富沢小学校 Tomilishブログ

Classes 4-1 and 4-2 have been working on adding gestures to their `Days of the week` song. Usually when students sing songs it looks like this:

The teachers wanted to make singing more fun and make the songs easier to remember. So they decided that each class would think of gestures that go with each day of the week. The first time the students hear the song it's difficult for them to sing right away but if they can do gestures they can feel like they have achieved something.
Singing songs with gestures looks like this:
So much fun!

First the students brainstormed ideas for each day of the week. Many students gave different ideas. The teachers asked "If you see that gesture will you think of Monday(Tuesday/etc.)?". The students used gestures linked to the kanji.
These are the gestures that class 4-2 decided.

At first the students were a little shy and uneasy to do the gestures.
The teachers did their best to dance and sing enthusiastically so the students felt comfortable, too.

Soon everyone was smiling and dancing, too.
Can you guess what this gesture is? The students in the background of the photo are doing it very well. It's a moon. It's Monday!

Class 4-1 also made their own original gestures. When students create their own gestures as a class it gives them more motivation to use them. Do you know what day this is?
They are making a circle with their arms. It's a sun for Sunday!

The teachers can also use these gestures as hints to the students if they can't remember a word. It's a fun way to help the students to remember.

Everyone enjoyed dancing and the teachers will keep trying to think of new ways to make the English class fun and memorable.

Last week class 4-1 started studying a new topic in English class. In the next few classes they will be learning the days of the week and how to ask and answer questions about what day they like and why.

First, after greetings the students reviewed the numbers 1-21 by playing the `Not21`game. The students were in pairs or groups of three and they could say between 1 and 3 numbers. The person who said 21 lost the game.
The students each had a sheet with the numbers written on them so they could check off what had been said. It also helped to remind them what number came next.

Great eye contact! The hardest thing was not looking at the sheet when speaking. The students tried had to look up when they spoke.

Next, Ms. Emily and Mr. Ota did `Teacher Talk`. They modeled the conversation that the students will be able to do at the end of the unit.
"Do you like Fridays?"
"Yes, I do."
"Why?"
"I like P.E."

Then, we checked the goal of the lesson.
Let's listen hard to the new sentences!

Then Ms. Emily told us about what children in Scotland do after school and at the weekends.
Look at that sunset! Ms. Emily is from Shetland. In summer they have the simmer dim, night-long twilight (白夜), so they can play outside until 10pm or 11pm.

Ms. Emily also lives near the beach.
When she was an elementary school student she made a secret hideout(秘密基地). It looked cool!

Ms. Emily taught us how to say the days of the week in English.
Some of the words were a little difficult to pronounce. Thursday was the most difficult.

Everyone tried very hard.

Next, we sang the days of the week song.
It's a fun way to remember the pronunciations.

Good job everyone!

Next time we want to make gestures for the days of the week so the song will be even more fun. We're all looking forward to it!