Monthly Topic Presentation

International Kindergarten Horizons

Zelengaj 6
10 000 Zagreb
www.kindergarten.hr

SCHOOL YEAR: 2016/2017

THEME OF THE MONTH: Songs and poems
GROUP: Smart Pandas
TEACHER: Ana Lei
 Songs and poems
AIM: PARTNERS ON
THE PROJECT:
To become familiar with poetry, its characteristics,
differences in comparisson to prose; to expose students to -Teachers
poems and instill a sense of appreciation of poetry
-Students
- Parents
OBJECTIVES:
Autumn:
-To learn that poetry is a different type of text in comparisson to prose
-To identify the key elements in poetry: rhythm and rhyme
- To comprehend how poems combined with a melody make a song
- To instill a sense of wonder and joy from reading poetry/having poetry read out loud
- To develop and improve students abilities in reading, writing, and basic math
 Activities within the theme
Title of the activity: What we did:
H is for House - Read the poem Here is the house
(by Kenn Nesbitt)
- discussed what would a funny house
Materials used: from our imagination look like
- Paper - explored the sound and letter H
- Collage paper - used coloured paper to draw and cut
- Markers out the shape of the letter H, used it
as a base for a house, added roof,
- Scissors windows from collage paper, and
used markers to add more details
- Glue
 Activities within the theme
Title of the activity: What we did:
World animals day - discussed animals and their habitats
- discussed the importance of animals
Materials used: for sustaining life on Earth

-Black paper - discussed endangered species and

polluted habitats
-White paper
- used white paper to draw and cut out
-Scissors pandas heads, black paper fot the
eyes and ears, and markers for the
-Glue snout and further details
- Markers
 Activities within the theme
Title of the activity: What we did:
World teacher day -Discussed who teachers are and what
teachers do

Materials used: -Discussed why teachers are important

-Poster paper -Read a book about different schools and

teachers around the world
-Scissors
-Brainstormed a number of qualities teachers
-Glue should have and activities that they do
-Drawing of a teacher -Used pencils and markers to write down
those words, then cut them out
-Pencils
-Used the words we came up with and a
-Markers drawing of a teacher to make a poster
 Activities within the theme
Title of the activity: What we did:
World post day -Talked about post: what it is, how it works,
why do we need it
-Explored letters, postcards, greeting cards
Materials used: and stamps brought by teacher
-White paper -Discussed what a letter chould contain of
-Coloured paper (address, stamp)

-Scissors, glue -Used white paper and pencils to make a

postcard
-Pencils
-Used coloured paper to fold an origami
envelope
 Activities within the theme
Title of the activity: What we did:
M is for mountain -Explored the sound and letter M
-Cut out the shape of the letter M from
Materials used: white paper

-Blue paper -Coloured the M with coloured pencils

and pastels in green and brown
-White paper
-Cut out bits of white paper and glued
-Scissors them on top as snow
-Glue -Glued the M shaped mountains on a
blue piece of paper
-Coloured pencils
-Pastels
 Activities within the theme
Title of the activity: What we did:

Mythical creatures -Read poems Fabulous features of

mythical creatures (by Paul Perro)
-Talked about different mythical
Materials used: creatures and described them
-Poster paper -Used worksheets to colour them in, then
cut them out
-Colouring worksheets
-Used pencils and markers to write their
-Coloured pencils
names
-Scissors, glue
-Made a poster
-Markers
 Activities within the theme
Title of the activity: What we did:
Mythical creatures - dragon -Painted the paper rolls in green and
red tempera colours and left them to
dry
Materials used:
-Used markers to colour the dragons
-Paper rolls body parts using a template
worksheet
-Scissors
-Cut the parts out and glued them to
-Glue the rolls
-Tempera colours
-Brushes
-Markers
-Dragon parts template
 Activities within the theme
Title of the activity: What we did:
Silly sayings -Discussed some sayings in both English
and Croatian and what they mean
-Brainstormed through different words:
Materials used: adjectives, nouns, and verbs
-White paper -Wrote down the words that we came up
-Coloured paper with in different colours

-Scissors -Mixed the words up to make up silly

sayings
-Glue
-Glued our saying to pieces of coloured
-Pencils paper
-Markers
 Activities within the theme
Title of the activity:
Dictionary day

Materials used:
-Childrens dictionaries

What we did:
-Talked about what dictionaries
are and why do we use them
-Talked about different types of
dictionaries
-Explored various childrens
dictionaries
 Activities within the theme
Title of the activity: What we did:
G is for grapes -Explored the soung and letter G
-Drew and cut out a lowercase g from
Materials used: white paper

-Collage paper -Cut out circles from purple and blue

collage paper
-Scissors
-Cut out a stem and leaf from green
-Glue collage paper
-Glued the parts on a beige piece of
paper to form grapes
 Activities within the theme
Title of the activity: What we did:
Rhymes -Talked about rhyming words and named
some examples

Materials used: -Looked at drawings of various rhyming

words
-Worksheet drawings of
rhyming words -Tried to find pairs (e.g. cat-hat)
-Finished the rhyming memory game
 Activities within the theme
Title of the activity: What we did:
Rhyming chart -Finished the rhyming memory game
-Found pairs and coloured them with
Materials used: coloured pencils

-Rhyming memory game -Wrote down the words

-Coloured pencils -Glued then on a piece of poster paper

-Glue -Connected the pairs once more with a

pencil
-Poster paper
 Activities within the theme
Title of the activity: What we did:
Erase a rhyme -Teacher drew some pictures on the
board

Materials used: -Teacher recited some words that rhymed

with the ones drawn
-White board
-Students took turns and erased the
-Markers rhyming drawing (e.g. teacher says
tower, student erases the picture of a
-Eraser flower)
 Activities within the theme
Title of the activity: What we did:
Rhyming box -Teacher put some random objects from
the classroom into a box

Materials used: -Teacher says a made up word

-Box -Students race to take out an object that

rhymes with said word
-Items from the classroom
-E.g. teacher says fizzors students
need to take scissors out of the box
 Activities within the theme
Title of the activity: What we did:
O is for octopus -Explored the sound and letter O
-Cut out an O from white paper
Materials used: -Decorated it with markers
-White paper -Cut out eyes from white paper
-Scissors -Cut out strips from coloured paper and
-Glue folded them like fans

-Coloured paper -Added the strips to the O to make an

octopus
-Markers
 Activities within the theme
Title of the activity: What we did:
World energy day - light -Looked at a candle light lit by teacher
-Cut out a candle from white paper and
Materials used: glued it onto a black piece of paper

-Candles (teacher) -Used sponges dipped in yellow, orange and

red tempera
-Black paper
-Dabbed with the sponges around the
-Tempera colours candle to paint the shape of candlelight
-Sponges
-White paper
-Scissors
-Glue
 Activities within the theme
Title of the activity: What we did:
World energy day light -Stacked some wooden blocks on a white
Shadows piece of paper
-Lit the paper with light from a flashlight
(held by teacher)
Materials used:
-Watched the shadows form as we build with
-White paper blocks
-Flashlight -Outined the shadows with pencils
-Pencils -Filled in the shapes and coloured with
crayons and markers
-Coloured pencils, markers
-Wooden blocks
 Activities within the theme
Title of the activity: What we did:
World pasta day -Coloured a worksheet with different shapes
of pasta

Materials used: -Cut out our favourite pasta shapes

-Brown paper -Cut out a bowl from brown paper

-Pasta worksheets -Glued the pasta into the bowls

-Coloured pencils
-Scissors
-Glue
 Activities within the theme
Title of the activity: What we did:
World pasta day -Explored the shape and feel of uncooked
- Spaghetti hedgehog spaghetti
-Broke spaghetti into smaller pieces

Materials used: -Used clay to shape the body of a hedgehog

-Saghetti -Used a toothpick (teacher) to make holes in

the body
-Clay
-Put spaghetti pieces into the holes
-Toothpick
-Added goggly eyes on the face
-Goggly eyes
-Painted the hedgehogs with tempera colours
-Tempera colours
 Activities within the theme
Title of the activity: What we did:
World day of audiovisual -Discussed television, different types of
heritage making a TV television shows
-Listed our favorite tv shows and drew scenes
Materials used: from them

-Cardboard box frame -Used duct tape to attach a piece of nylon to

a cardboard box
-Nylon
-Painted the box black
-Duct tape
-Used our drawings to present our TV shows
-Tempera colours
-Played tv presenters and acted out different
-Papers scenes
-Coloured pencils
 Activities within the theme
Title of the activity: What we did:
Animation day -Talked about animation
-Talked about sequencing as a way to depict
Materials used: movement

-White paper -Layed our hands on a white piece of paper

and drew an outline with a pencil
-Pencils
-Sequenced more outlines to try to convey
and imitate movement
Evaluation:

Children actively took part in discussing poems and poetry. Everyday teacher
read a poem, mainly from Shel Silversteins books Where the sidewalk ends
and Falling up. Children enjoyed discussing individual poems and also liked
looking through the books and commenting on the illustrations.
When exploring rhymes, some children had troubles in focusing on words
endings to find rhymes, but were overall successful in finding pairs when
playing games (moreso with made up words than with given options).
Most children actively discussed the topics at hand, and took part in all artistic
activities. Some children had a bit of trouble when cutting smaller, more
detailed pieces of paper and folding paper into fans. All children were
successful in using materials such as clay to shape 3D objects.
The majority of children had no problems with their writing an colouring tasks,
but some had difficulties in focusing on the task at hand.