Springtime Inspirations with Grazyna Studzinska-Cavour

Springtime Inspirations

withGrazyna Studzinska-Cavour

Grazyna Studzinska-Cavour RODNiIP WOM 2007

Welcome to Springtime Inspirations!

I am pleased that you are participating, and hope that this will be a useful and interesting experience for you.

I would like everyone to post self-introductions.

Please tell us who you are, where you teach, what you teach and

who you teach. What are your interests and background? What else would you like the group to know?


My introduction

Warm regards from beautiful Poland,

My name is Grazyna, I'm a Teacher Trainer and ELT Consultant for Southern Poland, happy to be with you here, share ideas, gain experience and learn a lot

Atb

Grazyna Studzinska-CavourFreelance Teacher Trainer, EuroCALL NatRep for Poland



Frappr maps

my map

• Please get your own map and make your own profile

http://www.frappr.com/





Spring fever

Does spring fever have your students all a-buzz?

Use their boundless energy to help them learn about the bees and the flowers and the seeds

Bring spring into your classroom and your curriculum.


Green and greener

Each year, toward the end of March, Earth and the sun conspire to bring spring to Earth's Northern Hemisphere. The season's specific characteristics vary from region to region. For some, the final frost is months past. For others, it's still months away. Some places become green. Others become greener. The essential elements of the season, however, are universal. In every country, in every city, in every pond and forest and yard, life is beginning again.



The legends

"Long ago, Summer, a beautiful woman with long brown hair crowned with flowers and arms filled with blossoms, defeated Winter and used her special power to awaken Earth. The grass grew green and the snow ran down the rivers, carrying away the dead leaves. Old Winter wept to see his power taken away. Summer said, "Now that I have proved I am more powerful than you, I give you all the country to the far north for your own, and there I shall never disturb you. Six months of every year you may reign as before. During the other six months, I will come back from the South and rule the land."


Task

Find and tell or write other legends and folktales that explain the changing seasons

Share the legends with your mates

Observe similarities of the springtime legends



Science and art Make a weather station

Miami Museum of Science

Help students follow the directions at Making a Weather Station, and then invite them to use the tools they make to learn about the weather. Encourage students to record the weather information in their journals.

http://www.miamisci.org/hurricane/weatherstation.html






Health Learn about plants

Help students learn about the parts of plants as they make an online

Plant-Parts Salad

If possible, arrange students into five groups and ask each group to bring real plant parts to class, including seeds, roots, leaves, stems, and flowers. Then make your own Plant-Parts Salad.

http://www.hhmi.org/coolscience/vegquiz/plantparts.html




Bird-watchers

Invite students to become bird-watchers at home or school. Have them record how many of each kind of bird they see.

Students can use The Great Backyard Bird Count: Bird Identification Guide to identify the birds and their sounds.

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/programs/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/
















Arts and craftBuild a bird feeder

Invite students to visit Backyard Birding to learn about different kinds of bird feeders and bird food and the birds that are attracted to them.

Arrange students into groups, and help each group build a different kind of bird feeder.

Place the feeders outside the classroom and encourage students to record the kinds of birds that are attracted to their feeders.

Have students make a chart showing the information for each feeder.

http://www.bcpl.lib.md.us/~tross/by/backyard.html




WritingWrite a poem

Encourage students to learn about butterflies at The Butterfly and Moth Life Cycle

Then ask each student to write a poem about butterflies or moths.

Encourage students to illustrate their poems.


Fun and games

Invite students of all ages to play the games on the

National Wildlife Federation Games Page.


Research and reporting

As a follow-up to the previous activity, ask each student to research one of the animals whose tracks they found and to write a report about it.

Encourage students to read Spring Peepers, a report by a third-grade student, for ideas on the kinds of things they might include in their reports.

Have students illustrate their reports and then combine the sketches, reports, and animal drawings into a classroom field guide.


Art Design a habitat

Encourage each student to select an animal or insect that might be seen in spring.

Ask students to research their animals to learn where they live, what they eat, how they bear their young, and so on.

Then have each student create a diorama of the animal's habitat.


a willingness to learn

(and not only the content subject)

is a key quality of any teacher


Have a nice springtime

Thank you

Grazyna Studzinska-CavourFreelance Teacher Trainer, EuroCALL NatRep for Poland

[email protected] ALL PHOTOES BY THE AUTHOR©

mailto:[email protected]

Documents

Springtime Inspirations with Grazyna Studzinska-Cavour