Category Archives: Books

Kleiner weißer Fisch / Little White Fish

Posted in Book Materials, Books, Games, Pre-K & K Class, Word Posters by

I often do a sea life theme with me pre-k/kinders in the fall. I use the books about Kleiner weißer Fisch (Little White Fish) by Guido van Genechten and have written about some of the things I do in the unit in this post.

To help introduce the sea animals in the books, I’ve made a set of posters. Here is a selection:

After I introduce the words that go along with a specific book, we play a game of Gefunden!

I love that the books introduce simple vocabulary in addition to the sea life … colors, games, and even saying “goodbye”. We read a different book each week for 3 – 5 weeks, depending on what else is on out schedule. The children enjoy the familiarity of the adorable Little White Fish 🙂

Here is the FREE PDF download for the posters:

seetiere-kleiner-weiser-fisch-posters-gitaDownload

Kopf, Schulter, Knie und Fuß / Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes

Posted in Book Materials, Books, Coloring Pages, Pre-K & K Class, Songs, Uncategorized by

Singing this classic children’s song is a great way to teach my pre-k/kindergarten classes about body parts.

I like to back into the song, teaching the parts of the face first. It’s nice to repeat these a number of times, because they only show up in the song one time, while the others repeat three times!

  • Augen (eyes)
  • Ohren (ears)
  • Nase (nose)
  • Mund (mouth)

We repeat those a couple of times. Then I point to them on me in a random order and ask if it is X? First I do it right, then I start to make “mistakes” 🙂 For example, I point to my nose and say: “Ist das die Nase?” They all say: “Jaaaaaa!” But later I’ll point to my eyes and say: “Sind das die Ohren?” Most of the children recognize the mistage and say: “Nein!”

Then we move on to the bigger body parts:

  • Kopf (head)
  • Schulter (shoulders)
  • Knie (knees)
  • Fuß (foot)

Once we have the vocabulary down, we sing the song! We usually start seated and then sing it again standing. This year we repeated the song one last time at the end of the lesson. It was a nice way to reinforce it. And next week, those facial features will come in handy when we start making our Kürbislaternen (Jack-o-Lanterns)!

It’s also fun to read Eric Carle’s book Von Kopf bis Fuß (From Head to Toe) with this lesson.

I always send home a coloring page for the children. Here is one with all 8 body parts. You can download it for free below!

Kopf Schulter Knie Fuß Malvorlage 2 GitADownload

Nussknacker / Nutcracker 2020 – Part 5

Posted in Books, Coloring Pages, German Culture, Holidays, Pre-K & K Class, Projects, Uncategorized by

Pre-k / Kindergarten Nutcracker Art Project

A few cracking-good facts:

This week is all about nutcrackers! I began today by telling my youngest students a little about nutcrackers. I also brought in a small nutcracker to show them. Of course, many of the children were excited to see something that they, too, had in their homes!

  • Nutcrackers have been around for 600 years.
  • Nutcrackers are traditionally made of wood in Germany.
  • Nutcrackers represent luck, strength, and protection.
  • German author E.T.A. Hoffmann wrote a fairy tale about a nutcracker that comes to life in 1816.
  • Russian composer Tchaikovsky based his famous ballet on Hoffmann’s story.

(You can read these and other facts in the various “Steckbriefe” I created for my elementary & middle school students in this post.)

Crack open a story book!

Then I read the children a short story book of The Nutcracker. I was excited to see that it was attributed to Hoffmann, as that is the version I want to focus on. I am, after all, teaching German! However, I was surprised to find that this version calls the little girl Clara. In Hoffmann’s story, the girl is named Marie, while her beloved doll is named Clara. So as I read the book, I called her Marie. I added some details from the story as I read, too.

Let’s get crafting!

For my youngest students, we actually did not do a craft. Instead, I prepared a Nutcracker coloring project for them. I got the idea from another site, but of course I wanted to make it German! So I started drawing the outline of a nutcracker. It helped when I realized I could fold my paper in half and trace the right side of it, so that it turned out symmetrical! Then I scanned it and started adding shapes. Here’s how it turned out:

I have to say, I’m really quite pleased with how it turned out! You can download the PDF for free here:

Nussknacker Formen GitADownload
Nussknacker Formen Losung GitADownload

The children enjoyed the project!

Stay tuned for projects from the 1st & 2nd graders, 3rd & 4th graders, and 5th & 6th graders!

Fünf kleine Fische / Five Little Fish

Posted in Book Materials, Books, Coloring Pages, Pre-K & K Class, Songs, Uncategorized by

In the fall, I love to read the books about Kleiner weißer Fisch (Little White Fish) by Guido van Genechten. They are sweet books that are perfect for early language learners. There is a whole series of the books, so we read 5 of them this year in Pre-k/Kindergarten.

To go along with the books, we also sing the song “Fünf kleine Fische”. The kids love it! They especially love the “blub blub blub” part. I have little hand motions that we do with the song, so the kids can play along, even before they have learned the words. Here is a video of how I sing the song with them:

Of course, we practice counting to 5 before we start singing! We count forward and backward, since the song starts with 5 fish and counts down to 1.

To go along with the song, I have a coloring page that also includes the lyrics to the song with an English translation:

You can download that PDF for FREE here:

Funf kleine Fische – Songtext GitADownload

I also have a simple coloring page of five fish. This coloring sheet includes the words to the song as well.

You can download the PDF for FREE here:

funf-kleine-fische-gitaDownload

Finally, if you are musically inclined and would like the sheet music for the song, you can find it here from Sing Kinderlieder (PDF).

Viel Spaß beim Singen!

SL: Klingelingeling – Take 3!

Posted in 1st - 4th Grade, Books, Story Listening, Uncategorized by

If you’ve read my posts from last year and the year before, you know that I LOVE this story! I love reading the book to my pre-k/kindergartners. And I love telling it to ALL my students as a Story Listening lesson 🙂

Upper Elementary:

Even though my 4th-graders have heard the story for the past two years, I thought it would be a great one to tell after winter break. The kids came back for just two days, and so I was in teaching German on Friday, January 3rd!

I decided to update it for the 4th-graders and added a few details and an extra paragraph. But for the 3rd-graders, I stuck to my original story. You can see the two boards here:

 

2020-01-03 13.33.21 4th

4th Grade

2020-01-03 12.51.23 3rd

3rd Grade

So in 4th grade, the Schlitten was blue. And after crossing the fields, they went carefully through a forest (because really, what story of mine would be complete without mentioning a Wald?!)

In the top picture, you can also see that I was using the expressions that were created by my friend over at We Love Deutsch. The kids LOVE to say the phrases! I try to include a few in each story for them to use. Sometimes they are in the text of the story, and they repeat them. But sometimes I think about how you might react and make a little speech bubble in the margin of my prompter. Then I point to the expression, and they all say it. Now they often don’t even need any prompting!

Since it is a short story, I needed something to do to finish out our 30 minutes. So I taught them the song “Mein Hut, der hat drei Ecken.” See this post to read all about it!

Lower Elementary:

On the following Tuesday I had my first meeting with my 1st & 2nd graders. Again I told them Klingelingeling.

The 2nd-graders remembered it from last year and still enjoyed it. They get really excited by a familiar story.

The 1st-graders are new to Story Listening this year. However, most of them were here in kindergarten last year, and many of them were in pre-school before that. And so they have heard me read the book a number of times! They were also very excited to know the story!

I did not take pictures of my story boards in 1st & 2nd grade, but they were similar to the 3rd-grade board. However, I often do not write as many words for them.

I am working on creating video reviews of my stories. Stay tuned for the Klingelingeling video….

Materials for Summer Learning

Posted in Books, Resources, Uncategorized by

With the summer break upon us, I know some of my students are interested in continuing their learning of German during the break. I have found some materials, such as workbooks, books, and CDs, that can be ordered in the US.

Workbooks

For young learners, there is the Dover Little Activity Book (it is only 4 x 5.6 inches!): Color & Learn Easy German Phrases for Kids (Dover, 2015). This pocket-sized book is a picture dictionary with German, English translation, and pronunciation. And it doubles as a coloring book. There are lots of useful phrases plus the basics, such as colors, numbers, days, months, etc. It is available on Amazon.com for about $2.50.

Color Learn Easey German Dover

For young learners and beginners, there is the Cool Kids Speak German series (CreateSpace). These workbooks use both English and German to guide students through the exercises, such as worksheets, word searches, and coloring pages. Each workbook includes a German-English dictionary plus the answer key at the back. The series includes the following titles:

  • Young Cool Kids Learn German (Numbers, Teddy Bear’s Picnic, greetings and useful words, colors, farm animals, the garden, toys, and ice cream)
  • Cool Kids Speak German Book 1 (greetings, introductions, numbers 1-10, fruit, colors, clothes, and transportation)
  • Cool Kids Speak German Book 2 (pet animals, numbers 11-20, sports, weather, drinks, and the house)
  • Cool Kids Speak German Book 3 (things for school, numbers 21-40, months, family, food, and school subjects)

Although I have only seen Book 1 in person, the series seems simple and instructive. They are available on Amazon.com for about $8 – 9.

For older students, I found a book of word searches called Learn German with Word Search Puzzles (CreateSpace, 2018).The word searches are difficult, in that the words can go diagonally and backwards. So they are not ideal for younger learners. Each puzzle has a topic and includes words in German and their English translation (both of which can be found in the puzzle). There is an answer key in the back. It seems it would be a fun way to practice some vocabulary. It is available on Amazon.com for about $10.

Learn German with Word Search Puzzles

Other Books

You might also consider getting a favorite book in German. There are many titles available in translation. My favorite place to order books is Book Depository (BookDepository.com). They are based in the UK and ship for FREE, even internationally! They have a great selection of German books at competitive prices. Try searching an author and then filter by language (in the left column) to see what is available in German. For example, if you search Eric Carle, there are 214 titles in German!! Here is a link to Die kleine Raupe Nimmersatt (The Very Hungry Caterpillar) board book.

Audio Books & Music

Another great way to learn is to listen to favorite stories (especially if you have the book in German, too). Continuing with the Eric Carle example, you can get a CD of Die kleine Raupe Nimmersatt from Book Depository for about $10. (Just be careful not to get one in dialect!!) It comes with other stories in German, such as The Very Quiet Cricket, The Very Lonely Firefly, & The Very Busy Spider.

Board Book
CD

If you don’t want to purchase a CD, you could try YouTube. You would need the German title of the book you want to hear. But many can be found being read aloud. You can even hear Eric Carle read Die kleine Raupe Nimmersatt in German (did you know he was originally from Germany?!). You can also watch a lovely video of the story on YouTube.

How about some German songs? Remember Nena?! Well, I don’t just mean “99 Luftballons” 🙂  She has several lovely CDs of children’s songs now. Try searching “Nena Kinderlieder” in your favorite music app. (Kinderlieder means children’s songs.) While many recordings of children’s music can be somewhat … well, difficult to listen to, I find her recordings to be quite lovely. There is also the series Die 30 besten Spiel- und Bewegunslieder (The 30 best play and movement songs) by Simone Sommerland & Karsten Glück. You can find the songs on YouTube as well.

index

These ideas can get you started! If you have any questions or suggestions, just comment below!

Viel Spaß in den Sommerferien!

Gefühle: Today I feel…

Posted in Books, Coloring Pages, Pre-K & K Class, Uncategorized, Word Posters by

We just finished our Martin’s Day activities, and I was looking for a lesson to do with the children right before Thanksgiving. I guess a topic of Thanks would have been obvious. But I have been wanting to read a favorite book with the classes, so I decided to give a lesson on feelings.

I have some feeling word posters that I made earlier this year, so I chose three of those to teach: froh (happy), müde (tired), and aufgeregt (excited).

You can download all the feeling posters for FREE here: Gefühle Wortschatz Posters GitA  There are 12 feelings in all:

  • glücklich
  • traurig
  • verwirrt
  • böse
  • müde
  • aufgeregt
  • Angst haben
  • verlegen
  • enttäuscht
  • nervös
  • überrascht
  • schlecht gelaunt
  • froh

I added froh at the end, because I thought it is an easier word for younger children to say. The file includes:

  • pictures with words in just German
  • pictures with words in German and English
  • just pictures without words
  • just words

I also made a coloring page to send home. I always like to give the parents and idea of what the children learned in class.

Gefühle Malvorlage - GitA-page-001

You can download that for FREE, too! Gefühle Malvorlage – GitA

Okay, so after we talk about those three feelings – and whatever other feelings come up! – I am going to read Kaninchen ist sooo müde by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler (Beltz & Gelberg, 2000). It’s a sweet little lift-the-flap book from the creators of Der Gruffalo.

Kaninchen ist sooo mude

It ends with the rabbit’s friends singing “Der Mond ist aufgegangen.” So of course, we’ll end class with that song!

Preparing for Martinstag

Posted in 1st - 4th Grade, Books, Crafty Projects, Holidays, Pre-K & K Class, Uncategorized by

 

2018-11-08 13.44.29

Now that I am teaching in pre-k through 4th grade this year, I wanted to celebrate Martinstag with a little parade through the school. It’s amazing how much back-and-forth planning it has taken to carve out 15 minutes of time to bring everyone together and make it happen!! But we did, and tomorrow is the big day!

To prepare, I told the story of Martin to the elementary students (1st – 4th grade) as a Story Listening lesson last week. I also introduced the story to the pre-k/kindergarten classes in English with the help of a board book.

Martin

I have been working with our fabulous art teacher to make lanterns in 1-4. We came up with a great idea! We bought plastic ornaments that look like a mason jar. Then cut strips of black and yellow paper to fit inside. We had a stash of chopsticks (donated by a middle school student :)) and yarn and beads. I brought in a variety of punches from our too-large collection.

Before the children started working, the art teacher had them gather around the table and talked to them about what they would be doing – and why. She asked them about the story I had told them. She asked them why we would have certain shapes, like a sun, a moon, and a star. My heart sang as the children answered! What is more gratifying to a teacher than proof that the children are learning?? 😀

Then they got to work. They punched shapes into the black paper. Then they put the black and yellow papers inside the lanterns. The art teacher tied the lanterns to the chopsticks with heavy yarn. Then the children cut yarn or ribbon to tie on as decoration and threaded beads onto them. They look amazing!!

 

2018-11-08 13.19.04

2018-11-08 14.39.50

As the children worked, we sang the songs. It was such a beautiful afternoon!

Tomorrow I will go back into the pre-k/kindergarten classes in the morning. They will make paper lanterns, as they have done in previous years. You can find the template and instructions here.

2017-11-06 09.09.12 - Copy

As soon as we finish in the 3rd class, I’ll go gather the elementary students. And we will parade through the pre-k/kindergarten classes with our lanterns while singing our two Martin’s Day songs. Stay tuned to hear how it all goes….

2018-11-08 14.40.45

Meine Sommerleseliste / Summer Reading Log

Posted in Books, Getting them to read more, Read More, Uncategorized by

!Sommerleseliste 2018 GitA

As Froggy gets ready for 3rd grade (what?!!), he has been asked by his teachers to keep a log of the books he reads over the summer. I thought it would be fun if he helped me create one for him. So he chose the frame and the font.

I’ve created the log in English and in German. You choose!

Download the PDF file for FREE here: !Sommerleseliste 2018 GitA

What books will your children read over the summer? And in what language will they read??

Viel Spaß beim Lesen!

Das Wetter – The Weather

Posted in Book Materials, Books, Coloring Pages, Pre-K & K Class, Uncategorized, Writing by

We’re doing a little review today in pre-K/kindergarten. It’s hard to believe it’s almost the end of the year! The children have learned so much! And I’m so inspired to do even more with them next year!!

One of the things we will review today is the weather. We’ll look out the window to see what the weather is like and what we see: die Sonne, der Wind, die Wolke. It’s a beautiful day today 🙂

And we’ll read Elmar mag jedes Wetter again.

elmar-mag-jedes-wetter

I prepared a coloring page for them as well. There are two versions. In the first version, the children can trace the weather words under the pictures. In the second version, I’ve given them a bit of a challenge. There is a word bank (Wortschatz), and they will have to choose the appropriate word to write under the image. I have plenty of each, so the children can choose what they would like to do.

You can download the PDF version here for FREE: Wetter Malvorlage GitA

Check out these other weather materials to go along with Elmar! And for other weather work, just click on the “weather” tag at the right!