May 2nd to 4th - numbers

1st and 2nd grades

I wanted to explore the numbers topic in a context. The only idea I had was by counting with students the classroom objects, example: "How many lamps/curtains/posters are there in the class?". Of course I was pointing to the objects, and we started the counting from 1. In some classes I did a really quick review by counting from 0 to 12 or 13 in choral with students. 

That was an introduction to the main part of the class, when students had to draw their classmates, according to the number of students present that day. "How many boys/girls are here?", I asked. As they did not know this vocabulary, I pointed to each student, saying the words "boy" or "girl", according to their gender. When I got to half of the class I just pointed, so they could say if the person was a boy or a girl. Then invited them to count with me how many boys/girls were there. Then I asked them to draw and that was when problems started, because it was really hard to make myself understood.

I wanted them to draw, for instance, 6 boys and 9 nine girls. But as I had drawn one girl and one boy on the board and had written a number under the drawing, most of them just reproduced what I had done on the board - one girl, one boy, with a number under them. 

In some groups, this activity was not motivated enough and kids did not seem to be enjoying it, but I was decided to apply the class plan in all groups to be sure, maybe I should only change my approach. So I draw on the board the face of every person in class, including me. Kids looked like they were having fun, because my drawing is not technically good. Then I counted with them how many boys/girls were there on the board and asked them to draw their classmates on their notebooks. But many of them were influenced by my drawing and did only little faces on their notebooks, even if I had erasen the board. Many kids did not finish in time, maybe because it was too repetitive to draw so many people, many I should have done it more fun...

At least, the purpose of making them use the numbers in English to count was effective. While they were drawing or after they had finished, I asked them to check by counting in English how many boys/girls there were in their pictures and many of them could, especially in the 2nd grade. 

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