Pictures of the "new" family member:) the Blue Kangaroo:) 

I think they love the new additions:) 

"I love you Blue Kangaroo"

"They are mine" she said

"I love them to bits"

I wonder what they will look like in a month time...
if they look like this (slimy and chewed on...) now

"I put a blanket on him Mummy" 

Do you like reading? 

What is your favourite book? 

Ours is: 

I Love You ,Blue Kangaroo!

This is the title of a fabulous book written by Emma Chichestre Clark. I have been thinking for a long time what I shall give to my daughters for their 5th and 3th birthday this May when this fantastic book arrived from a friend. 

My younger one reads the story with such passion that I could nearly cry and my older daughter says it by heart by now. 

I think that they have deeply fallen in LOVE with the characters. Therefore I made two of the characters for their birthday and hid them in their beds for tonight. 

Here is Bekka's BLUE KANGAROO:) 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY my lovely daughters! 

GOD bless you and keep you in HIS grace and LOVE forever! 

We love you so much!!!

HELLO BOYS and girls:) 

Hm.... Is there anyone visiting my blog who does not know the following song?

"The wheels on the bus go round and round"

I guess everyone who has ever been on this blog knows this song. It is because he/she has kids or because he/she is a (nursery school) teacher or lived in England and heard this song in the "funkids radio". http://www.funkidslive.com/ . 

We often listen to this song and it is an everlasting favourite in our family and in our English groups. There were no days going past without me singing this song when I was teaching little ones. I loved this song and so did they. 

I got bored with it though and therefore I decided to sew this BUS so that I have some fun again with the song. (It is important to keep ourselves happy while teaching:) 

It is a functional little toy that you are able to teach with if you want to. 

What to teach: 

- the "Wheels on the bus" song

- the names of the shapes (3D) that occur on the bus

- you can hide the personal in the pockets:)
- actions 
- new vocabulary 
- practice fine motor skills by using the pockets 
- prctice speaking and understanding skills 

- and anything else you think would come useful for your kids/students

The front part of the bus

The end part of the bus

Have lots of fun acting out the verses OR 

changing the pictures in the pockets 

while singing the song!

You can put new vocabulary in the pockets

http://supersimplelearning.com/songs/original-series/two/the-wheels-on-the-bus-learn-it/

"Játsszunk angolul!"

English Festival 

in Veszprém 13/04/2013 

A bunch of committed language teachers organised an event called "Játsszunk angolul!" last Saturday. We invited parents who think that early language learning is fun and important. It was a great morning event. We were dead tired at the end but it was worth it. I was in the "playgroup" with a lovely bunch of kiddos and enjoyed playing and singing along with them. 

You can find more about the program here at this web site.  http://www.csoppangol.hu/  At Rita's website you can also find Hungarian information about her English groups. 

We played a bit with my new cubes and letters 

I sewed another day. 

Here they are: 

 We agreed that knowing English means: 

education, fun, love and joy. 

What would you add to these? 

Today's present for teachers

I made two more blocks today that can be used for different purposes. 

This one is the "fruit cube" for

-teaching the names of fruits 

- hiding little fruits flashcards in the pockets

- guessing what mummy hid inside

What does it look like? 

A nice bag belogs to the "fruit cube". You can put in the cube or any other fruits. The children can guess what you hide in the bag. A good game for practising speaking skills. 

Here is the apple bag

This is the "secret cube" 

Do you like it? 

The Globe cube is ready too:) 

Today we had a little geography lesson with the help of this big "globecube". My younger daughter was over the moon when I said it was ready and she could lay hands on it. Here is a picture of her. She was ill today so I managed to cheer her up a bit with this type of "educube":) 

my scuffy daughter with the globe cube in her hands:) 

And where does Mouse live Mummy? 

HERE! On the top of the Globe! 

 

It has a bag, too:) 

Actually, two bags:) a small and a bigger one. 

It can be used outdoor since it is washable:) 

This is my "educube" for a precious friend:) 

I made it with love, care and joy:) 

Feel free to visit her blog, too. You will find lots of superb ideas there.

http://lillaskids.blogspot.hu/2013/01/number-three-part-ii-harom-iiresz.html

I'd love to hear from you! 

New day new idea:) 

Today we read Eric Carl's wonderful story "Brown bear, brown bear what do you see?" with my younger daughter. She loves this story so much. She has learnt a lot of colours and animal names from this book. (Eric Carl is one of our favourite authors.) 

After reading the story about 5 times she wanted to read it again... When I said "No" a new idea popped into my mind. What if I sewed a cube for her? A block that we can use for different purposes such as teaching colours, shapes, numbers, letters anything that we want:) Then after reading a story we can put little flashcards in the pockets and play with them. Make rhymes or sing songs...whatever! 

And we made this cube together! 

First, we collected the flashcards that she could name
then I hid some new ones in the pockets that she could not name before.
However, after playing with the cube 2-3 times she excitedly shouted out loud the new names too:) 

Success! Fun! Learning! 

What else did we do?
With my older daughter we practiced the letters of the alphabet.

Tomorrow I would like to sew a felt cube:)
I'll attach a picture of that once it's ready:) 

SPRING IS HERE AT LAST!  

Today we welcomed spring with 

this quite book that helps to develop

imagination 

creativity 

fine motor skills

counting skills 

speaking 

Front page
-the tree can be taken off (Velcro)
- little green leaves can be put on (snap fastener)

We love apples so I sewed a little apple tree on
the second page
the apples can me removed and put into the basket

on the third page we have a garden with carrots
that can be dug out with the  spade

What do you think we have on the last page? 

Write it into a comment! 

Teaching PRESENT and PAST

This little nursery rhyme is perfect for "teaching" PRESENT  tenses:) 

"5 little monkeys sitting in a tree

Chasing Mr. Crocodile 

'You can't catch me!'

Along comes Mr. Crocodile as hungry as can be

and SNAP

Takes a monkey from the tree." 

(etc with 4,3,2,1)

However, you can use it in PAST tense , too:)  

"5 little monkeys sitting in a tree

Chasing Mr. Crocodile 

'You can't catch me!'

Along came Mr. Crocodile as hungry as can be

and SNAP

Took a monkey from the tree." 

(etc with 4,3,2,1)

self made glove puppet with wiggly eyes
that children love to shake:) 

How many fingers have you got? 

I asked the children one day and got the most amazing replies from 1 to 12:) 

I must admit that I like their imaginative way of thinking:) 

But then I decided to make a family and demonstrate that we have 5 fingers on the left and 5 fingers on the right hand. 

We used the following chant: 

"Where is daddy? Where is daddy? 

Here I am! Here I am! 

How are you today Sir? 

Very well I thank you have a nice day, run away! 

Where is mummy? ....

How"re you today mum? ....

Where is brother/Sister/baby..." 

Topic: Our family:) 

Some new pictures of my "teaching materials" 

Hopscotch Mat for my girls:) They love this so much! 

English Alphabet (Magnetic) 

Masks for roll play  (Thes are the "Mummy I want you to make us some more masks!")

A new play mat for teaching 

5 Little speckled frogs 

Today I would like to share another nursery rhyme with you that I use for teaching

- counting 1-5

- differentiating colours and sizes

- action verbs etc. 

It goes: 

"Five little speckled frogs
Sat on a speckled log
Eating some most delicious grubs - yum, yum
One jumped into the pool
Where it was nice and cool
Now there are four green speckled frogs - glub, glub."

How do I teach this song? 

I made a playmat for demonstrating the song. The kids can ceratinly use this play mat for other purposes, too. They can fish, take out mole from his mole hole, take out the spiders from the butterfly who has a zip to close his wings. While they play they can name the colours of the animals or the habitats they live in.  They can jump with frogs to the pond. There are some toy frogs hidden in the log, too.  The mat can also be hung up on the wall as decoration. 

size: 1x1 metre 

The butterfly where the spiders can be hidden away 

Mole and his friends 

More teaching ideas: 

Kids love masks. They can be used for roll play or any other miming activities.  These 5 froggy masks are presents for my friend.  

She is also a very commeted and anthusiastic teacher from whom I have learnt a lot. Check out her homepage here. 

                                                   http://www.ketnyelvugyerek.hu/ 

I will share more teaching ideas later on. 

Many thanks for having a look at my blog! I hope you will return :)