Let's travel to a French-speaking city! ~ Paper bag suitcase craftivity

Today we are making a suitcase craftivity and planning a trip to a French-speaking city! We are sneaking some writing practice and cultural information into this fun craft.

First, take a paper bag and fold it into thirds. Now tape or glue an index card into each section of the folded bag. You can have the index cards pre-printed with the start of each sentence (like mine below), or you can have the students copy the text onto the cards themselves. Next, have the students complete the sentences.

Now it is time to decorate!
I used a paper fastener to close my example suitcase. You can also use velcro circles. Students can create a handle to the suitcase by trimming the edge of the paper bag or using construction paper. Finally, they will decorate the suitcase using markers and stickers.

Enjoy!

I was inspired by Inner Child Fun's blog post.

Let's travel to a Spanish-speaking country! ~ Paper bag suitcase craftivity

Today we are making a suitcase craftivity & planning a trip to a Spanish-speaking country! We are sneaking some writing practice & cultural information into this fun craft.

First take a paper bag and fold it into thirds. Now tape or glue an index card into each section of the folded paper bag. You can have the index cards pre-printed with the start of each sentence (like mine below), or you can have the students copy the text onto the cards themselves. Next have students complete the sentences.

Now it is time to decorate!
I used a paper fastener to close my sample suitcase. You can also use a velcro circle.
Students can create a handle to the suitcase by trimming the edge of the paper bag, or using construction paper.  Finally, they will decorate the suitcase using markers and stickers.

Enjoy!

I was inspired by Inner Child Fun's blog post

El día de los muertos ~ 5 Day of the Dead Classroom Activities

El Día de los Muertos is just around the corner. Here are five activity ideas for your classroom!


1. Make QUICK and SIMPLE {make in 20 minutes!} sugar candy skulls!

2. Want even more sugary treats? These marshmallow sugar skull pops by mom.me are sooooo pretty!

3. Learn what the Day of the Dead is all about. Then complete a sorting activity for what is typical & what is not typical on the Day of the Dead.

4. Let the students face paint Day of the Dead faces on each other. Here is an easy tutorial from mom.me.

5. Or if you prefer something less messy, make paper plate Calavera masks.

What's your favorite classroom Day of the Dead activity? Comment below!

Quick and Easy Make Your Own Chocolate Poisson d'avril

Today we are making easy chocolate fish to celebrate le poisson d'avril!

If you do a google search for moldable chocolate or modeling chocolate, you'll find many recipes. The first one I tried was a messy disaster. 10 seconds into trying to form a fish, my hands were covered in chocolate and I just wanted the goop out of my hands. Next I tried a recipe from allrecipes.com called Plastic Chocolate. I figured if it had the name plastic in it, that would mean I'd have a more sturdy dough, and I was right! I had trace amounts of chocolate on my hands after making a fish with this dough.

#ICan'tHandleChocolateEverywhere

The dough is made up of two ingredients; corn syrup and chocolate.

You melt the chocolate and then mix in the corn syrup. You'll end up with a thick lump of chocolate deliciousness.

#Yum

Then you'll put the candy on plastic wrap to cool. The recipe tells you to wait 5 hours for it to cool and suggests that overnight is best. I waited 1 and a half hours and found mine sturdy enough to begin making my fish.

Give each student a piece of dough. I wanted mine to be large enough for the students to decorate, so I made a generous sized ball - maybe slightly smaller than a golf ball. If you make them this size, the recipe will be enough to make 12 fish.

Demonstrate with your own fish before having the students start.

First roll the candy in between your hands to form a ball.

Now start forming your fish by pinching to form a tail.

Keep pinching and molding the candy until you have a fish shape.

You can hand out toothpicks and let the students make scales and a mouth if they'd like.

You can also give them sprinkles or other small candies to decorate their fish.

And now comes the best part. Time to eat! I read that this recipe gives you a tootsie roll-like candy. I'm not a huge fan of tootsie rolls, but yuuuuuuum! These fish are so good!
#I'tsNotReallyLikeATootsieRoll

I'd love to see photos of your students' best creations. Please share!

Spring Activities for Spanish & French Classes

With spring coming up just around the corner, I've compiled some fun spring related activities for French and Spanish class!

1. Take a nature walk! Have your students collect objects in nature ~ things like blades of grass, wildflowers, pieces of bark...

After the walk, return to class with the collected objects. Give each student a photocopy page with the numbers 1-5 on it (you can make the activity harder by using the number words spelled out without the numerals). Students will place the correct number of objects into each numbered area of the page. Have them glue the objects to their pages.

If you are not able to take the class outside for a nature walk, have available objects typical of spring for students to sort and count. They can use seeds, photographs of birds, paper or silk flowers ...

2. For Spanish class, learn a spring poem. For French class, make a Mardi Gras mask.

3. Spring is the perfect time to talk about gardens, plants, vegetables ...  As a part of a garden/vegetable unit, I love to do the celery science experiment. But this Walking Water experiment looks super cool too! It would be a great way to review colors.

4. Eat the parts of a plant! It would be quick and easy to create your own version of this activity in Spanish or French.

5. Play a game outside! In Spanish class you can play Rayuela and in French class, play la Pétanaque.

What are your favorite Spring lesson plan activities? Comment below!

World Language Class Valentine's Day Craftivity

I'm using Shrinky dinks again! I loved them when I was a child and I still do!! This time we are using Shrinky dinks for a Valentine's day craftivity.

This is what we are going to do ...

1. We are going to use a freebie from Teaching 4 Real. To use the same image and size as me, use my printable found here. If you use my printable, the finished product will measure about 2 inches by 2 inches.

2. You'll need Shrinky dink film. I used the clear kind found here. With the clear film you will need to use permanent markers. If you buy the frosted kind with the rough side, you can use colored pencils. Find the frosted kind here. 
Or use this super inexpensive method using recycled materials in place of buying the film {I've never tried this but it looks cool!}

3. Give each student a printed heart and a piece of Shrinky dink film. The students will trace and color their hearts. You can give them options for what to write in the rectangle in the target language, or give them all just one sentence to write such as "Je t'aime." or "Te quiero."

4. If you want to make the craft into a necklace or key chain, hole punch the hearts after coloring. Now you are set to bake the names using the shrinky dink directions {or the BabyFirst directions if you are using the super inexpensive method}.

5. After baking you are set to make them into necklaces or key chains, or use them to create Valentine's day cards.

Ready to continue the party? Select the image below for February readers and other items!

Quick & Easy Day of the Dead Sugar Candy Skulls

October! Can you smell the sugar in the air? Let's make candy skulls to celebrate the day of the Dead!
#What'sABitMoreSugar

I love this recipe because the candy prep time is minimal and they do not need to be baked. I've been able to mix up during class time and still have the students make these during class periods as short as 20 minutes!

Ingredients
4 ounces unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 cups powdered sugar
1 tbsp cream or milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 - 1/2 tsp mint extract

Mix all of the ingredients together. Make sure your butter is at room temperature and it will mix together with a minute or two of mixing. It will have the consistency of cookie dough.

You will also need:
paper towels
various types of sprinkles
Dixie cups (optional)
baby wipes

Directions:
1. Pass out a paper towel to each student. Pour a small amount of sprinkles on each paper towel. If you don't have a lot of class time, you can pre-prep your sprinkles by pouring them into Dixie cups and then have student helpers pass out the paper towels and pre-filled Dixie cups.

2. Demonstrate how to form a skull. First you will roll your dough into a ball. Then gently squeeze the bottom part to form the jaw of the skull.

3. Pass out a small amount of "dough" to each student. I like to use a cookie scoop so my hands stay out of the dough and everyone gets the same amount.

4. Let the fun begin! The students will form the skull, decorate, and eat!
While they are making their candy, pass out a baby wipe to each student for easy clean up.

So ... once I had a group of students come to me after PE. I don't know what they were doing in PE, but their hands were filthy and their skulls ended up black ... and they still ate them!!! Ewwwwww!!! Don't be me. Have the students wash their hands before coming to your class.
#BlackSkullsAreNot Cool