English 1st June 2020

Hello, everyone!

New month and new week. I love when that happens :)

Yesterday I took a plane and visited Paris. I love Paris. Have a look at one of the monuments I visited.

Just kidding! That is an amazing model of the Eiffel Tower made by Araceli. It's awesome, Araceli! Great work :)

Let's do a bit of English today. Are you ready?

First let's practise that new structure again (present perfect) with the next quiz.

1. QUIZ.

2. Complete the next chart of regular and irregular verbs.

INFINITIVE	PAST	PAST PARTICIPLE
PLAY
	WENT
DRAW
		DRUNK
		VISITED
	GREW
LIVE
	LEFT
		PUT
HAVE
	BOUGHT
SEE
	TOOK
READ

3. With the next photographs I want you to write three things: the action, a sentence and a question. Have a look at my examples with the first photo (PB 96).

FIRST PHOTO

Action: eat sushi

Sentence: I've eaten sushi.

Question: Have you ever eaten sushi?

You have to do the same with the rest of the photographs.

4. Habéis trabajado como unos campeones hoy, así que creo que os merecéis un poco de juego. En el siguiente enlace os propongo una combinación de past participle, topos y lejano oeste (yo he conseguido más de mil puntos...).

HIT THE MOLES!

See you tomorrow ;)

Ramón C. 

Fin de semana 30-31 de mayo de 2020

Buenos días, amigos:

Espero que estéis bien y comencéis el fin de semana con ilusión y algún plan interesante. En un par de días comenzamos junio y parece que este mes podrá traernos cosas buenas y una situación cada vez más positiva. 

Antes de nada, ¿habéis visto la última entrada del blog de la Biblioteca? Yo os la recomiendo encarecidamente.

LA BIBLIOTECA DEL PASAMONTE

Por si alguien aun no tiene plan para esta mañana de sábado, me gustaría compartir con vosotros una página web maravillosa. La encontró nuestra profe Mercedes y os confieso que he pasado varios ratos curioseando por aquí y por allá. 

En el siguiente enlace accedéis a una colección de obras de arte clasificadas por colores. Elegís un color de la paleta que está arriba y podéis ver cuadros en los que ese es el color predominante. Al entrar podéis ver el nombre de la obra, el artista y el año en que fue realizada, así como algo de información acerca de la obra.

CLICK

Ya me contaréis qué os parece y si os ha gustado alguna especialmente. 

Un abrazo y buen fin de semana. 

Ramón C. 

Natural Science 29th May 2020

Good morning, centipedes:

How are you today? It's Friday again and you know what that means. Yes, I know. But there's a problem. I usually share a song when we do English, but today we have Natural Science. So I thought: maybe I can choose a song about invertebrates. Not an easy thing! But I found one :)

Complete the lyrics below.

I'd like to be (1)___________the sea
In an octopus's garden in the shade
He'd let us in, knows (2)_____________we've been
In his octopus's garden in the shade

I'd ask my friends to (3)___________and see
An octopus's garden with me
I'd like to be under the sea
In an octopus's garden in the shade

We would be warm below the (4)_________________
In our little hideaway beneath the (5)______________
Resting our (6)______________on the sea bed
In an octopus's garden near a cave

We would (7)________________and dance around
Because we (8)____________we can't be found
I'd like to be under the sea
In an octopus's garden in the shade

We would shout and (9)_____________about
The (10)_____________that lies beneath the waves
(Lies beneath the ocean waves)
Oh what joy for every (11)___________and (12)_______________
Knowing they're happy and they're safe
(Happy and they're safe)

We would be so happy you and me
No one there to tell us what to do
I'd like to be under the sea
In an octopus's garden with you
In an octopus's garden with you
In an octopus's garden with you

And now let's continue with our invertebrates.

Some days ago we talked about the first group: Arthropods. It is the biggest group and it has four subgroups: insects, crustaceans, arachnids, cnidarians). 

Today we are going to see two new groups: molluscs and echinoderms. Have a look at the next word maps:

As you can see, it is a lot of information, but you don't have to learn everything. Read it carefully and try to do the next activities: 

1. How do cephalopods escape predators?

2. Identify the next molluscs and echinoderms:

a) I have a long, soft and elastic body___________________

b) I use my strong arms to open shells___________________

c) My soft body is protected by a shell___________________

d) I am a cephalopod but I am not an octopus____________

e) I have a spiky body_________________________________

f) I am a gastropod but I am not a snail__________________

g) I can use ink to escape predators_____________________

3. Let's finish with some AB exercises (AB 17).

I have found two videos about molluscs and echinoderms. I hope you like them. 

MOLLUSCS

ECHINODERMS (starfish)

Have a nice weekend!

Ramón C. 

English 28th May 2020

Good morning, kids!

(¿Sabéis que nuestro amigo Gonzalo intercambia preguntas y respuestas con toda una historiadora y arqueóloga? Compruébalo aquí).

How are you today. It's Thursday again, time flies! Let's do a bit of English on this lovely day.

I'd like to go back to the episode you read some days ago. Read it again and do the next activity.

1. TRUE or FALSE? (if the sentences are false, correct them):

a) They see some horses at the market.

b) The camel trip goes to the beach.

c) Josh's camel is very friendly.

d) Ravi is snoring at the end of the episode.

e) There are lots of vegetables at the market.

f) The spices smell bad.

2. Let's practise with Present perfect tense a bit more. Answer the next questions from PB page 96. Have a look at my examples before you answer.

EXAMPLES: 

- Have you ever visited a cathedral? Yes, I have.

- Have you ever played golf? No, I haven't.

QUESTIONS

- Have you ever eaten sushi?

- Have you ever taken a photo?

- Have you ever seen a whale?

- Have you ever played cricket?

- Have you ever bought a souvenir?

- Have you ever visited a monument?

Como podéis ver, en esas preguntas os he subrayado el verbo principal (que es la tercera columna de los verbos: past participle). 

Para preguntar sobre experiencias pasadas, cosas que habéis hecho, utilizamos estas estructuras:

3. Utilizando los siguientes verbos, haced cinco preguntas con la estructura que hemos visto en el cuadro. 

VERBS: play, buy, drink, eat, ride, draw (recordad que tenéis que utilizarlos como past participle). 

MY EXAMPLE: Have you ever PLAYED handball?

YOUR QUESTIONS

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4. Let's finish with the next AB exercises (AB 93:1-2).

See you tomorrow ;)

Ramón C.  

Social Science 27th May 2020

Good morning, everyone!

Are you ready to do a bit of Social Science? Today we are going to start a very hard unit because it is a unit about rocks....Don't you see? Rocks...very hard! Ok, bad joke!

Before we start, I need you to remember that rocks and minerals are inorganic substances (inorgánico, sin vida, inerte) that are made of chemical components (elementos químicos, sustancias que se encuentran en la naturaleza). 

They are natural things. Plants are natural things too, but they are not minerals. Héctor is a natural thing too, but he is not a mineral. 

MINERALS are NATURAL and INORGANIC (no life).
PLANTS are NATURAL and ORGANIC (life).
HÉCTOR is NATURAL and ORGANIC (life).

Thank you, Héctor, for your help.

In this unit we are going to learn the differences between minerals and rocks. Have a look at our first word map (PB 60): 

It shows some important aspects: 
- Minerals are inorganic, solid, natural substances.
- Rocks are formed from minerals.
- There are three types of rocks. 

And the second word map explains the three types of rocks (PB 60-61):

The next video explains those three types of rocks in a very easy way.

After reading the information and watching the video, let's do the next activities:

1. Read the definition of minerals again (PB 60 or my word map) and say why these three elements are not minerals: 

PLASTIC, WATER, BONE.

2. TRUE or FALSE?

a) Minerals are formed by rocks________________________
b) Minerals are living things____________________________
c) Some rocks can have fossils__________________________
d) Igneous rocks come from volcanoes___________________
e) Metamorphic rocks have fragments of living things______
f) Heat and pressure can change rocks___________________
g) Granite and basalt are sedimentary rocks______________
h) Basalt is solidified lava_____________________________

3. Let's finish with the next AB exercises.

Si os apetece, en el siguiente enlace tenéis un juego-paseo por el pueblo de Cercedilla, donde está nuestro albergue del año pasado. Yo lo he hecho y he aprendido muchas cosas que no sabía de ese pueblo. ¡Merece la pena!

CERCEDILLA

See you tomorrow ;)

Ramón C. 

English 26th May 2020

Good morning, little explorers!

Let's continue with English Unit 9: Today we are going to do some reading and listening activities. 

1. First read and listen to the dialogue on PB pages 94-95. If you don't have the book you can read here and listen on the link below.

LISTENING

2. After reading and listening, try to do the next activity (AB 92:1).

a) Lily, Josh and Ravi go to a Moroccan__________________

b) There are lots of______________ at the market.

c) Everyone rides a __________________________________

d) The camel trip goes to the __________________________

e) Ravi's camel is very_________________________________

f) Josh's camel is really_______________________________

g) Lily and Ravi hear a terrible_________________________

h) It's___________________________. He's snoring.

3. Now I need you to write three true sentences and three false sentences about the episode (la dificultad la decides tú, pero no te conformes con una frase de tres palabras...). I am going to give you two examples:

TRUE SENTENCE: The camel trip goes to the oasis.

FALSE SENTENCE: Ravi´s camel is very unfriendly.

4. After this hard work, I think you desserve a little game (watch the monkey!).

VERBS GAME

See you tomorrow ;)

Ramón C.

Natural Science 25th May 2020

Hello, myriapods!

Echad un ojo antes de nada al blog de la biblioteca, que nos han saludado :) BLOG BIBLIOTECA

We start a new week with some Natural Science. I hope you had a nice weekend because today we have to work super hard. Oh, yeah!

It's time to talk about invertebrates. Most animals on Earth are invertebrates: incredible animals without backbone. Have a look at the next chart. It's incredible! 

There are millions of species of invertebrate animals. I am sure right now there are lots of them at home, next to you, maybe behind you... 

We are going to classify them in six groups. The next information can be found on PB page 45.

Today we are going to start with the first of those six groups: arthropods. 

Arthropods are the biggest group of invertebrates, and we can see four subgroups. Have a look (el esquema tiene más chicha de lo que parece. Os aconsejo que lo miréis tranquilamente y que me preguntéis si os surge alguna duda): 

In this unit we are going to learn a lot of things about these animals. It is important you read that information a few times, because I'm going to ask you about them in the next activities.

1. Let's start with an easy crossword (AB page 16).

2. In the next activity you have to write the correct group of arthropods: insects, crustaceans, arachnids or myriapods. If the sentence refers to the four groups, you write ARTHROPOD.

a) They have six legs__________________________________

b) They have a very thick exoskeleton___________________

c) They have a lot of legs______________________________

d) They can produce threads of silk_____________________

e) In some of them their two front legs are claws_________

f) They have eight legs________________________________

g) Some species have eight eyes________________________

h) They don't have a backbone_________________________

j) They only live on land______________________________

i) They lay egss______________________________________

3. Try the next easy game to go over some of the characteristics we have studied.

ARTHROPODS GAME

4. Next you can watch this video that offers a nice summary of some of the things we have seen today. 

ARTHROPODS VIDEO

5. Finally I want you to observe the next animal and tell me why it is not included in the group of arthropods. I thought it was an arthropod, so tell me why I am wrong (no me digáis que no es un artrópodo porque es un gato: con lo que ya sabéis de los artrópodos podéis decirme qué los caracteriza, y por qué no podéis incluir a este adorable animal en ese grupo).

Si os apetece, jugad a emparejar algunos de los insectos más comunes en la Sierra de Guadarrama. 

INSECTOS SIERRA DE GUADARRAMA

See you tomorrow :)

Ramón C. 

Fin de semana 23-24 de mayo de 2020

Hola, amigos.

Ya sabéis que los fines de semana son para desconectar y que si preparo una entrada en el blog los sábados es solo para ofreceros algo por si llueve y no podéis salir, o se va la luz y no hay tele o de repente olvidáis cómo se enciende...¡Qué se yo!

Como estamos viendo los animales en Naturales, próximamente los invertebrados, el otro día me acordé de un cuento que muchos de vosotros conocéis y que todos los maestros de inglés del mundo conocen (todos).

Se trata de "La pequeña oruga glotona" (The Very Hungry Caterpillar) de Eric Carle. Por si os apetece recordarlo, comparto con vosotros un animación en vídeo. 

Y, ya puestos, a lo mejor alguno de vosotros se anima a hacer alguna de las siguientes manualidades para disfrutar un poco más de la historia de este pequeño lepidóptero.

FINGER PUPPETS

CATERPILLAR CRAFT

CATERPILLAR WITH LIDS (TAPONES)

CATERPILLAR CLOTHESPIN

CATERPILLAR NECKLACE

Espero que paséis un buen fin de semana. 

Otra cosa. Como es sábado y seguramente os vayáis a la cama algo más tarde, tal vez os apetece daros un paseo nocturno por el campo... Os animo a ello con una nueva actividad preparada por nuestros amigos de los albergues.

PASEO NOCTURNO

Un fuerte abrazo.

Ramón C.

English 22nd May 2020

Good morning, everyone:

Antes de nada, echad un vistazo a lo siguiente en el blog de la biblioteca (aquí).

It is Friday again and I know you are waiting for a new lovely song. It is a very easy song, but I think you may like it (everybody likes this song). So, let's get to it: 

1. Complete the lyrics.

All the leaves are (1)________________________ (all the leaves are (2)_________________)
And the sky is (3) ______________ (and the sky is (4) _______________)
I've been for a (5) _______________ (I've been for a (6)__________________)
On a winter's (7)___________________ (on a winter's (8)____________________)
I'd be safe and warm (I'd be safe and warm)
If I (9) ______________ in L.A. (if I (10)__________________ in L.A.)

California dreamin' (California dreamin')
On such a winter's day

Stopped into a (11)______________________
I passed along the (12)_______________
Well, I got (13) ________________ on my knees (got down on my knees)
And I pretend to pray (I pretend to pray)
You (14)________________ the preacher (15)________ the cold (preacher like the cold)
He knows I'm gonna stay (knows I'm gonna stay)

California dreamin' (California dreamin')
On such a winter's day

All the leaves are brown (all the leaves are brown)
And the sky is grey (and the sky is grey)
I've been for a walk (I've been for a walk)
On a winter's day (on a winter's day)
If I (16)_______________ tell her (if I didn't (17)_____________ her)
I could (18)___________ today (I could leave today)

California dreamin' (California dreamin')
On such a winter's day (California dreamin')
On such a winter's day (California dreamin')
On such a winter's day

2. Now let's see how you answer the next questions.

a) Have you ever been to England?______________________

b) Have ever written a poem?__________________________

c) Have you ever seen a unicorn?_______________________

d) Has your mother ever eaten insects?__________________

e) Have you ever swum with sharks?_____________________

f) Has your teacher ever drawn a pig?___________________

3. Let's continue with another flags worksheet (link below)

FLAGS WORKSHEET

4. As I said, we need to go over verbs in this unit. So have a look at the next game to practise that 3rd column (PAST PARTICIPLE). Puede parecer un juego simple, pero es muy interesante para aprender cómo se forman esas frases en PRESENT PERFECT (un tiempo verbal que usamos para hablar de cosas que hemos hecho). 

GAME

And that'll be all, folks!

Have a nice weekend.

Ramón C.