A Poem for each Intelligence

Hello explorers!

Today I am going to talk about the type of poems we saw in class with Raquel during the last weeks analyzing the multiple intelligences to work on each one.

List poems

These kinds of poems are composed by a list of things. At the beginning, will be helpful thinking about a question trying to answer it writing the list. For example: What strange things have I dreamed? The next step that I made and was helpful was writing a brainstorming of strange things that I remember to dream in my life. Finally I started to write the list of things.

Have a look the structure of list poems:

Beginning

List of things

List of things

List of things

List of things

List of things

Ending

List poems often rhyme but not necessarily and they are usually funny.

These poems are excellent for children who have Linguistic Intelligence; because they are word smart and they enjoy writing and talking about things.

Here you have an example written by me using Storybird platform:

Haiku

Haiku is a very short form of Japanese poetry. This name was given by the Japanese writer Masaoka Shiki at the end of the 19th century. The poem use just three lines with 17 syllables in total following this structure:

5 syllables

7 syllables

5 syllables

Moreover, haikus are related to an image usually nature image or related with seasons. So, the first thing you have to do to create a Haiku Poem is to look for an image related with nature or the seasons, then you have to write the three lines taken into account the number of syllables you can use in each part.

These poems are very useful for children who have Naturalistic Intelligence; because they are nature smart and they love writing and talking about plants, animals, etc.

Here you have an example of the Haiku poem I wrote using Storybird:

Riddle poems

Riddle poems give the opportunity to work HOTS (High order thinking skills) because children work creativity writing them, but also the children who have to guess the riddle poem, have to using their cognition in order to guess the answer following clues. For example, we can work on mathematical concepts using riddle poems.

To start with, is easier if you start with the answer. First of all, try to look for something to write about, an object for example and later start giving clues using your imagination and creative descriptions.

These poems are perfect for children who have Logical Intelligence; because they are number smart and as I said before, we can make riddle poems on mathematical concepts.

Here you have my Riddle Poem:

Letter poem

This poem starts by writing a normal letter (Dear…) and has a similar structure, also the end of the poem is like in a letter (Yours sincerely, best wishes, regards…).

The main difference between a letter and a letter poem is the creativity used to write it. Probably who is writing the letter is not a person, to whom the letter is directed is something and not someone and moreover the purpose of the letter which could be strange. Here is where children can exploit creativity.

These poems are excellent for children who have Linguistic Intelligence; because they are word smart and they enjoy writing and talking about things.

My letter poem written in Storybird is the following:

Shape poem

A shape poem, as its name indicates, is a poem which follows the shape of the object described in the poem. It is sometimes referred to as visual poetry in which the visual elements are as important as the text.

It may seem easy to write but is a little bit difficult because you have to write the length this shape allows you.

This kind of poem is fantastic for children who have visual or spatial intelligence because these children are good looking at pictures like map reading.

Here you have an example of a shape poem, but in this case it is not written by me:

These are some of the poems you can use in your classroom with children.

-          Do you want to share with us another type of poem to use with children?

-          Which is your favorite poem?

-          Is your favorite poem related with your multiple intelligence?

Thank you for share your opinion with us,

See you soon!

Nuria

Using StoryBird platform to crate stories

Hello Literary Explorers! 

Today, I´m going to talk you about STORYBIRD, the tool that Raquel showed us some weeks ago in order to create books and stories.

Storybird is a platform to create visual stories to share with the rest of the world. The story you make, it is organized in a book with illustrations and animations of different artists which make your story more attractive. In the platform, there are millions of stories created by teachers, students and more.

Why can we use this platform in our classrooms?

Because creating a story, our students work their thinking skills. First of all, our students can discover other stories written by other people or students of the same age and it can give them a clue to write new stories. At the same time they learn from others we can give them a bit of scaffolding to start writing new stories. Moreover, this platform encourages communication by connecting with others, this is a great way to promote socialization and students can know new students by sharing their stories and it is secure and safe. And also because it is free, students don´t have to spend money using this platform and it is a great idea to encourage reading.

In the platform, there are a section for teachers which is a tool that they consider inspirational because of the gorgeous illustrations, simple because is very easy to use it, social because students can share and comment on each other´s work, shareable because stories can be shared via email, downloaded, etc., and as they say it just works.

The platform also provides a large range of topics in order to make you easier to find the stories you like. It is divided into these categories: adventure, animals, diary, dreams, education, family, etc. And also you can choose the age: preschool, kids, adults, etc.

Here you have some examples of stories shared in Storybird.

 

Here you have also a video tutorial of Storybird if you have any doubts of how to use it.

In my opinion, Storybird is a great tool to use with our children, because we can use it as a didactic resource in a bilingual context, for example:

- Creating stories with different topics related to the course content, writing stories about characters. Inventing stories about cross-cutting themes: friendship, care for the environment, equality, etc.

- Developing short stories in English to work language, vocabulary books, books about animals, plants, etc.

- To illustrate poems, fragments of literary, familiar stories, etc.

What do you think about this tool?

I still creating my poems with Storybird, but as soon as possible I will share with you my literary creations but also I would like to read your creations.

Keep in touch explorers!

Nuria

Why are Reading Strategies so important in Clil?

Good afternoon explorers!

If you remember, some weeks ago we were reviewing in class the most significant reading strategies such as critical reading strategy, reading comprehension strategy or making predictions among others.

These reading strategies are so important in Clil because they work the main aspects of this educational approach, but first of all I am going to talk about some of these strategies.

-          Critical reading strategy is a strategy in which children have to guess the main character of the book looking at the cover, so they use their schema to make a clear understanding at what they think the book is talking about. They also have to wonder on something that appears inside the book, then, they try to find the answer making connections with pictures and reading. They use their critical thinking in order to understand what they are reading. Students generate and answer questions as they read a story to facilitate deep thinking and comprehension.

-          Making predictions children determine what they think will happen in the text. For that, they use the title, the text and illustrations. So, the main objective of this reading strategy is to encourage the students to improve their comprehension through predictions. The teacher enhances curiosity in children making gestures and sounds in order to predict what is going to happen. Making predictions we activate children´s learning and incorporate higher thinking skills.

-          Mind pictures: Promoting Comprehension through Visualization is a strategy in which visualizing events from a story extends students' understanding of what they are reading and helps them retell important events and characters. It is a kind of scaffolding for them to understand better the text and also to remember it. This strategy promotes also communication because they have to share their opinions with classmates.

-          Engaging in Reading students retell a story after engaging in a shared reading activity. This strategy work on their thinking skills from lower order (lots) to higher order (hots). Moreover, retelling the story they activate previous knowledge and by sharing it into a poster they work cooperative learning.

These are some of the reading strategies that we have learnt in class and they are so important in Clil for many reasons because as you can see they activate children´s learning incorporating high order thinking skills working deeper thinking and comprehension. Also, these strategies are accompanied by scaffolding such us visual scaffolding (graphics, tables, charts…) and verbal scaffolding. Moreover, they promote communication sharing opinions with others and it aids students in the socialization process because group activities promote student interaction and facilitate working with the language and content.

By making predictions, students must give the teacher evidence of learning which also activates active learning.

For children that have reading difficulties, these kinds of strategies could help them to understand texts and we can encourage reading in children, because as we have seen by reading we can make plenty of activities to work both content and language integrated learning which is the meaning of Clil.

FREEZE FRAMES FROM FAIRY TALES

Hello explorers!

Today I am going to talk you about Fairy Tales using Freeze Frames which could be a very enjoyable resource to work with children of Primary Education.

First of all, I am going to explain you a little bit what Freeze Frames are. Freeze frame images represent different scenes from a fairy tale. With freeze frame, the action in a play or scene is frozen, as in a photograph or video frame. This can be an effective method for students who are less inclined to improvise dialogue.

The steps that pupils have to follow in order to create freeze frames are:

1^st – Find a scene of a fairy tale. For example, Three Little Pigs, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, etc.

2^nd – Find as many classmates as characters are needed to show the scene you have selected.

3^rd – Assign a role to each one.

4^th – Look for materials.

5^th – Rehearse in the physical space you have chosen and be ready for the great day!

This week, we did this activity in class and here you have the result of some freeze frames created by classmates.

Here some classmates representing the scene of the glass shoe of Cinderella.

Here representing the scene of Little Red Riding Hood with the wolf.

In this freeze frame, these girls are showing the scene of Peter Pan flying.

Here some classmates represent the scene of The Lion King where Rafiki is showing Simba newborn.

In this freeze frame, they are representing the dance of Beauty and The Beast.

With freeze frames children work on different skills such as creativity because they have to find the way of showing the chosen scene just in a few minutes, previous knowledge because they have to remember the scene and the characters shown there in order to represent it correctly and also socialization sharing opinions, trying to convince others and describing what they know about the scene, etc.

Moreover, freeze frames could be used in other subjects such as Science. In Science, groups can develop a series of images showing the process of metamorphosis (e.g. caterpillar to butterfly or frogspawn to frog).

In this picture, some students are representing “The Five Senses”.

Last year, during my Practicum II, we did in a class of 4^th Course of Primary Education a complete Fairy Tale using Freeze Frames. First of all students listened the tale in a cd. Then, they wrote the tale with the help of the teacher in order to check if they have understood completely the tale. After that, the teacher gave to each student a character or a role to represent the scene. They used some costumes made of cardboards and foam to make the scenes more beauty. And finally the teacher took her photo camera and took pictures of all the scenes. The final result was a complete tale created with the pictures in a Power Point.

Here you have some of the pictures we did to make the tale:

    

- What do you think about these activities?

- Do you think it is possible to use freeze frames in other subjects?

Thank you for reading my post,

Nuria

Encouraging Reading in Children

Encouraging children to read is something very special that you can give them. How to do it is the question but this is not a trouble, we only have to find the best way starting with sharing our ideas in this blog explaining the best way which each one has found in schools. 

Do you want to help me? Let´s explore!

Well, I am going to tell you some ideas that I have learnt the last three years during my Teaching Training Degree and I want to share with you some of these ideas that I have taken from the schools where I did my Practicums.

During my first Practicum, I learnt the way of encouraging reading in a class of 2^nd Cycle of Primary Education which consisted of making a drawing and put it on the wall to record the number of books each pupil read.

In this case the drawing was the sea with many waves to represent the number of books each pupil was reading during the entire course. Each pupil had a little octopus with their name representing them as the readers.

In class the teacher made a small library with books from the pupils of the class. They had to bring at least 1 book the first week of the course which he or she knew very well, so this pupil was “the expert” of this book, and everybody could take a book from the library to read it. Once a student had finished to read one book, “the expert”, ie, the owner of the book, did a small questioner to him/her in order to check if he or she had read the book or not. If she or he had read the book, this girl or this boy could stick on the drawing of the sea his/her octopus. And so every weeks, going forward into the sea as they advanced in reading.

As you can see in the picture, some of the octopuses were out from the sea while others were in nearly 10 books already read; this means that some students had not read any book yet.

My opinion about this activity to encourage reading in Primary Education is that, on the one hand, students have the opportunity to read free books and an extra mark depending on the number of books they read, also you can check how many books they read, but on the other hand, probably some students read quickly without understand the book at all, only to win the race to be the best reader of the class not as a pleasure. Moreover I think this idea is not fully developed, is good but I miss something else.

What do you think? Do you think is it a good idea to encourage reading? Do you suggest anything else to create this activity fully developed?

However, this year we are learning new technics to encourage reading with Raquel, in which motivation is worked in other way, because it is not important only to praise pupils who read more (such as I think could happen with the previous activity), we are learning this year that it is possible to make readings and to use literature in a different way motivating students to take books from themselves after.

For example, one way to encourage reading in a Primary Classroom is using Storytelling performing the story. Another way could be using Rhythms to pronounce some words because we must not forget that they are learning a foreign language at the same time.  

In my opinion, it is also important to read aloud to children and also to be a role model to children, but the most important things are starting with topics that children love and make the reading social between them.

Now, have a look at this video and watch the strategies that they propose to us.

Do you have any other ideas to encourage reading in a Primary Classroom? 

Did your schools any creative activity for reading?

Thank you for sharing it with us, because it could be very useful in our future as teachers.

Nuria

Language Learning through Storytelling

In a CLIL environment we can use storytelling as a tool of communication´s development with children. In this post, I am going to explain you know about what I have learnt in class with Raquel Fernández, our teacher of this subject at the Centro Universitario Cardenal Cisneros and what I have explored by my own about this topic.

 

First of all, I am going to explain you a little bit what CLIL is. This term means Content and Language Integrated Learning and it refers to teaching subjects such as science, history and geography to students through a foreign language, created for the need to attend not only to the linguistic, content, communicative and cognitive components involved in this approach but also to intercultural factors.

Stories can prove to be effective tools for children to develop those essential principles involved within a CLIL approach that include not only language and content but also communication, cognition and culture. Stories, hence, can contain the key 4Cs to make any CLIL experience succeed (Coyle, 1990).

 

This week, I have learnt a new way of telling stories following CLIL and I discovered a children´s novelist called Michael Rosen, who is a British poet and author of 140 books.

 

Michael have some interpretations of his stories in youtube like that one, where I could appreciate that he is very onomatopoeic and very expressive making gestures and sounds representing his stories. It helps to develop the skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing and we can use them with children. 

 

 

We´re going on a bear hunt

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytc0U2WAz4s

 

After watching this video in class, we did one activity which consisted of representing the story of Michael Rosen – We´re going on a bear hunt.

First of all, the teacher divided the class into different groups, one group was the family who were going on a bear hunt, another group had to represent the grass, another group the river, etc., making the movements and sounds of these places and here you have the result:

 

 

My opinion about this activity is that we can use stories in a different way, is good for children to improve their reading skills but also is important to improve another kind of skills such as social skills or communication skills not only with their teacher but also with their peers, therefore, as a future teachers we should make an extra effort in order to integrate different skills in our activities. This allows them to construct knowledge and express ideas, even with the very limited language they may have at the early stages of a CLIL programme. Moreover, stories can help learners increase language fluency and advance in their content knowledge.