COMPARTIM EL JARDÍ AMB LES FAMÍLIES

Laura Lorenzo14/06/25  

“La fuerza del equipo reside en cada miembro. La fuerza de cada miembro es el equipo”, Phil Jackson.

Després de tot el que hem investigat i treballat per millorar el jardí i, malgrat que encara ens agradaria continuar fent coses, arriba un dels millors moments… Compartir-ho amb les famílies!

Ens preparem pel tancament recordant tot el procés i distribuint el que volem dir per tal que, el dia que vinguin les famílies, quedi ben clar com hem arribat JUNTS al fantàstic jardí que tenim avui. Però, com que el jardí és de tota l’escola, creiem que les famílies també hi han de participar d’alguna manera i decidim que seria divertit decorar la reixa que el separa de la pista.

Arrel d’un còmic que llegim en anglès, ens preguntem si podríem portar el jardí a fora de l’escola i fer de Vilanova un poble més verd. Descobrim les “seed bombs” i decidim que farem bombes de llavors amb les famílies.

Com fem seed bombs? Llegim les instruccions en petits grups i, fent servir petites estratègies, entenem i transcrivim els passos.

Pot semblar molt difícil llegir en anglès però amb les següents recomanacions podem comprendre’n la idea general.

Ja ho tenim tot a punt: tenim el guió de l’exposició assajat i ja hem preparat tot el material per fer les activitats amb els nostres pares, les nostres mares, germans, germanes, avis, àvies i la resta de familiars.

Estem una mica nerviosos i nervioses però, per fi, ha arribat el dia i obrim les portes de la nostra aula. Les famílies ens escolten atents mentre expliquem de manera ordenada i clara els passos que hem seguit per transformar el jardí.

Un cop al jardí, els convidem a teixir per cobrir les reixes de la pista, a fer bombes de llavors i, així, fer seu també el jardí.

Gràcies famílies per aquesta estona compartida i per ajudar a fer més gran i únic el jardí!

EXPERIMENTING WITH MAGNETISM

Laura Lorenzo11/06/25  

After learning about “grounding” we learned that around the Earth there is a magnetic field and we wondered about magnetism. What do we know about magnets?

After a brief brainstorming and some reading, we saw the connection between the poles in a magnet and the Earth poles, we remembered how magnets work (two different poles attract whereas two same poles repel) and we reflected on many magnets do we use in our real life. Magnets are not only to attach papers on the fridge!

It was time to put all this knowledge into practice and try to solve different questions:

-How can we know the poles on magnet without colours?

-Can we see the magnetic field?

-Can we make a pencil levitate?

We had everything we neeeded to answer the questions: magnets, school objects, compasses, iron fillings and our creativity!

We saw the magnetic field using a magnet and some iron fillings and we found the poles on a magnet using a compass. Making a pencil levitate seemed impossible though!

After watching a tutorial, we realised that we colud make a pencil levitate using magnet properties. Do you want to do it at home?

TALKING WITH OUR CHARACTER CARDS

Laura Lorenzo25/05/25  

As you know, this course we are learning a lot about how to write our own stories. We learned the characteristics of the plot and which were the most traditional characters. We even designed our own character in English!

We drew, named and described our characters on a Role Card. With all the cards finished it was time to use them! We used the cards to play and practise vocabulary that is very useful when we meet other people but that we rarely use because… we know each other very well! It was very fun to talk to the class mates and discover their funny names.

To continue exploiting our creativity, we created our own stories in English. Well, with the help of some dices and a template, luck decided the scene, time and characters for a future story for which we already drew a picture. . An easy way to practise reading skills and give ideas for writing.

READING ABOUT FLOWERS

Laura Lorenzo20/05/25  

We discovered that there are different trees in our garden with different names. Now, that there are flowers in our garden, we also discovered that they have different names… Also in English!

We discovered the name of different flowers in English by reading!

We had the photos lot of flowers on one page…

and the names and the descriptions on another page.

In pairs, we read the descriptions and wrote the correct names under the photos. It was a bit difficult at first, but soon we noticed that by recognising numbers and colours (words that we are VERY familiar with) it was very easy!

Doing achievable activities that like this, we develop strategies that make our reading (in both English and Catalan) better and we are motivated to read more!

Don’t be afraid and try to find the names in English too!

SNAKES AND LADDERS

Laura Lorenzo16/05/25  

Now we are practising a lot with the 100 board, we noticed that there is an English game that is very similar to it: “snakes and ladders”.

We started playing the game, but it was very confusing… the order of the numbers was very different!

Our number board started on the top with number 1 and ended with 100 at the bottom.

To solve this problem, we decided to do our version of the game. We wrote all the numbers IN ORDER on the grid and drew as many snakes and ladders as we wanted. Doing this activity was very interesting and offered a great opportunity to practise a lot of numbers in English.

The best part, though, was playing! We practised saying the numbers in English as well as expressions such as “MY TURN”, “ROLL THE DIE” or “I WIN”.

Make a board at home and play. The rules are very easy!

ADVENTURE RAID IN SERINYÀ

Laura Lorenzo15/05/25  

As part of the project “Maquinant!”, we spent three days in Serinyà, in the Refugis house doing different activities that helped us reflect on the dangers of social media. As you may know, all the activities were in English, the language of computing, engineering and science. 

At first, it was a bit strange to hear English from unknown teachers, but we quickly got the grasp of it and we used strategies to solve any communication problem. We were so confident that we even talked to them in English, although they understood us perfectly!

Once settled in the rooms, we walked around the beautiful surroundings (we were in the middle of the forest) to know our way around. Everything was at hand and there were plenty of spaces to run and hide for the forthcoming rain (that luckily did not affect the activities). 

Then it was the moment to meet Rocky, a TikToker that enjoys streaming sport activities, and we joined him in lots of fun sports that put all our abilities at stake. 

ARCHERY TAG Divided in two teams, we practiced our aiming using bows and arrows just like Robin Hood. It was very exciting!

BUBBLES We did a lot of fighting and races inside a gigantic inflatable bubble. It was quite difficult to keep the balance while walking, but it was very fun to do cartwheels in them!

GEOCACHING Using GPS we walked around looking for clues that helped us solve a riddle. It was not as easy as it seemed because sometimes understanding the machine was quite tricky.

We practised other different sports like baseball, handball and other games with balls and parachutes that helped us build up the confidence and trust within the group. 

The first night, some of us transformed into vampires that had to hunt the villagers. It was fun trying to hide in the dark and avoid the light of the torches. But the great highlight was the disco, where Rocky and all the people from Marta Mata showed great musical and dancing talents. 

All in all, three days that helped us realize the importance of physical activity in having a healthy life and growing confidence with the English Language. 

INTERNATIONAL BOOK DAY

Laura Lorenzo12/05/25  

The 23rd of April is a very important day in Catalonia because of St. George celebration. But, did you know that it is celebrated worldwide as the International Book Day?

It all started in 1995 when the UNESCO decided to dedicate a day a year to promote reading, a lifelong skill key in learning that also adds richness to our lives.

They chose this date to honour two of the most famous writers ever who died on a 23rd of April…

We realized that, by reading a short summary (or blurb), we were able to recognize the title of one of the most popular works by Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet.

To test our abilities in recognising books, we did, in groups, an activity that consisted in reading blurbs and match them to the correct book cover. It was very easy!

We realized that it was not necessary to understand all the words in the text and that we used a lot of different strategies to fulfill the task. Some looked at the cover and single words that matched them while other focused on some words (like rabbit or superhero) related to the stories we already knew.

After doing this activity, we were faced to a questionnaire and, in that case, it was necessary to understand ALL the text. Again, we shared strategies like guessing word meaning by context and their similarities to Catalan words.

INTERNATIONAL BOOK DAY

Laura Lorenzo05/05/25  

The 23rd of April is a very important day in Catalonia because of St. George celebration. But, did you know that it is celebrated worldwide as the International Book Day?

It all started in 1995 when the UNESCO decided to dedicate a day a year to promote reading, a lifelong skill key in learning that also adds richness to our lives.

They chose this date to honour two of the most famous writers ever who died on a 23rd of April…

Both names were familiar but we realized that we didn’t know much. We watched a video about William Shakespeare life and we were amazed! Did you know that he helped build a theatre and that he wrote more than 35 plays?

The video was very interesting and the images helped us understand it better. We were even able to summarize the text by putting sentences in order!

Another curiosity about Shakespeare is that he invented a lot of expressions that we still use today, even in Spanish. Play the game and match the expressions. How many can you get right?

BOOK DAY

Laura Lorenzo01/05/25  

The 23rd of April is a very important day in Catalonia because of St. George celebration. But, did you know that it is celebrated worldwide as the International Book Day?

It all started in 1995 when the UNESCO decided to dedicate a day a year to promote reading, a lifelong skill key in learning that also adds richness to our lives.

To celebrate this day, we read a story about a dragon and a knight... that needed to learn fighting! We had to work very hard to read because the images and the text were separated. The task was easy once we realised that we could use some reading strategies:

-It is not necessary to understand all the words, just the important ones!

-A lot of words are very similar to Catalan or Spanish

–Images give a lot of information

We then watched the video to correct. It was very fun!

COOKING PANCAKES

Laura Lorenzo06/04/25  

We discovered that we have a maple tree in the garden, which is the source of a delicious food… maple syrup! Have you tasted it?

We wanted to taste it but not by itself… It is very common to eat syrup together with pancakes so, it was time for us to learn how to cook pancakes.

What were the ingredients to cook pancakes? We watched a video to get the information and we were surprised to see that, in England, there is the pancake day!

After watching the video and playing a game to recognise the vocabulary, it was time to get the recipe. It is very easy!

Reading a recipe in English is not very difficult because we can use the images and the similarities between English and Catalan words to understand the text, so we soon knew how to cook the pancakes. We were ready!

The pancakes were delicious and we had fun cooking them. Are you going to try the recipe at home?