Teacher Discussion Forums

Im currently working at an elementry school. I ve just been told that I have to teach "days of the week" over 4 classes. Usually days of the week would take me one or two classes to complete.I have no idea what I should do for the other two classes.
Any suggestions???

Any games that you know can be adapted to practicing the days of the week.
Bingo boards are always popular.
Have you checked enchantedlearning.com? They have many activities.
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/books/ ... oftheweek/
You could make a calendar with each child filling in important dates with a picture.
You can make up stories of activities that happen on a certain day and the children can bring or draw pictures of certain activities that happen on Monday and so on.
You could look up the stories of how each day got its name in English.
The children can make new words out of the letters of the day - Monday, makes on, day, nod and so on.
You can sing a day's of the week song. Some people do it to the tune they use for "Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes".
You can find out what day the children were born using a Perpetual Calendar and learn the poem,
Monday's child is fair of face.
Tuesday's child is full of grace.
Wednesday's child is full of woe.
Thursday's child has far to go.
Friday's child is loving and giving.
Saturday's child works hard for a living,
But the child who is born on the Sabbath Day
Is bonny and blithe and good and gay.

Some modern versions change the last line to, Is bonny and blithe and good in every way, owing to modern connotations of the word gay.
In addition, as being 'full of woe' is not a nice fate for any Wednesday born child, the rhyme is sometimes changed to read "Wednesday's child will fear no foe."

You could use the opportunity to practice printing, cursive writing, finding different fonts on the computer to print out the words.

The students can write each day on small cards, put them in an envelope labeled "Days of the Week" and then use the cards to play games - Snap, Memory or they can order them in alphabetical order.

The children can interview their parents, grandparents, sisters and brothers as to what each day means for them and why some days are more important than others.

They can write a diary each day and illustrate with pictures or drawings in a small notebook labeled "Days of the Week", exchange these and read the other stories.

You can run an election and vote for the best day. Students have to present the great things about their day and present negatives about other days.

Where are you working, expat2001? If it's Japan, especially as a dispatch AET, then in my experience, the people (usually, some poor long-suffering Japanese elementary-school teachers) who make (that is, are lumbered with making) the English "syllabus" absolutely do not have a clue (at least, not any linguistic/applied linguistic clue) and usually have appalling English too. I know that some repetition and recycling is in order with elementary kids (so some of Sally's suggestions wouldn't go totally amiss - a lot depends on the age, I'd say be less ambitious if you're teaching any first or second graders), but I also would think that 4 lessons (especially if they are each 45 minutes to an hour long) on "the days of the week" is overkill (these aren't adults whom you could pump for mental associations, what they do on certain weekdays and their evenings etc). You'd probably (hell, definitely!) be better trying to take over responsibility for the syllabus/curriculum in at least your classes and introducing ideas that you know work (or that you at least can work with more). Take a look at what I decided to knuckle down to when faced with similarly thin dictats (bear in mind though that it is aimed at Japanese learners of English):
http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic ... 217#646217

I'm not saying my ideas are marvellous, just that is obviously very easy to improve on apparently numbskull suggestions when you put your mind to it!

Regarding Japanese > English days of the week, I looked for rough mnemonic links (which will mean that the kids learn not only the names of the days of the week but also a few "related" nouns too):

Getsuyobi - "Moon day" - Monday

Kayobi - "Fire day" - Sound/onomatopoeia of a match being struck, apparently similar in Japanese - Tuesday

Suiyobi - "Water day" - Wednesday

Mokuyobi - "Wood day" - Sound of a tongue rasping up bark of a tree/wood, then spitting a bit (sss!) at the yucky taste - Thursday

Kinyobi - "Gold day" - (Nice golden) Fry up at end of long hard week? - Friday

Doyobi - "Earth day" - The cat sat on the mat (on the earthen floor)? LOL - Saturday

Nichiyobi - "Sun day" - (Un)surprisingly, Sunday in English too!

With higher grades (say, 3rd or 4th through 6th), I'd possibly at some point (assuming that there weren't time to introduce new nouns that would reveal the underlying notions better) try to show that moon and sun usually take 'the', that earth also takes 'the' in one (its "one") sense (as opposed to its uncountable sense, not that one couldn't say 'The/that (pile of) earth needs shifting'), that water whilst "uncountable" can of course be measured in various quantities (partitives like a bottle of ~, some ~ etc), and that gold is usually uncountable (unless we are in possession of and referring to some!); as for wood and especially fire, the slight polysemy of the former and the various meanings and phrases that especially the latter enters into might be best reserved for junior high or beyond (but here's stuff I might conceivably teach at elementary level: wood, a/the wood (probably not 'the woods' at this level!), Fire!, There is/was a fire in..., start a fire (more make and light one than the arson sense!).