April 22, the International Day of Mother Earth, was proclaimed as an official “day” by the United Nations in 2009. This day seeks to raise awareness of the different problems humans have caused such as pollution, global warming, overpopulation, and more! Now more than ever action needs to be taken to stop and reverse the harm done to our planet.
One way to introduce and talk to your classes about this topic is to brainstorm ways to help at home.
For example:
Reusa, reduce y recicla. Ahorra energía y agua. Planta árboles. Camina más.
You can also teach a song to reinforce your conversation about El Día Internacional de la Madre Tierra.
Last but not least. I have two resources on Teachers Pay Teachers that can support your teaching:
These are three simple and easy to understand stories that I have written for elementary students, although I have also been delighted to hear from middle school teachers that they have used them with their beginner classes. These stories have a lot of repetition in them.
Make sure to download the free resources that go along with them. Just click on each picture below, and it will take you to a new link to download the stories and activities.
Cold has finally hit Austin! It never snows here, but the cold weather makes a good opportunity to bring this song to my younger students. You can contrast the seasons and weather by sharing that in Argentina it is summer now while in the U.S it is winter. You can show picture cards for different seasons, and use TPR while asking “¿es verano?” Do the same for every season and finally get to “es invierno.” Point at the snow and say “nieve, llegó la nieve” and throw paper snow flakes that you can print from the template provided in this post. The snow flakes can be made out of paper or felt. Another idea is to use a play parachute or a large piece of fabric, and place the snow flakes and shake the fabric or parachute while singing the song.
This is game that works wonders with preschool students and, in my experience, is one of their favorites. I have never had a class that fails to embrace this game. In fact, because there is such demand for it, the game presents a great opportunity to learn “otra vez.” Once students start saying (or pleading!) “again,” just respond by asking them “¿otra vez?” I even use the song to teach “more” in sign language. This game is also great for students to learn how to be patient as waiting for the last person is not always something that kindergarteners and first graders like to do. This game doesn’t require any preparation other than that you might want to teach this song before playing the game.
How to play the game:
Have your students form a circle while standing. Choose a student to start first. To choose students impartially, I like using chants similar to “Eeny, meeny, miny, moe” in Spanish. I use “De tin marín, de do pingüe, cúcara mácara títere fue, uno, dos y tres.” Please share in the comments if you have any other ones you use! After deciding on the student who will go first, we start singing the song for the days of the week while pointing at the students in the order of the circle. We sing, “lunes, martes, miércoles, jueves, viernes, sábado, domingo, siéntate.” This is an elimination game. Whoever is after “domingo,” we will say “siéntate” and that student has to sit. We continue the song until two people are left standing in the circle. We continue singing, and the last person standing wins the game. We also sing using different voices that vary according to speed and pitch (fast, slow, high, low). I hope your students have fun playing this game just as mine do!
