science lesson: Some activities that helped to my 3rd graders' kids to learn better in a funny way meanwhile reading and writing were these two examples. By pairs, they had to discuss how to organize the strips of paper to order the different periods during Prehistory. 

The second activity was more difficult, we offered them some key information about the periods of  Prehistory and had to complete their own chart.

+

Mrs. Talero's students improved their research about reading and writing about Prehistory with this flipbook. This final product had different sections and the idea was that the kids tried to use an easy English through short sentences and clear vocabulary. 

ICT lesson: They explored Prehistory with a bank of  interesting  links.

Spanish lesson: The idea was that children wrote some texts about how could be a day if they were living in the prehistoric times. Do you want to see more! Let's go ahead! After that, they recorded a podcast for San Miguel Kids Radio.