28.04.

2015
Paulina Kuchciska
Marzena Pepowska
Marta Chudzik

Portfolio task 4
Design a project for young learners entitled Changes using the book
The Secret Garden as the background. Plan the sequence of 5 lessons.
Describe the aims, objectives, the procedure and teaching aids.
Grade: 3rd grade
Time: 50 minutes per lesson
General aim of the project: to make students understand the changes that
happen in the environment during the seasons
Lesson 1
Aims: to read the simplified version of the book, to introduce vocabulary
connected with two seasons- winter, spring
Objectives: by the end of the lesson the learners will be able to:

act/mime some scenes from the book;

connect some words with pictures;
answer questions to the book

Teaching aids: the simplified book: The Secret Garden Penguin Active
Reading (many pre- during- and post-reading activities the teacher can use
or adapt to learners needs), flashcards (pictures and written form)
Procedures:
-

Introduction: the teacher introduces the book (plot and characters)

and the topic of changes to inform them on what should they pay
attention to during the project
Pre-reading activities & vocabulary: The teacher writes SECRET on
the board and asks children about the meaning, then writes GARDEN
and again checks the meaning plus asks the questions as e.g.: Do
you have a garden? What can you do in the garden? What can you
find in the garden?
During-reading activities: The teacher asks the questions during
reading (about characters, events, garden), checks understanding of
the content and vocabulary (e.g. after 4th chapter teacher divides

the learners into groups and gives them two groups of small
flashcards, one with words: winter, walls, crying, sing, family, key;
and another with pictures of these words - the learners have to
match them correctly).
Post-reading activities: The teacher consolidates students
knowledge by some activities (e.g. teacher puts students in small
groups and gives them a picture with one scene from the whole
book. The teacher tells them they have to mime the scene. Then
they perform it for the whole class. The rest of the students have to
say what is happening), teacher also prepares some vocabulary
activities.

Lesson 2
Aims:

to introduce winters and springs plants and animals, their

changing nature according to changing seasons

Objectives: by the end of the lesson the learners will be able to:
produce some vocabulary used during the lesson and recognize the
rest of the vocabulary (pictures with written form)
compare animals and plants changes during winter and spring
Teaching aids: flashcards, pictures, handouts
Procedures:
- The teacher introduces vocabulary using flashcards and creating
mind map on the board (e.g. grass, tree: oak, maple, spruce, flower:
poppy, daisy, forget-me-not, crocus, pansy, animals: bears, squirrels,
foxes, hedgehogs, sparrows, storks)
- Vocabulary games and activities: both individual and pair/group
work
- The teacher explains the difference between winter and spring, how
these two seasons change, how these changes influence chosen
plants and animals. The students get colorful handout to fill in with
the differences in seasons
- The teacher asks each pair of students from one table to tell what
they have learned in this lesson
Lesson 3
Aims: to introduce creative painting, to practice the changes that happen
in nature
Objectives: by the end of the lesson the learners will:

paint a picture of a garden in spring or create a project with lift-theflaps,

be able to name the differences between a garden in winter and
spring (vocabulary needed for the description was learned in
previous lessons)

Teaching aids: Paintings/pictures of a garden in winter.

Procedure:
-The teacher discusses (revision) with the students the differences in
winter and spring
-The teacher gives students a painting or a picture of a garden in winter
and asks them to paint how the same garden would look like in spring.
-Possible variation: Children create a project: they create a spring
landscape and lift-the-flaps where it is shown how would it look like in
winter.
-The students present their works to the whole class
Lesson 4
Aims: to practice web search, to develop creative thinking
Objectives: by the end of the lesson the learners will:

understand that days are not equally long

be able to calculate the difference and present it in the form of a
fraction (or percentage)
know when we change the clock

Teaching aids: handout

Procedure:
-The teacher asks students to find in the internet:
-when we change the clock
-how many hours the first day of winter lasts
-how many hours the first day of spring lasts
-Then, learners are asked to calculate the difference and present it in the
form of a fraction or percentages (for more advanced students).
-Some students who finish the task very quickly are asked to write the
reasons
why
we
change
the
clock
and
list
possible
advantages/disadvantages.
Task 1
You need to find:
when do we change the clock?
how many hours lasts the first day of winter?
how many hours the lasts first day of spring?
And calculate the difference.

*CHALLENGE: Once you finished, write or find and

print why we change the clock and list possible
advantages/disadvantages.
Lesson 5
Aims: to practice writing a description, to practice written form of
vocabulary learned in the project, to practice the structure: there is there
are
Objectives: by the end of the lesson the learners will:

write a short description of the garden in spring or winter (learners

own choice)
be able to write sentences using the structure: there is/ there are
know the sequence in which we put information in the description

Teaching aids: short handout (grammar), board

Procedure:
-The teacher revises vocabulary connected with spring and summer
-The students create the mind map on the with the teachers help (pictures
+ written form)
-The teacher asks students how should we describe places
-On the basis of students answers the teacher creates a template on the
board for description of garden (where is it, how does it look like (from the
general to the specific info), my opinion about the place)
-The teacher revises structure: there is/ there. The teacher provides a short
activity on a small piece of paper. The learners do it in pairs.
-The students write 10 sentences about the garden in winter or spring. The
children can look at the board (vocabulary, template of description)