Friday, 31 January 2014

4 years old

We follow a few routines every day in our class, and the children are the ones who make questions and give the answers.

First thing we do when we go to our classroom is knocking on the door and asking:
  Can I come in?
  (Cookie is inside and we cannot go in until he is ready for us).

Then we greet each other by singing "Hello, Hello, How are you?" (ask your children to sing it, they know it by heart!).

After that, we say the DATE:
We've got a song or a chant for everything, and so, first we say the "Days of the Week chant", followed by the ordinal numbers and by the Months chant.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtc4c1JlAEM


After the date, we follow with the weather. The structure we use is "What's the weather like today?". We use a song that we made up,  but you can also practice it with the one below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rD6FRDd9Hew

We have two friends in our classroom. Their names are Harry and Jenny, and we have to get them dressed every day. As we are in winter, we use socks, trainers, shoes, boots, wellington boots, trousers, t-shirt, jacket, jumper, scarf, gloves, hat, dress and tights. We don't use any song here but I leave some links where children can practice the clothes vocabulary. The structure we are using at the moment is "Harry, put your socks on":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqsHPm-qsdE
 
 
Though we already know the numbers up to twenty, we have to keep practising them and though we do it without any song, here you've got one so you can practice. Of course, there are plenty of other songs on the web:
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aq4UAss33qA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3zaC5onBvM
 
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0dJWfQHF8Y
 
Colours is other of the topics we work and children just love this song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRTdq0VsLGQ
We also work very often on the body parts, but once again, we just made up our own chant that goes like this:

My head, my head,
Your head, your head,
His head, his head,
Her head, her head

We follow the same pattern with shoulders, elbow, wrist, fingers, thumbs, hands, arms, tummy, belly button, bottom, legs, knees, ankles, feet and toes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkHQ0CYwjaI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMQcwNZVUO8














We also play with shapes, and though we use the shape songs from SuperSimple Songs, there is no video for it, so I just give you other links where you can practice:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTeqUejf3D0


Family is other of our topics, and besides telling stories with all the members of the family, we also like to sing a song whenever it rains:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jc4Q0uSkRQo

We are working with dad, mum, brother, sister, baby, granny, grandad, aunt and uncle. You can also try the song below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjFcrv6Lfx8


We also work with feelings (happy, sad, angry, excited, scared, sleepy).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4WNrvVjiTw


And of course, we know the Farm animals
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXEq-QO3xTg
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oYKonYBujg
 
 
In a month or so, we'll start reviewing and learning other animals, like those in the jungle or in the ocean.
 
Last week we just started with FOOD. Up to now, we are practising questions like "Are you hungry? Yes, I am" and some expressions such as "I'd like to eat ...", with words such as apple, pear, banana, grapes, strawberries, lemon, watermelon, French fries, spaguetti, ice-cream. Next week, we'll introduce cereals, milk, toast, biscuits, orange juice, jam and butter, breakfast, ... You can find here two songs and  a very good story children love.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frN3nvhIHUk
 
 
When we read The Three Bears and Goldilocks we also practised the parts of the house (kitchen, living-room, bedroom, bathroom, door, window), but we'll come back to them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUNTMKpoLAI
 
 We also practice in our routines the prepositions on, under, in front of me, behind, in. Though we don't use it in our class, you can try this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idJYhjGyWTU