Miss Lucy's Teaching Fun

🥕 From Planting to Harvesting: Growing English in the School Garden

2026-10-18T22:24:00.000+02:00

In my previous post, Let’s Grow English! School Garden Activities for Teaching English in October, we explored how a school garden can become a wonderful outdoor classroom for learning English through real-life experiences.

But planting is only the beginning! 🌱

As the garden grows, it also gives us plenty of opportunities to teach and practice grammar in a meaningful context. Here are some simple grammar activities we can build around our plants:

🌱 1. Have Got: Describe Your Plant

Once the children have spent some time observing the plants in the garden, we can use them to practice have got. Each child can choose a plant and describe it:

My plant has got green leaves.
It has got a long stem.
It hasn't got any flowers
It has got three small leaves.

And the real plants provide all the visual support children need.

We can also turn this into a little Guess My Plant game. One child describes a plant while the others try to guess which one it is:

It has got long green leaves.
It is small and thin.
It has got a short stem.

What is it?

📏 2. Comparatives: Which Plant Is Bigger?

The school garden is also a great place to bring Maths and English together. Children can look at different plants, leaves and vegetables and compare them using pairs of opposites like big/small, tall/short, long/short, thin/thick etc.

Then we can introduce comparatives:

The broccoli is taller than the lettuce.
This leaf is bigger than that leaf.

Finally, give children rulers or measuring tapes and let them collect some real measurements.

How tall is the plant?
Which leaf is bigger?

They can record their results in a simple table and then use the information to make sentences.

📓 3. English Garden Diary

A school garden gives us a wonderful reason to return to English again and again. Why not create an English Garden Diary? Every time the children visit the garden, they can record what they see and what they have done:
October 3rd: We planted peas.
October 10th: The peas are growing.
October 24th: The plants are bigger.
November: Look! We have peas!

In addition, the diary allows children to use different verb forms naturally:

Past simple: We planted.
Present Continuous: They are growing.
Present Simple: The plants are bigger.
Future with will: We will pick them.

For younger learners, the diary could include drawings, labels and simple sentences. Older students could add measurements, weather observations and photographs.

🥕 5. From Planting to Harvesting

Eventually, the waiting is over...

It's time to harvest! 🎉

After all those weeks of planting, watering and observing, children can finally see the results of their work, and, of course, harvesting gives us another opportunity to practice English, asking questions such as:
What did we grow?
How many vegetables did we pick?
What colour are they?
Are they big or small?
Which vegetable do you like?

So that children can count, sort, measure and describe the vegetables they have harvested. We can also create a simple class survey: What's your favorite vegetable? And even turn the answers into a simple class graph, bringing English and Maths together once again.

From the first tiny seed to the final harvest, the school garden gives children something meaningful to see, touch, measure, describe and talk about. And perhaps that's the real magic of growing English outdoors: the language is no longer something that only lives on a worksheet.

It grows alongside the plants. 🌱💚

The Better Me: From Self-Reflection to Action in My IB Classroom

2026-10-12T19:28:00.000+02:00

In my previous post, I wrote about self-reflection, student agency, and the importance of helping children focus on their own progress rather than constantly comparing themselves with others.

But this is not just a theoretical idea. In fact, a few years ago, when I was working as a homeroom teacher in an IB school in Madrid, I had the opportunity to use an approach inspired by the [Better Me Project] with my students.

Looking back at that experience today, I can see many connections with ideas that are central to the PYP: learner agency, self-awareness, personal goals, reflection, and action.

We used a simple tool, a booklet in which each student could write down their strengths, the areas they wanted to improve, and the strategies they could use to move forward.

What I particularly remember is that this reflection did not stop in the classroom. I often used the tool during parent-teacher conferences, with the child present and actively involved in the conversation. Instead of adults simply talking about the child, we could talk with the child.

Together, we could look at the different sections of the booklet:

What am I already doing well?
What would I like to improve?
What could help me?
What strategies could I try?
How am I doing now?
Do I need to change something?

This made the conversation much more concrete. The child was not simply receiving feedback from adults; they were becoming part of the conversation about their own learning and development.

We could ask questions such as:

What were you trying to improve?
What have you noticed?
What seems to be working?
What is still difficult?
Is there something you could try differently?
How can the adults around you help?

And this is perhaps what I find most interesting when I look back at this experience through my PYP lens today: the fact that this reflection tool was not simply a way of assessing progress, but a way of making the child visible as an active participant in the process.

So... 🎁 here's a little present for you today: My Better Me Reflection Tool
An adaptation based on my classroom experience.

The funny thing was that, the more I talked about it, the more details I could remember. The power of meaningful learning! 😄

Because this experience happened some time ago, I recently tried to recreate the reflection tool I remember using in my classroom. The result is the PDF you can find here.

Of course, it is not an official Better Me Project resource. It is my own reconstruction, based on my memories of how I used an approach inspired by the project when I was teaching in Madrid, and possibly also on how I might have improved or adapted it over time.

For each topic — AT HOME / WITH MY CLASSMATES & FRIENDS / AT SCHOOL — students were invited to reflect on three main areas:

What am I good at?
What would I like to improve?
What strategies could help me reach my goals?

In this way, the child is not simply receiving a list of things that an adult thinks they should work on. Instead, they are beginning to identify their own goals.

The following section was about monitoring progress:

How am I doing?

🟩 I’m doing well
🟨 I can improve
🟥 I need to work harder

The simplicity of this system made it accessible to children, but, more importantly, it created an opportunity to stop and ask:

Is my strategy actually helping me?

If the answer was yes, the child could continue.

If the answer was no, there was another step:

What could I change?

The final section of the tool therefore focused on modifying the initial strategies, making the process much more interesting because it was no longer just about setting a goal. It became:

I set a goal → I choose a strategy → I try it → I check my progress → I adjust my strategy.

That is a cycle.

And this is what I find particularly interesting about the tool: it helps make progress more visible. It gives children a simple way to stop, look back, and think about what is working, what is not, and what they could try next.

Let’s Grow English! School Garden Activities for Teaching English in October 🌱

2026-10-06T18:07:00.000+02:00

Years ago, I shared a little idea on this blog about growing plants in tiny pots and making simple labels for them. At the time, it was a small gardening activity, but looking back, I can see how many opportunities there are to use a school garden as a natural English learning environment. Over the years, as educational approaches have evolved and schools have embraced more innovative ways of learning, the value of outdoor education and hands-on experiences has become increasingly clear and a school garden can be much more than a place where children learn about plants. It can become a wonderful setting for teaching English through real-life activities, combining vocabulary, grammar, Science, Maths and outdoor learning. In facts sometimes, the best English classroom doesn't have four walls, instead it has soil, seeds, little hands… and something growing.

A lovely way to introduce our school garden project is with Eric Carle's The Tiny Seed.

Here you can read about a whole lesson plan built around this fabulous book especially if you live in a part of the world where spring is just around the corner.

The story gives us a wonderful starting point for talking about seeds, plants, seasons, weather and growing and after reading or watching the story, we can ask: What does a seed need to grow?
☀️ sunlight💧 water / 🌧️ rain 🌱 soil 🌡️ warmth... And suddenly, we already have our first English lesson!

Are you teaching older students? Then it's time to practice Present Simple sentences! Because... Grammar doesn't have to start with a grammar worksheet, sometimes it can start with a real question about the world around us:

A plant/ seed needs water/ soil / sunlight.
Roots take water from the soil.
Plants grow.

It is also a simple way to notice the difference between:

A plant needs...
Plants need...

🥕 Now comes the big question: What can we plant in our school garden in October?

Depending on the local climate and growing conditions, October can be a good time to grow a variety of cool-season vegetables. 🌱🍂 For example:

🌱 Seeds to sow in October
🥕 Carrots
🫛 Peas
🫘 Broad beans
🥬 Spinach
🔴 Radishes

🪴 Young plants or seedlings to plant

🥬 Lettuce
🥬 Cabbage
🥦 Broccoli
🥦 Cauliflower
🥬 Kale
🧅 Onions

Once we have chosen what to plant, the garden becomes a fantastic context for learning and using English garden vocabulary.

We can introduce our Garden Word Wall:

seed – soil – root – stem – leaf – flower – plant – vegetable – water – sunlight

And then our Garden Action Words:

dig – sow – plant – cover – water – grow – pick – pull – smell – touch – count – measure

The important thing is that children don't just learn these words from flashcards, but they use them: they touch the soil, they plant the seeds, they water the vegetables, they observe the leaves, and, while they are doing all these things, they are using English.

At this point, depending on your students’ level, you can expand grammar and vocabulary practice through a variety of games and activities. Here are some suggestions:

1. Imperatives: Let's Work in the Garden!

When we are gardening, English becomes the language of action. Sentences like dig a hole, plant the seed, cover it with soil, water the plant, can be even turned this into a quick game of Simon Says:

Simon says, dig / plant a seed / pick a tomato
Simon says, water the plant / smell a flower
Simon says, touch the leaves! / pull the weeds

2. What Will Happen to Our Seeds?

And now we can go back to our tiny seeds, before planting, ask: What do you think will happen?

Children can make predictions:

I think the seed will grow.
I think the plant will get bigger.
I think we will have flowers.
I think we will have vegetables.

This is a lovely, meaningful way to practise will for predictions and you can create a Garden Predictions Chart and come back to it as the plants grow.

Were our predictions correct?

The children will have a real reason to use English to talk about what happened.

3. Present Continuous: Guess What I'm Doing!

While the children are working, ask: What are you doing? or... You can turn this into a little garden charades activity: one child chooses an action and mimes it while the others guess:

Are you digging?
Are you planting a seed?
Are you watering the lettuce?
Are you picking a tomato?

Definitely a fun way to practice Present Continuous questions and answers.

4. Past Continuous: What were they doing?

Finally, if you take a few photographs while the children are gardening, you can use them later for practicing some past continuous Q&A: What were they doing?

She was planting a seed.
He was watering the plants.
They were digging the soil.

Real photographs give children something meaningful to talk about and help them connect grammar with their own experiences.

There are many ways to develop this activity: students can write sentences in their notebooks, work in pairs to ask and answer questions, create a poster using the photos, or even make a short class presentation!

5. There Is / There Are: What's in Our Garden?

Once the garden starts growing, children can explore it and make their own sentences using there is and there are, together with some, any and numbers.

There is a tomato plant.
There are three lettuce plants.
There are some carrots.
There isn't any broccoli.

They can also play Garden Detectives, exploring the garden with a little checklist:

☐ There is a flower.
☐ There are five leaves.
☐ There is a tall plant.
☐ There are some small plants.

This way, a simple grammar activity turns into a fun outdoor treasure hunt! 🌱🔎

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🌟 ¡Learning English doesn’t simply mean filling in the blanks! 🇬🇧✨

Many English as a Second Language (ESL) activities rely solely on “fill-in-the-blank” exercises ✏️… but the real goal should be to help children speak, understand, and use English naturally. 🗣️💬

🎨 Learning by doing makes it much easier, more fun, and more motivating!

And you’ll be surprised at how quickly children can start achieving real results. 🌈🚀

📚 If you’re looking for creative and engaging activities to make English learning more dynamic, check out my online store! 🛍️💕

👉 ESL Children's Worksheets

✨ Learn, play, speak, and grow! ❤️

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📍Do you struggle with a challenging class, where many of your students get distracted and their academic performance doesn’t reflect all the effort you put into preparing and teaching your lessons?

📍Does this situation frustrate you, and would you like your students to learn more while enjoying the process?

👉Something similar happened to me during my elementary teaching internship, and in my latest book, Pygmalion in the Classroom: A Real Experience—based on my senior thesis and my internship at a primary school in Madrid—I’ll tell you how we managed to turn things around and achieve resounding success!

Don’t miss it!

Available in digital and print formats on Amazon in every country, and on the major e-book platforms.

From Self-Reflection to Agency: Helping Children See Their Own Progress

2026-09-28T18:00:00.000+02:00

What if one of the simplest ways to foster student agency was to help children stop comparing themselves with others and start looking at their own learning journey?

There is something I have been thinking about lately: in a classroom, comparison happens naturally. Children notice who finishes first, who reads more fluently, who speaks English more confidently, who seems to find maths easy, or who always has their hand up.

But is comparison a bad thing? Not necessarily, in fact even outside school we learn from one another and we notice different strategies, because we are part of a learning community.

However, I think there is another kind of comparison that deserves more space in our classrooms:

comparing ourselves with ourselves.

Where was I when I started?
Where am I now?
What have I improved?
What would I like to work on next?
And, perhaps most importantly:
What can I do to get there?

Nowadays it's common knowledge that every learner starts from a different place and one of the things I particularly value about the PYP is its student-centered approach: every child comes into the classroom with a different collection of experiences, knowledge, skills, strengths and needs and, for this reason, even when we offer the same learning experience to a whole class, children are not necessarily starting from the same place... And they may not need exactly the same next step.

The IB describes the PYP as a framework in which students are agents of their own learning and partners in the learning process. Agency and self-efficacy are described as fundamental to learning in the PYP, with students taking responsibility and ownership of their learning.

This makes me wonder: How can we help children become more aware of their own starting point and their own progress?

One possible answer is through self-reflection, where reflection is more than “How did I do?”

Sometimes, when we think about reflection, we often think about questions such as: What did I learn? What did I enjoy? What was difficult?

These are useful questions, but reflection can become even more meaningful when it leads somewhere, moving reflection from simply looking backwards to also looking forwards. Questions such as

What can I already do?
What would I like to improve?
What could I do to improve it?
Is my strategy working?
What could I change?

can shift the point of view and make a strong connection with student agency.

Looking at a more recent IB review of the literature on student agency, self-reflection is identified as one of four important components of agency, alongside intentionality, forethought and self-regulation. The review also discusses processes such as setting goals, creating plans, monitoring progress, adapting to setbacks, and reflecting on learning experiences. This connection leads students from reflection to action, shaping the process into a little cycle:

I notice: the child first becomes aware of where they are.
↓
I choose: then they identify something they would like to improve.
↓
I try: they think about a possible strategy
↓
I check: they try it.
↓
I adjust: they come back to their goal and ask:

Is this helping me?

If it is, they can continue.
If it isn't, they can try something different.

This is where reflection becomes connected to action and agency: the PYP describes action as the core of student agency and emphasizes students' responsibility and ownership of their learning.

At this point it's easy to understand that individualizing learning does not necessarily mean preparing twenty completely different activities for twenty children, instead, very often, it can mean helping each child identify their own next step.

Imagine three children working on speaking in English: one child may already be very confident and need to work on using more precise vocabulary, another may understand everything but still hesitate to speak, while a third child may need to practice forming simple sentences: the learning experience can be shared, even though the starting points and, consequently, the goals can be different too. This is where self-reflection may become a simple but powerful tool for personalizing learning.

The IB itself describes the PYP as supporting personalised and flexible learning that adapts to diverse needs, cultures and contexts.

So instead of asking: “Who is doing better?”
We can help children ask: “What can I do now that I couldn't do before?”

It's a small shift can make an important difference, because it pushes each student from comparing with others to noticing personal progress, giving children another reference point: themselves.

A child who starts with less confidence but makes significant progress may not necessarily appear to be “ahead” at the end, but their learning journey may have been enormous while another child may start from a very different point and work towards a completely different goal: if we only look at the final product, some of this progress can remain invisible.

Self-reflection can make that progress more visible and it gives children the opportunity to recognize: “At the beginning I couldn't do this, and now I can.”

And that is a very different kind of success.

References and further reading:

International Baccalaureate Organization. Primary Years Programme – Curriculum Framework.
The IB describes students as agents of their own learning and identifies agency, self-efficacy and action as fundamental elements of the PYP.

Brandt, W. C. (2025). Measuring Student Success Skills: A Review of the Literature on Student Agency. International Baccalaureate Organization.
This review examines student agency and its relationship with goal setting, planning, self-regulation, monitoring, adaptation and self-reflection.

Toe, D., Lang, J., Paatsch, L., Yim, B., Jobling, W., Doig, B., & Aranda, G. (2016). Assessment of Student Development and Learning in IB PYP Schools. International Baccalaureate Organization.
The study examines assessment practices across PYP schools and discusses the role of student self-assessment and reflection in formative learning.

International Baccalaureate Organization. About Assessment.
The IB states that the prime objective of assessment in the PYP is to provide feedback on the learning process and stresses the importance of student and teacher self-assessment and reflection.

International Baccalaureate Organization. PYP Nano Resources – Student Agency in PYP Learning Communities.
A professional learning resource exploring how learning communities can support student agency.

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🌟 ¡Learning English doesn’t simply mean filling in the blanks! 🇬🇧✨

🎨 Learning by doing makes it much easier, more fun, and more motivating!

And you’ll be surprised at how quickly children can start achieving real results. 🌈🚀

📚 If you’re looking for creative and engaging activities to make English learning more dynamic, check out my online store! 🛍️💕

👉 ESL Children's Worksheets

✨ Learn, play, speak, and grow! ❤️

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

📍Does this situation frustrate you, and would you like your students to learn more while enjoying the process?

Don’t miss it!

Available in digital and print formats on Amazon in every country, and on the major e-book platforms.

🍂 Autumn Outdoors: Nature, Land Art & English Learning

2026-09-22T19:17:00.000+02:00

Autumn is the perfect season to take learning outside. The colors change, leaves fall, acorns, pinecones appear everywhere, and suddenly the schoolyard becomes a giant outdoor classroom. For young learners, autumn offers so many opportunities to observe, collect, classify, count, create and talk, all while moving, exploring and enjoying nature. And there is another wonderful way to look at autumn: through Land Art.

One of the first land artist I met online was Richard Shilling is a British land artist who creates temporary artworks using natural materials found in the environment around him. Leaves, sticks, stones, seeds, grass and other natural objects become circles, patterns, sculptures and beautiful temporary compositions. His work is a wonderful starting point for children because they don't need paint, glue or lots of art supplies.They simply need to look closely at nature and use what they find.

And there is something particularly special about Land Art: it doesn't have to last forever: the wind can move it, the rain can change it, a leaf can fall away... And the artwork becomes part of nature again. This makes Land Art a beautiful way to talk to children about seasons, change, impermanence and our connection with the natural world.

Here some ideas to enjoy both and practice English at the same time:

🍂 1. Autumn Land Art

Take the children outside and invite them to collect a few natural materials: 🍁 leaves 🌰 acorns🌲 pinecones🪵 sticks 🪨 small stones🌿 grass or seed pods

Then challenge them to create their own temporary artwork. They can make: circles, spirals, lines, patterns, symmetrical designs, little sculptures, nature pictures, etc.

Before starting, look at some of Richard Shilling's work and ask:

What can you see?
What shapes can you find?
Which materials did the artist use?
What colors can you see?
What happens if the wind blows?

ESL boost: Encourage children to describe what they are creating:

I'm using leaves and sticks.
It's a circle.
The leaves are orange and yellow.
I'm making a pattern.
This is bigger than that one.

🍁 2. Nature Mandalas

Give children a small collection of natural materials and invite them to create a nature mandala. Start from a center point and work outwards using:

🍂 leaves 🌰 acorns 🌲 pinecones 🪵 sticks 🪨 stones

Encourage children to repeat shapes, colors and patterns.

Useful vocabulary: circle, center, repeat, pattern, shape, colors, bigger, smaller, next to, between, etc.

You can also ask:
What comes next?
Can you make both sides the same?
How many leaves did you use?

🌿 Why I Love Land Art with Young English Learners

One of the things I love most about outdoor learning is that English becomes meaningful because children have something real to talk about.

They are not simply learning the word leaf from a flashcard, they are holding a leaf, they are comparing it with another leaf, they are deciding where to put it in a pattern, they are asking questions, they are creating something together.

And... suddenly, language has a purpose.

This is also why Land Art fits so naturally into an inquiry-based approach: children observe, wonder, make choices, experiment and create. There isn't always one “right” answer, which is exactly what makes the experience so valuable.

A simple autumn walk can become: “I wonder…” → “I notice…” → “I found…” → “What if…?” → “Let's create!”

For young English learners, these experiences provide a natural reason to use language while developing curiosity, creativity, collaboration and confidence.
And isn't that what learning should feel like?

🍂 Go outside. Look closely. Get curious. Create with what nature gives you.

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🌟 ¡Learning English doesn’t simply mean filling in the blanks! 🇬🇧✨

🎨 Learning by doing makes it much easier, more fun, and more motivating!

And you’ll be surprised at how quickly children can start achieving real results. 🌈🚀

📚 If you’re looking for creative and engaging activities to make English learning more dynamic, check out my online store! 🛍️💕

👉 ESL Children's Worksheets

✨ Learn, play, speak, and grow! ❤️

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

📍Does this situation frustrate you, and would you like your students to learn more while enjoying the process?

Don’t miss it!

Available in digital and print formats on Amazon in every country, and on the major e-book platforms.

🌈 Starting your Lessons with Circle Time

2026-09-17T19:41:00.000+02:00

I like to start my English lessons with a familiar routine: Circle Time. It is a small moment, but it helps children settle down, switch into “English mode” and get ready for the lesson ahead. Repeated routines also give children plenty of opportunities to hear and use the same language in a natural way.

We usually begin with the day of the week. 📅

We sing our Days of the Week Song and, most importantly, we do the movements that go with it. 🎶🕺
I find this particularly important with younger learners. When children hear a word, say it, sing it and move at the same time, they create a stronger connection between the sound and its meaning.

Then we check the month. 🗓️
We sing our Months of the Year Song song and ask: “What month is it?”

Next comes the weather. ☀️🌧️🌈
We look outside, choose a weather flashcard and sing our Weather Song. Children can take turns saying:

“It’s sunny!”
“It’s cloudy!”
“It’s raining!”

Finally, we talk about our feelings. Of course we have a feeling song, too! We use it with flashcards and encouraging children to use facial expressions to show how they feel. Children can choose a feeling card and say:

“I’m happy.”
“I’m tired.”
“I’m excited.”

For younger children, pointing to the correct face is already a great way to participate, while older children can ask a partner: “How are you today?”

I love these routines because they are predictable without being boring. Children know what comes next, but there is always room for singing, movement, creativity and conversation.

Circle Time is also a great opportunity to practice some of the simple English classroom phrases that children hear and use every day. If you need more ideas, have a look at Simple English Classroom Phrases for Young Learners Part 1 and Part 2.

And before we know it, English has already started! 💛

Here are a few things you might find useful for your classroom: 🛒

📅 A colorful classroom calendar to hang on the wall and use every day with your students!

🌦️A Weather Chart

😊 Feelings / Emotions Posters

🗓️ Months of the Year Posters

🍂 Seasons Posters

🧸 Puppets

🎭 Emotion Flashcards

Once our Circle Time is over, I like moving on to a short, focused activity. For children working on early phonics, you might also enjoy Read, Find, Colour & Count, a playful way to practice sounds, reading and vocabulary.

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🌟 ¡Learning English doesn’t simply mean filling in the blanks! 🇬🇧✨

🎨 Learning by doing makes it much easier, more fun, and more motivating!

And you’ll be surprised at how quickly children can start achieving real results. 🌈🚀

📚 If you’re looking for creative and engaging activities to make English learning more dynamic, check out my online store! 🛍️💕

👉 ESL Children's Worksheets

✨ Learn, play, speak, and grow! ❤️

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

📍Does this situation frustrate you, and would you like your students to learn more while enjoying the process?

Don’t miss it!

Available in digital and print formats on Amazon in every country, and on the major e-book platforms.

📚✨When They Finish First… What Do You Give Them Next?

2026-09-14T11:00:00.000+02:00

Hi all! ❤️

August is finished, and many of you are already getting ready to plan lessons that will meet the needs of your dear pupils.

In all of this, differentiation is a cornerstone of good teaching. And while we are usually very good at reducing, adapting or scaffolding the workload for children who struggle, we sometimes forget about those who learn quickly, finish early and are hungry for more.

You know that child.

The one who always finishes first, but whose reading level is still not quite strong enough to pick up a little book independently or follow lengthy, complex instructions without your help.

So what happens?

You give them another task. Then another. And before long, you find yourself spending precious time explaining something new to the child who has already finished, while the rest of the class is still working and needs your attention.

This is exactly where these phonics activity books come in.

They are designed to complement, not replace, your phonics lessons. The activity books come into play after each new group of sounds has been explicitly taught in class, providing children with meaningful opportunities to consolidate, review and practise what they have already learned.

They are particularly valuable for those children who are ready to work more independently, yet are not quite ready to access traditional reading materials on their own.

The activities are engaging, hands-on and carefully structured around the phonics children already know. The instructions are accessible, so children can understand what to do without needing you to sit beside them and explain every step.

That means purposeful practice for them—and more teaching time for you.

Because differentiation isn't only about giving less to the children who need support.

Sometimes, it's about making sure the children who are ready to move ahead have somewhere meaningful to go.

And because, let's be honest, being a fast finisher shouldn't mean sitting there waiting for the teacher. ❤️

So… I'm incredibly excited to finally share a project I've poured my heart into:

Read, Find, Colour & Count! ❤️

✨ A phonics activity series designed to make independent practice meaningful, accessible and fun.

Each booklet is designed to be used after a new group of sounds has been explicitly taught, giving children the opportunity to consolidate what they already know while developing confidence in decoding.

Another feature I carefully considered is the format of each booklet.

Every page has been designed so that children can successfully complete the activities, regardless of their confidence level. I strongly believe that experiencing success is essential for building motivation and self-esteem.

When children finish a page thinking “I can do this!”, they become more willing to keep learning and to tackle new challenges with confidence.

Each booklet offers four engaging learning experiences:

📖 Read – Read simple phonics words and develop decoding skills.

🔍 Find – Search for the target word among many others, strengthening visual discrimination, concentration and word recognition.

🎨 Colour – Turn every page into a relaxing colouring activity while reinforcing learning and developing fine motor skills.

🔢 Count – Count the matching pictures, combining early literacy with numeracy practice.

AND... GAMES! of course😁

🌀 Mazes
🧠 Memory
🐍 Snakes & Ladders
4️⃣ 4 in a Row
👏 Snap
🐟 Go Fish...

The books are photocopiable, making them perfect for classroom use, literacy centres, homework, independent practice, intervention groups, early finishers or homeschooling.

👧👦 They are especially suitable for children in the final year of kindergarten and Year 1 / Grade 1 who are beginning their reading journey.

🎁 And I have a little gift for you!

The first booklet in the series is available FREE as a PDF when you subscribe to the Miss Lucy's Teaching Fun newsletter.

It's my little way of saying thank you for joining this wonderful community of teachers and parents. ❤️

If you'd rather have the printed version—or explore the rest of the collection—you can find the books on Amazon:

👉 Read, Find, Colour and Count SATPIN

👉 Read, Find, Colour and Count CKEHRMD

or 👉 in my store on Payhip

As an English teacher, I've always believed that teaching children to read through phonics is one of the most practical and useful skills we can equip them with.

When children learn to decode words confidently, they don't just learn to read—they build the foundations to truly master the English language.

This is exactly why I created this series.

My dream is to help bring systematic phonics instruction into ESL classrooms, where this essential part of literacy is still often overlooked in favour of less systematic approaches to early reading.

In my experience, explicit phonics instruction—including the correct pronunciation of each sound—supports every aspect of language learning. It helps children become more confident speakers, more accurate readers and stronger listeners by enabling them to connect sounds, letters and meaning.

I truly hope these books help many little learners discover that learning to read can be meaningful, confidence-building… and lots of fun! 💛

❤️💛❤️ Lee esta entrada en español

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🌟 ¡Learning English doesn’t simply mean filling in the blanks! 🇬🇧✨

🎨 Learning by doing makes it much easier, more fun, and more motivating!

And you’ll be surprised at how quickly children can start achieving real results. 🌈🚀

📚 If you’re looking for creative and engaging activities to make English learning more dynamic, check out my online store! 🛍️💕

👉 ESL Children's Worksheets

✨ Learn, play, speak, and grow! ❤️

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

📍Does this situation frustrate you, and would you like your students to learn more while enjoying the process?

Don’t miss it!

Available in digital and print formats on Amazon in every country, and on the major e-book platforms.

5 No-Prep Vocabulary Games Every Teacher Should Know

2026-09-10T18:29:00.000+02:00

Sometimes you finish a lesson before the hour is up, or you've planned an activity that just isn't taking off as expected. What do you do? Play a game!

Practice makes perfect, but only if students stay engaged. These no-prep games provide the repeated exposure vocabulary needs while keeping lessons lively and enjoyable.

Learning through play not only helps students remember new vocabulary more effectively, but it also creates a positive, relaxed atmosphere where they're more willing to use English.

Here are five no-prep vocabulary games that can rescue your lesson at a moment's notice.

If you're looking for more ideas to get children talking and moving, especially at the beginning of the school year, you might also like my post BACK TO SCHOOL: LET'S GET TALKING! 🎒❤️.

1. Guess My Word

Choose a vocabulary topic you're currently teaching. One student thinks of a word but isn't allowed to say it. Instead, they describe it while the rest of the class tries to guess.

For example: "You can eat it."; "It's red."; "It's sweet." (Answer: apple) The student who guesses correctly chooses the next word.

2. Guess Your Word

This is the reverse version of the previous game.

Choose a student and secretly assign them a word without telling them what it is. Write it on a piece of paper or hold up a flashcard so that everyone except the chosen student can see it.

The student asks yes/no questions to discover the mystery word, while the rest of the class answers. For example: "Is it an animal?", "Can you eat it?", "Is it big?"

This game naturally encourages students to ask meaningful questions while reviewing vocabulary.

3. Flashcard Corners

Place four flashcards in different corners of the classroom. If you don't have flashcards, simply write four words on separate sheets of paper. Call out either a vocabulary word or a clue, depending on your students' level, and have them move to the correct corner. Instead of saying "Hat" try saying "Find something you wear." For younger learners, make movement part of the fun by asking them to travel like penguins, crabs, frogs, or robots.

4. Pass the Ball

All you need is a soft ball, or any small, safe object, and some music. Students pass the ball while the music plays. When it stops, the student holding the ball completes a vocabulary challenge.

For example: “Name a fruit”, “Say three animals”, “Tell me something blue”, “Use happy in a sentence”.

I always keep a soft ball in my teaching bag because it's one of those activities that works with almost any age group and requires virtually no preparation.

5. Category Race

Write a category on the board, for example, Food, and divide the class into teams. Each team has one minute (or longer for younger learners) to write as many words as they can that belong to that category. Possible categories include: Clothes, Transport, School objects and rooms, Animals of different kind, Verbs, Adjectives, etc. When time is up, compare the lists. The team with the most correct answers wins.

Variation: Categories A–Z

A fun extension is the classic Categories game (sometimes known as Things, Animals, Cities).

Students draw a table with several categories, such as Animals, Food, Countries, and Jobs, or anything you ‘d like to revise. Choose a letter of the alphabet, and teams race to write one word beginning with that letter in each category before time runs out.

This variation encourages students to retrieve vocabulary quickly while adding a competitive element that keeps everyone engaged.

These little games are a great way to create opportunities for children to speak English from the very beginning. If you are interested in building that habit from day one, you might also enjoy English from the First Hello

❤️💛❤️ Lee esta entrada en español

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

🌟 ¡Learning English doesn’t simply mean filling in the blanks! 🇬🇧✨

🎨 Learning by doing makes it much easier, more fun, and more motivating!

And you’ll be surprised at how quickly children can start achieving real results. 🌈🚀

📚 If you’re looking for creative and engaging activities to make English learning more dynamic, check out my online store! 🛍️💕

👉 ESL Children's Worksheets

✨ Learn, play, speak, and grow! ❤️

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

📍Does this situation frustrate you, and would you like your students to learn more while enjoying the process?

Don’t miss it!

Available in digital and print formats on Amazon in every country, and on the major e-book platforms.

BACK TO SCHOOL: LET'S GET TALKING! 🎒❤️

2026-09-03T00:30:00.000+02:00

The first week of school is the perfect time to get children moving, playing and, most importantly, talking in English!

After the summer break, I like starting with simple activities that help children feel comfortable, have fun and get to know each other. One of my favourite topics is LIKES AND DISLIKES.

🏃 I LIKE IT!

Many years ago, I shared a simple game called I LIKE IT! on this blog. The idea is very easy. Put a happy face 🙂 on one wall and a sad face 🙁 on the opposite wall. Children stand in the middle.

Show them a flashcard and say: "I like strawberries!" They will run to the happy face.

Then say: "I don't like strawberries!" They will run to the sad face!

It's a fun way to practise I like / I don't like while getting everyone moving. And you can use it with lots of different vocabulary: food, animals, hobbies, sports and more.

💬 FROM PLAYING TO SPEAKING

This year, I wanted to take the idea a little further. I've created a new set of worksheets and speaking activities to help children practise:

I like... / I don't like...
He/She likes... / He/She doesn't like...
Do you like...?
Does he/she like...?

The activities start with characters and guided practice and gradually move towards pair work, group speaking and personalisation.

Children can talk about things they know and love: 🍎 food, 🎮 playing, 📚 books and subjects, 🐶 animals, 🎵 music, 🎨 hobbies, 🎬 films, 📺 TV programmes, 🌍 places and more.

👯 LET'S TALK ABOUT US!

The best part is giving children the opportunity to ask their classmates:
"Do you like...?"
and discover what they have in common. Because the first week of school isn't only about revising English. It's about building relationships, creating a positive classroom atmosphere and making children want to communicate. So let's start the school year with some movement, some fun and lots of questions!

DO YOU LIKE...? ❤️You can find the complete Likes & Doesn't Like resource in my Payhip shop.

Take a look at the Free samples here

Have fun and have a wonderful first week back!

❤️💛❤️ Lee esta entrada en español

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

🌟 ¡Learning English doesn’t simply mean filling in the blanks! 🇬🇧✨

🎨 Learning by doing makes it much easier, more fun, and more motivating!

And you’ll be surprised at how quickly children can start achieving real results. 🌈🚀

📚 If you’re looking for creative and engaging activities to make English learning more dynamic, check out my online store! 🛍️💕

👉 ESL Children's Worksheets

✨ Learn, play, speak, and grow! ❤️

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

📍Does this situation frustrate you, and would you like your students to learn more while enjoying the process?

Don’t miss it!

Available in digital and print formats on Amazon in every country, and on the major e-book platforms.

What's the most memorable lesson your students still talk about years later? 💡

2026-08-30T15:30:00.000+02:00

I truly believe that when a teacher manages to have fun, be surprised and learn something while teaching, their students will naturally do the same.

And that's how I found myself thinking back to some of the lessons that, I’m pretty sure, not even Alzheimer's will manage to erase from my memory! 😄

And perhaps that's why I have always loved the Tuning In phase of an inquiry.
When we create an experience that genuinely surprises us as teachers, it becomes much easier to create that same sense of wonder in our students.

Curiosity is contagious. 🧐✨

Years ago, I was teaching in an international school that was applying to become an IB World School for the Primary Years Programme. Every Unit of Inquiry was carefully planned, discussed and refined.

Yet, despite all that planning, there was one phase that everyone was always excited about...

The Tuning In.

Not because it came first.

But because it was the moment that made children want to learn. One Unit of Inquiry was "How Things Work", and we wanted students to explore the concept of energy. So, instead of introducing the topic with a PowerPoint or a textbook...

. ..we secretly transformed the classrooms overnight.

The electricity, water supply and heating were temporarily switched off. Black-and-yellow hazard tape and construction signs appeared everywhere. The next morning, the children walked in and froze.

"Why isn't the interactive whiteboard working?"

"How are we going to wash our hands?" (This was during COVID!)

"Why is it so cold?"

Within seconds, they were asking questions, making predictions and trying to solve the mystery. Nobody had asked them to be curious. The environment had done it for us.And that wasn't the only unforgettable Tuning In.

🕰️ During our "Where We Are in Place and Time" unit, we filled the classroom with photographs and artefacts from different historical periods. Without any explanation, students worked in groups to identify where each object belonged on a timeline, using only their prior knowledge. They debated, justified their thinking and realised just how much they already knew... and how much they still wanted to discover.

🌱 For a "Sharing the Planet" unit, we showed a short scene from WALL·E. Instead of explaining its meaning, we followed it with the classic See–Think–Wonder routine. The discussion that followed naturally led us towards questions about pollution, nature, plants and our responsibility towards the environment. The inquiry had already begun before we had even introduced the central idea.

That's the real power of Tuning In. It isn't simply an introduction to a new unit.

As Kath Murdoch, one of the leading experts on Inquiry Learning and author of the well-known the Power of Inquiry, and Getting Personal with Inquiry Learning , often points out that “Tuning In” is not meant to introduce a topic, but rather to “tune in to the students’ thinking.”

The goal is not to assess how much they know, but to bring their ideas, beliefs, doubts, and misconceptions to light, so that the teacher can design the learning path based on what emerges.

Here are some more ideas to spark the TUNING IN phase of your inquiry — not as a checklist, but as provocations to help you uncover what your students already think, what surprises them, and what they are genuinely curious to find out:

🖼️ Image-Based Provocation: Don’t just show students a picture! Choose an ambiguous, surprising or thought-provoking image and invite them to come up with different interpretations. It’s a great way to activate prior knowledge and get those little brains working! 👉 Here's an example

✏️ Question Pencil: Start with the questions your students naturally come up with and help them turn simple, factual questions into more open-ended and conceptual ones. For example, move from “How many…?” to questions that encourage deeper thinking and can lead to further inquiry. 👉Here's an example

🔺 Question Triangle: Once students have generated their questions, invite them to look at them more closely. Which questions are thin and which ones are deep? Can they transform a simple question into one that could lead to a much richer inquiry? 👉Here's an example

🔥 Hot Seat: Put a student, an object, a historical character—or even a picture—in the hot seat! The rest of the class can ask questions to discover more. It’s a fun way to turn students from passive answerers into active questioners. 👉Here's an example

💭 What if...? Sometimes all you need is a good What if...? question to open the door to an inquiry.

What if cities could float?
What if the Sun disappeared?
What if humans couldn't use plastic anymore?

Impossible? Maybe. But that's exactly what makes these questions so powerful! They encourage children to imagine, make connections and explore possible consequences. 👉 Here's an example

🧩 A Problem to Solve: Instead of telling students what they are going to learn, give them a real problem they can't solve yet with what they already know.Let them problem-see before they problem-solve. The gap between what they know and what they need to know can be a f antastic starting point for inquiry! 👉Here's an example

🌍 Bring in the Real World

Sometimes the best provocation is a real person. Invite an expert, a family member, a community member—or even connect virtually with someone from another part of the world. A personal story, a real experience or a different perspective can make an inquiry suddenly feel much more meaningful.

🎨 A Creative Provocation

A work of art, an unusual object, a photograph, a piece of music or even a short performance can become the starting point for a whole inquiry. Instead of explaining what students are looking at, simply ask: What do you notice? What do you think? What does it make you wonder? And then... let the conversation take you somewhere unexpected! 👉Here's an example

🎧🎬 A Multisensory Provocation

And remember: a provocation doesn't have to be a whole video or a perfectly prepared presentation. Sometimes a sound, a few seconds of video, an image without context, a mysterious smell or an object to touch and explore is enough. The goal isn't to give students information. It's to create just enough mystery and uncertainty for them to think: “Wait... what's going on here?” 👀

And that's often where the real inquiry begins! 💡

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🌟 ¡Learning English doesn’t simply mean filling in the blanks! 🇬🇧✨

🎨 Learning by doing makes it much easier, more fun, and more motivating!

And you’ll be surprised at how quickly children can start achieving real results. 🌈🚀

📚 If you’re looking for creative and engaging activities to make English learning more dynamic, check out my online store! 🛍️💕

👉 ESL Children's Worksheets

✨ Learn, play, speak, and grow! ❤️

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

📍Does this situation frustrate you, and would you like your students to learn more while enjoying the process?

Don’t miss it!

Available in digital and print formats on Amazon in every country, and on the major e-book platforms.

Simple English Classroom Phrases for Young Learners - Part 2

2026-08-24T19:00:00.000+02:00

Hello and welcome to the second episode of our Simple English Classroom Phrases for Young Learners series! 👋

In our first post, we explored greetings and simple requests that children can start using from their very first English lessons.

Today, we're going to focus on everyday classroom routines: those simple phrases that we use every day to start the lesson, guide activities and end the class.

One of the best ways to help children learn English is to make it part of your daily classroom routine. When pupils hear the same expressions again and again in meaningful situations, they begin to understand them naturally and before long, they will simply respond in English. That's when English becomes a language they use, not just a subject they study.

As they say: practice makes perfect!

REMEMBER! At the beginning, always support your language with flashcards, real objects (realia), gestures and facial expressions. Visual support makes the meaning clear and helps children connect English to real-life situations without relying on translation.

You can also display classroom posters around the room as visual reminders. Even if your Year 1 pupils are not confident readers yet, don't be afraid to include the written words alongside the pictures. Seeing the words every day while hearing and using them helps children become familiar with print and starts building word recognition naturally.

Now, let's look at some simple classroom phrases you can use throughout the day with your Year 1 and Year 2 pupils.

🌞 Beginning of the Lesson

Starting each lesson with the same routine helps children feel confident and ready to learn. Try using these expressions every day:

Good morning!
Sit down, please.
Are you ready?
Let's start!
What's the date today?
What's the weather like today?
How are you today?

Listen to them here

💡 Teaching Tip: Don't worry if your pupils don't understand every word at first. Use gestures, point to the calendar or the weather chart, and repeat the same expressions every lesson. Repetition builds confidence!

🎨 During the Lesson

Keep English flowing naturally while children work, play and interact. Useful classroom phrases include:

Are you ready?
Let's play!
Let's sing!
Let's listen!
Let's practise!
Your turn!
My turn!
One more time!
Are you finished?
Is everyone ready?

Listen to them here

These expressions soon become familiar, especially when they are always used in the same context. For example, instead of saying "Now it's your turn" in your first language, simply say: "Your turn!" Children quickly understand because the meaning is supported by the activity.

🌈 End of the Lesson

Ending every lesson with a familiar routine gives children a sense of achievement and closure. Try these phrases:

Let's tidy up!
Time to go!
Good job!
Well done!
See you next time!
Goodbye, everyone!

Listen to them here

Don't forget to celebrate your pupils' efforts. A simple "Well done!" or "Good job!" can make a big difference and encourages children to keep trying to use English.

🎵 Turn Your Routines into Games and Songs!

As you know, young learners learn best when English is active, meaningful and fun. Instead of simply repeating classroom phrases, turn them into games and songs that children will look forward to every lesson.

🎶 Use songs to reinforce routines

Songs are a fantastic way to introduce classroom language while exposing children to natural pronunciation, rhythm and intonation.

For example:

🧹 Tidy Up Song – Play this song whenever it's time to clean up. Soon, children will associate the music with the routine and begin joining in automatically while revising classroom vocabulary.
🧼 Wash Your Hands Song – A perfect choice before snack time or lunch. It reinforces daily routines while introducing useful action verbs and encouraging good hygiene habits.
🙋 Songs about asking for permission are another fun way to practise expressions such as:
- Can I go to the toilet, please?
- Can I have a pencil, please?
- Can you help me, please?

By hearing these expressions in songs, children become familiar with authentic pronunciation and are much more likely to use them spontaneously. Children love music...but don't forget to sing along!

🎲 Play Simon Says

Once children know the classroom actions, it's time to get them moving! Use flashcards showing the target actions and play a game of Simon Says. Some useful action cards include:

Play
Listen
Sing
Read
Write
Cut
Colour
Glue
Draw
Stand up
Sit down
Hand out the worksheets
Open your book
Close your book

Hold up a flashcard and say: "Simon says... write!" Children perform the action only if they hear "Simon says" first. It's a simple game that develops listening skills, reinforces classroom vocabulary and gets everyone involved.

Here you can find the rules of this game and another way to use it, if you are teaching phonics.

💛 Little by Little...

Remember, you don't need to introduce every phrase at once.

Choose a few expressions, use them consistently and let them become part of your classroom language.

Little routines create big language learning! ✨

❤️💛❤️ Lee esta entrada en español

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

🌟 ¡Learning English doesn’t simply mean filling in the blanks! 🇬🇧✨

🎨 Learning by doing makes it much easier, more fun, and more motivating!

And you’ll be surprised at how quickly children can start achieving real results. 🌈🚀

📚 If you’re looking for creative and engaging activities to make English learning more dynamic, check out my online store! 🛍️💕

👉 ESL Children's Worksheets

✨ Learn, play, speak, and grow! ❤️

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

📍Does this situation frustrate you, and would you like your students to learn more while enjoying the process?

Don’t miss it!

Available in digital and print formats on Amazon in every country, and on the major e-book platforms.

What If Inquiry Started at the Classroom Window? From Mario Lodi to the PYP: The Roots of Inquiry-Based and Transdisciplinary Learning

2026-08-18T17:06:00.000+02:00

A recent job interview left me thinking.

We were discussing the length of the school day, and I pointed out that, in many schools, lessons often extend well beyond the attention span of primary-aged children. One of the few contexts where I could genuinely justify longer learning periods was the IB PYP.

Why?

Because true Inquiry-Based Learning takes time.

Real inquiry isn't about completing a worksheet or finding the "right" answer. It requires children to observe, wonder, discuss, revisit their thinking, make connections, and sometimes change their minds. That process simply cannot be rushed.

Later in the conversation, we talked about learning beyond the classroom. I shared how essential outdoor experiences are if we want to nurture children who genuinely care about their communities and the environment around them.

And suddenly my mind travelled back to Trondheim, 2007.

Munkholmen island, Trondheim

During my stay there, I found myself taking a photo every day from exactly the same spot, of exactly the same view. It became a playful little project that I jokingly called Maybe it's not raining in Trondheim. At first, I thought I was simply documenting the weather. Looking back, I realise I was actually documenting change, patterns, light, seasons, and learning to notice what most people walk past.

That's when Mario Lodi came to mind.

Lodi, one of the greatest advocates of Freinet pedagogy in Italy, believed that careful observation of the world should be at the heart of children's learning. His classroom was a place where children's experiences, questions and discoveries became the starting point for authentic learning.

Mario Lodi with his pupils in the classroom, archival photo

In his educational diaries, C'è speranza se questo accade al Vho (1963) and Il paese sbagliato (1970), Lodi documents the everyday life of his classroom and explains his practical methodology.

A particularly fascinating example can be found in the chapter "La storia del cielo è fatta di numeri" (The History of the Sky is Made of Numbers) from Il paese sbagliato.

Through their daily observations from the classroom window, children began to record the changing sky: the days of rain, sunshine and clouds. What started as a simple act of noticing the world around them gradually became a way of organising and interpreting information.

They did not simply collect data; they also started to ask questions and make hypotheses. For example, they wondered whether a period of bad weather might be approaching because the swallows had already left. Their observations of nature became clues to interpret phenomena and build possible explanations (does it ring a bell? This is very close to what the IB describes through the Approaches to Learning: children developing thinking and research skills).

At first, they represented their observations using Cuisenaire rods, creating visual patterns and making comparisons. Only later did they move towards numerical recording, transforming their concrete experiences into data that could be analysed and discussed.

The story of the sky became a story of numbers: children discovered that mathematics was not an abstract exercise, but a tool to understand real phenomena. Through observation, classification, representation and reasoning, they explored connections between science, mathematics and their everyday lives.

If I remember correctly — and I say this because this time last year I borrowed all of Lodi's books from the library in Como and read them one after another — another fascinating window observation activity involved children making drawings at regular intervals to record the position of the sun above a precise reference point on the village rooftops.

Day after day, the children created a visual record of the sun's movement, transforming a simple view from the classroom window into a study of time, change and natural patterns.

These observations were never confined to one subject area. They became opportunities for mathematics, language, art, music, geography and science. A single authentic experience opened doors to multiple areas of knowledge.

One of the most beautiful examples of this approach is Cipì, Mario Lodi's most famous book. The story was born from the children's own observations, conversations and imagination, and was developed collectively in the classroom with their teacher.

The little bird Cipì was inspired by the real world the children observed from their classroom window: the movements of birds, the changing seasons, the landscape around them and the relationships they noticed in nature.

And this is where I see a beautiful connection with the PYP.

What we call transdisciplinary learning today — the idea that meaningful contexts allow children to build understanding across different disciplines — was already deeply present in Lodi's approach decades ago.

Isn't that exactly what we try to achieve in the PYP?

We encourage children to slow down, to observe before they conclude, to ask meaningful questions, to connect with their surroundings, and to become caring, reflective members of their communities.

Sometimes educational ideas that feel innovative today have deep roots in the work of extraordinary educators who understood, long before us, that authentic learning begins with curiosity.

Perhaps Inquiry-Based Learning and Mario Lodi have more in common than we think, and apparently, in Italy, some of these ideas were already being cultivated decades ago, before they became part of today's international educational conversations.

📚 References:

Lodi, M. (1963). C'è speranza se questo accade al Vho. Torino: Einaudi.
Lodi, M. (1970). Il paese sbagliato. Diario di un'esperienza didattica. Torino: Einaudi.

A final note:
This educational vision was not unique to Italy. In Spain, Freinet's philosophy also spread widely, especially during the years of the Second Republic, inspiring teachers who believed in active learning, cooperation, creativity and connecting school with real life.

👉A beautiful glimpse of this approach can be found in the 2023 film El maestro que prometió el mar (The Teacher Who Promised the Sea), directed by Patricia Font and based on the true story of Catalan teacher Antoni Benaiges.

👉Today, this educational tradition continues in Italy through the Movimento di Cooperazione Educativa (MCE), an organisation that keeps alive many of these principles: cooperative learning, research-based teaching, children's active participation, attention to the surrounding environment and the idea that knowledge is built through experience and dialogue.

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🌟 ¡Learning English doesn’t simply mean filling in the blanks! 🇬🇧✨

🎨 Learning by doing makes it much easier, more fun, and more motivating!

And you’ll be surprised at how quickly children can start achieving real results. 🌈🚀

📚 If you’re looking for creative and engaging activities to make English learning more dynamic, check out my online store! 🛍️💕

👉 ESL Children's Worksheets

✨ Learn, play, speak, and grow! ❤️

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

📍Does this situation frustrate you, and would you like your students to learn more while enjoying the process?

Don’t miss it!

Available in digital and print formats on Amazon in every country, and on the major e-book platforms.

Why the Library Matters in the IB PYP

2026-08-06T18:00:00.000+02:00

I love books. I truly believe that books open minds, help us travel the world without leaving the room, and inspire children to see things from a different perspective.

Whenever I can, I start a lesson with a picture book or a story. Sometimes it introduces a new concept, sometimes it sparks a discussion, and sometimes it simply helps my students make connections they hadn't thought about before. I've often found that one well-chosen book can launch an inquiry better than a worksheet ever could.

That's one of the reasons why the library plays such an important role in the IB Primary Years Programme. In an IB school, the library isn't just a place to borrow books—it's an essential part of learning. Librarians work closely with teachers to select books that support the current Unit of Inquiry, encourage students to ask questions, explore different perspectives and deepen their understanding of the central idea.

Even if your school doesn't have a dedicated library, a thoughtfully curated classroom library can become the heart of inquiry. The right books, available at the right time, invite children to wonder, investigate and make meaningful connections across subjects.

One of my favourite classroom activities was our weekly Book Club. Children introduced the book they had just finished—without giving away the ending!—and tried to convince their classmates to read it. If someone borrowed the book because of their recommendation, they earned points towards an end-of-year prize. It was always wonderful to see books being passed from one enthusiastic reader to another.

Books also created countless opportunities for reflection. It wasn't unusual for us to discuss a character's actions and relate them to the attributes of the IB Learner Profile. Was this character a Risk-taker? How did they show they were Caring? Were they Reflective? These conversations helped the children understand that the Learner Profile isn't just a poster on the wall—it's something we can recognise in ourselves and in the stories we read.

And inquiry doesn't stop with literacy. A non-fiction book about the water cycle can become the starting point for children to write The Adventures of a Water Droplet. A story about migration can lead to rich discussions about identity and belonging. The possibilities are endless when the right book finds its way into the hands of a curious learner.

Choosing books that are age-appropriate, engaging and connected to your Units of Inquiry takes time, and I know how challenging that can be. That's why I created a small virtual library called The Inquiry Book Club—a collection of book recommendations that I hope will inspire PYP teachers around the world and help them find the perfect title for their next inquiry.

If you're looking for new books to enrich your classroom library, I'd love you to take a look at The Inquiry Book Club. I hope you discover a few new favourites!

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🌟 ¡Learning English doesn’t simply mean filling in the blanks! 🇬🇧✨

🎨 Learning by doing makes it much easier, more fun, and more motivating!

And you’ll be surprised at how quickly children can start achieving real results. 🌈🚀

📚 If you’re looking for creative and engaging activities to make English learning more dynamic, check out my online store! 🛍️💕

👉 ESL Children's Worksheets

✨ Learn, play, speak, and grow! ❤️

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

📍Does this situation frustrate you, and would you like your students to learn more while enjoying the process?

Don’t miss it!

Available in digital and print formats on Amazon in every country, and on the major e-book platforms.

Simple English Classroom Phrases for Young Learners - Part 1

2026-08-02T18:00:00.000+02:00

Hello, everyone! 👋

Today we'll focus on teaching English to children in Year 1 and Year 2 which doesn’t require using complicated language. Simple, everyday phrases are a wonderful way to help young learners feel confident and start using English naturally in the classroom.

In this post, you’ll find some easy English phrases that you can start using right away, plus a fun little game to encourage your pupils to speak!

🏆 Let’s get them talking!

One of my favourite ways to encourage children to use English is to turn it into a team game!

At the beginning of the lesson, divide the class into two or more teams. Then introduce the English phrases of the day.

👉 With Year 1, I recommend introducing no more than two phrases at a time. Since children are not yet confident readers, introduce the phrases orally, using gestures, repetition and lots of modelling.

👉 With Year 2, you can introduce up to three phrases and write them on the board. Keep them there throughout the lesson so children can look at them whenever they need some help.

Now comes the fun part!

Every time a child uses one of the target phrases naturally, their team gets one point. ⭐ The important thing is that children are encouraged to use the phrases for a real reason, rather than simply repeating them after the teacher.

For example, if today's phrases are:

Can I have a pencil, please?
Can you help me, please?

When a child needs a pencil and remembers to ask in English:

🎉 One point for the team!

This creates a fun reason to speak English and, before long, children start listening carefully for opportunities to use the phrases.

But which phrases are useful and easy to learn at the same time?

👋 1. Greetings

Starting every lesson with simple greetings can quickly become a fun and reassuring routine.

A great way to introduce this language, especially with younger children, is through a song!

Here are 3 different ones you can choose from according to your class' mood of the day ;)

🎵 Hello! | Kids Greeting Song and Feelings Song – Super Simple Songs

Watch the song on YouTube

🎵 The Greeting Song – Maple Leaf Learning

Watch the song on YouTube

🎵 Hello Song for Kids | Greeting Song for Kids – The Singing Walrus

Watch the song on YouTube

Use them at the beginning of the lesson, sing them together (modelling) and encourage children to join in with gestures and actions. After the song, you can start using some of the same expressions in your classroom:

Hello!
Good morning!
Hi, everyone!
How are you today?
Are you ready?
Let’s start!
Goodbye!
See you next time!

👉Listen how to pronounce them here

For Year 1, I would focus on just one or two expressions at a time and let children learn them through listening, repetition and movement.

For Year 2, you can choose two or three expressions and write them on the board so children can use them independently during the lesson.

✨ Tip: Make the song part of your regular classroom routine. After a few lessons, you may find that children automatically know that when the song starts, it’s time to switch to English!

And remember: the more fun it is, the more they will want to join in! 🎶

🙋 2. Simple Requests

Young learners can also learn a few useful phrases to ask for something, ask for help or communicate their needs in English.

Here are some great ones to start with:

Can I go to the toilet, please?
Can I have a pencil, please?
Can you help me, please?
Can you say it again, please?
I don’t understand.
Can I have a turn, please?
I’m finished!

👉Listen how to pronounce them here

Don’t introduce all of them at once., but choose two or three phrases, depending on the age of your pupils, and use them regularly. The more children hear and use these expressions, the more naturally they will become part of their classroom English.

🌟 Keep it simple!

With young learners, repetition is your best friend. Choose a couple of phrases, practise them through real classroom situations and give your pupils a reason to use them. And remember:

Little phrases, big progress! 🌈

Happy teaching, and… let’s get them talking! 💛

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🌟 ¡Learning English doesn’t simply mean filling in the blanks! 🇬🇧✨

🎨 Learning by doing makes it much easier, more fun, and more motivating!

And you’ll be surprised at how quickly children can start achieving real results. 🌈🚀

📚 If you’re looking for creative and engaging activities to make English learning more dynamic, check out my online store! 🛍️💕

👉 ESL Children's Worksheets

✨ Learn, play, speak, and grow! ❤️

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📍Does this situation frustrate you, and would you like your students to learn more while enjoying the process?

Don’t miss it!

Available in digital and print formats on Amazon in every country, and on the major e-book platforms.

From Mind Maps to Ecological Fairy Tales: A Cooperative Learning Project for #SharingThePlanet

2026-07-23T18:00:00.000+02:00

Hi all! 👋

I've just found some pictures about a collaborative project I had the pleasure of planning and... I couldn't resist sharing them with you! ✨

That day our classroom was buzzing with collaboration! 🌍💚

Working in teams, my students created mind maps to explore the environmental issues and sources of pollution affecting the ecosystems they had been assigned: the sea, the meadow, the woods and the desert. Through discussion, questioning, and sharing ideas, they realized that every ecosystem faces many challenges—and that every voice matters.

This learning experience goes far beyond Science. It is deeply transdisciplinary, as students draw on everything they have learned during our #UnitOfInquiry – Sharing the Planet, entirely in English. Along the way, they are also developing their #GreenComp competencies, strengthening their communication and teamwork skills, and becoming more confident, independent learners.

Of course, meaningful writing doesn't happen by chance. Before beginning this project, we explored the key elements of a fairy tale and had lots of fun creating stories together by playing a game inspired by Story Box: Create Your Own Fairy Tales. These playful experiences gave students the confidence and narrative tools they needed to become creative storytellers.

And now comes the exciting part! ✨

These mind maps will become the foundation for each group's own #EcologicalFairytale, where the environmental challenge at the heart of the story will come directly from the ideas they explored together. Through storytelling, imagination, and empathy, children learn that even the biggest challenges can inspire action and positive change.

💡 A final teaching tip: If time allows, don't stop at the writing stage! Invite your students to bring their ecological fairy tales to life by performing them as a Chinese shadow puppet theatre. It's a magical way to integrate drama, art, speaking and listening skills, while giving every child the chance to become part of the story.

Because when children collaborate, think critically, create, and perform with purpose, they don't just learn about the world—they begin to imagine how they can change it. 💚🌎

📍Does this situation frustrate you, and would you like your students to learn more while enjoying the process?

Don’t miss it!

Available in digital and print formats on Amazon in every country, and on the major e-book platforms.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

🌟 ¡Learning English doesn’t simply mean filling in the blanks! 🇬🇧✨

🎨 Learning by doing makes it much easier, more fun, and more motivating!

And you’ll be surprised at how quickly children can start achieving real results. 🌈🚀

📚 If you’re looking for creative and engaging activities to make English learning more dynamic, check out my online store! 🛍️💕

👉 ESL Children's Worksheets

✨ Learn, play, speak, and grow! ❤️

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

📍Does this situation frustrate you, and would you like your students to learn more while enjoying the process?

Don’t miss it!

Available in digital and print formats on Amazon in every country, and on the major e-book platforms.

English from the First Hello: Creating a Safe and Playful Classroom

2026-07-18T18:00:00.000+02:00

in this picture a fun activity to review Qs&As

Hi there! How is your summer going?

Is your mind already busy thinking about next year English classes?

As I anticipated in my previous post, here in Italy the new guidelines for primary and middle school state that "a teacher should enter the classroom speaking English" creating an immersive environment from the very beginning, where students are encouraged to express themselves using the language.

For many children, however, speaking a foreign language can initially cause shyness, hesitation, or fear of making mistakes. Also, we must remember the well known 'silent period' which is that natural phase that occurs during the language acquisition process: children need time to listen, observe and process the new sounds and structures before they build confidence and feel ready to speak (Krashen, 1982). Of course, this doesn't mean that children are not learning; during this phase, in fact, they are actively building their understanding of the language and it's important not to force them to translate or produce language before they are ready as I wrote about in my book 'I bambini alle prese con l'inglese' .

But how can we make our pupils feel comfortable and at the same time make sure they are learning?

With games, of course!

Play, as we all know, is not merely a recreational activity: it is a fundamental and powerful teaching tool. Through games, songs, movement, routines and cooperative learning, children gradually feel more relaxed and confident. When they are not afraid of making mistakes or being judged, they are much more willing to listen, participate and use English naturally. In other words, these activities help lower the affective filter (Krashen, 1982), creating the emotional conditions that support language acquisition.

Keep in mind:

🎲 Games → allow children to participate using nonverbal responses or simple words, while respecting each child’s individual pace. Take a peek here

📚 Storytelling → Provides a rich linguistic input without the pressure of having to speak right away. Check this books out!

🎵 Songs and chants → Help children become familiar with sounds and structures through repetition. Check my lesson plans around the blog, they always come with a song related to the topic

🤝 Cooperative Learning → Creates opportunities for gradual and safe interaction. Get Some ideas right here!

It's important to remember that for the first month, at least, the goal is not to speak perfectly from day one, but to create a relaxed environment where every attempt at communication is welcomed and valued.

This is where true language immersion can begin!

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🌟 ¡Learning English doesn’t simply mean filling in the blanks! 🇬🇧✨

🎨 Learning by doing makes it much easier, more fun, and more motivating!

And you’ll be surprised at how quickly children can start achieving real results. 🌈🚀

📚 If you’re looking for creative and engaging activities to make English learning more dynamic, check out my online store! 🛍️💕

👉 ESL Children's Worksheets

✨ Learn, play, speak, and grow! ❤️

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

📍Does this situation frustrate you, and would you like your students to learn more while enjoying the process?

Don’t miss it!

Available in digital and print formats on Amazon in every country, and on the major e-book platforms.

✨ What Makes the Perfect Lesson? (Spoiler: It’s Not Just About English!)

2026-07-12T18:00:00.000+02:00

image created with AI

Hi there!

Are you already planning for the next school year? If your answer is yes, I might have something for you right here ;)

Have you ever asked yourself if there is such a thing as the perfect lesson? 🤔

I think the answer is... a recipe for creating lessons where children feel involved, motivated and excited to learn.

And the best part? This isn't just for English lessons... it's a structure that can work across any subject.

One of the first things I have always taken into account while planning is my students' attention spans. Every age group is different, and that's something we absolutely need to respect, but respecting children's attention span doesn't mean staying within their limits forever: one of our goals is definitely to gently stretch them. How? By keeping our pupils engaged with a variety of meaningful activities that naturally flow from one to the next.

After sharing many different lesson plans over the past few years, for this post I stopped to analyze what a typical lesson at Miss Lucy's Teaching Fun looks like, so that you can use it as a framework to fill up with your own materials and strategies:

🎵 1. Connect
We begin with songs, routines and a quick review. Children activate prior knowledge, build confidence and get into "learning mode."

📚 2. Explore
A picture book, flashcards, a game or a real object introduces the new topic. But the real magic happens through questions. I encourage children to make predictions, recall previous learning and actively participate instead of simply listening silently.

✂️ 3. Create
Arts and crafts, colouring and cutting, modelling with plasticine or other hands-on activities allow children to process what they've learned in a meaningful way. Learning becomes something they do, not just something they hear.

🌟 4. Reflect
Before the lesson ends, we revisit the learning of the day with a few simple questions and celebrate everyone's effort with a little reward (a sticker, a stamp, a candy). It's a small moment that helps consolidate learning and leaves children feeling successful.

As you can see, every stage of the lesson is planned with a clear purpose. Learning needs structure, and my planning is strongly inspired by Bloom's Taxonomy. Of course, there's always room for flexibility, but the structure is what makes meaningful learning possible.

We start by remembering previous learning, then move on to understanding new concepts through stories and discussion. Children apply what they've learned during practical activities, while the questions we ask encourage them to analyse, make connections and explain their thinking. Even the simplest craft can become an opportunity to create something personal using new language or new knowledge.

I believe a great lesson isn't about filling an hour with activities, but it's about designing a journey where every step has a purpose.

When children are engaged, thinking, moving, creating and reflecting, learning becomes deeper, more meaningful... and much more fun. 💛

Now I'd love to hear from you!

What are your essential ingredients for the perfect lesson?

Do you consciously plan around Bloom's Taxonomy, or do you have another framework that guides your teaching?

Let's share ideas in the comments! 👇✨

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🌟 ¡Learning English doesn’t simply mean filling in the blanks!✨

🎨 Learning by doing makes it much easier, more fun, and more motivating!

And you’ll be surprised at how quickly children can start achieving real results. 🌈🚀

📚 If you’re looking for creative and engaging activities to make English learning more dynamic, check out my online store! 🛍️💕

👉 ESL Children's Worksheets

✨ Learn, play, speak, and grow! ❤️

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

📍Does this situation frustrate you, and would you like your students to learn more while enjoying the process?

Don’t miss it!

Available in digital and print formats on Amazon in every country, and on the major e-book platforms.

Connecting the Dots: From Transdisciplinary Themes to Meaningful Inquiry

2023-09-17T20:15:00.002+02:00

One of the things I love most about the PYP is how a single Central Idea can open the door to endless learning possibilities.

In my previous posts, I talked about transdisciplinary learning, the role of the Transdisciplinary Themes, and why they are at the heart of the IB Primary Years Programme. Today, I'd like to take you behind the scenes and share a real Unit of Inquiry (UOI) I designed during my Master's course in Methodology of International Education.

For this unit, I chose the transdisciplinary theme:

🌍 How We Organize Ourselves – an inquiry into the interconnectedness of human-made systems and their impact on the environment.

The target age group was Grade 6.

The next step? Creating a meaningful Central Idea.

The Central Idea is much more than a statement. It's the heart of the inquiry. It provides a conceptual framework that guides teaching while giving students the opportunity to build on their prior knowledge, personal experiences, and cultural perspectives. This is where authentic student agency begins.

The Central Idea I developed was:

"Living things have adapted to their unique environments, while also shaping and modifying those environments to meet their survival needs."

From there, the inquiry naturally unfolded into three Lines of Inquiry:

🏡 Form: How people live – exploring human habitats around the world.

🌱 Causation: How the environment influences human choices about where and how they live.

🌎 Responsibility: The impact of human living solutions on the environment.

What I find fascinating is how flexible this framework is.

Although I chose to focus on human habitats, the very same Central Idea could easily lead students to investigate ecosystems, animal adaptations, evolution, sustainability, or even technological innovation. The possibilities are endless.

This is the beauty of inquiry-based learning: the curriculum isn't reduced to isolated subjects. Instead, it becomes a connected journey where concepts, skills, and student curiosity drive learning together.

Every Unit of Inquiry evolves as students ask questions, make connections, and contribute their own ideas. That's what makes each inquiry unique—and that's what makes teaching in the PYP so rewarding.

✨ Have you ever designed or experienced a Unit of Inquiry that took an unexpected direction because of students' questions? I'd love to hear your stories in the comments!

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🌟 ¡Learning English doesn’t simply mean filling in the blanks! 🇬🇧✨

🎨 Learning by doing makes it much easier, more fun, and more motivating!

And you’ll be surprised at how quickly children can start achieving real results. 🌈🚀

📚 If you’re looking for creative and engaging activities to make English learning more dynamic, check out my online store! 🛍️💕

👉 ESL Children's Worksheets

✨ Learn, play, speak, and grow! ❤️

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

📍Does this situation frustrate you, and would you like your students to learn more while enjoying the process?

Don’t miss it!

Available in digital and print formats on Amazon in every country, and on the major e-book platforms.

Exploring the Magic of the IB Transdisciplinary Themes

2023-09-07T19:05:00.002+02:00

Hi there! Welcome back!

As we discovered in our previous post, the IB framework introduces six big Transdisciplinary Themes that are at the heart of the PYP (Primary Years Programme).

What makes these themes so special? Easy answer... Their incredible flexibility: they can be adapted to different ages, cultures, languages, and learning contexts.

But what is the real magic behind them? ✨

These themes are not simply “topics” to cover. They are like windows that open our students’ minds to the world. They help children make connections between subjects, ask meaningful questions, explore real-life situations, and understand that learning is not divided into separate boxes.

The Transdisciplinary Themes encourage our young learners to become curious thinkers, compassionate citizens, and active participants in their communities.

Let's take a closer look at them!

1. Encapsulation of Shared Commonalities 🌎

They connect us through our shared human experiences

The Transdisciplinary Themes focus on ideas that are meaningful for all human beings, regardless of where they live or which culture they belong to. The big idea here is that, despite our differences, as human beings we share many experiences, needs, hopes, and challenges and especially values.

💡 Practical example for your lesson:

Theme: Who We Are

Students can explore identity, relationships, health, and personal development.

Possible subject connections:

Language: writing a personal biography, creating “All About Me” books, interviewing family members.
Science: exploring the human body, nutrition, and healthy habits.
Social Studies: comparing family traditions and celebrations from different cultures.
Art: creating self-portraits representing personality, emotions, and identity.

Through this theme, children understand that knowing themselves also helps them understand others.

2. Indication of Complexity and Connectedness 🌱

They show students that the world is beautifully interconnected

Real-world problems are rarely simple. The themes encourage students to look beyond one perspective and discover how different elements influence each other.

Children learn that a scientific discovery can have social consequences, that our choices affect the environment, and that every action creates connections.

💡 Practical example for your lesson:

Theme: How We Organize Ourselves

Students investigate systems, communities, organizations, and how people work together.

Possible subject connections:

Mathematics: collecting data about classroom routines, creating graphs, analysing budgets.
Science: exploring how systems work in nature (ecosystems, food chains).
Social Studies: understanding governments, communities, and different types of organizations.
Language: creating advertisements, persuasive texts, or presentations about improving a community system.

Students begin to see that everything is connected!

3. Engagement in Real-World Dialogues 🌍💬

They invite children to become problem-solvers

The Transdisciplinary Themes encourage students to discuss authentic issues that matter in the world around them. They are not just learning about problems; they are encouraged to think about possible solutions.

💡 Practical example for your lesson:

Theme: Sharing the Planet

Students explore relationships between humans, animals, and the environment.

Possible subject connections:

Science: investigating ecosystems, biodiversity, climate change, and conservation.
Mathematics: analysing environmental data, measuring waste production, creating charts.
Language: writing campaigns, creating posters, preparing speeches to raise awareness.
Art: designing eco-friendly projects or recycled artwork.
Physical Education: exploring outdoor activities and the importance of caring for natural spaces.

Students discover that even small actions can create a positive impact.

4. Authentic Embeddedness of Subject Areas 📚✨

They break down the walls between subjects

One of the most exciting aspects of the PYP is that subjects do not live separately. Instead of learning mathematics, science, language, and art as isolated areas, students use different skills together to understand bigger concepts.

💡 Practical example for your lesson:

Theme: How We Express Ourselves

Students explore creativity, communication, culture, and personal expression.

Possible subject connections:

Language: writing stories, poems, scripts, or exploring different forms of communication.
Art: studying artists, creating original artwork, experimenting with different techniques.
Music: exploring rhythm, instruments, and cultural traditions.
Drama: expressing ideas through role-play and performances.
Technology: creating digital stories, podcasts, or presentations.

Students learn that creativity has many different languages!

5. Contribution to the Uniqueness of the PYP 🌟

They create globally minded learners

The Transdisciplinary Themes are what make the PYP approach truly unique. They move beyond traditional content-based learning and encourage children to become internationally minded, reflective, and responsible citizens.

💡 Practical example for your lesson:

Theme: Where We Are in Place and Time

Students investigate history, journeys, cultures, and the relationship between people and places.

Possible subject connections:

Social Studies: exploring historical events, migrations, and civilizations.
Geography: studying maps, countries, landscapes, and human environments.
Language: creating timelines, research projects, interviews, and historical narratives.
Mathematics: working with timelines, distances, scales, and population data.
Art: exploring cultural symbols, architecture, and traditional crafts.

Students understand that every place has a story, and every person is part of a bigger global story.

The six themes: one big invitation to explore 🚀

The beauty of the PYP Transdisciplinary Themes is that they transform learning into an adventure. They encourage children to wonder, question, investigate, create, collaborate, and take action.

As teachers, our role is not only to provide answers but to create opportunities for students to discover connections and build their own understanding of the world. Because the best learning happens when children look around and think:

“I wonder why…”
“How could we improve this?”
“What can I do to make a difference?” 🌍💛

Quiero leerlo en español

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🌟 ¡Learning English doesn’t simply mean filling in the blanks! 🇬🇧✨

🎨 Learning by doing makes it much easier, more fun, and more motivating!

And you’ll be surprised at how quickly children can start achieving real results. 🌈🚀

📚 If you’re looking for creative and engaging activities to make English learning more dynamic, check out my online store! 🛍️💕

👉 ESL Children's Worksheets

✨ Learn, play, speak, and grow! ❤️

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

📍Does this situation frustrate you, and would you like your students to learn more while enjoying the process?

Don’t miss it!

Available in digital and print formats on Amazon in every country, and on the major e-book platforms.

Wait… did Maths just become English?" 🤯

2023-08-29T18:39:00.008+02:00

One of the terms that parents often hear when their children join the IB Primary Years Programme (PYP) is transdisciplinary learning. It sounds like one of those complicated educational buzzwords... but in reality, it's surprisingly simple.

It means that learning goes beyond individual subjects.

Children don't learn Maths from 9 to 10, English from 10 to 11 and then completely forget about Maths. Instead, they explore big ideas through different lenses, using each subject as a tool to better understand the world around them.

And this is where the magic happens.

I'll never forget a moment during my years as a Grade 3 homeroom teacher in an international school in Madrid.

That week's Unit of Inquiry belonged to the transdisciplinary theme Who We Are, and in English we were talking about healthy eating.

Rather than using the outdated food pyramid, we were introducing students to the Healthy Plate model: half the plate filled with vegetables, one quarter with protein and one quarter with carbohydrates.

I had already introduced the concept during our English lessons.

Later that day, I walked back into the classroom after the Spanish Maths lesson.

The Maths teacher had been explaining fractions, and the whiteboard was still full of circles divided into halves.

One of the beautiful things about transdisciplinary teaching is that you don't erase the board just because another subject is coming next. You start from what is already there.

So that's exactly what I did.

I pointed to the circle already divided into two equal parts and said:

"Remember our Healthy Plate?"

Then I drew one more line, dividing one of the halves into two equal pieces.

Suddenly, the diagram became our healthy plate.

Half vegetables.

One quarter protein.

One quarter carbohydrates.

And then... it happened.

You know that moment when you can almost hear twenty-five little brains making the same connection at exactly the same time?

Click.

Fractions were no longer just something from Spanish Maths.

Healthy eating was no longer just vocabulary from English.

The two ideas became one.

That was the exact moment I truly understood the power of transdisciplinary learning.

This doesn't mean that subjects disappear. Quite the opposite.

The PYP still includes six subject areas:

Language
Mathematics
Science
Social Studies
Arts
Personal, Social and Physical Education (PSPE)

The difference is that these subjects are not taught as isolated boxes. Instead, teachers work collaboratively to connect them through six Transdisciplinary Themes, giving learning purpose and making it meaningful.

Those six themes are:

🌍 Who We Are

🗺️ Where We Are in Place and Time

🎨 How We Express Ourselves

⚙️ How the World Works

🏛️ How We Organise Ourselves

🌱 Sharing the Planet

Rather than asking, "What page are we on in the textbook?", the PYP asks a much more powerful question:

"How can today's learning help children make sense of the world?"

And honestly... once you've seen twenty-five children make those connections in real time, it's very hard to go back to teaching subjects as completely separate worlds.

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🌟 ¡Learning English doesn’t simply mean filling in the blanks! 🇬🇧✨

🎨 Learning by doing makes it much easier, more fun, and more motivating!

And you’ll be surprised at how quickly children can start achieving real results. 🌈🚀

📚 If you’re looking for creative and engaging activities to make English learning more dynamic, check out my online store! 🛍️💕

👉 ESL Children's Worksheets

✨ Learn, play, speak, and grow! ❤️

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

📍Does this situation frustrate you, and would you like your students to learn more while enjoying the process?

Don’t miss it!

Available in digital and print formats on Amazon in every country, and on the major e-book platforms.

From remembering to creating: guiding our students through Bloom’s Taxonomy

2022-04-25T20:10:00.003+02:00

Bloom's Taxonomy

Hi there! 👋

Today I’m going to introduce something that school teachers are already familiar with, for sure, but… as the old Latin saying goes, repetita iuvant! 😉

Sometimes, revisiting well-known concepts and looking at them through practical examples is exactly what we need to make ideas clearer, more meaningful and easier to apply in our everyday teaching practice.

So today, let’s talk about a powerful tool that can help us design learning experiences that truly support our students’ thinking journey: Bloom’s Taxonomy. 🌱

In our previous post about cooperative learning, we talked about Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) — those powerful thinking skills that allow our students to analyse, evaluate and create — often compared with Lower Order Thinking Skills (LOTS), which are connected to remembering and understanding information.

But here’s the important thing: both are essential! 💡

They are all part of one of the most famous tools in education: Bloom’s Taxonomy.

📚The six levels of the pyramid represent the different steps our learners go through as they build knowledge:

🔹 Remembering
Recalling facts, information and previously learned skills.

🔹 Understanding
Explaining, describing, comparing and making sense of information.

🔹 Applying
Using knowledge in new situations and real-life contexts.

🔹 Analyzing
Exploring information, identifying patterns and making connections.

🔹 Evaluating
Expressing opinions, making judgements and supporting ideas with evidence.

🔹 Creating
Designing, inventing and producing something new.

✨ Why is Bloom’s Taxonomy such a valuable tool when planning learning experiences?

Because learning is not just about collecting information. In fact, meaningful learning happens when students are gradually supported in moving from “I know this” to “I can use this, I can question it, I can create something with it.”

This is closely connected to Bruner’s scaffolding theory: as teachers, we build the right supports at the right time, accompanying our students step by step until they can become more independent learners.

For example, imagine introducing the topic of historical sources to a Grade 3 class. A possible learning journey could look like this:

📌 REMEMBERING activities

Sharing what students already know about the past.
Learning the definition of “historical source”.
Identifying different types of sources and examples.

📌 UNDERSTANDING activities

Classifying sources according to their type.
Creating diagrams or organisers to describe their characteristics.

📌 APPLYING activities

Bringing historical objects from home.
Interviewing parents, grandparents or members of the school community to discover how objects were used in the past.

📌 ANALYZING activities

Describing a source in detail: what it was used for, where it came from, why it was important, how it compares to modern versions.
Looking for similarities and differences between objects brought by classmates.
Creating mind maps about historical sources.

📌 EVALUATING activities

Discussing which sources are the most valuable for historians and explaining why.
Interpreting the meaning of a source within its historical context.

📌 CREATING activities

Designing a presentation about the sources investigated.
Creating a timeline showing how objects have changed over time.
Building a classroom museum. 🏛️

The beautiful thing about Bloom’s Taxonomy is that it can be applied to any subject and any topic. Whether we are exploring science, history, languages or mathematics, this framework helps us design learning experiences that go beyond memorisation.

And there is another important connection: the development of these thinking skills is deeply linked to the development of competences. If we think of competence as the combination of knowledge, skills, attitudes, values and emotions that learners use in real situations, we immediately see why the top of the pyramid — analysing, evaluating and creating — is so important.

🌟 For this reason, understanding and applying Bloom’s Taxonomy is a powerful skill for every teacher. It is not only useful in IB contexts; it is a universal tool to help our students become curious, independent and lifelong learners.

Because the goal is not simply for children to remember more…

…it is for them to think more. 💭✨

Quiero leer este post en español

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🌟 ¡Learning English doesn’t simply mean filling in the blanks! 🇬🇧✨

🎨 Learning by doing makes it much easier, more fun, and more motivating!

And you’ll be surprised at how quickly children can start achieving real results. 🌈🚀

📚 If you’re looking for creative and engaging activities to make English learning more dynamic, check out my online store! 🛍️💕

👉 ESL Children's Worksheets

✨ Learn, play, speak, and grow! ❤️

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📍Does this situation frustrate you, and would you like your students to learn more while enjoying the process?

Don’t miss it!

Available in digital and print formats on Amazon in every country, and on the major e-book platforms.

Cooperative Learning... but make it simple!

2022-04-18T15:19:00.003+02:00

How can we implement cooperative learning in the classroom without adding even more to our workload?

The good news is... we absolutely can! 💛

With the right structures and routines, cooperative learning doesn't have to mean extra planning or complicated group activities. In fact, it can become one of the most effective—and manageable—parts of your teaching practice.

Research has consistently shown that cooperative learning helps children develop higher-order thinking skills, leading to deeper, more meaningful learning.

This idea is rooted in Vygotsky's theory, which tells us that children learn best through interaction. Whether they're learning from their teacher or from a more knowledgeable peer, meaningful conversations help them construct understanding together.

That's why cooperative learning has become such an important part of today's competency-based classrooms.

Buuut...

✨ What does effective cooperative learning actually look like?

I'm sure we're all aware that it's so much more than simply putting children into groups! Here's the list of the key ingredients for successful cooperative learning:

🤝 Mixed-ability groups where every child brings different strengths, ideas, and knowledge to the table. Together, they create something that's richer than what they could have achieved alone.

💬 Meaningful communication as children discuss, question, explain, and support one another. These conversations are where real learning happens.

⭐ Individual accountability because every child has an important role to play and is responsible for contributing to the group's success.

⚖️ Equal participation so every voice is heard and every learner has the opportunity to be actively involved.

🧩 Shared decision-making as children work together, solve problems, and make choices as a team.

👥 Face-to-face interaction, building not only knowledge but also confidence, empathy, and collaboration skills.

When all of these elements come together, cooperative learning becomes so much more than group work—it becomes a powerful learning experience for every child. 💛

The 5 basic structures and the skills

✨ So... how can we actually bring cooperative learning into our classrooms?

By now, we know that this approach can develop so many important skills—but the big question is: where do we start? 💭

Take note of this name: Dr Spencer Kagan. ⭐

This psychologist and pioneer in the cooperative learning movement dedicated his work to helping teachers create more interactive and collaborative lessons, where children become not only more knowledgeable learners, but also more caring and cooperative ones.

His solution? Cooperative structures.

Dr Kagan designed more than 200 structures that can be easily integrated into our lessons without having to completely change our planning or rewrite our activities from scratch. 🙌

I personally use some of them depending on my teaching goals, and I can truly say that they are incredibly powerful tools. They encourage reflection, dialogue, active participation—and, most importantly, they motivate children to get involved in any subject we are exploring.

Some Kagan's stuctures

to Kagan, there are 5 essential structures that every teacher should learn first:

🤝 Rally Robin / Rally Table
Students work in pairs and take turns sharing answers, ideas, or solutions to a question or problem.

⏰ Timed Pair Share
One student shares their ideas for a set amount of time while their partner listens. Then they swap roles and, if desired, share their thoughts with the class.

🔄 Round Robin / Round Table
Students take turns contributing ideas or answers within their team, making sure everyone has a voice.

🧩 Rally Coach
Partners solve problems together: one student works while the other observes, supports, checks, and encourages.

🙋 Stand Up, Hand Up, Pair Up
Students move around the classroom, find a partner, and share or discuss a task using one of the previous structures.

My students use these structures very often, and I can honestly say that they lead to 100% participation. Even the quieter children feel more confident sharing their ideas, attention increases, and learning becomes much more meaningful. 💛

So don't be afraid to try them!

Once you see the impact they can have in your classroom, you won't want to go back. ✨

--> Quiero leer este post en castellano

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🌟 ¡Learning English doesn’t simply mean filling in the blanks! 🇬🇧✨

🎨 Learning by doing makes it much easier, more fun, and more motivating!

And you’ll be surprised at how quickly children can start achieving real results. 🌈🚀

📚 If you’re looking for creative and engaging activities to make English learning more dynamic, check out my online store! 🛍️💕

👉 ESL Children's Worksheets

✨ Learn, play, speak, and grow! ❤️

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

📍Does this situation frustrate you, and would you like your students to learn more while enjoying the process?

Don’t miss it!

Available in digital and print formats on Amazon in every country, and on the major e-book platforms.

Summer homework? Graded readers, brain teasers, crosswords, and more

2021-07-12T15:04:00.120+02:00

Hi there!

I'd like to share with you in a quick post the summer 'homework' I suggested for my students this year. Besides the classic graded readers to practice reading comprehension, I thought that some puzzle/quizz/riddle book might be, not only entertaining, but also a good way for connecting the different areas of knowledge (English, Natural and Social Sciences, Maths, etc.) in order to enhance significative learning and the 4 language skills (reading, writing, listening, speaking).

So... here's some of the books I selected for primary school students starting from National Geographic, which has some good ones:

Then, I thought about brain teasers, which are useful for learning how to think outside the box. They usually come with the age of the children they are designed for. However, since they are for native speakers, I would pick a level below your child's age if yours is not. Also I would choose the paperback version which usually comes with pictures and illustrations.

From Usborne, as suggested by my friend Marine, who is an independent book seller you can get in touch with from her FB Page Kidibook:

HAVE FUN!

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🌟 ¡Learning English doesn’t simply mean filling in the blanks! 🇬🇧✨

🎨 Learning by doing makes it much easier, more fun, and more motivating!

And you’ll be surprised at how quickly children can start achieving real results. 🌈🚀

📚 If you’re looking for creative and engaging activities to make English learning more dynamic, check out my online store! 🛍️💕

👉 ESL Children's Worksheets

✨ Learn, play, speak, and grow! ❤️

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

📍Does this situation frustrate you, and would you like your students to learn more while enjoying the process?

Don’t miss it!

Available in digital and print formats on Amazon in every country, and on the major e-book platforms.

Time flies when... you are busy

2021-07-04T11:22:00.005+02:00

Hello y'all! 😁

I'm alive and well, as Katniss would say (from the Hunger Games, of course). Last year, COVID entered our 'normal' lifes and revolutionized them, showing no mercy. In March 2020 I was teaching phonics to my preschoolers, helping kids being more fluent, writing posts about it, enjoying the center of Madrid day and night, literally. At the same time, I was studying this Master degree about bilingualism and international curiculum that was being pretty intense but absolutely woth it. Life was busy, but pleasant, until COVID bursted in and all my routine and future plans changed.

The studies could 'easily' go on because of the online mode, but my extracurricular classes had to be abruptly interrupted. Moreover, September didn't look bright and, because of this uncertainty, I had to opt for teaching English as a school teacher in order to assure myself and my elder dog (she is 15!!!) a decent lifestyle. After sending CVs to all the International schools in the area, I finally got a call which turned into a job as a homeroom teacher in the immersion line of a private school in Boadilla, where I had the opportunity to teach English almost as a first language. It was pretty cool!

However, waking up at 6 in the morning every day since the 31st of August until last Thursday, dealing with all the pandemic school issues in addition to the current school duties, and arriving home at 6:15 pm every afternoon has been exhausting and that's why you haven't heard from me for so long. Besides, I had to finish my Master degree and take care of my own life during the pandemic, which also has been a bit stressful.

Anyway, here we are! Thanks to the vaccination campaign we all feel a bit safer even though this feeling of uncertainty never leaves us really and I wanted to make the most of this summer break for saying hello again, and for letting you know that the many things I've learnt about bilingualism are now published in the 'Mi hijo habla inglés' book. Yes! I used the Easter break to update it. So, even if I haven' had the time for applying the 'Second edition' label to the cover of the book, I can assure you that there's new interesting content that is worth reading both in the digital and the paper version of it.

I wish you a safe and relaxing summer!

Bye for now

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🌟 ¡Learning English doesn’t simply mean filling in the blanks! 🇬🇧✨

🎨 Learning by doing makes it much easier, more fun, and more motivating!

And you’ll be surprised at how quickly children can start achieving real results. 🌈🚀

📚 If you’re looking for creative and engaging activities to make English learning more dynamic, check out my online store! 🛍️💕

👉 ESL Children's Worksheets

✨ Learn, play, speak, and grow! ❤️

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

📍Does this situation frustrate you, and would you like your students to learn more while enjoying the process?

Don’t miss it!

Available in digital and print formats on Amazon in every country, and on the major e-book platforms.

Best Activity Book for the Summer

2020-06-28T13:02:00.000+02:00

Summer means holiday and a lot of free time that we know perfectly how to enjoy and make the most of, but...what about our kids?

Many parents and teachers think that this time of the year should be employed by our little ones for reviewing, reinforcing, or at least maintaining a minimum level of fluency and knowledge of everything they've been studying during the school year. Furthermore, this 2020 has seen half of the school population at home dealing with online classes for the lockdown, and, perhaps many of you have this feeling that not enough effort has been put into studying and learning. It is then possible that your first reaction is to look for, apparently, simple grammar tasks and download them from the internet just to realize that our sons and daughters, especially those attending the first grades of primary school, are incapable of doing any of that.

And the first feeling is... Panic. You think that your kids don't know any English and you don’t know how to help them or at least it looks like that what you’re trying is not working at all (?!?!?!?).

High Five 3! - MacMillan - Sample pages.

Well, first of all, the grammar approach to learning languages, especially at young ages, is an old method no longer in use.

Secondly, open any of the the Stuedent’s books that your children are using at school and observe it. What can you see? Pictures, songs, sometimes links to online resources, speaking exercises to refresh what they already know from previous years, and then… more pictures, dialogues, a bit of new grammar in context and more speaking exercises.

Finally, take a look at the Activity book: you’ll notice that it is full of written tasks and projects where children can practice their writing skills, always, always, always after having previously used and developed their listening, speaking and reading skills with the Student’s book.

Why so much preparation for writing? Because we know that any brain, for learning anything, needs to relate the new knowledge to the previous one and, all those listening, speaking and reading activities are needed in order to add the new information to the learner’s mental schemes in a significant and persistent way. Moreover, translation is not an aspect they work at school either, (as I mention in my book) so even if the exercise looks amazingly simple to you, they might not be able to make connections between their first language and English yet.

At this point, you have already understood that your children do know English, it’s just the way they learn it that is different from what you were taught when you were their age, so, to them your grammar exercise doesn’t make any sense because it hasn’t any context from which a primary school child can deduct and create connections.

Does this mean that you must change into a schoolteacher? Well, not really. Just try to look for the right material or activity books so that your child can work out the meaning of what they’re doing by themselves, using all the resources that are already planned together with the activity.

I hope this post was useful, and of course if you have any question, sen me an email at misslucysteachingfun@gmail.com

Also, more information about how children learn English, but any second language really, is available in my book Mi hijo habla inglés, on Amazon and other ebook platforms.

>> Quiero leer este post en español

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🌟 ¡Learning English doesn’t simply mean filling in the blanks! 🇬🇧✨

🎨 Learning by doing makes it much easier, more fun, and more motivating!

And you’ll be surprised at how quickly children can start achieving real results. 🌈🚀

📚 If you’re looking for creative and engaging activities to make English learning more dynamic, check out my online store! 🛍️💕

👉 ESL Children's Worksheets

✨ Learn, play, speak, and grow! ❤️

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

📍Does this situation frustrate you, and would you like your students to learn more while enjoying the process?

Don’t miss it!

Available in digital and print formats on Amazon in every country, and on the major e-book platforms.

Miss Lucy's Teaching Fun

🥕 From Planting to Harvesting: Growing English in the School Garden

🌱 1. Have Got: Describe Your Plant

🥕 5. From Planting to Harvesting

The Better Me: From Self-Reflection to Action in My IB Classroom

How am I doing?

Let’s Grow English! School Garden Activities for Teaching English in October 🌱

🌱 Seeds to sow in October🥕 Carrots🫛 Peas🫘 Broad beans🥬 Spinach🔴 Radishes

🪴 Young plants or seedlings to plant

🥬 Lettuce🥬 Cabbage🥦 Broccoli🥦 Cauliflower🥬 Kale🧅 Onions

From Self-Reflection to Agency: Helping Children See Their Own Progress

References and further reading:

🍂 Autumn Outdoors: Nature, Land Art & English Learning

🍂 1. Autumn Land Art

ESL boost: Encourage children to describe what they are creating:

🍁 2. Nature Mandalas

Useful vocabulary: circle, center, repeat, pattern, shape, colors, bigger, smaller, next to, between, etc.

🌿 Why I Love Land Art with Young English Learners

🌈 Starting your Lessons with Circle Time

📚✨When They Finish First… What Do You Give Them Next?

Read, Find, Colour & Count! ❤️

❤️💛❤️ Lee esta entrada en español

5 No-Prep Vocabulary Games Every Teacher Should Know

1. Guess My Word

3. Flashcard Corners

4. Pass the Ball

5. Category Race

Variation: Categories A–Z

❤️💛❤️ Lee esta entrada en español

BACK TO SCHOOL: LET'S GET TALKING! 🎒❤️

🏃 I LIKE IT!

💬 FROM PLAYING TO SPEAKING

👯 LET'S TALK ABOUT US!

❤️💛❤️ Lee esta entrada en español

What's the most memorable lesson your students still talk about years later? 💡

🖼️ Image-Based Provocation: Don’t just show students a picture! Choose an ambiguous, surprising or thought-provoking image and invite them to come up with different interpretations. It’s a great way to activate prior knowledge and get those little brains working! 👉 Here's an example

🔺 Question Triangle: Once students have generated their questions, invite them to look at them more closely. Which questions are thin and which ones are deep? Can they transform a simple question into one that could lead to a much richer inquiry? 👉Here's an example

🔥 Hot Seat: Put a student, an object, a historical character—or even a picture—in the hot seat! The rest of the class can ask questions to discover more. It’s a fun way to turn students from passive answerers into active questioners. 👉Here's an example

💭 What if...? Sometimes all you need is a good What if...? question to open the door to an inquiry.

🌍 Bring in the Real World

🎨 A Creative Provocation

🎧🎬 A Multisensory Provocation

Simple English Classroom Phrases for Young Learners - Part 2

🌞 Beginning of the Lesson

🎵 Turn Your Routines into Games and Songs!

🎶 Use songs to reinforce routines

🎲 Play Simon Says

💛 Little by Little...

❤️💛❤️ Lee esta entrada en español

What If Inquiry Started at the Classroom Window? From Mario Lodi to the PYP: The Roots of Inquiry-Based and Transdisciplinary Learning

Why the Library Matters in the IB PYP

Simple English Classroom Phrases for Young Learners - Part 1

🏆 Let’s get them talking!

👋 1. Greetings

🙋 2. Simple Requests

🌟 Keep it simple!

From Mind Maps to Ecological Fairy Tales: A Cooperative Learning Project for #SharingThePlanet

English from the First Hello: Creating a Safe and Playful Classroom

✨ What Makes the Perfect Lesson? (Spoiler: It’s Not Just About English!)

Connecting the Dots: From Transdisciplinary Themes to Meaningful Inquiry

Exploring the Magic of the IB Transdisciplinary Themes

1. Encapsulation of Shared Commonalities 🌎

Theme: Who We Are

2. Indication of Complexity and Connectedness 🌱

Theme: How We Organize Ourselves

3. Engagement in Real-World Dialogues 🌍💬

Theme: Sharing the Planet

4. Authentic Embeddedness of Subject Areas 📚✨

Theme: How We Express Ourselves

5. Contribution to the Uniqueness of the PYP 🌟

Theme: Where We Are in Place and Time

The six themes: one big invitation to explore 🚀

Wait… did Maths just become English?" 🤯

From remembering to creating: guiding our students through Bloom’s Taxonomy

Cooperative Learning... but make it simple!

Summer homework? Graded readers, brain teasers, crosswords, and more

Time flies when... you are busy

Best Activity Book for the Summer

🌱 Seeds to sow in October
🥕 Carrots
🫛 Peas
🫘 Broad beans
🥬 Spinach
🔴 Radishes

🥬 Lettuce
🥬 Cabbage
🥦 Broccoli
🥦 Cauliflower
🥬 Kale
🧅 Onions