Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Escolinha- March 12, 2010

We continued with our "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" book. This time the caterpillar became a butterfly. We went through the process of how a caterpillar becomes a butterfly. Then the kids made a butterfly with foam board. The kids were able to attach the butterfly to their finger and the butterfly flew around. Coloring a butterfly was next.

Escolinha - March 5, 2010

Boy, I am late posting stuff... Sorry. The Portuguese pre-school was extremely cute and informative. We read "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Pop-Up Book

Monica had a handout of all the foods that the caterpillar ate. She found that here
http://www.thevirtualvine.com/theveryhungrycaterpillar.html
She printed them out and then wrote the names of the foods in Portuguese.

From escolinha

Then they got to created their own caterpillar by using a pen,red puffy balls and pipe cleaners. The craft was cute, easy and so creative. I wish I had thought of that myself. All one has to do is to roll a green pipe cleaner around a pen, glue gun a red puffy ball and then small pieces of fabric or paper for the eyes and antennas. There you have it, a beautiful caterpillar. The kids absolutely love them... and they got to work on their creativity, sense of accomplishment and small motor skills!

From escolinha

Then we had the kids hold the caterpillar/lagarta and we said every word that the caterpillar ate and the child had to move the caterpillar to the appropriate food in the paper. So, this is a great vocabulary building activity.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Reading program at Pizza Hut

I wanted to let you know about two programs sponsored by Pizza Hut. One is for preschoolers (Give me 20 reading challenge) and the other for k-6 (BOOK IT).

Basically you register on their site, follow the program (reading books for a certain amount every day), and you can win either Corduroy prizes or a pizza (depending on the program that you enroll). Give me 20 is about reading to kids for 20 minutes everyday. To participate in the Book it program the child has to be in a participating school (or to be Home schooled).

I am participating in the "Give me 20" and thought it is a great idea...reality is we probably would read that much anyway..so why not get something for it?

Here is the link: http://www.bookitprogram.com/

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Grouchy Ladybug

So, I get bored easily. I confess. I have at least 4 books that I am curretly reading, no less than 5 crafts I am currently working on, and I watch several tv shows while multitasking. It is absolutely amazing I can be married to only one man and be happy with having only two kids. Anyway, my boredom buster this past month has been an addiction to blogs and crafts that go along with them. But I digress.. this post is actually just to be about one activity that I did when I was bored.

My son is learning Eric Carle at school. So, we all got caught by the bug of the wonderful writing, and creativity of Eric Carle's books. My daughter and I especially like the Grouchy Ladybug. If you don't own it, it is worth your money! The story is interesting and you can use it to teach vocabulary (animal names, animal parts), time (clock in every page), sequencing, colors, and science (what ladybugs eat, how that is important for the environment, etc). As a plus you can also use it to discuss friendly behavior, good mood, coping skills when we don't get our way, fighting, etc. The book is a gem!


The Grouchy Ladybug



The problem is that when kids love books they want you to read, read, read, and read some more. So, I have been reading the Grouchy Ladybug like 20 times a day. So, my boredom was sky high. Trying to find a cure, I started to think of ways to make it more interesting. So, I turned to other ways of telling the story and crafts related to it.
In addition, since I have been telling the story in Portuguese I decided to make a version of the book and write the Portuguese translation in the back (instead of translating everything as we read).

I am extremely pleased with the results. I used my computer's clipart for the pictures. When they were done I ended up finding someone that had a similar idea as mine and since it is easier to post that here than trying to post what I did...I am sending the link

http://www.homeschoolshare.com/grouchy_ladybug.php

Resultado da pesquisa

Dez pessoas completaram a pesquisa (eu nao completei pois achei que ja que criei o teste deveria deixar so voces completarem). Aqui vao as respostas:

Os metodos mais usados e mais importantes para ensinar portugues: primeiro conversas e depois comunidade brasileira.
50% das pessoas vao a escolinha, 50% vao ao storytime (sendo que duas pessoas nao responderam), e 90% vao ao Clube do Livro. A maioria das nossas criancas falam e entendem portugues mas cometem erros que nao cometeriam nesta idade se morassem no Brasil.

Importante no Clube do livro: valorizacao e exposicao da cultura brasileira (musica,estorias) e do portugues, interacao de criancas ou grupo, leitura de livros em portugues, portugues e interacao com outras criancas; a interacao do grupo.
Mudancas desejadas no Clube do livro:mais frequencia., pelo menos 2 vezes ao mes; mairo participacao de todos, maior leitura no final.

Importante na Escolinha: atividade estruturada e divertida com exposicao ao portugues (vocabulario, conceitos academicos). Amizade e entrosamento entre todos.
Mudancas desejadas na Escolinha: melhor registro das atividades desenvolvidas (este e um dos propositos deste blog); menos coisas que possam tirar o interesse das criancas na sala de aula; outro horario; Que fizessemos uma especie de "guided playing" com as criancas depois da parte "academica" para que eles aprendem o vocabulario da brincadeira - role playing activities tambem.

Importante no Storytime: promocao da leitura e da lingua portuguesa a estrangeiros e brasileiros.
Mudancas desejadas no Storytime: Que mais pessoas fossem, que a arte fosse sempre ligada ao tema do dia, de variar a apresentacao um pouco, com jogos ou brincadeiras. incluir alguns autores brasileiros assim que possivel