Spring is on the way ! Growing number sunflowers
Spring is on theway ! Growing number sunflowers
Last year we introduced a very simple “sunflower song to ourwork with Y2 , which even when they got into Year 3 they still select as theirclass favourite when asked what do they want to sing and perform
The sunflower song
It’s really simple. In Year 1 and 2 we start to sing the sunflower song.All you need to do is put a sequence of numbers to the familiar refrain of frère Jacques and explain to the class that the song is all about growing from a seed to a beautiful sunflower.
I based it on sunflowers because of the fields and fields of sunflowersI see when I visit Europe.
We look at pictures of sunflowers and challenge thechildren once they know their numbers 0-10 to count as many as they can beforethey run out of target language numbers ….we often end up saying numbers beyond10, but the number 10 is our class target!
Here are two of the pictures I usethat I took on holiday .
One of my colleagues practised the Mandarin version with her Year 3 children as an extension to their learning in French . They learnedthe song in French and then used the actions , the skills of listening for keysounds and the performance they already knew to create a performance song inMandarin!
The Sunflower song and performance
The performance is simple .Children crouch down tight likeseeds in the ground and grow slowly upwards until they reach 10 , when they shouldbe stretched up tall with their hands and fingers spread out so that theirhands are like sunflowers . One hand represents each sunflower on the number 10.In any language the song simply goes.....
1,2,3
1,2,3
4,5,6
4,5,6
7,8,9,
7,8,9
10,10,10
10,10,10
Sunflower maths
In Year 3 this Spring half term we are busy revisiting languagewith our classes and will use this simple sunflower maths activity with all ouryear groups to keep on revisiting those all important numbers .
I introduced andused this activity last year with classes and then shared it at the start of the academicyear with PGCE Primary MFL ITTs at Manchester University . I know that quite a few of them have gone onto use this activity and have found it very effective, whether they werespecialist or non-specialist primary linguists .
In Year 3 we revisit numbers from KS1 or introduce for thefirst time numbers 0-12 in the first couple of weeks in Autumn term .Now we can revisit them and use this activity to consolidate knowledge and extend knowledge .
We can link it to our Science projects of growing seeds and read a story aboutthe cycle of the sunflower and engage children in very simple number bondactivities.
I like to use these two stories in French and in Spanish ,Diez semillas /
dix petites graines to reinforce the cycle of the sunflower and its seeds
The sunflower maths activity is simple and effective....
Stage one:
Show twelve individual petals on a flip chart . Ask children to discuss withtheir partners the number that theythink the numbers and the simple mathematical sentence on the petal represents
Stage Two:
Show them the sunflower pictures of the flowers in the fields. Ask them tojoin in with the sunflower song from KS1 (see above)
Now ask them to help you to grow your class maths sunflower.
Stage Three:
Show the empty sunflower with no petals on your flip chart .
Ask the children to find for you the petals and placethem in the correct position on the sunflower .
Find “one” first and then find “six “ next as this allows hechildren to see the order like the clock face.
Even if you are using highernumbers or odds/ evens etc finding thefirst petal and then the petal with the numberwhich goes at the bottom of the sunflower seems to help the children toposition the other petals .You should expect the children to place the petals on the flipchart without support –which means they have to think about the order of the numbers and number bondsetc.
You should end up with an almost complete sunflower- with just one petal missing!
Nowask the children to write on their whiteboards the possible number sentences for themissing petal (in this case the number “ten”) .
Once the children know the words for plus/minus / equals they can share their idea with a partner . (With older children expect more complex number sentences and teach the words or phrases for multiply and divide )
Pair and groupactivities :
Children can then create their own games and with some corelanguage “find” / “where is ..?” they can play the game with a partner or atable of classmates
Moving on withhigher numbers and more advanced learners
With Year 4 and 5 we can use the Pocoyo video clips for longer more engaged listening although the younger children like these clips too!
"Pocoyo la graine "
Or in Spanish "Pocoyo la semilla "
or I love the Frenchstory book about growing seeds: toujours rien?
Here is a You Tube clip of the story
We can link the sunflower activity to higher numbers andmore challenging use of the four functions in Maths in mathematical sentences!
Childrencan write the mathematical sentences as words rather than figures to addchallenge both for the child writing and for the child reading the message onthe petal