Not Quite Ready for Writing

Posted in Uncategorized, Writing by

The next bilingual blogging carnival is going to be all about writing. So on our last German date, I thought I would get Froggy to do some writing and contribute a post to the carnival.

Tja. That did not go over so well. Apparently, while his reading in German is quite good for how often he does it, he is not really ready to start writing in German. Then again, he doesn’t really like to write much in English either. After all, he only just finished kindergarten!

We were working in one of his space sticker workbooks, and there was a question about the sun. So I thought I would have him write the answer in German. This is what it looked like:

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“Die Sonne ist: 4,6 Milliarden Jahre alt.”

I think we will try to focus on the alphabet and some simple writing in August!

German Date #6: Space Book

Posted in Books, Uncategorized by

Our schedule was a bit thrown off this week, since Froggy was home from school for Memorial Day on Monday. So AP2 took Froggy on a German date today. We still have plenty of space materials, so that was once again the focus.

This time, they started off by reading some pages from a space book. It’s called Weltraum. Sterne und Planeten, and it’s from the series “memo Kids” (Dorling Kindersley, 2014).

It’s a little bit advance, but it’s broken down into simple topics. Each topic spans two pages and offers several short paragraphs about that topic. Here’s an example:

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AP2 had to help with some of the reading, but I understand it went very well! She was able to explain the words he didn’t know in German.

On a personal note, I heard that Froggy has been telling my mom that our house is special, because we don’t just speak English – we speak German, too. How big of a smiley face can I make here?! 🙂

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Zoo Animals

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

Today, I’m taking my zoo theme to Froggy’s school for their lesson.

First, I created some word posters to teach the children some of the animal names.

  • der Bär
  • der Elefant
  • die Giraffe
  • das Känguru
  • der Löwe
  • der Seehund

You can download them here: Zootiere Posters (PDF)

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We will then sing “Unser kleiner Bär im Zoo” from Die 30 besten Sing- und Bewegungslieder. In an effort to keep the kids a little calmer and quieter, we’re going to change the words. Our bear is going to nicken (nod his head), winken (wave), and klatschen (clap). I have to admit, it’s also easier to sing when you don’t have to jump and stomp and dance around!

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After that, I’ll read another Eric Carle book, called Komm, fang den Ball! (Gerstenberg, 1999) This book has a flat, circular cut-out that acts as the ball. It’s attached to a string that pulls through the whole book, so that each animal can “throw” the ball to another animal.

Finally, I updated the zoo map I made for story hour to be a coloring page. You can download that, too: Zoo Karte Malvorlage (PDF) Here’s Froggy’s example (he’s more into fast than neat coloring these days 🙂 )

Zoo Karte AMR GitA

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German Date #5: Another Zoo Map

Posted in Crafty Projects, Uncategorized by

Froggy saw Hoppo’s zoo map and wanted to make one of his own. Only he wanted to start from scratch and use paint! I, of course, told him he could … as long as he did it in German 🙂

We taped together two pieces of heavy painting paper, and then Froggy laid out the animals where he wanted them to be in the zoo. He drew paths, lakes, rivers, and boulders. Then he started painting. He got about half of it finished before he’d had enough. Well, the paints were poured, so together we finished it up. Today, on our German date, he finished it up by putting on the stickers. Then I labeled the animals for him. Of course, I asked him to say the animal names as we did the work.

Here is a look at how it all came together:

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Laying out the animals

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Drawing the zoo elements

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Painting!

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The painting phase is complete

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Time to add the stickers!

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The finished product 🙂

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German Date #4: More Space!

Posted in Resources, Uncategorized by

Froggy has been enjoying our German dates so much, he wanted to do more! So we decided that he would go on another date this week with AP2. Of course, he wanted to keep talking about space. I just happened to have ordered some space workbooks in German, and they arrived Thursday afternoon. He’s really into sticker workbooks right now, so he was VERY excited 🙂

He worked through 4 or 5 pages of the book. Hippo and I happened to crash their date at the last minute, so I got to see some of it in action 🙂  AP2 was doing a lot of the reading, but then we got Froggy to read out loud, too. The workbook provided some good challenge with a number of words that he didn’t know.

The workbook we used is called Mitmach-Heft Weltraum (Was ist was Junior) (Tessloff, 2016). I bought it on Amazon.de for about €5.

Let’s Go to the Zoo!

Posted in Story hour, Uncategorized by

Okay, we didn’t really go to the zoo. (Although we’re talking about it, and I have a few ideas for including some German on the trip … so stay tuned for that!)

Today in Story Hour, we talked about zoo animals. We read books:

  • Hör mal im Zoo  by Anne Möller (Carlsen, 2012) – The children really enjoyed hearing the animal sounds!
  • Wo ist Mami?  by Axel Scheffler & Julia Donaldson (Beltz & Gelberg, 2016)
  • Von Kopf bis Fuß  by Eric Carle (Gerstenberg, 2011)
  • 1, 2, 3 ein Zug zum Zoo   by Eric Carle (Gerstenberg, 2015)

We sang songs:

  • “Ich bin ein dicker Tanzbär”
  • “Ein Elefant ging ohnt Hetz”
  • “Unser kleiner Bär im Zoo”

Finally, the children each got to plan out their own zoo! I gave them a blank map and some animal stickers. They placed their animals and then colored the map as they chose.

Click here for the PDF map: Zoo Karte PDF

I just bought some stickers and cut them up, so that each child received the same six animals:

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Here’s my example:

Zoo Karte Kate GitA

Here are some samples of the children’s work from story hour:

2016-05-21 02.22.06Zoo Karte KMR GitA

VARIATION:

You can also do a larger version of this project using a roll of butcher paper (which you can also get at Ikea). It works best with one-on-one, as opposed to in a group. Cut off a long section and secure it to the floor with painter’s tape. Let your child help decide where the different animals live and where the paths should be. Use multiple stickers of the animals. And once your zoo is complete, add small toy animals. Use small figures to walk through the zoo. Have fun and be creative!

German Date #3: Planet Activity

Posted in Games, Getting them to read more, Uncategorized by

Our space fun continued today on our third German Date 🙂

I hadn’t had time to create anything snazzy before I picked up Froggy from school. So while we dug into our fro-yo, I whipped up a quick worksheet to go with some stickers I’d picked up at the craft store. The planet stickers are by Mrs Grossmann’s. They come with six planets, so I created questions to go with them.

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Don’t look too closely! When I got home, AP2 found a few mistakes! Well, I wrote up the activity in a more formal document – with corrections! – and you can download it here:

Space Sticker Activity (PDF)

We also used the activity as an opportunity to practice German letters. Once Froggy came up with the answer, I spelled the planet in German for him. Those vowels get a bit confusing!

I tried to get him to play Hangman (Galgenmenschen) with me as well, but I couldn’t persuade him. It would be another great way to practice those letters!

Instead, we brought out the Space Cards again. This time, we played Fische! (Go Fish!). We used two sets of the cards. He chose to use the set with pictures and words plus the set with just pictures. I think it might have helped to put out the set with pictures and words, since I’m still learning which planets are which! Then we could have matched picture cards to word cards. But the game still was lots of fun. We played twice! Here you can see my hand, the deck of cards for “fishing,” and Froggy’s matches.

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Fische!!

Spiders on the Farm

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

Today, I’ll be teaching a lesson based on Eric Carle’s book, Die kleine Spinne spinnt und schweigt.

First, we will review the five farm animals they learned when we read Klingelingeling:

  • die Katze
  • der Hund,
  • das Schwein
  • die Ente
  • das Pferd

Then I’ll use more images to introduce the other animals (and insect!) in the story:

  • die Kuh
  • das Schaf
  • die Ziege
  • der Hahn
  • die Eule
  • die Spinne

For the images, I found Eric Carle’s images in a bulletin board set on Amazon. (Nope, I don’t get compensation for mentioning this product! 🙂 )

We will also talk about the different sounds the animals make in German.

Next we sing “Die winzig kleine Spinne.” There are several German versions, including one called “Imse Bimse Spinne.” But this is the one that I know:

Die winzig kleine Spinne
kroch auf den Wasserhahn.
Dann kam der Regen
und ward sie aus der Bahn!
Dann kam die Sonne
und trocknet wieder auf.
Und die winzig kleine Spinne
kroch wiederum hinauf!

Finally, I will read the book to the children. I love to be dramatic when reading books to children 🙂  So I exaggerate the animal sounds and read in voices that sound like the various animals.

I always try to bring a craft or a coloring page for the children. This week, I’ll bring a coloring page with the six new animals on one side and the words to the song on the other. Here you can download a copy of the coloring sheet, which includes an extra page with the first five animals as well: Malvorlage kleine Spinne (PDF)

German Date #2: More Space Games

Posted in Games, Uncategorized by

This was the second week in a row that Froggy and I went on a German date after school. We went for frozen yogurt at a place that was pretty empty and chose a nice big table to play a space game. Today it was Weltraum Memo (Space Memory). At first, he tried to back out of it, saying he’d rather go home and watch something. But then I offered fro yo (ehem, I mean “ice cream”) instead of hot chocolate, and he was game (excuse the pun!).

We played two rounds of Weltraum Memo. I had to prompt the German often, but that was okay. He even repeated some whole sentences. (That counts as a full triumph around here!)

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Variation of the game:

Froggy & AP2 came up with a new version of the game, since there are three of each card (one with picture & word, one with picture, one with word). They used the cards with both picture and word as the “control”. Those cards were dealt evenly between the two of them and laid out in front of each player. The remaining cards were turned over, as usual. Players took turns turning over two cards at a time to find a match. But! You could only keep the cards if the set matched one of your own control cards.

For example, if I had “der Mond” and Froggy turned over the match for “der Mond,” he could not keep it. I would have to remember where it was on my turn and collect the match myself.

Another variation would be to turn over all the cards, and in order to collect a match, you would have to find all three matching cards! We haven’t been brave enough to try that one yet 🙂

You can find the cards to download and print on this post.

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Space Game

Posted in Games, Resources by

In another attempt to use more German with Froggy, we’ve started a German “date” after school on Mondays. Last week, we went to a cafe for some hot chocolate (even though it was early May, it was still unusually chilly!) and sat at a big table to play a space game.

I found the game on the site Lehrmittel Perlen. I haven’t used the site too much yet, but it has an awful lot of materials. (You do have to pay an annual fee of about €20 in order to download materials.)

This Space Game (Spiel mit Weltraumwörtern) comes with cards that include an image an description of the following terms:

  • Sonne
  • Milchstraße
  • Mond
  • Sternbild
  • Teleskop
  • Asteroiden
  • Astronomie
  • Planeten

There is also a set of cards in black-and-white with the image, word, and space for children to write.

The game itself is simple, yet fun. Print out the game board and mini cards with the same images. Cut up the mini cards. Use a game piece (also included as a mini card, but rather large for the game board, so I may just use one of our own game pieces next time) to move around the board. Draw cards to see which space to move to. And of course, have the child say the word that goes with the picture! But watch out – if you get a star, you must go to that colored star, even if it means moving backward!

Weltraumwoerterspiel

Froggy really enjoyed the game, and he was using all the space words!

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