Grade: 5th grade EFL
Once again, my 5th graders asked me to vote for a unit. They desperately wanted to learn all about Dinosaurs. This time I threw a K.W.L chart on the board to make sure of their level of previous knowledge.
I prepared flashcards with the vocabulary to learn to name, recognize & identify them while we were discussing parts of their bodies with the help of my favorite channel, “Story Bot songs.” I used the big ones as posters to decorate the classroom & the digital presentation (the digital flashcards) to present and review in class. Our little English corner started to look full with their own toys and books they brought from home. I also added encyclopedias from the school’s library & posters from science magazines I had.
I brought my toy too! We used a table to display what we brought from home, made a volcano & left them there.
We immediately played the best matching game ever “memory game,” but this time we used it as “Go fish” game where they had to ask clockwise to complete the pair.
In The 3rd lesson, we worked on our portfolio activities; in each lesson, we filled one or two pages. It includes:
- B/W cover page.
- W.L chart sheet
- Vocabulary organizer
- Crossword
- Wordsearch
- Label the Dinosaur (identify/cut/paste)
- Song
- Research sheet: Favorite Dinosaur
- Hypothesis cases (research)
- What would you do if? (Writing)
- Compare & Contrast (Venn’s diagram)
- How did Dinosaurs become extinct? (before/during/after reading)
- Cryptogram
Following lessons, we explored a little bit deeper, researching about each one of the dinosaurs as well as specific basic definitions, and we shaped it into a lapbook. My students were so thrilled to research at home more and more facts, curiosities, and even jokes. It took them a while to put the lapbook together for all the cutting, gluing, and assembling they had to do, but the result was completely worth it.
To end the unit, they had to research about a Dinosaur we haven’t studied in class and have a brief oral presentation which included:
- Name of the dinosaur
- Etymology of the name
- Where did it live?
- When was it discovered? Who discovered it?
- How is a fossil of this animal?
- Physical features
- Why did you choose it?
This is one of the most successful units I’ve had and most popular because every year, a new group of students asks and votes for this topic. This means it is open to more improvement, so if you are one of the many teachers that have purchased any of these activities, check out cause I’ll be uploading new things in it!
I hope you enjoyed reading it!
Happy ELTeaching!
