How to do projects in the primary classroom

What are projects?

A project is a unit of work with a beginning, a middle,
and an end. By doing a series of varied activities, all
linked together to culminate in a concrete end product,
children can gain a real sense of accomplishment.
On successfully completing a project, children have
something they can feel proud of; something to show
their parents and others in their school as evidence of
their achievements. Projects are usually collaborative
although sometimes children can work on individual
projects, sharing resources and pooling ideas, etc., but
with each child having an end product of their own. The
best projects draw on childrens knowledge of language
(including skills such as reading, writing, listening, and
speaking), other curriculum areas, and motor skills such
as drawing, colouring, cutting, and gluing. See below for
examples of concrete project outcomes.

on the task at hand. It is important for teachers to

think about the language they want children to
practise while they are doing their project, and make
sure they have language models or support where
necessary. Key vocabulary and grammar should be
pre-taught or revised as appropriate. For example,
if children have learned a song that practises the
language, they can sing it before getting started.

There should always be a specific, concrete outcome

when children do a project. It is also very important
to complete a project once it is started, so that
children have something to show for their efforts.
The end product should be as visually pleasing or
special as possible, so that children feel their efforts
are valued, and take pride in both their part in the
project and the project as a whole. Here are some
examples of end products:
a visual display or class poster
a magazine
a leaflet or booklet (e.g. a guide to their town)
an event (e.g. a concert, play, or art exhibition)
a presentation or report based on a survey
a video recording
an audio recording
a photo story
a physical model (e.g. of an island).

Why do project work?

Projects are a great way to get children learning while
they are doing something that they enjoy. Learning
through projects is an ideal way of motivating children
because they are given an opportunity to do what they
naturally like doing, and to avoid what they dont like
doing. Children enjoy using their imagination and being
creative making things, drawing, cutting, and pasting,
using different materials and multimedia, finding out
about things, sharing ideas, working together, and
trying out new things. Projects are ideal for mixedability classes because children are given different tasks
according to their particular strengths and weaknesses.
Project work addresses the needs of the whole child and
helps to develop a number of different skills:
creative skills (e.g. designing a poster)
physical skills (e.g. cutting out shapes and patterns)
ICT skills (e.g. finding information on the Internet)
social skills (e.g. working in groups, sharing tasks)
learner autonomy skills (e.g. working individually on a
project step).
Project work also gives children an opportunity to
bring their knowledge of the world into the classroom.
Many projects are often cross-curricular (linked to other
subjects that children are learning at school).

Make sure there is a concrete end product

The project should be the childrens own work

Although the project is mainly planned and set up
by the teacher, the childrens ideas and interests
should be taken into consideration at all stages
so that the project is genuinely the work of the
children themselves. If the end product is a poster or
a similar display there is often a temptation to help
with the finishing touches, tidying things up, and
trying to make things more visually pleasing. But it
is important to let go of this kind of control so that
the end product really is the childrens work. Even if it
isnt perfect, it will be appreciated and praised.

Five factors to bear in mind when you

are doing project work
1 Plan and pre-teach key language
Project work gives children an opportunity to
integrate the language they are learning into a
creative activity. The children use the target language
almost without thinking because they are focusing

Professional Development How to do projects in the primary classroom

Encourage and value every childs contribution

Projects cater for mixed-ability classes where children
have a range of abilities, interests, and needs. While
doing class project work, opportunities arise for
different children to contribute in different ways.
Childrens individual contributions should be valued
equally, whether they are doing simple colouring
and sticking, or more challenging cognitive tasks.
One of the main reasons for doing project work
is that it is collaborative; without the contribution
of each individual, there would not be such a rich
final product. Projects tend to develop a special
importance for children, so try to avoid at all costs
abandoning a project you have started.
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How to do projects in the primary classroom

5

Take time to set up specific roles for children

The more the children take on responsibility for
organizing themselves, the more successful the
project will be. Children need to know exactly what
their role is in project work and everyone should
have something to do so that they dont go off-task.
Most children enjoy having the responsibility of a
specific task, and younger children even like making
role badges to wear while they do their work.
It is important to set up roles before starting. For
older children, this can be done simply by writing a
list of the roles on a piece of paper and making sure
each pupil writes their name next to a specific role.
Younger children will need more guidance, and in
some cases, it will be better for you to decide how
to allocate roles according to childrens strengths,
abilities, and preferences. For some projects children
might take on more than one role, and sometimes
roles are shared by several children in a group. Some
examples of typical project roles are:
planners
drawers
colourers
directors
researchers
camera crew
stickers
cutters.

Classroom management
Project work can be challenging for the teacher, as
children are often excited at a change from the usual
classroom activities. It is important to be organized and
to plan carefully, especially in projects where children are
working on different things in different groups. Here are
some tips:
Allocate a specific time for project work (e.g. the last
15 minutes of each lesson, one lesson per week, etc.).
Make sure children have everything they need to do
the project before you start.
Make sure everyone knows what they need to be
doing at each stage of the project. Check by asking,
e.g. Anna, what are you going to do? What do you need?.
Allow for tidying-up time at the end of lessons in
which project work takes place.
Expect an increase in classroom noise! Children need
to talk and plan their work and at times they will get
excited.

In monolingual classrooms dont worry if children

speak together in L1 (their first language) during
the planning stage; to a certain extent this is
unavoidable, and may often be a sign that children
are motivated by the project. See the section below
for more on this.
Some teachers like to keep a record of project work they
do with the children, keeping a note in a diary or journal
of what worked well and what went wrong. This helps
them to improve on the management of the project the
next time they do a similar project with aclass.

A brief note about use of L1

When doing projects, teachers generally find that
they have to be more flexible with L1 use, especially
in a monolingual environment. This shouldnt be a
problem. It is only natural that children will get excited
and want to communicate in their first language, and
teachers neednt worry too much about this as long as
the children are using the target language in English
at key points in the process. This should be made clear
to children through simple instructions such as Speak
English for this part, please. It is also a good idea to write
the target language that you want children to use on
the board, or on large pieces of paper around the class.
These serve as models for children to refer to, and you
can give them a gentle reminder by pointing to the
appropriate language at any stage in the process. If
children make these language posters themselves, they
will be more likely to remember to use them. Dont
forget to smile with encouragement and to praise
children when they do use English.

Using digital tools in projects

These days, most young children are digital natives
and might expect to see technology being used in
the classroom. Project work is an ideal opportunity for
exploiting technology in a meaningful way. Here are a
few suggestions:
Use the Internet to find information.
Use mobile devices such as phones or tablets to take
photos, make audio recordings, or short video clips.
Use websites to make puzzles or word clouds.
Share a project on a school blog.
Use a shared document site such as Google docs (for
older children).
Use a website to make a comic.

Professional Development How to do projects in the primary classroom

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How to do projects in the primary classroom

Six project ideas
1 Class calendar
Aim To work together in small groups to make a class
calendar
Age range All children
Materials 12 large sheets of card, paper, coloured
pens, scissors, glue
Language Months of the year, days of the week,
When is ? Its on, ordinal numbers
Prepare
1 Revise the key language with the children using
flashcards, drawings, eliciting, or drilling.
2 Explain that they are going to work in groups
to make a calendar. Show the children some
examples of different calendars on the Internet
and ask them to think about the information they
need to include, and the space they need for
each element. Show a range of calendars: some
decorative, some plainer.
Plan
3 Organize the children into groups and divide the
12 months out between them. Explain that each
month should have the correct number of days
and each day should have enough space to be
able to write in key information. They should leave
a border for decorating and a space at the top to
write the month.
4 Write a list of roles and tasks on the board and tell
the children to share out the tasks, e.g. designers,
writers, artists, etc.
Do
5 Give the children a specific time to make their
calendar pages. They should refer to an online
calendar or diary to check dates and days.
6 When all of the calendar pages are made, work
together as a whole group to elicit and write in
special days. Include birthdays, public holidays,
school trips, etc.
Show
7 Display the calendar on the classroom wall.
Tip Extra information can be added to the calendar
throughout the year.

Lets eat a healthy diet!

Aim To work together in small groups to make a food
pyramid poster for the class
Age range All children
Materials A very large piece of paper or card (you
can use flipchart paper), coloured pens, scissors,
glue, anything that has suitable pictures of food,
such as magazines or promotional material from
supermarkets

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Language Food vocabulary and food classification

(bread, cereals and potatoes, fruit and vegetables, dairy
products, meat, fish and eggs, fat and sugar); should/
shouldnt; countables and uncountables with some/
any; a lot, a little, a few
Prepare
1 Brainstorm food vocabulary with the whole class.
Ask the children to come up to the board in turn
to write food words until the board is covered
with vocabulary. Make sure there are examples of
food from each of the five types (see language
above).
2 Ask the children to think of ways to classify the
food on the board into different groups. Use
coloured pens (or highlighters on an IWB) to
group foods. Then ask the children if they can
suggest any other food that belongs to each
group, e.g. Can you name any other dairy food?
Make sure the children know what kind of food
belongs to each of the five food groups.
3 Explain that it is important to have a healthy,
balanced diet, and to eat food from each of the
groups. Explain that we should eat more food
from some groups and less from other groups.
Show the children the next part by demonstrating
it: draw a big pyramid shape on the board or
IWB, and divide it horizontally into five sections.
Explain that this is a food pyramid and each
section represents the amount of food you should
eat from each food group. Point to the bottom
section and elicit the food group that belongs
there (bread, cereals and potatoes). Do the same
with the other sections, labelling the food pyramid
each time: fruit and vegetables; dairy products,
meat, fish and eggs; fat; sugary food.
4 Explain that they are going to work in groups
to make a big food pyramid poster for the
classroomwall.
Plan
5 Nominate one or two children to prepare the
food pyramid poster. Explain that their task is to
draw the pyramid on the very large piece of paper
or card, and divide it neatly into sections. They
should write a heading and label each section
with the name of the food group. Organize the
rest of the class into five groups. Give each group
one of the food categories. Explain that their task
is to find pictures of their category of food. They
have to cut out the pictures carefully, trying to find
as much variety as possible. Explain that if they
find pictures for food belonging to other food
groups, they should be encouraged to give them
to their friends.

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5 Groups work to prepare the filming:
Each small group in Group A writes the questions
they want to ask their member of staff. They
can use any from the board and add others.
They should also decide who is going to ask the
questions, or whether they are going to take turns.
Group B writes about each place in the school that
will be in the video, saying what it is called, giving
a brief description, and saying what it is used for,
e.g: This is the school canteen. Its a big space with
lots of tables and chairs. We eat lunch here. They
also decide who is going to talk about each place
on the actual video, or whether they are going to
take turns.
The director decides on the order of filming of
each part of the video.
The filmer practises using the filming device,
recording, pausing, zooming, etc.
6 Have the director and the filmer work together
with each of the groups in A and B, to film
interviews and descriptions of places around the
school. Help them where necessary.
Show
7 Show the final video to the whole class.
Variation Include interviews with children from
different school years.
Note Step 6 will need careful planning to make sure
staff are available to have interviews at agreed times.
Make sure the places where you plan to film will
not be noisy at those times. If you will be with the
children who are filming, plan also to have a helper
who can monitor the children who are left in the
classroom.
Tip Invite the children and staff and/or parents to
watch the video in a special screening. The children
can make posters for this.

Do
6 The children complete their tasks, working
together to prepare the food pyramid. When
they have plenty of pictures and the pyramid is
ready to fill, each group takes turns to stick their
pictures into the right section of the pyramid.
Older children can label the food in each group,
checking their spelling with a dictionary.
Show
7 Display the food pyramid on the classroom wall.
Tip For a follow-up task, ask the children to work
in pairs to write a menu for a days meals, making
sure they include food from each group in a
balancedway.

Our school
Aim To work together to make a video presentation
of their school
Age range Older children
Materials A recording device (mobile phone, digital
camera, tablet, etc.), notebook and pens
Language School departments, people who work in
a school, Wh- questions (Whats your name? Where do
you work? etc.)
Prepare
1 Before starting the project, check with members
of staff to see who is prepared to be interviewed
by the children about their job.
2 Write the word school on the board and elicit
a list of all the places in the school. Help with
vocabulary where necessary. Write the places on
the board. Ask Who works in a school? Elicit a list of
jobs and write them on the board.
3 Explain that they are going to make a video about
their school. They are going to show different
places and include interviews with some of the
staff.
Plan
4 Work with the whole class to compile a list of
questions to ask members of staff. Write the
questions on the board so the children have
a model. Then organize the children into the
following groups:
Group A: this is the majority of the class and
consists of several small groups, one for each
member of staff to be interviewed.
Group B: a small group whose job is to write the
script about places in the school.
There also needs to be one director and one
filmer. During the preparation stages these two
children can also work with one of the A groups.

Professional Development How to do projects in the primary classroom

Spring mobile
Aim To work together to make a spring mobile
Age range Younger children
Materials A coat hanger, coloured string, circles of
coloured card (one per child and a few extra), paper,
crayons, scissors, glue
Language Words associated with spring (e.g.
butterfly, caterpillar, umbrella, flower, birds nest, chick,
egg, rabbit, bee, sun, rainbow, tree, lamb, mushroom,
snail), adjectives of feeling (e.g. happy, fine, great,
good, excited, etc.)
Prepare
1 On the board write _____, summer, autumn,
winter. Ask the children Whats missing? Elicit
spring and add it in. Tell the children that in this
lesson they are going to make something to
celebrate spring.

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2 Show learners some images of spring. An Internet
search with spring cartoon scenes will provide
some appropriate pictures. Elicit words for the
things in the pictures and write them on the
board. If necessary, point and say the words and
get the children to repeat them.
Plan
3 Write this model of a poem on the board:
Spring!
_______ and _______
_______ and _______
Spring makes me feel _______!
Have the children choose some of the spring
words to write in the first four gaps and then an
adjective for the last gap. Explain that this is a
spring poem. Tell the children that they are going
to write their own spring poems, using the same
model.
Do
4 The children work alone to write a spring poem,
using the model on the board but changing some
or all of the gapped words. They write the poem in
their notebooks.
5 Give each child a circle of card. Point to each
spring word on the board and ask Who wants to
draw (a butterfly)? Encourage the children to draw
different things so that all of the spring things are
included. The children either draw their picture
directly onto the card or they draw it on a piece of
paper and stick it onto the card. Then they colour
the picture with crayons and write their poem
neatly on the back of the card.
6 Punch a hole at the top of each circle and tie
coloured string of different lengths to each one.
Then tie all of the pieces of string along the length
of the hanger.
Show
7 Hang the spring mobile from the ceiling, near a
window.
Variation Mobiles like this will of course work for
any season, or for other topics, e.g. favourite colours,
sports, hobbies, the beach. If time allows you
could also make a more advanced mobile with the
children, based on a different design. The best way
to find inspiration for this is to sign up to a site like
Pinterest, and search for ideas for making hanging
mobiles.

We love music!
Aim To work together to make percussion
instruments and perform a concert
Age range Younger children
Materials Metal boxes, plastic bottles, tubs and
containers (enough for at least one container per

Professional Development How to do projects in the primary classroom

child), bags of pasta, beans, lentils, chick peas or

other dried pulses, fine grains (such as sand, sugar or
salt), sticky tape
Language Containers (e.g. box, tin, bottle, tub), sticky
tape, adjectives (loud, quiet, fast, slow), verbs (bang,
shake, tap, hit, rattle, move), Do you like it?
Note Make a musical instrument before the class
so that you can use it as a lead-in and to show the
children a model of what they are going to make.
Prepare
1 Tell the children they are going to listen to some
percussion instruments. Go to http://www.
dsokids.com/listen/by-instrument/.aspx and click
on different instruments. The children should
listen and put their thumbs up if they like the
sound and turn their thumbs down if they dont.
2 Tell the children that in todays lesson they are
going to make some instruments.
Plan
3 Place all the materials on a big table and get the
children to experiment making different sounds.
Start by putting some lentils inside a can; shake it
and then replace the lentils with chick peas. Help
the children understand how you can change the
sound by adding smaller or larger items, and also
fewer or more of them. Encourage the children
to notice the differences in the sounds that are
produced as a result of these changes.
4 Tell the children to choose the materials they want
to use for their musical instrument. Make sure that
the children choose a range of different types of
instruments.
Do
5 Monitor the children while they make their
instruments. They should secure the containers by
adding sticky tape to the lid or top.
6 Give the children a few minutes to practise
playing their instruments.
7 Choose a favourite song; one that has a few verses
and a chorus. Organize the class into groups. Play
the song and have the children sing and play
along on their instruments. Create variety and
interest by getting different groups to play their
instruments for different verses.
Show
8 Invite other children or the parents to a class
performance.
Tip Film or record the class performance using
a mobile device. Play it back in class and ask the
children to give themselves a mark out of five.

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5 The children work in groups to find out

information about their animals. They should
use a search engine like Google or visit one of
the following websites and click on the relevant
animal:
http://www.ducksters.com/animals/endangered_
animals.php
http://www.kidsdiscover.com/spotlight/
endangered-species/
http://www.animalfactguide.com/animal-facts/
The children make notes about each of the points
in the example panda fact file.
If printing is possible, they should find pictures
of their animals to print; if not, they should draw
pictures of their animals.
Do
6 The children write their fact files and cut out
pictures to illustrate them. While they are doing
this, appoint two or three children (from different
groups) to be Design Experts; their job is to
prepare the actual poster. Using the large sheet
of paper, they need to write a heading and plan
a design in which all of the animal fact files and
pictures will fit. When they have finished this, they
can go back to their original groups.
7 The Design Experts stick the fact files and pictures
into place on the poster.
Show
8 Display the poster on the classroom wall or, if
possible, in a corridor or in the school library,
where more people can see it.
Note This project can lead quite naturally to a class
discussion about how we can save endangered
animals. If this happens, it is worth allowing the
children to speak in L1; the educational benefits of
such a discussion are likely to outweigh the value of
keeping everything in English.

Endangered species
Aim To work together to carry out research and make
a class poster of fact-files
Age range Older children
Materials A large sheet of paper, smaller sheets of
paper, coloured pens, glue, scissors. The children will
need access to the Internet for the research stage of
this project.
Language Endangered animals (polar bear, panda,
turtle, elephant, blue whale, tiger, gorilla), Whquestions (Where does it live? What does it eat? How
may are left? How long does it live?)
Prepare
1 Draw a simple picture of a panda on the board,
building it up line by line and pausing each time
to ask the children Whats this? Elicit the name of
the animal and ask the children what they know
about pandas. Explain (if necessary) that pandas
are an endangered species, and that this means
there is a danger that there will soon be no
pandas left in the world.
2 Ask the children to name other animals that are
endangered, helping with vocabulary where
necessary. Write a list on the board including polar
bear, turtle, elephant, blue whale, tiger, and
gorilla.
3 Draw the first column of the simple fact file below
on the board and add the heading Giant panda.
Ask the children questions to elicit the information
for the second column. Encourage the children to
guess and fill in any information that is correct, or
nearly correct. Then complete the fact file with the
information below.
Giant panda
Description

Black and white bear

Lives

Mountains of China

Eats

Bamboo, other plants, some

small animals

Numbers

2000

Life

2535 years

Fun fact

The Chinese word for panda is

da xiong mao. It means giant
bear-cat.

Plan
4 Tell the children that they are going to make a
poster with fact files about endangered species.
Organize them into small groups; the size of
the group depends partly on the number of
computers or mobile devices with Internet access
that are available to use. Give each group one or
two animals from the list.

Extending the projects

These project ideas have been kept as simple as possible
so that they are accessible and can be completed in one
lesson. If you want to extend a project over two or more
lessons, they can easily be adapted by adding extra
steps. Here are a few suggestions.

Before the project

The children do some research at home and bring
information to the next class. This can be some
Internet research done with parents help. This kind of
research is ideal for the Endangered Species project.
The children do research by asking their family
members questions. For example, in the calendar
project they ask their family members to show them

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How to do projects in the primary classroom

their calendars and diaries and find out what kind of
information is recorded in them.
The children play a game to practise key vocabulary.
This can be any kind of game using flashcards or the
board, drawing and guessing, miming, etc.
The children make and exchange word puzzles to
practise key language. Websites, such as http://www.
puzzle-maker.com/ have easy-to-use puzzle makers
where the children can create their own word
puzzles that can be printed out. This could be done
in class or at home with the help of parents or older
siblings.
The children look at video clips on YouTube of
similar projects

During the project

Older children write each stage of the project in a
diary. This can be simple sentences copied from a
model on the board, e.g. I found some food pictures.
The children have a little checklist of various project
work skills. This can be changed to suit ages and
language competence. It can be in the form of
simple pictures which the children tick, or as a series
of sentences, with the content being relevant for that
particular project. As they work on the project, they
tick off items on their checklist, and see if they can
tick off everything. Example:
I found some information on the Internet.
I agreed what to do next with the children in my group.
I wrote some questions for the interview.
I tidied up after the project.
I helped someone who didnt know what to do.
I learned a new word.

After the project

The children sing a song about the topic. Most
course books have CDs with unit songs based on
vocabulary. There are also plenty of appropriate
songs for very young children that are easy to
learn on YouTube, e.g. this song collection
at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1bR0XBfcs&list=RDj1bR-0XBfcs#t=648
The children interview each other about the project
using simple models that you can write on the board,
e.g. for the Lets eat a healthy diet project, point at
pictures of food and ask: Do you eat lots of (fish)? Do
you like (apples)? Have you got a healthy diet? etc.
The children make a wall chart with photos showing
different stages of the project. This would work well
with the Spring mobile and We love music! projects.

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