Students begin to learn English with 3 years old, therefore my students have already been in contact with that language for two years. In my class there are 2 cases of immigrant students from Pakistan and a student with an autism opinion, for which there is a reception protocol and a personalized attention protocol, all of which are included in the general programming of the center and in the care program to educational improvement.Our resources, both material and human, are limited, and the support from the families is practically null, so we will have to adapt the teaching unit to our possibilities and to the characteristics of the students.Our center is located in a neighbourhood of Valencia whose socio-cultural level is low. The population of this neighbourhood is made up of immigrants and gypsy ethnicity citizens, which is why we are a CAES center (unique educational action center).My group consist of 15 students of 5 and 6 years old. We belong to a complete center of two lines for level. We are the third level of the second cycle of Early Childhood education.
Third level of the second cycle of Early Childhood education (5 or 6 years old).
The duration of the teaching unit will be 2 weeks, that is, each lesson will last 2 sessions and the unit consists of 3 lessons (6 sessions).
The main objective of this unit is that my students learn that with perseverance, creativity, patience and effort they can achieve whatever they set out, however far or difficult it may be. I also want them to discover their skills and abilities to communicate in English, because we always know more than we think. And to get it they will have to work as a team and cooperate.
- Teaching objectives:
- Content:
- Facts and concepts:
- Parts of the day: Night, day, morning, evening, afternoon…
- Universe: Planets, starts, sky, constellations…
- Procedures:
- Identification of the planets that make up the solar system.
- Differentiation of planets and stars.
- Constellation discovery.
- Attitudes, values and norms:
- A positive attitude towards experimentation and discovery of new things.
- To have self-initiative in the activities.
- Teamwork, collaborating and cooperating with each other.
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- Cognition:
- Cognitive skills:
- To name planets, stars and constellations.
- To place each planet in its corresponding solar system orbit.
- Information processes skills:
- To plan how to capture a star.
- To compare a star and a starfish.
- Learning strategies:
- To memorize the names and positions of the planets of the solar system.
- To find information in library books and on the internet.
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- Culture:
- Interest in the universe.
- Interest in learning English.
- To learn the importance of believing in oneself.
- How to act in a teamwork.
- To understand the importance of perseverance and effort to achieve our goals.
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- Communication:
- Language of learning:
- Universe: Planet, star, sun moon, asteroid, belt…
- The name of the planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
- The name of the some constellations and stars: Great Bear, Little Bear, Pegasus, North Star…
- Past tense: loved, was, watched, wished, had, dreamed, decided, thought, sat, waited, ate, saw, tried, climbed, flew…
- Language for learning:
- Texts:
- Structures:
- I would like / I wouldn’t like.
- I would want / I wouldn’t want.
- It’s possible / It’s not possible.
- It’s my favourite.
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- Language through learning:
- Vocabulary necessary to participate in class and work as a team:
- Good morning / Hello / Bye.
- Please / Thank you / You are welcome.
- It’s my turn.
- Now me / now you.
This didactic unit will have a technological, emotional, pragmatic, inclusive, affective, egalitarian approach that promotes resilience. This teaching unit is based on the book “How to catch a star” by Oliver Jeffers, from which I have programmed a series of varied and fun activities to help my students acquire concepts about the universe and communication skills in English.The students will be divided into 5 small groups, and each of them will occupy a working corner, where together they will have to be able to carry out the proposed activity, either seeking information, dialoguing or reaching agreements.To achieve the objectives we will work for educational environments and teaching units.
- Learning outcomes:
- To acquire linguistic competence in English to be able to communicate and learn.
- To learn to look for information using technological devices.
- To work in a team respecting the abilities of others.
- Learn to learn.
- To discover everything we are capable of doing for ourselves.
- To be consistent and always finish our class work.
- Sequence of teaching/Learning activities:
As I explained in the methodology section, my teaching unit is based on the book “How to catch a star” by Oliver Jeffers. All activities aim to encourage oral communication between students and cooperative work.Children should be aware that from the moment the activity begins they can only use English to communicate, my job is to make this situation like a game.
- LESSON 1 “How to catch a star”
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- First day: We are going to carry out three activities, the first one is motivational and the next two will serve to know the previous knowledge of my children.
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- Pooling: Together we remember the story and try to say everything we have understood, always communicating in English. We make a list on the board of all the verbs we have learned in the story and we realize that everyone is in the past.
- Game: “Let your imagination fly”. Each child has to tell on his own words as he would try to catch a star from the sky.
- Storytelling: We all sat on the class carpet in a circle, in silence and very attentive because I am going to tell you the story “How to catch a star”.There are three lessons distributed in six sessions of approximately one hour.
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- Second day: Taking into account what was done in the previous session, we will do three activities related to the story´s argument.
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- Short film: “How to catch a star”, based on the book we are working on.
- Song: Twinkle, twinkle little star.
- Game: “Fishing for stars”. The children are divided into five teams to play. In each corner there is a large container with water, stones and a lot of stars. Each child will have a long pincer to try to catch the maximum number of stars. The stars will be counted in teams, the one with the most stars at the end of the game will get a reward.
In this lesson we will focus on learning things about the universe: planets, stars, the solar system… To do this we will go on a complementary activity in the planetarium of the Hemispheric of Valencia and have reinforcement activities.
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- First day: “Visit to the planetarium”: After arranging the visit with the planetarium, approving in the cloister, letting families know and hiring the bus, we are ready to carry out the complementary activity. Before leaving, we sit on the carpet and comment that we believe we are going to see where we are going and the rules of behaviour. When we return to class, we return to the carpet to tell the things that we have learned and we liked the most.
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- Second day: “Solar System”: We divide again into five teams, and each one in his corner has to look for information, both in books and on a tablet, about the Solar System. When we have enough, we make a poster-sized drawing of the Solar System among all team members. You can use varied techniques, colours, tempera, watercolours, collage… All materials will be available at the right place, to give freedom of expression and encourage creativity. The names of the planets and anything they want to write must be in English, for this they can use the dictionary and the tablet.
- LESSON 3 “The moon and the stars”
This last lesson will be the most playful of all, since with it we finish the teaching unit, and if the children do not have fun, they do not learn. In addition, this lesson help us evaluate the students, the teaching unit and my work.
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- First day: “Moon sand”: The children are divided into five teams and each occupy their work corner, where they await the necessary materials to perform the activity. Today we are going to make moon sand, for this we are going to need body oil and fine cornmeal. We will mix both ingredients in a bowl and we can play to create figures with our imagination as if we were on the moon. At the end of each child you can take a little piece of moon home.
- Second day: “We play with the constellations”: Each team is located in a corner, in which they will carry out a different activity, when they finish it, they will change corners so that they can carry out all the activities that arise in the different corners. Every corner are related to constellations and starts. The materials needed for each activity are already arranged in each corner. To carry out this lesson, we will need the collaboration of five parents of our students. Each parent will be placed in one of the corners and will guide children.Corners:
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- “Sew constellations”: The activity consist of sewing the constellations with a thread and a needle. Each child chooses a constellation and to sew.
- “Salt star”: Let´s make a star with salt paste. For this we will need flour, water, salt, a bowl and a mold. We mix the ingredients in the bowl until a homogeneous mass is obtained and using the mold we make our star. We let dry and it´s ready.
- “Galactic clay”: Using a cup of wheat flour, a cup of water, half a cup of salt, two tablespoons of oil, two tablespoons of cream of tartar, vegetable dyes and containers, we are going to make galactic clay.
- “Giant poster”: We are going to paint a giant poster with brushes and acrylic paints, and then we will expose them in class.
- “Catch the stars”: For this activity we will need some mason jars, acrylic paint that shines in the dark and a fine brush. First we will paint dots on the wall of the jar with acrylic paint, let it dry, and then fill it with water and when the lights go out, the magic happens.
In Early Childhood education, evaluation must be continuous, global and process that addresses all areas of child development. Systematic observation is the best tool at this stage along with a portfolio that helps us gather all the information necessary for a reliable assessment. The second part will be carried out throughout the teaching-learning process of the teaching unit. It will be an evaluation by observation and collection of relevant data in a portfolio. The third and final part of the assessment, I will do it using a template for analytical rubrics, in which all the evaluation criteria of my teaching unit appear. In this way I will know if my students have passed all the parts and have achieved the main objective.Video recordings and photographs will also be made that give veracity to the data collected. For this assessment I will use the app “Additio”, to make the portfolio of each student and the app “Show me”, to record part of the activities. The students´ score will be analytical, taking into account all the evaluation criteria separately, both linguistic and conceptual and procedular.This process is going to be done in three parts. The first is the diagnostic evaluation or previous knowledge of the students. This will take place during the first session of the teaching unit through a game in which children must solve a problem based on the situation proposed by the story we are working on. From this story I will ask them some questions that they should develop using the knowledge they already have, all of which, of course, speaking in English.
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- General material:
- Book: “How to catch a star”.
- Short film: “How to catch a star”.
- Song: “Twinkle, twinkle little star”.
- Specific material for each activity:
- Game “Fishing for stars”:
- Large bowl.
- Water.
- Small stones.
- Plastic stars
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- Solar system poster:
- 5 black cards dinA3 size.
- Temperas and brushes.
- Various containers.
- Colours, markers, pencils…
- Coloured sheets.
- Scissors and glue sticks.
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- Moon sand:
- Body oil.
- Fine cornmeal.
- 5 bowls.
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- Sew constellations:
- 6 different constellations draw and pierced in paperboard cards.
- 6 long pieces of thick thread.
- 6 hard plastic needles.
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- Salt star:
- Flour.
- Water.
- Salt.
- 5 bowls.
- 5 molds.
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- Galactic clay:
- 5 cups of wheat flour.
- 5 cup of water.
- 5 half cups of salt.
- 10 tablespoons of oil.
- 10 tablespoons of cream of tartar.
- Vegetable dyes.
- 5 containers.
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- Giant poster:
- One giant poster.
- 3 brushes.
- Acrylic paint of many colours.
- A glass of water.
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- Catch the stars:
- 15 mason jars.
- Acrylic paint that shines in the dark.
- 3 fine brushes.
- Water.
- Appendix:
- Template rubrics: It´s found in attachments.
- Sources:
