Back to work!

I have been MIA for a few weeks now as I have been on a family vacation up North in Queensland visiting my sister, her family and my Mum and Dad.   It was hot and humid and we spent many hours swimming in the pool which was a lovely change from the cold weather we have been having in Tasmania.

I managed to catch up with some teaching buddies while I was 'back home' which included 2 teachers who taught my kids when we lived there, it was so sweet seeing their faces when they saw how much my kids had grown!

While I was away I managed to unplug from the internet and the computer for most of the time so I am ready to start creating again and hope to have some items ready for uploading soon so watch this space.

I have been home for a couple of days now and am still unpacking and washing (do you think your clothes breed in your suitcase?) I'm still torn on which I dislike more...packing or unpacking?

I'll leave you with some photos of my holiday which also included my niece getting married!  I cannot believe I am old enough to have a married niece.  My son was one of the groomsmen in the wedding party with his cousin as his partner, lordy they were so cute together!  My daughter played the keyboard with a trio as the wedding party walked down the "aisle", she was amazing as usual!  My role included doing hair for the bridesmaids and the bride....I will point out here that I am not aiming for a second career in hairdressing in the near future.  I was the emergency replacement for the original hairdresser that had to pull out of the job at the last minute, no wedding is a wedding without some small dramas!

Soooo cute! These two are mischief together, a rare moment when they look well behaved, heehee

The happy couple

The musician

Hanging out in the pool, this was my second home while I was vacaying (yes I think that should be a word!)

Well I am back home now and it is time to get back to work before I head back to school.  Our state starts back to school quite late (as in Feb) so I still have a couple of weeks before I have to start thinking about what I need to do for the classroom.  For all of those still on hols, enjoy!  For those who have headed back into the fray....enjoy?

My Truth Monday- Vacation style

I am linking up with Sunny Days in Second Grade for another My Truth Monday.  This time we are talking about dream vacations.....well I have always had the travel bug, in fact I once thought about being a travel journalist, I couldn't think of a more perfect job, apart from teaching :)

So here is mine!

Don't forget to enter my 200 follower giveaway, just click here and here.  There are some fabulous prizes from some awesome TpT sellers and bloggers!

Holiday Cartoon Workshop

Hey Friends,
If you are still on holidays I hope you are enjoying them.  If you have kids and you are still on holidays I hope you are successful at keeping them occupied and entertained.  I know this is one area I struggle with, my daughter is 12 and my son is 8, there are not too many activities that they agree on.  However yesterday I hit the jackpot!
We went to a cartooning workshop that was run by a local cartoonist Bradfield Dumpleton, it was a hoot! He showed the kids a few techniques that he uses and then ran the kids through drawing some cartoons step by step of images that they had chosen.  Here are a few pics from our day yesterday.  BTW parents were told encouraged to join in so I had to unleash my artistic self :)

Concentrating.....

Pretty happy with the results

The finished cartoon....a lizard knight in tin can armour on a hover horse/unihorn!  So creative!

The evil bunny plotting to turn all the worlds carrot supply into zombie carrots and lure them too his lair!

and one of my efforts!  It got a bit crumpled on the travel home, but I quite like this funky lion!

I was pleased to see a few techniques I could take into the classroom to teach drawing to the students.  If you are interested in his web page just click on his name, he runs workshops in Tasmania and Victoria.  Plus there are some cool cartoons to view.

Snow fun and a new emergent reader.

It is Winter holidays here in Australia and now that I am living in Tasmania with the very chilly weather it means we get to indulge in a lot more Winter fun, including visits to the snow!

My family

My snow girlie

We took a trip to Mt Field National Park which was only an hour away from where we live and while there wasn't enough snow for skiing, there was plenty of snow for playing!  I am a bit worried about the emotional state of the snowman, looks a bit angry!

I also finished my next That Cat emergent reader on the weekend as well, this one focuses on sight words rather than a blend and also gives the opportunity to discuss questions and exclamation marks.

This file also includes a PowerPoint file to read the book as a whole class on an Interactive Whiteboard and a set of smaller books to send home or keep as a group for guided reading. There are some blank pages for students to make their own book or to make a class book as well as some extension activities.

Just click on the above pics to check it out in my store!

Hope you all have a great week.

Home again, home again

Hi friends,

Well I have just got back from spending a week in Hobart, Tasmania with my in laws and had a lovely time visiting.  I have included a picture of where Tasmania is for all those Northern Hemisphere people who don't know where the heck in Oz is Tassie.

It is the little part down the bottom in yellow.  It is called the Island State and is quite cold as after Tasmania there really is not much land mass until you get to Antarctica.  So I'm sure you can guess what Winter will be like...brrrrrr

Well the good news is we just found out that we are MOVING to Tasmania as my husband has just recieved notice of his new posting and starts in Jan 2014......the bad news is I HATE the cold weather....not just hate.......HATE!!!!  I am seriously thinking of asking my Grandma to knit me a onesie...maybe like this because I can just see me leaping around like that!  

Well I am sure I will NEVER  get used to it and I am researching underfloor heating and obviously will have to buy many, many, many new pairs of boots.  Anyway......I am happy that we will be closer to my in laws and my kids will have an opportunity to grow up around some family, if you are a military family you understand what a rarity that is!

Well before I go I wanted to share the other awesome thing that happened to me while I was in Hobart.  I just happened to be holidaying there at the same time as one of my bloggy buddies Emma from Clever Classroom, I was so excited to catch up with her and my family spent a lovely afternoon with her and her husband.  Poor boys got their ears talked off about all things teaching, blogging and TpT, no seriously we were well behaved, heehee.  Here is a photo of me and the beautiful Emma, who by the way has a new blog Clever Classroom click here to check it out!

Emma        Me

It was so windy that day that they had to cancel the Salamanca Markets for the very first time in like a hundred years but that did not deter us!  I was soooo excited to finally meet up with Emma, she really is a kind and thoughtful person who loves to laugh and is just as gorgeous in real life!

Well that is the round up from me at the moment.....oh one more thing I reached 100 followers on my Facebook Page so I will be planning something special......stay tuned.  Backto school tomorrow!

Holiday linky!

Graphics courtesy of From the Pond

I cannot wait for the holidays to start!  Here's why....I will be heading up to the Sunshine Coast for Christmas with my family and catching up with my Grandma, Mum, Dad, sister, aunts, uncles, cousins and 2nd cousins. Some of this family I have not seen for a couple of years, it is going to be great! Here's the other reason, I have not seen a beach for 2 years, cannot wait to paddle my toes in the salty water of Moololaba.

Sunshine Coast you say, that sounds divine! Yes it will be, these last 2 weeks at school are just going to crawl I know it...so to help it move along a bit faster I decided to host my first linky party about where you are heading off to for your Christmas holidays, just post a pic and link up. To tantalise you here is a pic of the sunny Sunshine Coast





So your turn to link up and here's to dreaming of the sand between your toes

get the InLinkz code

PS because this is my first linky I am a bit nervous I haven't done it right so please let me know if there are any problems.

End of Holidays and new products

Well as the holidays draw to a close for all of us Aussie teachers I know we are all looking forward to the downward slide to the end of the year.  Don't you know it, my body clock just started changing and this morning I slept in till 8 am.  I know this may not be a sleep in to some of you but those with children at home I can hear you saying, "Whoa 8 am, that is a huge sleep in!"  I have been waking up between 6 and 7 am every morning of the holidays.
To lift my spirits about going back to school I am having a 20% off Sale at my TpT store starting tomorrow and running through to the 10th of October.

You will find a couple of new products on there that I have created instead of planning for Term 4 (which I am definitely going to start tomorrow!)
First up there is my Fun Flower Facts to 10 activity pack (which I am contributing as a freebie for Brookes Aussie Blogger Link up...stay tuned!)

Next up is my Place Value Snap

Both of these items are already 20% off for the next week so when the sale starts you will get an extra 20% off!  What a Bargain!
Enjoy the last couple of days of your hols Aussie Teachers and here's hoping Term 4 will be fun and productive for both students and teachers!

Don't forget you can now follow me on Facebook, just click on the FB button on the sidebar.

Hooray for Holidays!

Well, Day 1 of the June holidays and I have spent the day showing my 11 yr old daughter how to make clip art on Power Point.  She loved it!  I plan on running some workshops for the students in Year 5/6 at my school on making borders/frames and graphics on Power Point so it was a good litmus test on what the average ability level would be.  I am looking forward to this as it is outside my usual age/grade level group.  Here are some of the graphics she made today under my instruction, very talented if I do say so, (:

                                                              

So she is very proud of herself for creating a mango and strawberry.  Could be a future in graphic design here!!!  

The other exciting thing I did today was downloading a new book to my kobo.  Why is it that as teachers we urge children to be voracious readers, yet I only seem to have enough time to read on the holidays?  One of life's injustices.

With the holidays here I plan to get a few new products in my store including some freebies, so keep an eye out!

For all those on a well deserved break at the moment....read and enjoy......