KAPOK TREE
Ceiba
Group 3 (7-8 year olds)
THE OBJECTIVES OF THIS CYCLE ARE:
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Use appropriate conversational and other communication skills.
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Be responsible for the execution and maintenance of the structural rituals of the class.Interact with the concepts of past, present, and future.
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Be responsible for the execution and maintenance of the structural rituals of the class.
When you see that there is progress in these areas, you can move on to the next cycle. Check the rubric that will help you know if the group is ready to move forward!
WE SUGGEST YOU CHECK THE EVIDENCES WITH WHICH YOU WILL OBSERVE IF YOUR STUDENTS HAVE ACHIEVED THESE OBJECTIVES
CLASS PLAN
3. HANDS-ON
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To get to know or refresh the characters that take roles in this cycle.This is the main activity that will follow the narrative in our classes. There are surveys, creative projects and activities around the school (if that's a possibility).
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The hands-on! activities are always inspired by the narratives, so make sure you check them in advance in order to choose the best.
2. NARRATIVE
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Everything starts with the narrative. It may be a written text, a short movie, a speech, a scene from a documentary, a comic strip, etc. Our classes begin here, and we will be constantly referring back to it in our activities.
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Always try to generate curiosity in your students by eliciting from them any kind of speculation
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The narrative will always be followed by a simple discussion, in which you will ask specific questions about what they’ve heard or seen.
4. MOVE!
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These are activities that require body movement. They may be learning brain breaks or music videos for kids to sing and dance along.
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These activities may be done in any part of the class, especially if kids are too distracted or have been seated for too long.
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When choosing the “Sing along” activity, try to have students choose the music videos. You may select a student to be responsible for that in each class. This will help build their autonomy and develop their active participation.
My class is 25 to 30 minutes long!
Remember that if your periods are shorter than 50 minutes, you can try out these shorter plans!
To ask your students about the video experiences (jornadas), ask them how they did them, if they are liking them so far, which were their favorites, etc.
Remember
1. STARTING SONG
As usual, we will begin the class with the starting song.
We suggest you let the kids start this activity by themselves, even with a bit more autonomy than in previous cycles. Once you see they’ve started singing and dancing, you can join the fun.
OPTIONAL ACTIVITIES
CONCENTRATED MODE
If the kids are concentrated, we propose a few activities that will help you manage the energy of the group.
MIRROR DANCING
Ask the children to get in pairs.
One of them will be the dancer and the other will be the mirror.
The idea is that the dancer moves freely to the rhythm of the starting song and the mirror has to imitate the dancer’s moves.
You can tell the children to switch roles halfway through the song so that they all get to act as dancers and as mirrors.
FOUR WORDS EACH
In a circle, start the song by singing the first four words.
The student sitting by your side should sing the following four words, and the next student the four words after that, and so on.
The idea is that the kids listen and pay attention to the words they have to sing out loud.
They win the game if they manage to sing the whole song in this manner!
EUPHORIC MODE
If the kids are euphoric, we propose a few activities that will help you manage the energy of the group.
ADJUSTING VOLUME
Open your hand and raise it as high as you can. While your hand is up and the starting song is playing, sing the lyrics in a loud volume and encourage the kids to do the same.
Then, as your hand goes down, slowly lower the volume making them understand they should lower the volume too. Once they understood the game, play with the volume of the kids singing of the starting song with the use of your hand.
*you can use this resource anytime to adjust the volume of the class by raising or lowering your hand.
CHANGING PLACES
Choose a few of the words that are repeated during the starting song, for example “room” “English” and “Vivadí”.
When the children listen to these words they should switch places with another student or just move to another place in the classroom.
This activity will require an active listening of the song, which will help with the general concentration of the group.
ORCHESTRA
Tell the children to sit in four separate groups. During the starting song, you will be an orchestra director. This means that you decide which group has to sing in different parts of the song.
So, you will point at the group that has to sing and the others will have to remain silent until they are pointed at.
2. NARRATIVE
After the starting song, you will introduce the narrative moment
In this cycle, we will always begin with the narrative. We will be constantly referring back to it in our activities. When reading them, make sure you use your body language so that the meaning is clear.
The narrative will always be followed by a simple discussion, in which you will ask specific questions about what they've heard or seen.
STORY - Two Mice
Two Mice
Some friendships are very different and that’s ok. We all are different and have our special characteristics. Don’t you agree?
Post reading: Ask your students
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What do you think about the friendship between the real mouse and the other one?
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How did their friendship start?
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What do you think about having different friends?
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What do you like about your friends?
STORY - Just the Way I Am
Just the way I am
3. HANDS ON
This section is the main activity that will follow the narrative in your classes. There are different formats to choose from.
*It's important to know that these activities are always inspired by the narratives, so make sure to check them in advance to choose the best fit for your students!
ACTIVITIES
Inspired by Two Mice
Game: Guess Who or What I Am
How to play: In version one, one student thinks of a person – it could be someone in the class or a famous person, someone that everyone is likely to know – and the rest of the class asks them yes or no questions about the person until they can guess who it is.
The student who guesses the person with the least amount of questions wins.
In version two, one student goes in front of the door, while the rest of the class decides on a person. Then the student comes back in and has to ask the class yes or no questions until they can guess who the person is.
Another variation of this game is to put students in groups and describe themselves from the perspective of an object, and the other students must guess what that object is in the quickest time possible.
Each student in the group writes down an object and then speaks from the perspective of that object as if they were actually that object.
For example, if a student chooses “backpack” he/she would say something like:
“Students use it to carry their textbooks and notebooks.”
“I wear it on my back to go to school every day.”
“I am a useful object often seen on students' back on their way to school.”
Students shouldn’t do any gesturing or acting on this one because that will give it away. The student who is able to guess the most objects correctly wins.
Game: Easy paper mouse
In this activity, students will create an easy paper mouse.
Link to video on how to make
ACTIVITIES
Inspired by Just the Way I Am
Videos Related
1). Jessica's Daily Affirmation
2). Morning Motivation: Dad and Daughter Affirmations before school
3). Positive Affirmations - Mindful and Calming - Promote Good Self Esteem and Confidence
Game: My identity
In this activity, students will share some aspects of their lives. Check the game instructions in the video. Watch your students have a good time learning more about themselves. Feel free to add new sentence frames that would suit other situations. (I like… I am… I think…)
Link to game
4. MOVE!
Use Move! activities when you feel students are too distracted or have been seated for too long. The idea is to move and refresh the body, always through learning, and it can be used at any moment of the class. Below you will find some ideas for your age group.
MAKE IT LIKE A BLENDER
Tell the class it’s time to make fruit smoothies. Ask them to pretend they are in a blender and they are strawberries (or blueberries or bananas, etc.). Dramatically pour orange juice or yogurt into the air in front of you. Tell kids when you flip the switch that they need to wiggle and jiggle (separately, not together) until they are each individually blended up. Start with a slow speed, moving up to medium speed, fast speed, and finally turbo speed. Then reverse it! Start at turbo speed and go back to slow speed.
FIND IT FAST!
Call out a trait and students must find objects that match the description as fast as they can.
Examples: something round / something yellow / two identical pencils / etc.
Online: This activity works the same way online, except that they have to find the objects in their home
THE FLOOR IS LAVA
While a lively music is playing, students should be aware that as soon as the teacher says "The floor is lava" they must find a high place to climb and not "burn their feet".
SING-ALONG
Have students build autonomy and be responsible for some rituals in your class. Allow everyone of them, one per day, to be responsible for choosing a music video (with lyrics on) for the whole group to watch and sing along. Make sure they refer to you first for approval of the video.
Online: Instead of dividing them into trios, play as a whole class.
5. HARMONY
Choose one of the following videos to do with your students.
6. ENDING SONG
Finally, as always, you will sing our well-known Ending Song.
Make sure everyone sings it out loud together. Encourage, especially those kids that don't participate much in class, to see if they can repeat the song phonetically.
Do not forget to put the class back in order while you sing.
To remind your students to access the platform and do the jornadas.
Don't forget