Tuesday 22 October 2013

Australia Project: Australian Aboriginal music

This song was such a big hit that I've been hearing it sung around the school all week.  Taba Naba is a traditional children's song from the Torres Strait Islands of the North coast of Australia. 

Here are the words and translation:

Taba naba naba norem
Tugi penai siri
Dinghy e naba we
Miko keimi
Sere re naba we
Taba naba norem (style)
(repeated 3 times)

Translation:
Come on let's go to the Reef
Get into the dinghy when the morning tide is low
Let us row to the edge of the reef
Come on let's go to the reef.

Most of you have probably seen the video performed by XuXa.  While she got the words right, unfortunately the costumes and music are from Hawaii NOT the Torres Strait.  Here is an Australian version:

Australia Project - Story: Ernie Dances To The Didgeridoo

This story tells the tale of a boy called Ernie who goes to live in a remote part of Australia where the lifestyle and people are very different to what he is used to.  He has a great time making new friends and learning new things.  The children at UPUERE did, too!  Each time we read the story we would follow up with a game or activity from the pages of the book.

  • Playing Tin-Tin.
  • Making a traditional Australian bread called Damper
  • Face painting
  • Learning the words and actions to a traditional Australian song: Taba Naba
  • Dot painting
  • Listening to Didgeridoo music

Here's a link to the recipe!  DAMPER
Learn more about this ancient art form here.

Australia Project - Story: Wombat Stew

Gooey, brewy, yummy, chewy...Wombat Stew!  This chant is from the book we read this week called Wombat Stew by Marcia Vaughan.  This hilarious story tells the tale of a group of Australian animals who try to save their friend Wombat from ending up in Dingo's stew.

To follow up our story, we played with some Australian animal puppets and pretended to make Wombat Stew in the sensory tub.



Monday 21 October 2013

Australia Project - Inspecting, counting and sorting coins


I brought some of my coins to school today for the children to see.  They had fun looking at them with the magnifying glass and naming the animals they could see - platypus, kangaroo, echidna, and emu.  There were also some tongs to use to sort the coins by value.

Saturday 19 October 2013

I Like Bananas


This song originally came from the Robby Rabbit EFL textbook by Carol Read.  I use the words and melody to play a game which is similar to Duck, Duck, Goose.  Everyone loves this game and the song is extremely catchy.  Here is how we play…

The children sit on the floor in a circle.  One child is chosen to go around the outside of the circle tapping each child’s head in turn while the group sing…

I like bananas,
I like apples,
I like sandwiches,
I like biscuits, too.

At the end of the song, the standing child must ask the child sitting before him/her a question “Do you like (apples)?”.  The sitting child must answer the question before jumping up to chase the other. The objective is to get around the circle and sitting down without being caught.

Saturday 12 October 2013

Bean Bag Toss

For our outdoor game this week the children had to throw old socks filled with bean into hula-hoops and name the food flashcard inside.  It was a fun way to revise the vocabulary we had been learning that week.


Friday 11 October 2013

Sometimes and everyday food


Our project on food looked at and compared the food which we should eat every day and that which should only be eaten sometimes. Through stories, songs, experiments, art and games the children learned the names of at least 15 foods as well reinforcing the importance of eating well to stay strong and healthy.

apple banana biscuit sandwich chicken meat cake
lollipop pasta tomato pizza juice water milk chocolate

 

Friday 4 October 2013

The Very Hungry Caterpillar



This classic children’s book by Eric Carle tells the story of the lifecycle of a butterfly.  It also introduces the days of the week and the concept of healthy eating habits.  It was the perfect story for our unit of work on Sometimes and Everyday Food.