Swap,Share Give! A blog linky from Down Under!

I am so lucky this week to be able to participate in this Aussie bloggers product swap not only because I love trying new things in my class but I got to swap with one of my blogging buddies Shanyn from Coffee, Kids and Compulsive lists.
So what did we try out in our class?  This fabulous pack Building Better Sentences Writing Simple and Compound Sentences

Why did I choose this pack?  I have been banging on at my kiddos about boring, blah sentences and ways we can make our simple sentences more interesting....tadah!!!  Enter Building Better Sentences, perfect! 

First I modelled on the Interactive Board one sentence with help from my students.  The week before we had identified conjunctions and adjectives so that we knew what words we had to use to improve our sentences.  

Next the kiddos had a go at their own sentence.   Then I went through all of the sentences and identified those kiddos that may have needed a little extra help in a small group.

Which is what we did the next day!  Those kiddos that had understood the concept were able to complete another sheet independently while I worked with a group on the carpet.  Next week we will be having another go to see if the concept has been retained.  More importantly I am hoping to see an improvement in their independent sentences!

What did I love about this pack (apart from everything?)

It was easy to model to a whole class.

There is a huge variety of pictures in the pack and I noticed they are in a-z order so it would be a great addition to a phonics program.

It is a great addition to my grammar program and once the kiddos were familiar with it most of them were able to do it independently.

I could quickly identify the kiddos who were struggling.

All in all, this is an awesome file that will be visited frequently in my class both as a focussed lesson and as a part of a literacy center.

Now the title of this post also has the word Share in it so let's get on to the sharing bit.  Easter is just around the corner so I am putting my Easter game Coin Toss Easter Bunny Hop FREE so hop over and get your FREE copy.

So what are you waiting for, click on the pic above to get your copy  of Shanyn's fabulous pack or enter the Rafflecopters below for your chance to win your very own copy as well as prizes from other great Aussie bloggers!  Just click on the button at the top to head over to Lauren's blog Love, Laughter and Learning in Prep to find more awesome bloggers with their reviews on some fabulous products.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Frames are courtesy of Ashley Hughes

200 follower Celebrations!

I was so excited to see my little blog reach 200 followers!  To celebrate this I am having an awesome giveaway with lots of fabulous TpT sellers contributing!  Have a look at some of these amazing ladies each of these ladies is giving you a winners choice from their store, woohoo!  Mel at Frog the Pond is giving a $10 TpT voucher.

Two lucky winners will get 2 items from my store.

All you have to do is enter the Rafflecopter below....easy peasy!  Then come back tomorrow for the next round!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Don't forget to checkout this Grade 3-4 ELA bundle at Educents.....it ends soon, so click on the pic to get a bargain!

Winners!

Time to announce the winners of the 3 giveaways that I have had running for the last week.

Congratulations Cherie!  You will receive an email from me soon.  Hope you have your choice ready!

A huge congratulations to Narelle!  You have won the Middle Primary Targeting Maths Book, yay!  Blake Education will be sending you an email soon, with the book to follow.

Finally, congratulations to Judith!  You have won a $20 voucher from Blake Education, you will be receiving an email soon with your code!

I hope all of you enjoy your prizes.......stay tuned there will soon be another celebration for this little blog reaching a 200 followers milestone and I am holding my breath for my FB page to reach 1000 likes!  Hoping for a combined celebration, what fun!

Wait, there's more!  I just found out that Educents is giving a $5 credit on any purchase over $10.  This credit can be used for future purchases.  What a great opportunity to purchase the Grade 3/4 ELA Bundle!  Just click on the pic below to get your copy!

Blake Education Giveaway!

Did you know that Blake Education is having a HUGE end of year sale?  I have used many Blake Education resources over the years and quite frankly a teacher resource sale is in the same category as a shoe sale...not to be missed!

As a special offer Blake Education is offering all Australian readers of Mrs Poultney's Ponderings a chance to win a Targeting Maths BLM book in celebration of their end of year sale or our international readers a $20 gift voucher.  The Targeting Maths Series is a comprehensive resource for primary schools.  It has been designed to provide busy teachers with all the additional material they need when teaching mathematics.  All aspects of the mathematics curriculum are covered in this twelve book series.

Just enter the appropriate Rafflecopter for your chance to win!  Australian readers enter the first Rafflecopter to win a Middle Primary Targeting Maths Book.

or International Readers enter the second Rafflecopter to win a $20 voucher to Blake Education Teaching Resources.  What better time to spend a voucher than sale time!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Terms for $20 voucher

1.       Does not include shipping costs

2.       Ends  1^st January 2014

3.       Cannot be used with any coupon

4.       International shipping varies, please contact Blake Education for more info eclub@blake.com.au

I used the Targeting Maths series a few years ago and I was pleasantly surprised to see how much more comprehensive they are now!  I love the problem solving section and the assessment pages for the end of each unit.

I also noticed that these gorgeous Gigglers series is on sale as well.  I have seen these books recently and I loved the bright illustrations, the stories are funny and keep the kids engaged in reading at a level that is appropriate.  These would be great for home readers or guided reading groups.

“These books are all part of Blake Education’s  end of year sales! Save up to 65% on Best-selling Literacy Readers such as Gigglers and Go Facts as well as well as quality Arts, English, Maths and Science Teacher Resources. Visit www.blake.com.au/massivesale for literacy OR Visit: www.blake.com.au/crazyrsale  for teacher resource.

All over the place

This post will be a bit all over the place...just forewarning you, actually it reflects how my life is at the moment.  As I am finishing up at my school I am moving all my resources and bits and pieces out of my classroom and we all know that means I have to find somewhere at home to store it, tricky.  I only started my Christmas shopping on the weekend and really don't know what I have and haven't got......I know I have forgotten someone.  
In the middle of this I am still trying to undertake some meaningful learning that has a Christmas/holiday twist.  Now last week I gave my students a paper chain challenge, when I was a primary school student I remember making these looooonnnngg paper chains and I loved it!  So I put my kiddos into teams of 4 and gave them 15 minutes to create a paper chain (using magazines and junk mail catalogues) as long as they could, I asked them to really think about how they would cut their paper to ensure it would be longer and allowed them some discussion before they started.  Some of the discussion was interesting, one group debated how to cut the page another group decided they would cut strips of paper until there was 10 minutes left and then they would start the chain.  When 15 minutes were up they were allowed to join the 4 chains together.  If they had created any links that were a teardrop shape instead of a circle it was disqualified (we didn't have any disqualified).

                            
All students were hard at work trying to make long paper chains

          




So busy!



We then went to measure each paper chain, recorded the length and the team with the longest chain won a prize from my prize box.  The longest chain was 9.00 metres (29.5 feet).

This was the first time some of my kiddos had used a trundle wheel, what fun!

I put the measurements on the whiteboard and then the students had to estimate how long the chain would be if we joined them together, the student that got the closest (using only mental computation) got a prize.  In the afternoon we went out and measured how long our paper chain would be if we laid it out, it was 46.25 metres (151.74 feet).  The students had such a great time and the co-operative learning that was happening was so great to see!  At the end all the students got a prize for showing co-operation and a love for learning.


So to finish this post I want to share a giveaway that my friend Alison at Teaching Maths with Meaning is having.  Hop on over to visit and enter for the chance to win a $25 TpT gift voucher.



Finally I wanted to say a big thank you to Michelle at 3am Teacher and Farley at Oh Boy 3rd Grade for organising the Silence for Sandy Hook Elementary on Sunday.  It brought me to tears to see all those hearts in my feed and I continue to hold those little ones and their families in my thoughts and hope that soon they will begin to heal.

Thank You and welcome

OH DEAR!!!  RAFFLECOPTER DOWN!

When you click on the link you will not be able to enter now but please come back later.  I have sent an email to Rafflecopter support and it seems it is a problem on many blogs, so please be patient.  

First of all I would love to thank all those wonderful people who have entered my 101 follower Giveaway and welcome to my new followers I hope you enjoy my little blog and you can pick up at least one new idea!

If you haven't entered yet, there is still time just click on the pic and it will take you to the post where you have the chance to win prizes from some fabulous bloggers like 

Alison @ Teaching Maths with Meaning

Brooke @ Teachable Moments

Rhonda @ Classroom Fun

Tracey @ Third Grade All Stars

Stefani @ Miss Galvin Learns

I also wanted to share some pics from our Maths tubs this week.  My kiddos love doing maths tubs and it is a great way to revise and reinforce every Strand in the curriculum on a daily basis.

These kiddos are playing Place Value Snap (click to check it out at TpT) and decided to change it to Place Value Go Fish.

Matching pairs of numeral and expanded form.  There is also a set with MAB pictures

These kiddos are using centimetres to draw pictures.

I am currently using this concept (excuse my really poor pictures, I am so not an artist) to make task cards with measuring in centimetres, metres and millimetres.

Well on that note must toddle off and finish my packet. (I promise it will look better than those really terrible pictures.)

Enjoy the rest of the week!

Reminder

Just a quick one today to remind all to enter my 101 follower Giveaway! 

 There are some fabulous Winners Choice prizes from some wonderful bloggers!  

Well I am off to get ready for the day, my TA is away for the rest of the week, so another busy week for me!  On a side note, I ran into a friend who used to work at my school, we had a quick catch up chat, the "How are you? What have you been up to?" sort of thing and she said to me "I've been keeping up with what you are doing on your blog."  How cool is that, I don't know of anyone else at my school that is following my blog.  Thanks Sophie, you rock!

101 Follower Giveaway!

I have reached 101 followers and we all know what that means! It's a giveaway (sorry folks no steak knives with this one!) I have some fabulous contributors for this giveaway (wish I could enter)and all prizes are winners choice from the these lovely ladies TpT stores.

Brooke from Teachable Moments

Tracey from Third Grade All Stars

Rhonda from Classroom Fun

Stefanie from Miss Galvin Learns

Alison from Teaching Maths with Meaning

The Giveaway will run for a week and the winner will be announced next weekend!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you to these lovely ladies for their support and to all the people who visit my blog!

101 followers!

Wow!  When I clicked on the blogger dashboard this morning I was so excited to see 101 followers!  I have been hovering around 96 for a while now and thought it might take a little longer for that magic 100 to pop up.
So...I am going to have to get together a giveaway!  Yay!
Anyone who would love to contribute please email me at poultneytania@gmail.com

Good news is I am feeling better today and was back at school, my carpool buddy had also been away with the same thing, poor thing she is pregnant, (due in January) she almost thought she was having contractions.  I cannot complain too much now.

We are getting ready for our Spring Garden Fair and my class is doing a Lucky Dip with a bit of a twist.  Instead of just paying your money and choosing something from a girl/boy box, I have coloured just the ends of paddle pop sticks either red, green or blue.  These will be put in (coloured side down) into a box filled with sand so that you cannot see the colours, kiddos will choose a stick and then choose something from a prize box that has a corresponding colour.  It really just adds an extra step but makes it a little different from how we did it last year.  So I have been busy getting prizes together, colouring sticks, organising a roster (because I can't stay for the whole time.)  I am looking forward to it and it is always a great fundraiser for our school but I am also looking forward to it being finished, so I can start reports!  Oh bring on the end of the year.
Hope your week is going well.