Working by Projects II

The other day in class we learnt another way to start a project related to animals for third grade and in this entry I would like to talk about it as I believe it can be an enriching example about how we can start teaching a new topic.

This way to begin the project consists of stick different images about animals on the board and ask children if they can remember their names. Once they  start recognizing some of the animals, they can also stick the name of them next to the pictures. Then, in groups pupils can think about how they can classify animals by their own criteria. As far as I’m concerned, I believe it can be very positive  do it through this system due to the fact that we can not only realize which animals children know but also their thoughts when classifying them. In addition, they have to consider different criteria and reach an agreement with the group. At this point, I would like to give you as advice that if children have to write on a sheet of paper the clasification and they don’t remember properly some words, the teacher can help them writing these in a draft.

Afterwards, once they have done this activity, educators can ask questions to the groups about what they have done and share the different organizations of animals with all the class. In another of the tasks we can request children to clasificate again the animals, but this time thinking in vertebrates and finally they could also do a last grouping involving  farm animals, pets and wild animals. I am in favor of this procedure due to the fact that it allows us to teach science content but through language (CLIL). However, it is relevant go slowly and step by step because if we ask children to do  three classifications the same day or even at the same time, they can feel overwhelmed. 

Once they had already done the previous activities, they can start writing and, therefore, we can introduce some questions such as: Which animal would you like to be? and they can write short sentences, as for instance: I would like to be a Kangaroo because they can jump  very well. I think here it is better if  teachers go around and help pupils with the writing if they have problems. What’s more, another of the questions we can ask them is if they have a pet at home and what kind of pet do they have. Then, after commenting the results kids can prepare a survey and go to other classes to implement it. From my point of view, I consider this activity fulfilling as kids can work on maths analyzing the results and doing graphics to represent the results. In addition, at that point, they can reflect on: why people have pets? and talk about the advantages and disadvantages of having a pet at home and draw conclusions.

As far as I am concerned, I think projects like these can be very enriching for children because we can get them to learn the names of animals, grammar structures and vocabulary related to this subject but in a meaningful way and in context. They will notice that they need expressions to communicate and they will learn a lot of vocabulary without even realizing it. Also, I recognise it is a dynamic way to teach and if they do the survey, they can have the opportunity to know more about their classmates, so we can get the relationship between the class group improve.

Finally,  I would like to say that I wish I had learned animals through projects so motivating like this!!  and I want to share with us some resources I have found online that could be useful to catch ideas about how we can approach our project related to animals. I hope you like the post and see you next time!