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Monday 15 December 2014

Counting down!

Well friends we are on the downhill run to the end of our school year.  Reports have been written, proofread and edited and sent home.  IEP meetings have been scheduled, I only have 2 more on Monday then they are done!  We have started Christmas crafts and the classroom is looking very festive, we have had our Christmas assemblies and have only our Graduation assembly in the last week.

So with only 4 more school days  I want to share a little story with you about a little group of kiddos I have been working with.

I have had 2 little boys who have delays in so many areas the list would be too long for a single blog post.  These 2 little boys have a seperate education program that has a focus on literacy and numeracy as well as a social program.  The social program among other things involved social play, which I believe is very underrated in schools.  To help achieve this we took the boys to the Kinder/Pre school room which is on our campus and didn't have the Kinder/Pre-School students attending on this day during the week.  The Kinder teacher would let us use the play based resources that were out for her kids that week and we would guide the boys through appropriate turn taking, oral language development and imaginative play.  We also had a focus on gross motor skills by using the outdoor equipment and fine motor skills.  During the year our little group grew to 3 boys and for me to say that this visit was the highlight of the week for the boys is to downplay how much they loved going.
We were only able to do this with the co-operation of the Kinder teacher and the support of our Principal both of these amazing people went above and beyond what I expected.  The Kinder teacher would greet the boys at the door and show them the new items she had put out, this was her planning day and she would take time out of her day to interact with the boys and create a welcoming environment for them.  Our Principal very early on saw the benefits of play based learning and valued the gains the boys made.

Well our final visit was last week and we were all sad.  The Kinder teacher and I decided that we would have a morning tea with some fairy bread and fruit skewers as a little surprise for the boys.  The boys made her a card to say thank you and gave her a bunch of flowers which made her cry.....then made me cry.



The boys followed a procedure to make their fairy bread.



We made some great gains in fine motor over the year together!


This was my fave part of our little morning tea party, how cute are they!




I just love that we as teachers all feel that we have made a difference for these boys and help each other to increase their development.  It has been a special part of my year in a role I have never done before and I am grateful to have been part of it.



Sunday 30 November 2014

A-MAZE-ing!


I am happy to say that I did manage to get a new file finished just before the Cyber Sale that is happening very shortly on December 1-2.

Here she is!  A-MAZE-ing Alphabet!







All the way from a-z!!  These are going to be great for fast finishers or those littles that need a little bit of extra practice.  
I have also included 2 extra mazes that is alphabetical order in both letters and pictures.


Now these are in my store now for sale but if you can wait just a little while the Cyber Sale will be happening on December 1 and 2.  My whole store will be on sale for 20% and by using the code TPTCYBER you will get an extra 10% off at the checkout.  



Just click on any of the pics to head over to my store and start clearing out your wishlist!  Happy shopping :)




Monday 24 November 2014

Christmas Fun

I started this earlier in the week and said I would have it finished by the weekend, I am happy to say that I got there!!!  I even finished up reports in time as well, this is a red letter day friends.


So I am happy to bring you my Christmas Activity Book, this would be suitable for Grade 1 or 2.  It is chock full of literacy and numeracy activities and also includes a craft and a game for kiddos to play.  All you need to do is print and staple, this would be great for fast finishers or to send home with kiddos to finish off over the holidays.
Or you could just pick and choose which activities you would like your kiddos to do, personally I think the Bouncy Gingerbread people would be soooo cute on a bulletin board or hanging up.



Just click on any of the pics to get your copy!


Saturday 22 November 2014

Five for Friday




Well I made it through the week!  This was a tough week guys.....I was sick, not just I have a sniffle kind of sick but an I can't get off the couch or out of bed kind of sick.  I do not do sick well,  I moan and whinge and make sure everybody feels sorry for me....except they don't and now they mostly ignore me, so I have to give myself sympathy.  





So I was sick.  I am still sick, please feel sorry for me.



But!  On Tuesday night I got a call from my Principal asking if I would be at school the next day....ummm yes is what you say when your Principal calls and because I think I am Superwoman I said I WAS feeling better ( I kind of was).  I was needed people, that is right somebody needed me :)  I was needed to go on an excursion with a Prep class to support one of the students, sure I said, I can go on an excursion.  
The excursion was a bushwalk around Mt Wellington.....a bushwalk people...... on a mountain.  
So I went, because it was my Principal calling and I really like her and I really need to have a job next year.  Anyway the weather was lovely and I figured it would be good to get some fresh air.


Look!  A curly fern!


I love this pic, it looks like they are really walking through the bush, but they were on a pathway and I was below them.

Anywho, apparently it was not a good idea because even though I felt ok that day, the next day I was down again and had to take the day off.  




It is report writing season and I am still going, in fact I am supposed to be doing them right now.....I am not.






I DID get to school by the end of the week I was told many, many times how terrible I looked and perhaps I should have taken the day off.  I wore make up people!  I thought I looked ok, even my Principal said I didn't look great.  It was a no win situation.  
Anyway enough about me, my Grade 2's are still looking at arrays and we made some array cities after being inspired by this pin
I love them!
Oh, want to hear a funny, not funny story?  Last week I told my kiddos to see if they could find some arrays at home and to draw or take a pic of it to bring in this week.  That afternoon I got a call from a parent asking why her son had to bring in a razor...A RAZOR!  No, no, no!  I said, an array, we are looking for arrays, you know rows of things.  
See funny, not funny.



So while I was sick, (did I mention I was sick?)  I whipped up this fun file folder game ( I love alliteration)  for making time.  I did this because I didn't want to do reports.  Just click on the pic to get your FREE copy!


Want to check out some other fun Five for Friday posts, maybe they will be from healthy people :)  Head over to Doodlebugs to check them out or to link up for yourself!





Thursday 20 November 2014

Time to Play!

I have been a bit MIA this week as I had a cold that kicked my butt and sent me to the couch for 3 days...it was not pretty people, even when I put make up on, didn't help.

So in between napping, coughing, sipping tea and ignoring the reports I still have to write I started a couple of projects I have wanted to move on for a little while now.

The first one which isn't quite finished yet is A Christmas Activity Book, this will help to keep your littles busy and learning during the wind down to the Christmas holidays.  The great thing is they can take it home if they haven't finished it as it is full of literacy and numeracy activities as well as crafts and games.  Will let you know when it is uploaded and ready to go!



Second little project is a freebie for you!  It is a file folder game for making time, well not really for making time, if I could do that I would be a billsquillionaire!  No people, it is for students to make an analogue time to match a digital time and all as a compact and easy to store file folder game.



Just click on any of the pics above to get your free copy!  I hope your kiddos enjoy it!



Sunday 16 November 2014

Bright Ideas Round up!




Hey friends!  This month some amazing bloggers are joining together again to showcase some of their amazing Bright Ideas we have shared over the last few months.  Look below and you will find the Bright Ideas I have blogged about, just click on the pics to check out each one, then browse through the linky to find more!

Here are some great laminating tips to help you get the most from your laminating!


Need some ideas for decorating pegs?  This post has 5 ways you can brighten and sparkle your boards.



Show and Tell can be a snooze fest, liven it up with these 5 ideas!


Dice and card games are always a favorite in my class, here are a few ideas to use in your classroom.



Do you have students who have ASD?  This post will give you some great ideas for helping your students cope with the ever changing classroom.


The Literacy Shed is a free website that I have used in many grade levels across the school, we love it!  

The Literacy Shed


I have lovely parents that bring in old newspapers, sometimes they pile up and here I share the ways I use newspapers in my classroom.


You will never be lost again with this Bright Idea!



My latest post shares how we learn about fractions in our Year 2 classroom



I hope you find a few ideas to help you out in your classroom.  Make sure you check out the linky below to visit other wonderful bloggers with Bright Ideas just for you!




Saturday 15 November 2014

Five For Friday!

Wow!  Life is so busy at the moment I only seem to be posting Five for Friday....not that it is a bad thing, but I do hope to go back to a more regular schedule soon!  Anywho, here goes :)





We started the week with a school triathlon for the Years 3-6's.  My very active son (pretend I am raising my eyebrows here) didn't participate but certainly cheered on the participants. It was a freezing day so the surf swim section was shortened a bit :)  I'm sure the participants were grateful!






We also had our K-2 Athletics day, there were running races and fun activities like egg and spoon and sack races.  I did not use blu tak to hold my egg on AND it did not fall off!  I am just super talented at egg and spoon, (it's all in the knees)


Tonight I am heading off to a BBQ, love a good Barbie (say that in an Aussie accent)  If I am not cooking it is always a good meal!  :)  Oh that came out wrong....I am a VERY good cook, I just don't enjoy it that much.  Seriously everything I make is delicious but I find it a chore.  It is a tough life to be so talented at something you don't love doing.  


We have been looking at arrays this week, so we did a hunt around our room and drew what we found in our books.  Funny story...I told the kiddos to see if they could find some A-RRAYS at home and draw a pic or take a photo and bring it in next week......I got a phone call from a parent asking did her son have to bring in A RAZOR???  Yikes!





We have staggered assemblies so we don't have one every week and each week a different grade shares.  This week my class and my son's class did sharing.




These are my cutie Year 2's leading the assembly.  They read out the announcements and lead everyone in singing the national anthem.  Big job for little people!


This is my son interviewing a person who arrived on the First Fleet.  First he has to sort out the microphone hee hee.  

That's it for me, head over to link up or read about other lovely teachers and their week!