by Bonkerbots | Dec 28, 2019 | Stations
It’s always fun exploring new Grammar with my students. This week we focused on Synonyms and I was impressed at how quickly they absorbed the new vocab. As teachers, we always try our best to create interesting and active lessons. We’re great at multitasking. Eg: A busy teacher could be found printing new resources that she just created in Power Point, she’s using the guillotine (paper cutter, my non-teaching friends) while searching ideas on Pinterest and deciding what she should cook for dinner, with 5 dogs needing her attention. Oh wait… what’s that smell? Is that the laminator? haha
Well back to creating engaging lessons. As much as we prep (I’m speaking for myself here) and laminate like crazy to use things over and over again, which I most certainly do. I am still constantly creating new resources because:
- It’s fun!
- You found this amazing idea on Pinterest (Dangerous yet exciting place)
- You’ve forgotten where you stored those puzzles…
- You want something new and know that your students will love it!
And isn’t what it’s all about? So what does this have to do with Synonyms? Basically I had a great action planned week for my students and was thrilled that they enjoyed all the prep. Below is a break down of our one day during our stations. Bear in mind that I am teaching in Cambodia. Some of my students are basically 1st language speakers. They’re confident and will happily correct a grammatical error I may have made and then there are some students, who are bran new to our school and to English. So when creating resources, I have to create a balance where it is challenging for my strong students but also helpful to my newer students. Basically what any ESL teacher goes through.
You can grab your free copy of the Synonym Template below.
So here’s what we got up to during our stations:
Station 1: Synonym Bingo Dab
I love creating Bingo Dab worksheets. They’re fun and get students excited about using something else other than a pencil or coloring pencils. If you have never used them before, I would highly recommend it. The ones that I use were bought by a very good friend of mine and that was about 4 years ago.
It’s easy peasy. Students just need to stamp the synonym to the word.
Station 2: Synonym Stenciling
This was a real hit with my kids as I don’t think they get to use stencils often, especially with color markers. Throughout the week we practiced 48 of the most common synonyms and it’s always rewarding watching your kids enjoying the learning process.
I love how focused they are!
Station 3: Synonym Stamping
I love whipping out the stamps and will use any excuse because they’re just great. My students felt the same way.
Station 4: Synonym Match Up
Our final station consisted of matching up our plants to the watering can. As I said previously, my students were practicing 48 of the most common synonyms, however, you could just choose which ones you want your students to use.
The Synonym Plant Match up is available in our store but grab your FREE copy of the Synonym Stations template.
Happy teaching!
by Bonkerbots | Dec 14, 2019 | Uncategorized
We cannot believe it’s that time of year again! Christmas is around the corner and we have certainly had fun getting into the Christmas spirit. I love doing arts and crafts with the kiddies and so I’ll use any excuse to make something with them. I also LOVE doing Bean Mosaics and so VOILA, Christmas Snowman and Reindeer were born. Obviously, being in the tropics means our Christmas is a warm, snow free Christmas but our students understand all parts Christmasy.
Our School celebrates Christmas with a big party where each Grade performs their own song or dance. The School becomes filled with lots of little Santa’s and an ocean of red everywhere. I hung up their creations outside their classes in the corridor and they look mighty fab!
You could use a variety of resources in creating these. I just used what we had available here in store. Red beans are mad pricey this side so I opted for more budget friendly goodies.
What you’ll need: (This is what I used in creating ours)
Snowman:
- Sago (for the snow)
- Corn (for the nose) orange lentils would totally work
- Mung beans (mistletoe on hat)
- Black sesame seeds (hat, eyes and mouth)
- Soy beans (lining on hat) However, lentils would also be great here. Just to break up the black on the hat.
- White glue (PVA glue)
Reindeer
- Black sesame seeds (eyes and mouth)
- Watermelon seeds (nose and ears)
- Corn / Soy beans (top part of face)
- Brown rice (bottom part of face)
- Mung beans (ears)
These projects are versatile for different age groups. My First Graders made the Snowmen and my Second Graders made the Reindeers. Each Grade had an absolute blast creating them. They were all extremely focused had no problem creating them independently. They were printed on board / card as the ‘beans’ do start to weigh a bit. The board / card supports them rather well.
Step by step
- My First Graders followed step by step whereas my Second Graders were given a demo and worked independently. The PVA glue was in small bottle, which was perfect for them as they were able to practice their fine motor skills by squeezing the bottle.
2. Students took great pride in carefully placing their ‘beans’. I thought the class would be way messier afterwards but it wasn’t. When placing glue, you don’t need a crazy amount. Students squeezed the bottle and moved it around to spread it evenly. This worked perfectly and held ‘beans’ in place.
3. Once students added their ‘beans’, they placed the excess back in the container.
We were very pleased with our creations and I highly recommend doing this for Christmas. Not only are they getting a chance to be creative but it’s great for exploring different textures.
We hope you have a wonderful time creating your own!
Merry Christmas!
From us here at Bonkerbots
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by Bonkerbots | Apr 14, 2019 | Uncategorized
Aah! Good old Sunday mornings. Nothing like a beautiful day with some jazz playing, listening to the birds chirping while sipping on some cold juice with the sun shining. However, this isn’t just an ordinary Sunday but rather the start of a very special holiday for the Cambodians, Khmer New Year.
Khmer New Year (Year of the pig) is a 3 day celebration starting from the 14th April this year. Cambodians will spend this time with their families with many travelling back to their home provinces. This is generally what happens;
Day 1: Maha Sangkran
Incense is lit and offerings are placed in shrines and at the entrances to homes paying homage and thanks to Buddha and his teachings.
Day 2: Virak Vanabat
People spend this day with friends and family. Gifts are normally given to their elders and the less fortunate (generally food). People will also spend the day having a lunch somewhere together.
Day 3: Vearak Loeng Sak
People will wash Buddha statues and their elders with blessed water. It is thought to bring good luck and prosperity for the new year.
The air of friends and family coming together to celebrate is filled with music and laughter and completely inescapable, yet everyone is invited. Probably one of the best things about Cambodians, is how welcoming they are in sharing whatever they have.
The town comes to a stand still during this time. Many stores and businesses close and everybody gets ready to unleash a water street fight. Water guns, cannons, buckets and hose pipes are all prepared in spirit of spraying anyone that passes by. Perfect way to cool down in this harsh April heat.
Our Schools came together to celebrate the New Year by having several performances by our students. It was a fantastic day seeing everyone dressed in their traditional clothing feeling the holiday spirit. Siem Reap will be coming alive at night and we will post some more pics from the exciting holiday. 🙂
by Bonkerbots | Nov 5, 2017 | Uncategorized
Wow! This is rather exciting. Bonerbots very first blog post. Where shall I start?
I think the very beginning would be best. Bonkerbots is made up of my oh so handsome fiance, Keith and then, me. We are South Africans expats living in Cambodia. CAMBODIA you say, how did you land up there? Excellent question. Keith and I met many moons ago at our previous jobs, working as hairstylists. We saved up some moola and went backpacking in Thailand for 2 months. We immediately fell in love with it and felt we had to come back and live there. I think everyone who has been to the islands feels the same way. So we saved up, quit our jobs and headed to Bangkok to begin our TEFL course.
We completed our TEFL course through Chichester Collage .Once the month was up, we started teaching at a school in Bangkok. I knew from the very beginning that I wanted to teach Kindergarten, whereas Keith taught Primary school. We landed up working for a year and started to get tired of the massive city and felt we needed a change. And that’s how Cambodia happened. Our boss at the time happened to run a school in Siem Reap and that’s where we have been living for the last 3 years.
Siem Reap is a fantastic ‘little’ town. One of the main things that I absolutely love about this place, is being able to ride on my bicycle around town and that it takes 5 mins to get anywhere. Now you know who we are and how we landed up here, but how exactly did Bonkerbots form? Well, it all started with the frustration of not being able to find exactly what we wanted online, in terms of resources. Or, if we did, it was often at times, rather expensive. Keith then began drawing different resources for me. It started with a split pin craft and then we began to make flash cards and mini books. Once we discovered teacherspayteachers, we felt we could bring something fresh to the table and we have loved every minute since.
So welcome to our blog. We look forward to sharing our classroom ideas with you all.
Laura @ Bonkerbots 🙂
