Fishbowl

After singing "Oh Mr.Sun" and "You are my Sunshine" with the younger kids, I asked them what they like to do when the sun is shining bright and the weather is very very hot. One of them answered going to the beach, so I asked them to tell me what they see at the beach. Some said that there are fish under the water, so I said that fish love swimming, and we're going to learn a song about swimming fishies today.

Five Fast Fishies

Five fast fishies swimming down the river,
Five fast fishies swimming down the stream.
Swimming by the floating logs, swimming by the croaking frogs!

Floating logs, croaking frogs,
Floating logs, croaking frogs,
Five fast fishies!

It was originally "Five Fast Fishies", but I asked them what number comes after five, and we actually repeated the song until we reached ten! Then I showed them what I prepared to make with them -- a fishbowl! I explained to them that I'll give each of them a fishbowl cut out in construction paper, and some white fishies. They need to colour the fishies and glue them onto the fishbowl template, and then count the number of fishies that they have.

Lesson preparation really makes a huge difference in classroom management. Last week, I taught them a lesson without preparation because I didn't know I would have an hour with them. It was very difficult, the kids were fidgeting, and the arts and craft that another teacher and I did with them didn't go well, because they had to make a rainbow but we had to help them cut out lots of things. This time, I had a sample with me so I could explain to them step by step before they actually put their hands on things, and I pre-cut everything so it would be easy for them to actually work on the craft without too much fuss. I believe that kids would feel a greater sense of achievement and pride, because they could do it on their own!

Fishbowl by Michael:


Fishbowl by Maya: