This week our Reception children have started to learn about German names for family members! We are going to be working towards creating our own ‘Meine Familie’ books but before we can do that, we need to know our words. The children were very successful in the first matching task, using displays and their memories to match a picture with a word.

This week our Reception children have been very clever and learning their numbers in German. They love singing the song, ‘Zehn Kleine Käferlein’ and using their fingers to show which number they are up to.

Instead of just singing about ladybirds, this week they also used them to show their counting skills!

This week the Year 1 students have been playing ‘Farben Memory!’

The students played the game is groups of 5 or 6 and we focussed strongly on team work, being supportive and turn taking.

The groups were formed by putting names into an online group generator – which meant the groups made were completely random!

The students loved playing the game and practised both reading and saying the colour words in German.

The Year 1 classes have been very busy today. Some started their German lesson with a game of Bingo! Students had to listen very carefully as numbers, colours and greetings were called out. If the words were on their game cards they needed to cover them over with a token. If they covered four in a row they called, ‘Bingo!’ Our first game had 3 winners!

Mrs. Hook’s Year 1 class did a fantastic job preparing for an assembly item. Ten students will lead the Year R/1 assembly in singing, ‘Zehn Kleine Käferlein’ by holding up ladybirds as the numbers go by in the song. The rehearsal looked great!

All students in German are either learning or revising the song,  ‘Zehn Kleine Käferlein’ this week. It is a fantastic song to practice our counting and when we sing it, we use our fingers to show the number the song is up to.

Here is the video to the song with full credit going to Languages Online. Practice at home with your family!

As always I am so very impressed with the way our new Reception children learn and retain language in German!

This week the children were given a caterpillar which had a different colour on each part – written in German. They had to match the word with colour posters in our classroom and then colour the part in the correct colour. They also needed to trace/copy each word. They all did a fantastic job remembering the words!

This week our Year 2 students trialled a new activity. In our German classroom we have a large selection of German readers. We often speak in German about the importance of identifying keywords and not getting caught up in trying to understand every single word. Keywords can give us clues as to what the text is about.

The students chose a partner and then selected a German reader together. They then needed to carefully read through the book, recording all of the words (and their translations) that they knew. Some books had lots of familiar words while others only had a few!

The children were very engaged with this activity and proud of just how much they can understand already. We will certainly try this activity again soon with a different book.

The Year 1 students have been going back over their German counting skills this week, singing along to ‘Zehn Kleine Kaferlein,’ playing class games and practising writing the German numbers. We’ve had a lot of fun!

In Germany, children often receive a huge cone filled with gifts on their first day of school! These are called, ‘Schultütes’ or school cones.

This week our Reception children are decorating their own mini Schultüte (an origami cone made by Frau Smith) and then receiving some German gifts to take home and enjoy!

Each student will take home a ruler with ‘Ich Liebe Deutsch’ written on it (I love German), a bookmark with the same writing, an eraser with ‘Guten Tag’ written on it (hello), 2 German stickers and a pencil with ‘Gut Gemacht’ on it (well done).

Here are some pictures of our Reception children decorating their Schultütes and playing a fun new fly swat game to finish the lesson off!

What will the Reception children be making..?