Posted in 4th Grade, 5th Grade, 6th Grade, Computer-Assisted Language Learning, My Schools' English Newspapers, Projects, Public Education

We’ve got news for you!

EfxeiNewsPoli, Issue 1, Primary School of Efxeinoupoli, Greece

We’ve got news for you” is the title of the eTwinning project we are involved in this year with the 4th, 5th and 6th learners of the Primary School of Efxeinoupoli, Greece. This project aspires to involve many European learners in the exchange of English school newspapers and the creation of a common newspaper as the end-product of this creative collaboration! Participant learners are invited to write and read English with a real-life purpose and they also have the opportunity to interact via Twinspace, improving thus their communication and ICT along with their writing and reading skills! Practising skills simulates real-life communication in a fun-filled project that helps everyone realize the emergence of English as an international language and expand their horizons. Learners also have the opportunity to feel like citizens of the world, members of a vast community, outside the barriers of their local surroundings. Using English as the vehicle, this project has been designed to provide useful insight on their peers’ daily routine, interests, customs and mentality, allowing everyone thus to become more tolerant with diversity.

The first issue of our newspaper has been completed and posted on the school blog and we are currently in the process of completing the second issue! For each issue we have tried to exploit the written assignments suggested by our coursebooks, in an attempt to make writing more meaningful and address our readers with topics of their interest. Greek learners have submitted their articles asynchronously, via eclass, and the teacher has corrected and edited the issue. Here is our first issue:

Primary School of Efxeinoupoli, Greece



Download file

Learners participating in this project have done an exceptional job in their first issues and Greek learners are very excited to be involved in this exchange! Please, take some time to read their articles and feel free to share them with your learners! Here are their impressive issues in random order:

Laboratório de Línguas, Portugal

CEIP Bec de L’Àguila, Sant Vicent del Raspeig, Spain

Kasaba Şehit Yusuf Polat Yatılı Bölge Ortaokulu, Turkey

Scoala Gimnaziala “Sfantul Andrei”, Romania

ОШ “Стеван Немања”, Serbia:

Our second issues are on the way and they’re full of surprises! If you liked our first attempt, do not miss the following post with the upcoming European English school newspapers!

Posted in 2nd Grade, 3rd Grade, 4th Grade, 5th Grade, 6th Grade, Computer-Assisted Language Learning, Public Education

Easter fun for Greek English-Language learners

Physical distancing and long distance teaching have brought forward the best of Greek teachers who seem to have become Web Tool experts in just a few days and struggle to do their best for their learners! In an attempt to create presentable, interactive, educational and entertaining Easter collections for all my classes this year, Thinglink was the web tool that came first to my mind, as it gives teachers the opportunity to integrate links of useful videos and tasks, as well as interactive activities they have probably created themselves using other Web Tools (like LearningApps in my case)! In this post you will find all my Easter Fun collections in one place and you are free to use them in you feel that they meet your learners’ needs!

Easter Fun for Greek 2nd Grade learners

Easter Fun for Greek 3rd Grade learners

Easter fun for Greek 4th Grade learners

Easter fun for Greek 5th Grade learners

Easter fun for Greek 6th Grade learners

Posted in 4th Grade, Public Education

4th Grade – Sports Song – Unit 2

All of us, English Language teachers in public Primary Schools of Greece, are familiar with the Sports Song presented in our coursebook, in Unit 2.

English Coursebook - 4th Grade - Sports Song Lyrics

Last year this rather-indifferent-to-the-learners song was taken to a different level with a little bit of imagination and enthusiasm and it actually became their favourite! Therefore, this year, at the Primary School of Efxinoupoli, it was easy to follow the same steps:

Instead of just singing the lyrics, we simply added motions for every line of the song! And that is how we pursued learning sports in English and learning like + -ing structure while having fun!

Posted in 3rd Grade, 4th Grade, Ideas, Thoughts, Concerns, Projects

INTERACTIVE NOTEBOOK PAGES ON THE PLURAL OF NOUNS

Interactive notebook pages on plural nouns
Interactive notebook pages on plural nouns

We have played interactively with the demonstratives and we have also cleared the air among subject/object pronouns and possessive adjectives! How about revising some or the rules regarding the plural of nouns? Adding a few more pages to our interactive notebook, we managed to have fun while revising!

Δείτε το στο slideshare.net
Posted in 3rd Grade, 4th Grade, Ideas, Thoughts, Concerns, Projects

LEARNING SUBJECT/OBJECT PRONOUNS AND POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES INTERACΤIVELY

Interactive Notebook - Pronouns / Possessive Adjectives
Interactive Notebook – Pronouns / Possessive Adjectives

Don’t you feel excited when somebody brings you a present you had never expected at all and you could not believe you would like, or need so much? Well, this appears to be accurately descriptive of my current relationship with the interactive notebook approach! It’s like a new colourful, fun-filled toy that everybody likes to play with and you, the teacher who has prepared it, know that it is not just entertaining! It is meant to help others learn in a more engaging, attractive and interactive manner and you (will) love every minute of its designing and crafting!

After trying to help a learner with demonstratives, it is time to play and learn with my daughter, who has been a bit confused with object pronouns and possessive adjectives use and expressed her desire to have an interactive notebook, like my niece’s! Here is how she has been presented with the grammar rules:

Interactive Notebook - Pronouns / Possessive Adjectives
Interactive Notebook – Pronouns / Possessive Adjectives
Interactive Notebook - Pronouns / Possessive Adjectives
Interactive Notebook – Pronouns / Possessive Adjectives

After reading and playing with the rules, she moves to the next pages that have big flowers with petals that can move! Reading the sentence in the middle, she makes her own, complete sentences by using the correct pronoun or adjective! Then, she checks if she did well by flipping the flower petals!

Interactive Notebook - Pronouns / Possessive Adjectives
Interactive Notebook – Pronouns / Possessive Adjectives
Interactive Notebook - Pronouns / Possessive Adjectives
Interactive Notebook – Pronouns / Possessive Adjectives
Interactive Notebook - Pronouns / Possessive Adjectives
Interactive Notebook – Pronouns / Possessive Adjectives
Interactive Notebook - Pronouns / Possessive Adjectives
Interactive Notebook – Pronouns / Possessive Adjectives
Interactive Notebook - Pronouns / Possessive Adjectives
Interactive Notebook – Pronouns / Possessive Adjectives

Apart from attributing a colourful and playful atmosphere to her notebook, my daughter loved the fact that she enjoyed grammar practice this much and has expressed her desire to add more pages like that! Having tried the interactive notebook method in only two cases this far, it has been noted that it initially appears to give the teachers the opportunity to reflect on their students’ learning styles. Additionally, it seems to allow teachers to evaluate and analyze their learners’ understanding of new concepts, giving them ample grounds to modidy and accommodate their teaching accordingly. Finally, the fact that learners are not involved in the actual designing and crafting, brings up the element of surprise during the lesson and allows more time for grammar introduction and practice for the individual learner.

Δείτε το στο slideshare.net
Posted in 3rd Grade, 4th Grade, 5th Grade, 6th Grade, Ideas, Thoughts, Concerns, Public Education

AN INTERACTIVE NOTEBOOK TO THE RESCUE!

Interactive Notebook for Demonstratives
Interactive Notebook for Demonstratives

Have you ever had one of those days during which everybody in class has understood the grammar taught (even commented on how easy it has been), but one or some of your learners seem unable to put it into practice, as they do not remember when to use what? Well, in the public school context, cases like that are normally approached during the break, where learners can be guided individulally and introduced to various ways that will assist their learning (graphs that help them remember, course book pages that present grammar, worksheets for extra practice, links to related online interactive games, etc). If we are lucky, the learners that need our guidance stay at school until 4pm, like we do, and we can work on their problematic areas at their own pace, through role plays, songs, even crafts that will make their learning life easier and more pleasant!

Having said (and done) all these things, right when you think you are a cool teacher that helps her learners get better at English, you see something cooler than what you have been doing all this time! In the afore mentioned challenging case, the cooler approach seems to be far more attractive and bears an attractive name: an interactive notebook! Have you seen these wonderful, colourful, flippable, removable notebook pages that not only present things in English, but also allow you to interact with them and practice? Google search “interactive notebooks” and you will be flooded with articles on their theoretical background, templates, printable patterns and exemplary ideas that will blow your (and your learners’) minds!

Having read all about them and trusting colleagues who have repeatedly used them (Aphro Gkiouris, for instance, who has been a warm supporter of this approach), the first attempt took place at home, as an experiment, exploiting my niece’s aversion towards demonstratives (this, that, these, those). Although she had clearly understood the difference among them, she had been having difficulty in using the correct demostrative while producing the target language! That was when she was invited to take advantage of the … super powers of her own notebook!

Having prepared cardboard cut-outs and printed everything we needed, I glued everything on her notebook which looked like that:

Interactive Notebook for Demonstratives
Interactive Notebook for Demonstratives

She had the opportunity to visualize the rules by … opening the purple windows:

Interactive Notebook for Demonstratives
Interactive Notebook for Demonstratives

When we opened the lilac envelope, she found colourful pieces of cardboard paper, showing an object or objects with hands pointing at them from near or far away from them:

Interactive Notebook for Demonstratives
Interactive Notebook for Demonstratives
Interactive Notebook for Demonstratives
Interactive Notebook for Demonstratives

And, then, she could play and interact, by placing each object in the correct envelope, based on its number and distance from the hand:

Interactive Notebook for Demonstratives
Interactive Notebook for Demonstratives

Answering potential questions that may arise after this presentation it is worth noting that: * Yes, it was time-consuming to prepare, but paper-crafting was fun to do, as my daughter kindly offered to help!
* No, it does not cost a lot, as cardboard paper and glue are not expensive. If you do not have a printer, you can always employ your art skills which may give a more personal style to the end-product! * Yes, she got everything right, and, no, we did not have to refer to the grammar rules again! * Yes, she loved it! She clearly stated it and also expressed her willingness to go home and play some more with it! * Yes, it seems addictive! I cannot stop thinking on ways I could adopt this approach in a public primary school classroom with about 20 learners per class (a highly challenging task, all ideas and suggestions are welcomed!!!)

Posted in 4th Grade, 5th Grade, 6th Grade, My Schools' English Newspapers, Projects, Public Education

ΕΥΡΩΠΑΪΚΗ ΒΡΑΒΕΥΣΗ ΤΟΥ ΔΗΜΟΤΙΚΟΥ ΣΧΟΛΕΙΟΥ ΣΟΥΡΠΗΣ

Από την έναρξη της σχολικής χρονιάς 2014-2015, το Δημοτικό Σχολείο Σούρπης συμμετείχε στο Ευρωπαϊκό Πρόγραμμα eTwinning το οποίο και προωθεί τη συνεργασία μεταξύ των Ευρωπαϊκών σχολείων που έχουν κοινούς παιδαγωγικούς και εκπαιδευτικούς στόχους. Η εργασία με την οποία ασχολήθηκαν οι μαθητές και οι μαθήτριες των Ε΄ και Στ΄ τάξεων είχε τον τίτλο «Τhe European Schools Newspaper» και τους ενέπλεξε σε μια από κοινού έκδοση εφημερίδας στα αγγλικά με άλλα Ευρωπαϊκά Σχολεία. Με όχημα την τεχνολογία και καύσιμο την όρεξη, την εργατικότητα και τη διάθεση για δημιουργία και επικοινωνία, οι μαθητές και οι μαθήτριες του Δημοτικού Σχολείου Σούρπης των δύο τελευταίων σχολικών ετών (2014-2015 και 2015-2016) δημιούργησαν συνολικά 8 συνεργατικά τεύχη με τη βοήθεια των Ευρωπαίων συμμαθητών τους.

Με μεγάλη χαρά σας ανακοινώνουμε ότι το συγκεκριμένο έργο έλαβε την Ευρωπαϊκή Ετικέτα Ποιότητας. Η ανακοίνωση της βράβευσης έγινε με το ακόλουθο email, που απευθύνεται στην εκπαιδευτικό Αγγλικής Γλώσσας του σχολείου μας που συντόνισε τα συνεργαζόμενα σχολεία και εκπροσώπησε το δικό μας:

‘Αγαπητή Vivi Hamilou,

Συγχαρητήρια! Το σχολείο σας βραβεύθηκε με την Ευρωπαϊκή Ετικέτα Ποιότητας για την τελειότητα της εργασίας σας στο έργο eTwinning “The European Schools Newspaper”. Αυτό σημαίνει πως η εργασία σας, η εργασία των μαθητών και του σχολείου σας έχει αναγνωριστεί στο υψηλότερο Ευρωπαϊκό επίπεδο.

Σαν αποτέλεσμα, θα λάβετε ένα πιστοποιητικό το οποίο μπορείτε να επισυνάψετε στην ιστοσελίδα σας και να το εκθέσετε σε μία περίοπτη θέση στο σχολείο σας. Επίσης, το έργο σας θα εμφανιστεί σε έναν ειδικό χώρο της Ευρωπαϊκής Διαδικτυακής Πύλης στο www.etwinning.net.

Για μία ακόμη φορά, συγχαρητήρια για αυτό το μοναδικό επίτευγμα και ελπίζω να συναντηθούμε σε κάποια από τις εκδηλώσεις eTwinning κατά τη διάρκεια του έτους.

Με τους καλύτερους χαιρετισμούς μου
eTwinning Team’

European Quality Label - 2016-2017 - Sourpi, Greece
European Quality Label – 2016-2017 – Sourpi, Greece

Πολλά συγχαρητήρια στους μαθητές και τις μαθήτριες των Ε΄ και Στ΄ τάξεων του σχολείου μας των σχολικών ετών 2014-2015 και 2015-2016, στους εκπαιδευτικούς που συνεργάστηκαν, αλλά και στη Διεύθυνση και τους εκπαιδευτικούς του Σχολείου μας για τη διαρκή υποστήριξη και ενίσχυση της όλης προσπάθειας!

Posted in 4th Grade, Public Education

4th Grade – Sports Song

All of us, English Language teachers in public Primary Schools of Greece, are familiar with the Sports Song presented in our coursebook, in Unit 2.

English Coursebook - 4th Grade - Sports Song Lyrics
English Coursebook – 4th Grade – Sports Song Lyrics

This school year this, normally rather indifferent to the learners, song was taken to a different level with a little bit of imagination and enthusiasm! Instead of just singing the lyrics, we simply added motions for every line of the song! And that is how we pursued learning sports in English and learning like + -ing structure while having fun! What you are about to see on the following video is a group of learners following directions as to where to stand and how to move, so that their face will not be exposed during the video-making process! What actually took place in class while learning the song, cannot be put into words and is only for the teacher to know and appreciate and the learners to remember for a long, long time! For me, the English teacher, it was the perfect end of a busy, tiring week, that you fortunately cannot see depicted on my face for video-quality reasons!

P.S. If you really liked what these 4th grade learners have presented, please, leave a note on their related school blog post, because they are afraid they will be the only ones watching their video!

Posted in 4th Grade, 5th Grade, 6th Grade, Computer-Assisted Language Learning, My Schools' English Newspapers, Public Education

ΣΧΟΛΙΚΗ ΕΦΗΜΕΡΙΔΑ ΣΤΑ ΑΓΓΛΙΚΑ – ΔΗΜΟΤΙΚΟ ΣΧΟΛΕΙΟ ΣΟΥΡΠΗΣ

Συνεχίζοντας την περσινή παράδοση της δημιουργίας σχολικής εφημερίδας στα αγγλικά, οι μαθητές των τριών τελευταίων τάξεων του σχολείου μας ένωσαν τις δυνάμεις τους για το πρώτο τεύχος που είναι ήδη έτοιμο! Φέτος, το κάθε τεύχος ολοκληρώνεται σε συνεργασία με άλλα Ευρωπαϊκά σχολεία και είναι θεματικό. Στα πλαίσια του Ευρωπαϊκού προγράμματος eTwinning, υποβάλαμε και συμμετέχουμε στο project που ονομάζεται The European Schools Newspaper και, σε συνεργασία με άλλα σχολεία της Ευρώπης, δημιουργούμε το κάθε τεύχος που, κάθε φορά, θα επικεντρώνεται σε ένα θέμα!

Our eTwinning label!
Our eTwinning label!

Το θέμα του πρώτου τεύχους είναι All about me! Οι μαθητές της Ευρώπης συστήνονται μεταξύ τους και παρουσιάζουν τον εαυτό τους με λόγια, ζωγραφιές ή/και φωτογραφίες! Δείτε παρακάτω το απόσπασμα του πρώτου τεύχους που συνεισέφεραν οι μαθητές του σχολείου μας:

Δείτε το στο slideshare.net

Κι επειδή 5 σελίδες δεν είναι αρκετές να χωρέσουν όλα τα άρθρα των παιδιών που συνεισέφεραν, δείτε παρακάτω τα άρθρα όλων των παιδιών, όπως αυτά παραδόθηκαν σε μας:

Δείτε το στο slideshare.net
Posted in 4th Grade, 5th Grade, 6th Grade, Computer-Assisted Language Learning, My Schools' English Newspapers, Public Education

Η ΣΧΟΛΙΚΗ ΜΑΣ ΕΦΗΜΕΡΙΔΑ ΣΤΑ ΑΓΓΛΙΚΑ – ΔΗΜΟΤΙΚΟ ΣΧΟΛΕΙΟ ΣΟΥΡΠΗΣ

Τις περισσότερες φορές, η ανάθεση γραπτών εργασιών στο σπίτι προκαλεί τη δυσανασχέτηση των μαθητών και αυξάνει το άγχος τους να ανταπεξέλθουν στις απαιτήσεις του σχολείου, πολύ περισσότερο δε όταν πρόκειται για συγγραφή κειμένου στα αγγλικά! Εκτός από την αρνητική διάθεση, στο μυαλό των περισσότερων μαθητών η γραπτή εργασία είναι κάτι που απευθύνεται στον δάσκαλο που θα τη διαβάσει, θα τη βαθμολογήσει και θα τη συνυπολογίσει στην αξιολόγηση του τριμήνου.

Σε μια προσπάθεια να κάνουμε τη διαδικασία αυτή καταρχήν πιο ευχάριστη, και κατά δεύτερον πιο ουσιαστική, αποφασίσαμε από κοινού με τους μαθητές των Δ’, Ε’ και Στ’ Τάξεων του Δημοτικού Σχολείου Σούρπης να προχωρήσουμε στην έκδοση σχολικής εφημερίδας στα Αγγλικά! Έτσι, τα άρθρα–εργασίες των μαθητών μας αποκτούν πραγματικό αναγνωστικό κοινό και η συγγραφή κειμένων αποκτά πραγματικό στόχο, που προσομοιάζει στη συγγραφή κειμένων όπως αυτή συντελείται στην καθημερινή μας ζωή.

Οι βασικοί παιδαγωγικοί και διδακτικοί στόχοι ενός τέτοιου εγχειρήματος αποσκοπούν στη βελτίωση της παραγωγής γραπτού λόγου, αλλά και στην εξοικείωση των μαθητών με διαφορετικά είδη γραπτού λόγου (άρθρο, δοκίμιο, ποίημα, κτλ). Εκτός όμως από την εξοικείωση των παιδιών με το περιεχόμενο και το ύφος ανάλογα με είδος του γραπτού κειμένου, προωθούνται και άλλοι, δευτερεύοντες, αλλά εξίσου σημαντικοί στόχοι. Καταρχήν, επιδιώκεται η συνεργασία με τους συμμαθητές τόσο για την έρευνα, όσο και για την συγγραφή των κειμένων, συμβάλλοντας έτσι στην κοινωνικοποίηση, αλλά και την αύξηση της αυτοπεποίθησης των μαθητών μας. Επίσης, τα παιδιά έχουν τη δυνατότητα να εξοικειωθούν με τη χρήση του internet, του κειμενογράφου, της εγκυκλοπαίδειας και του λεξικού.

Επιδιώκοντας να προσδώσουμε μια πιο αληθινή διάσταση στη συγγραφή της εφημερίδας μας, το Δημοτικό Σχολείο Σούρπης εντάχθηκε στο πρόγραμμα ηλεκτρονικής αδελφοποίησης Ευρωπαϊκών σχολείων eTwinning. Υποβάλλοντας το σχεδιασμό ενός project με την ονομασία “We’ve got news for you”, καλέσαμε άλλα Ευρωπαϊκά σχολεία που εκδίδουν σχολικές εφημερίδες στα αγγλικά σε μια ανταλλαγή εφημερίδων, με σκοπό να προσομοιάσουμε τη συγγραφή κειμένων όπως αυτή συντελείται στην πραγματικότητα, με στόχο, αλλά και συγκεκριμένο αναγνωστικό κοινό. Στην προσπάθειά μας αυτή βρήκαμε συνεργάτες και έχει ήδη ξεκινήσει η ανταλλαγή σχολικών εντύπων στα αγγλικά. Τα συνεργαζόμενα σχολεία είναι: Szkoła Podstawowa nr 19 im. Bohaterów Westerplatte, Πολωνία, 75.YIL ORTAOKULU, Τουρκία, Colegio Jesús María Burgos, Ισπανία, ICS «E. De Amicis-S. Altamura» di Foggia, Ιταλία, Korkuteli Osman Onal Primary School , Τουρκία, Senlikİlkokulu, Τουρκία, Yeşilbayır Primary School, Τουρκία, Zespół Szkól nr 1, Πολωνία, ZŠ a MŠ Chrášťany, Δημοκρατία της Τσεχίας, Şcoala cu clasele I-VIII «Constantin Brancoveanu», Satu Mare, Ρουμανία.

Επίσης, στα άμεσα σχέδιά μας και έπειτα από επιθυμία των μαθητών, έχει δρομολογηθεί συνέντευξη από εκδότη εφημερίδας, που θα ενημερώσει τους μικρούς μας δημοσιογράφους για το επάγγελμα αυτό, τις χαρές και τις δυσκολίες του, τη ζωή που επιφυλάσσει για όποιον το ασκεί και, γενικότερα, τους μύθους και την πραγματικότητα που κρύβονται πίσω από αυτό. Συγκεκριμένα, έχουν γίνει επαφές με τον δημοσιογράφο και εκδότη της τοπικής εφημερίδας «Ο ΛΑΟΣ ΤΟΥ ΑΛΜΥΡΟΥ», κ. Γεώργιο Τσιντσίνη, οι μαθητές ανυπομονούν για τη συνέντευξη αυτή και βρίσκονται στη διαδικασία σύνταξης των ερωτήσεων που θα υποβάλλουν στον προαναφερόμενο δημοσιογράφο/εκδότη.

Η αγγλική εφημερίδα του Δημοτικού Σχολείου Σούρπης ονομάζεται “S-O-URPRISE”! Αποσκοπώντας στην μεγαλύτερη εξοικείωση των μαθητών μας με την τεχνολογία, δίνεται και ηλεκτρονική διάσταση στην εφημερίδα μας μέσα από το σχολικό ιστολόγιο (blog) που δημιουργήσαμε, όχι μόνο για την προβολή των άρθρων που συγγράψαμε, αλλά και για την προβολή άλλων εργασιών και εκδηλώσεων του σχολείου μας. Οι μαθητές πληκτρολογούν οι ίδιοι τα περισσότερα από τα συγκεντρωθέντα άρθρα, ενώ στο σχολικό ιστολόγιο προβάλλονται όλες οι υποβληθείσες προτάσεις για την σχολική εφημερίδα, ακόμα και αυτές που δεν συμπεριλαμβάνονται στην έντυπη έκδοση της εφημερίδας μας!

Δείτε εδώ το πρώτο τεύχος της αγγλικής σχολικής μας εφημερίδας:

Δείτε το στο slideshare.net
Posted in 1st Grade, 2nd Grade, 3rd Grade, 4th Grade, 5th Grade, 6th Grade, EFL Teacher Resources, Public Education

CARNIVAL AND HALLOWEEN CRAFTS AND DECORATIONS

The Greek carnival is usually celebrated at the end of winter and the beginning of spring, Halloween, though, is celebrated on October 31st! There are major differences between the Greek carnival celebration and Halloween celebration, but there is surely one thing they have in common: dressing-up!

In terms of dressing-up, Halloween seems to be all about spooky costumes, whereas the Greek carnival appears to fulfil our dream of transforming into anything we desire! Whether it is Halloween or Carnival, every year, we, teachers, try to find crafts we can do with our learners in class! Here you will find an assortment of sites that abound in crafts, decorations, coloring pages, costume ideas, treats recipes and printables! Have fun with your learners at school and don’t forget your kids at home! You can have so much fun with them!

Ματιά (Carnival crafts and costumes ideas!)

Hartaetoi (Carnival crafts with pictures!)

EnchantedLearning.com (great, easy to make crafts!)

AllCrafts.net (Halloween crafts, decorations, even treats recipes!)

DLTK’s Holiday Crafts for Kids (Frankenstein, ghost, vampire, witch, owl crafts …)

ActivityVillage (Skeletons, witches, bats and cats, pumpkins of all sorts, candy corn, monsters and ghosts too, so with well over 80 craft ideas here you should find something that is just the right amount of spooky for you!)

AllFreeCrafts (Here you can find crafts and decorations, Halloween recipes, party ideas and Halloween games, Halloween costumes and makeup, as well as printables!)

FamilyCorner.com (Crafts, decorations, recipes … you can try them at home with your kids, too!)

FreeKidsCrafts.com (Halloween printables, recycled crafts, costume ideas and food crafts!)

CraftBits.com (Halloween crafts, project ideas, decorations and wreaths!)

AllKidsNetwork (Halloween crafts for kids of all ages!)

42 Super Easy Halloween Craft Ideas (Wonderful and easy-to-make crafts for classrooms and families!)

20 Kid-friendly Halloween decorations (last-minute crafts, perfect for at-home or in the classroom)

Here is the video we normally watch at school to find out how Halloween is celebrated in Britain:

 

Posted in 4th Grade, School Paper Articles

POEMS ABOUT SEASONS – English School Paper, April 2011 Issue

Our 4th grade English book invites learners to write poems about seasons. Here is Zoe’s inspiration:

SUMMER
by Zoe Gerogiakomou (4th grade)

The sun is shining
Summer is here.
The children are swimming
Summer is here.
We go on holiday
Summer is here.
The children are eating ice-cream
Summer is here.

WINTER
by Zoe Gerogiakomou (4th grade)

We go skiing
Winter is here.
We make a snowman
Winter is here.
It’s snowing
Winter is here.
Santa-Claus is coming
Winter is here.

Posted in 4th Grade, 5th Grade, 6th Grade, School Paper Articles

JOKES – English School Paper, April 2011 Issue

JOKES
by Hryssa Papalexopoulou

What did John say when he saw four elephants walking down the hill?
“Are elephants coming?”
And what did John say when he saw four elephants with black sunglasses walking down the hill?
Nothing. He didn’t recognize them!

———————-

Teacher: Tell us, Helen, where does God live?
Helen: I think in the bathroom, Miss.
Teacher: And why are you saying that?
Helen: Because every morning my dad is behind the bathroom door and he says: “God, will you ever get out?”

———————-

Two men were gambling in a salon. One of them stood up and he started screaming:
– I won, I won!
– What do you have?, the second man asked.
– Four aces.
– I think that you don’t….
– Why, what do you have?
– Two nines and one gun!!!

Posted in 4th Grade, 5th Grade, 6th Grade, Projects

EXCHANGING CARNIVAL CUSTOMS

Since the beginning of this school year, the learners of the Primary School of Pteleos have been exchanging national traditions and customs with learners that come from other European countries. Recently, we exchanged presentations of our national carnival customs. Our 5th grade learners wrote related articles for their English school newspaper “Our World” and sent them to the cooperating European Primary Schools (eLearning Centre, Floriana, Malta, Karacaoğlan İ.Ö.O / Primary School, Adana, Turkey, Scoala gen. nr. 2 Codlea, Codlea, Romania, St. Clare College, San Gwann Primary A, San Gwann, Malta, TEVFİK YARAMANOĞLU İLKÖĞRETİM OKULU, MERKEZ, Turkey, Samanyolu Ilköğretim Okulu , Ankara, Turkey and the Primary School of Politika, Evia, Greece). The learners’ articles have been accompanied with the following presentations, both in English and Greek:

Posted in 4th Grade, 5th Grade, 6th Grade, My Schools' English Newspapers

ENGLISH SCHOOL NEWSPAPER – ISSUE 2 – PRIMARY SCHOOL OF PTELEOS

Since the beginning of this school year, the Primary School of Pteleos has been involved in an eTwinning project that includes exchanging English school newspapers with other European Primary Schools ( St Mary’s Primary Duntocher, Clydebank, United Kingdom, Ulubatlı Hasan İlköğretim Okulu, Kocaeli, Turkey, Szkoła Podstawowa nr 1 im. Feliksa Nowowiejskiego w Barczewie, Barczewo, Poland, Samanyolu Ilköğretim Okulu , Ankara, Turkey and Öğretmen Mediha Mehmet Tetikol İlköğretim Okulu, Tekirdağ, Turkey. Their English school paper is called “Our World” (see their first issue here) and their second issue is finally ready! You can download it here: OUR WORLD – ENGLISH SCHOOL PAPER – 2ND ISSUE – PRIMARY SCHOOL OF PTELEOS

Posted in 4th Grade, School Paper Articles

MY VILLAGE – English School Paper, February 2011 Issue

MY VILLAGE
by Vasso Boukorou and Zoe Gerogiakomou (4th grade)

The name of our village is Pteleos. It is in central Greece. It is near the sea.

We have got clean beaches and beautiful shops. An important city near Pteleos is Volos. There are a lot of mountains here. You can eat fresh fish, meat and olives here.

One of our festivals is on August 15th. We celebrate Virgin Mary. In the morning, people go to church and at night they go to the central square and have dinner in taverns. We also have another festival, the Carnival, in February. Children dress up and go to the central square and dance. They also go to a party at a club and they play treasure hunt, they throw confetti, dance and drink soft drinks and hot chocolate.

Many tourists visit Pteleos in the summer. They go to the village of Hamako, the Sea Museum in Achillio, the castle and, of course, the beaches!

Posted in 4th Grade, Projects

POEMS ABOUT THE SEASONS

Our English 4th grade coursebook this year invites learners in writing poems about the seasons! When I first told my learners at the Primary School of Amaliapolis that they had a poem for homework, they were shocked at first, but they told me they would definitely try it! Here is what they wrote about the seasons:

This is what Alex Repakis wrote:



And here is what his brother Stratos wrote:



SUMMER
by Nick Stekkas

In the summer we swim
The school is closed
The kids smile
And they feel happy.

SPRING
by Nick Stekkas

In the spring we are happy
The spring is funny
The sun is shining
And the flowers are laughing.

AUTUMN
by Nick Stekkas

The school is open
The autumn is here
The kids do their homework
The autumn is here.

WINTER
by Nick Stekkas

The winter is great
The snow is here
In the winter we wear warm clothes
Because the snow is here.

Here is what Vassiliki Kouri wrote:




SUMMER
by Chris Xanthis

The summer is hot
The sun is in the sky
The people are swimming
And the boats are in the sea.

WINTER
by Chris Xanthis

The winter
The flowers are sleeping
It’s snowing
And it’s cold.

SPRING
by Chris Xanthis

The spring
it’s hot
Children are playing in the park
And it’s sunny.

AUTUMN
by Chris Xanthis

The autumn
It’s cold
It’s windy
And it’s raining.

Well done, children!!!

Posted in 1st Grade, 2nd Grade, 3rd Grade, 4th Grade, 5th Grade, 6th Grade, Computer-Assisted Language Learning, EFL Teacher Resources

English Exercises

English Exercises is a website full of exercises to practise English online. The exercises have been submitted by English teachers from all over the world and they are categorized as VOCABULARY and GRAMMAR exercises. Your learners will have the opportunity to practice English developing thus their vocabulary, grammar and listening skills (a lot of the activities include songs and videos!).