News from Italian

This term in Italian, the children from Prep to Year 6 have been learning about life cycles as part of our whole school Inquiry unit of Sustainability. 

They listened to the much loved story of the very hungry caterpillar from the translated version of Eric Carle’s book ‘Il Bruco molto Affamato’. When listening to a story which is known to them, it allows for storytelling to create a sense of connection and builds familiarity and trust which makes the listener more open to learning.  It has been found that learning which stems from a well-told story is remembered more accurately, and for far longer, rather than learning derived from facts and figures. Through the story, the children followed the caterpillar’s journey from an egg to the development of the butterfly. 

The Prep children learnt new vocabulary relating to the food items eaten by the very hungry caterpillar and sequenced the story to show the life cycle of the butterfly. The children also learnt the names of the colours in Italian.  Learning the colours not only teaches the children new vocabulary, it also allows them to use colour as a means of creative expression. The children had a lot of fun creating beautiful colourful butterflies using crepe paper to show off their wonderful artistic abilities. 

The children of JLC revised the days of the week and learnt the names of the different food items the caterpillar ate over the seven days. They really enjoyed playing vocabulary games where the boys versed the girls in an attempt to get more points from correct answers. The children made a life cycle wheel of the butterfly’s life which they were very proud of and excited to take home. The children also learnt new vocabulary for the parts of a butterfly’s anatomy.  

In the first instance the children had a practice at reading the words, making connections with the print and the pictures. Finally labelling the parts of the butterfly helped them not only to read and write the words but also helped them remember what the words meant.  

The Year 3/4 children were given the text of the story ‘Il Bruco molto Affamato’ to sequence in correct order. This is an important reading comprehension strategy which allows the students to make sense of how the events unfolded. These reading skills help students in their own writing, helping them construct a cohesive and logical flow to their writing that readers can easily follow.  The children retold the story putting it in the correct order showing the development from the egg to the butterfly.

I was very impressed listening to the children read, noting their excellent pronunciation. 

As a craft activity, the children used a paper plate, different shapes of pasta and other materials to show the stages of a butterfly’s life.  

They also labelled the stages in Italian.  The children took this home to share their learning with their family. 

The children of Year 4/5/6 completed the life cycle of the butterfly in more detail (Il Ciclo di Vita Della Farfalla). Already having some basic knowledge that they acquired from the story, the children read more detailed information relating to each stage of the butterfly’s development and were asked to use their prior knowledge of known words to understand and translate the text.  The children organised the pictures and the information to form a circle of the various stages of the butterfly’s life cycle. 

The children also learnt about the life cycle of the frog (Il Ciclo di Vita Della Rana). The children were given vocabulary needed to be able to use the same strategies to organise the pictures and the information to form a circle of the different stages of the frog’s life cycle.

 Also, the children learnt a song ‘Ci vuole un fiore’. The lyrics explain that all of creation starts with a seed and a flower.  

Kind regards 

Signora Gina Micheli 

Italian Teacher