Don't Be an April Fool!

April Fool's Day, or All Fools' Day, is the first day of April. It is a traditional day for playing pranks on unsuspecting people. In many countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, people play tricks on others. A favourite joke is to send someone on a fool's errand (a search for something that does not exist), or to get people to believe ridiculous things. The victim is called an April Fool.

No one knows where the April Fools' custom began. The origin is uncertain but may be related to the arrival of spring in late March, when nature "fools" humanity with changes in weather. Another explanation has to do with the change to the Gregorian calendar in 1582, which moved New Year's Day to January 1.

The tradition originated in France and Great Britain and it was introduced into America in colonial times.

The French call April 1 "Poisson d'Avril" or "April Fish". French children sometimes stick a picture of a fish on the back of their schoolmates, crying "Poisson d'Avril" when the prank is discovered.

Chispi is a marvellous football player!

My rabbit, Chispi, is white and small. His birthday is on 15th January. His favourite food is lettuce but he doesn't like apples. My bunny has got two long ears and two blue eyes. Chispi is very lovely and he likes playing football with a green and black ball.

By Maite Eseverri Zarzuelo

Cities for our projects

Here you can see some presentations showing some beautiful views and monuments of some of the cities for our project on important women (London, New York, Sydney). Moreover, you can enjoy some marvellous pictures of Paris.

You should click here to see pictures of Oxford and here for pictures of Boston.

Have a look at them and get ideas of some of the photos you can include in your posters.

View Upload your own

View Upload your own

Happy Easter!

Dear students, I hope you enjoyed your holidays a lot. I would like to send you my best wishes for Easter. Here you can see a video of how children look for Easter eggs and another one showing you the Easter Roll game at the White House.

Homework for Holy Week

Are you having a good time? I hope so. Remember you have some homework to do during holidays. You can click here to see the photocopies I gave you.

St. Patrick's Day

Saint Patrick’s Day is celebrated each year on March 17th. In Ireland, Saint Patrick’s Day is both a holy day and a national holiday. Saint Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland because he brought Christianity to the Irish.

According to legend, Saint Patrick used a shamrock (a type of clover) to explain about God. The shamrock has three leaves on each stem. Saint Patrick told the people that the shamrock was like the idea of the Trinity – that in the one God there are three divine beings: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Although it began in Ireland, Saint Patrick’s Day is celebrated in countries around the world. People with Irish heritage remind themselves of the beautiful green countryside of Ireland by wearing green and taking part in the festivities.

Saint Patrick’s Day is usually celebrated with a parade. The one in Dublin, the capital of Ireland, is very famous. But the one in New York City is one of the biggest. It lasts for hours.

One tale about Patrick is that he drove the snakes from Ireland. This is a metaphor for his bringing Christianity to Ireland and driving out the pagan religions. It’s true that Ireland has no snakes, but this has to do with the fact that Ireland is an island and being separated from the rest of the continent the snakes couldn’t get there.

Play a game here and have good luck! You can also read poems and listen to songs for this special day here.

Let's play with monsters!

Would you like to play a game with five horrible monsters? Click here and match descriptions and pictures.

The Monsters in our Class

Here you are some descriptions of the monsters that live in your classmates' heads. Aren't they scary? Which is your favourite one?

This monster has got two heads, four eyes and two noses. He has got three legs with seven fingers in each foot. He has got four arms and in every hand he has got four fingers. He is thin and very tall. On his head he has got five hairs. He hasn’t got a mouth.

By Anabel Rico Madera

He is a tall and fat monster with five hands and three legs. In his hands he has got two fingers and in his legs he has got eight toes. He is very ugly and he has got nine eyes and one ear. He hasn't got nose or any belly button.

By Celia Rodríguez Ruiz

The monster has got three mouths and in each mouth it has got two tongues; it has got a nose and five eyes. It has got four arms and no fingers, it has got four legs and one toe in each foot.

By Lucas Giráldez Torres

The monster has got one eye, two mouths with two teeth and two very big ears. The nose is very little and he is hasn't got hair.

By Lorena López Gómez

The monster is blue. He has got two hands and ten fingers in each hand. He is tall, he has got one leg and seven feet. His hair is purple, he has got three eyes, no ears, four mouths, one nose and he is wearing a long shirt.

By Maite Eseverri Zarzuelo

The monster of my house is very nice. He is small. He has got four arms and four hands. He has got seven legs. He isn’t intelligent but he is strong. He has got spiky blue hair. He has got three eyes, two noses, ten ears and a big, big mouth. He has got pink shoes, green trousers and a yellow t-shirt. He is my favourite monster!

By Paula María Chía de la Rosa

This monster is pink. She has got three blue eyes, six arms and two legs. She hasn't got ears or nose. She is very tall. She likes listening to music.
By Alba Catalán Baena

Let's go shopping!

In a couple of weeks we will work with vocabulary related to shops and other places in town. Do you like going shopping? Do you usually go shopping? Which shops do you usually go to? If you click in these links you will learn and review some vocabulary items: places 1, places 2, places 3.

Now you are ready to help the monkey by guessing what the shops are. You can also play this game and see how well you can manage at the supermarket!

A song with questions

Here is one of Ana's requests. I would like you to listen to it as you follow the lyrics. Can you answer these questions?

Does the boy love the girl?
What are the girl's feelings?
Does she want to be his girlfriend? Why?
Is there any change in the boy's life?
Is she happy when she grows up?
What is the message of the song?

Groups, pairs, and roles for our WebQuest

These are the groups and pairs that will work together on the WebQuest Important Women in the World. You can also see the roles each student will have:

Group A: Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin
Biographers: Lucas and Lorena
Work researchers: Jesús Martínez and Sergio
Travel agents: Miguel Ángel Conde and Francisco

Group B: Ada Augusta Byron
Biographers: Carmen and Celia
Work researchers: Andrés and Miguel Ángel Lobo
Travel agents: Maite and Jennifer

Group C: Toni Morrison
Biographers: José Antonio and José Carlos
Work researchers: Cayetano and Anabel
Travel agents: Lucía and Sara

Group D: Marjorie Jackson Nelson
Biographers: Vicente and Daniel
Work researchers: Manolo and Aitor
Travel agents: Mª Cruz and Paula

Group E: Edmonia Lewis
Biographers: Jesús Castaño and José Luis
Work researchers: Alba and Ana
Travel agents: Alberto and Jaime

You're beautiful!

I see from the survey that you like videos and songs. Here you have many things together: a video of a song with the lyrics in English and their Spanish translation. I hope you like it.

Let me know your favourite songs and singers to include them in this blog. Of course the songs must be in English!

Important Women in the World

These days we will celebrate International Women's Day (8 March) working on a WebQuest about women who did important things in the world. A WebQuest is a website with a list of links to other sites and information about the activities you have to do. We will work with the computers in pairs and groups. At the end, you will prepare a poster for the school and will present it to your classmates. I hope you have a good time . . . and I hope you learn many things!

Click here to begin.

The Haunted House

"The children are taking Bob the dog for a walk, but suddenly there is a storm, and Bob gets scared. He runs off and goes into a big, old house. Can the children find Bob?"

Would you like to know the end of the story? Click here and press "start". You can listen to the story and read it if you want. I hope you like it!