I got my microscope!

You know how I said I'd buy it off my sister who is a science teacher? Well, today we visited her to exchange Christmas gifts... and guess what I got?!

A MICROSCOPE!

I've already been having a little play with it.
Here are my first pictures:

10x 

60x

AND the big jump... 200x!

 

 

I love it, I love it, I love it!



New Toys!

I know it is Christmas time but this is CRAZY!
I just made two pretty big purchases for my class.
 
The first of which is a document camera.

Click here for a link to the product website.

 

 

I know there are a couple of blogs from teachers and other 'experts' which can be a little negative about using these in the classroom... but I bought it anyway!

 

In my opinion, the possibilities are endless. Like most technology, if used in a boring way, it becomes boring. But if YOU display the qualities of a good learner in your teaching and model the creativity, higher order thinking and resourcefulness you would like to impart on students (and give them the opportunity to practise it, using the technology too) you will have greater success. Children learn what you TEACH them, this means more than just observing heaps of 'stuff' happening in front of them.

 

I'm already planning interactive reading, assessment rubrics, visual schedules for my special needs students, sharing and presentation of student work, interactive writing and handwriting demonstrations, speech and mouth formation... Aughh... Sooo many possibilities!

 

 

Now, next fabulous thing.

 

Click here for the product link.

 

This is a little digital microscope.

I have used one of these in the past and have found that it engages students to no end.

 

How THIS purchase came about was odd. I had my parents around for Christmas dinner and I was showing them the document camera which I had bought online. Well, they had bought my sister this microscope (she is a science teacher) a year ago for her students but it would not work on her computer (Mac). She set it aside and kind of forgot all about it!

 

Well, of course I'm not going to pass up the opportunity to get it if I can! AND she has agreed that I may have it.

 

My reasoning behind the purchase: Whilst our curriculum at the level I am working at does not directly state that we are to magnify anything, who could pass up the opportunity to actually LOOK at a fly's compound eyes if students read about it in a non fiction text? Students at my grade level decide not to engage in 'Show and Tell' as frequently, why not take the opportunity to magnify something they are interested in (eg a spider they have in a jar) and extend their oral language experience? BOYS LOVE THIS THING (need I say any more? Hehe!)

 

I'm so excited to get these things and have a play! I will keep you updated about how they work out in the classroom.

 

 



 

BEFORE- Classroom makeover

I got stuck in and did a little more cleaning of my new classroom yesterday.

Hubby was kind enough to come in and replace the old, frayed and faded strings (for hanging displays), with new, HOT PINK and very tight ones. They are great and shouldn't droop much in the middle when they are loaded up with student work. 

I also got a chance to take some 'before' shots.

 Not too shabby after a good clean! I do need to get curtains. The corner is where I'm planning to put my fabulous sofa and little library. The fabric covering the notice boards isn't too bad so I will leave that there, I just need a funky border.

This is taken from the window wall, looking back into the room. You can see my interactive whiteboard and whiteboards, also my fuzzy Word Wall below them (for using words which are velcro-ed on the back, for easy removal). That whiteboard wall is actually a swinging partition. We have an 'open plan' school which means that all of the classes are joined. No doors. It can be a little noisy at times but teaches the children to be considerate of others! To the left of this shot is another display wall, 4 classroom computers and a small, shared office/storage area.

That's all for now. I did do some work on my mountain of mess in the office but it is still a big pile. I can not WAIT until the carpets are clean and I can begin moving everything IN.

Clean Up Day

Oh dear! I'm so very tired!

It is the last week for all of us here in Australia (before Christmas and our summer break) and today was our final school day for the year. Actually, many of the students counted yesterday as the final day as that was the presentation day, however, today is the last day we have students. The staff do need to go to school tomorrow but that is a preparation day... no students please!

Today we moved all furniture in the rooms, out to the vinyl areas, so the carpets can be cleaned. It had to be stacked and cleaned. What a big day! We also polished everything in the rooms and moved into or new classes... sort of. We filled the office rooms with all of our classroom stuff!

I just thought it would be appropriate to show you what my little office looks like currently.

YUCK! I hate it when it looks like this! Unfortunately, we have to wait three weeks before we can arrange the rooms, because of the carpet cleaners taking a Christmas break (how dare they?!) It is a bit of a forced holiday. It will give me a chance to wash and re-cover the class cushions and do some paperwork and planning. This isn't even half of the mess... most of it is at home! Haha.

I also got a chance to pick up the new couch. Well, new second hand couch. It is a green colour (I thought it was grey when I saw it offered for sale on the internet) but I will re-upholster it one day. Of course, that depends on if the end of the world arrives as predicted. That would be just my luck, it would happen AFTER I have cleaned the room from top to bottom!

Tomorrow I will get hubby in and he can do my strings (I use to hang things in the room). I will take some completed classroom pictures after Christmas. I hope that you all have a wonderful holiday!

Getting ready!

Hmm... interesting times.

I've made some things to use on the day of transition on Friday which I'd really LOVE to share but I have no idea how to sell on TpT... can anyone help me?

On a more class-related note, looks like I have a fair idea who is in my class and which room I'll be in. I even know that there will be 23 students, 12 boys and 11 girls! 

I'm madly trying to get my hands on a sofa in good condition but not too much money, for the classroom library and have sized up the windows for some cute curtains. I may have to sew these myself as they are awkward sizes and again, I don't want to pay too much. If this is the case, maybe I will get a 'less than pretty' sofa and sew a cover.

Today I had my newsletter, parent survey and '3 Stars and a Wish' forms approved by the principal, ready to send home with my new students after the transition day on Friday. I have also purchased some large zip-loc bags (larger than A4 paper size) to begin collecting 3 extra copies of EVERYTHING I SEND HOME. This is for any new students which may come into my class, during the year. It saves rushing around for everything when they turn up. You can reach into the drawer and hand one to the parent when they walk in. Very organised and a great first impression.

I had an interesting time with one student today. I often work with this student and I know that this student will be with me next year. They are a little bit tricky and today was one of those days. Let us just say that I will have lots to blog about regarding the joys of behaviour management next year and there will be a huge focus on values!  

My mind is ticking away at a million miles an hour, trying to combat potential difficulties. Eep!  

Transition day activity

We have a 1/2 day transition with our class for 2013 coming up this Friday.
I really want to establish some values such as ownership, teamwork and future goals, right from the beginning.

The best way I can think to do this (at present) is to work on each student's present abilities and successes at school and start thinking about hopes and goals for the future in a fun and casual way. I had an idea for a time capsule which can be reopened at the end of next year. Whilst I'll make a big deal about it being sealed until next year and the fun of re-opening the capsule next year, I'll make sure I can open it and utilise the information to get to know my students before starting next year. Kill two birds with one bullet, so to speak.

I have made a 'Time Capsule' using a Pringles can, silver spray paint, some glitter rope ribbon and a Sharpie.

I then made a little booklet (here's a .jpeg, I will upload a proper file when I get a TpT store). Slice the middle dotted line to make a no-staple booklet. It just starts the children thinking about what they are good at, what they like and what they could hope for in 2013.



 

Next thing I want to address is home/school links and parent communication. This is where parent homework starts! I've made a '3Stars and a Wish' sheet for parents to fill out and return in an envelope provided. This is for the students to open on their first day back to school when they really need positive links between home and school. It is also the beginning of their personal goal setting for the year. Again, apologies for the .jpeg.

Just when you thought it was all over... I also plan to send home a survey asking for information from the parent, about their child, best form of contact (email, phone, text, diary) and a little welcome note to parents. I have not yet created these templates. I want to make them look pretty but got sidetracked with my homework and diary policies. I'll post all of that another time.

Wow, long time, no blog. Lots of of catching up to do!

Yikes! So sorry for neglecting you blog!

I've been so busy with assessment release and doing my own assessment that I have neglected to update you all with posts. Well, not a huge amount has happened since my last post but a few major bits of news have come about.

I HAVE A CLASS NEXT YEAR!

I'm sooo excited about it. It is a grade 3/4 and by all accounts, the children which have been put in there are just LOVELY!

Now, I'm preparing like crazy but have decided to do a catch up time line of photos to share with you all.

Here we go!

Dexter, the school library bear needed a new school uniform. I agreed to make him one. This is 'Terrible Tiger' modelling.

 

I've been gathering stuff for the classroom. My husband thinks I'm mad. I've even got Mum doing it, these are just some of our op shop finds. The one on the far left is a skunk duster I made.

Gathering up lots of 'stuff'. I'm going to need to store this in the garage because, unfortunately, the school is having the carpets cleaned and all furniture needs to be stacked away. That means NO EXTRA JUNK ALLOWED (whoops, I channelled the principal for a moment there!) Can you see my gorgeous eBay paper lanterns? So many decorating ideas!

eBay purchase as a celebration when hearing I had a class next year (5-way headphone splitter for listening post).

Got a junky weeny fridge for $25 for the classroom. It works a treat and looks great patched up and spray painted my 'class colours'. The outside is also chalkboard paint... for functionality.

I've been buying lots of school stuff from the dollar store and couldn't resist these teachery stickers... unfortunately one of them is spelt incorrectly. Pretty sure it is supposed to say 'Word Warrior'. Haha, oh well, I just won't use that one!

School fete time! I made 32 mini cakes and 10 dozen doggy biscuits.

 

I also manned the photo-booth. Rather easy. Buy and download software ($60... my donation), make booth from refrigerator boxes, set up web cam. TAKE MONEY! It is all automated so was a super easy stall to run.

 

It was a VERY hot day but was a lot of fun.

 

Unfortunately, I didn't get to go to the trash and treasure stall or the book stall but was able to gather a LOT of books from the unsold ones afterwards. Around 5 small boxes. They will be handy for my class library next year!

 

 My husband drives a school bus, so yesterday we did this! It is a bit hard to see all of the decorations in the photo but we think the kids will get a kick out of it.

Which brings me to today. Spray painting my yoghurt buckets (individual table group rubbish bins), cookie sheets (chalkboard paint) and silver serving trays (also chalkboard paint). They are purchases from the op shop, once again!

 

I also downloaded some stuff and made up a proforma to send home on our 1/2 day transition on Thursday. But more about that later.

 



Matt the Bat

You might have noticed, Ive been a bit quiet lately.
School is back for the last term of the year and I haven't had a lot of time to do much personal stuff (excepting a bit of gardening and I have won a cupcake decorating competition since my last post!)

Back to business...
Our school has a huge push on improving oral language and phonological awareness as some of our students enter the school very low and this ultimately affects all learning areas. We have even gone to the extent of employing a speech pathologist at a substantial extra cost to the school, such are the needs of students. We are lucky enough to have one of the best in the business!
http://www.pelicantalk.com/

Anyway, the children I work with for reading intervention have loved hanging out with 'Word Bird' and 'I Spy' the monster because it is about talking and playing oral games with words. They are practising phonological elements and they don't even know it!

Last week, our 'speechy' heard about the creatures I'd made and bought and she came to me today with a little gift...

Meet 'Matt the Rhyming Bat'! I just love him! I've already carried him around school all day and have used him with heaps of kids on yard duty. Matt is very shy and only pops out when you say two rhyming words. If you say lots of rhyming words, he might flap his wings or give the kids a little batty kiss on the cheek. SO FLAPPIN' CUTE! 

I'm off to make some sound word family cards... but more about that later!

I Spy With My BIG Eye...

FINALLY FINISHED MY I SPY PACKET!

Sorry for shouting but I'm pretty happy about it.

This little monster is what inspired it all.

 

 

I found him at the dollar store and KNEW I could do something fun in the classroom with him. He is about the size of a basketball.

 

My step kids used to play 'I Spy' all of the time in the car (as most children do) but the youngest thought it was sooo funny if he changed the words to 'I spy with my BIG eye...'

The monster's big eye is just perfect (you could get students to make their own I Spy monsters with pom poms and goggle eyes).

 

The packet has pages for all letters of the alphabet, with 4 pieces of clip art and letters to scaffold students when guessing what the monster is spying. It requires the students to orally break words (of up to four sounds) and write the letters beside the clip art. There are also 4 spaces on each page for words around the room which start with the letter they are working on.

 

I had to make the clip art myself because I realised I hadn't bought any yet! Here are a few. I wonder if you can guess which letter they represent? Hehe!

 

Each letter slide comes in colour, greyscale or black line master. It has instructions and an answer sheet... just in case.

I did have loads of fun making it but I'm not sure if I should add it to teacherspayteachers.com or what I should charge or ANYTHING!

 

Any help or comments would be much appreciated.

 

 

 



Need a holiday, holiday!

So here's what I've been up to for the past few days.

I started doing the 'Values Pack' and found that it was such a HUGE undertaking that I thought I'd make a cute little 'Initial Letter Pack' to let the creative juices flow and so I didn't get bogged down in doing the values stuff.

I started. Did the template page and made a funky dotty border. At this point I realised I had no loyalty-free clip art. "No problem! I'll make my own!" I thought. Just under a hundred images down and 2/3rds of the way through after 4 days *SIGH* (I have been also adding black line and grey scale images to the sets and the worksheets because I know some people prefer it that way... so it is really JUST UNDER 300 IMAGES! EEP!) Still a little work to do but I hope to have it done by tomorrow... maybe.

Hubby decided to move our entire veggie patch and hot house construction to the other side of the yard where it will get more sun. The thing is the size of a double garage and all under netting. We aren't done yet but we are having a red hot go at getting it moved before it gets too hot for growing veggies.

Today I had a message from an ex-teacher from our school. She will be running 'Puppets and Play' at our school this term (like a playgroup but promoting literacy through puppet play). She needed a Very Hungry Caterpillar puppet for the first session next week. Unfortunately our Foundation level teacher had that resource last and wasn't answering her phone (too busy enjoying her break like a sane teacher!) Anyway, there was no puppet to be found in the time frame (we are in a quite remote town and although we do have eBay, there is no way it would reach us in time). Luckily I have a sewing machine and hot glue! I made it this afternoon.

 

He starts off looking like a regular caterpillar.

 

 

Crawls into his cocoon (chrysalis?)...

 

 

Turn him inside out as you pull off the cocoon and he is a beautiful butterfly!

Hehe! I had so much fun.



Another Display

My principal really needs to let me know IF I have a class next year and WHICH grade it'll be. That way I can start planning my lessons and aligning my tasks with the National Curriculum for the correct year level... at the moment, I can just do decorations and 'stuff' and I've come to the conclusion that I'm making WAY too many display boards! Hehe!

Here's today's effort.

 

This is for a class reward tally. It is a cookie tray (spray painted) and when you see students displaying the correct behaviours, you add a laminated pic of a slice of brownie to the tray (add a magnet to the back of the slices to stick it to the tray). Have a slice for each student in the class and when the tray is full, the class gets brownies cooked for them!

I had the old tray up the back of my cupboard and never used it. The gloves came free for buying cream cheese. They are in my colours and they make great decoration (that will also be where I store the slices of brownie while they are not being used on the tray).

 

 

This one is a quote board.

You know how I said I was making a set to teach social values? Well, I'm still doing it and I'm hoping to teach each value based on an inspirational quote (since there are so many floating around on social media, I thought it would be a great idea to teach the children how to analyse them and gain a correct understanding).

This board will display the quote of the week which is linked to the value we are learning for that week. I have narrowed it down to 36 most relevant values for children which leaves 6-8 weeks of the school year free to review/consolidate learning or as a backup (we all know lots of other things get squashed into a school year so sometimes a few free weeks are needed!)

This display is a frame from the back of my cupboard, spray painted. The glass had been smashed years ago. I covered the inside board with fabric, hot glued some coloured pegs on and added a little ribbon. 

I will endeavour to get the values package finished ASAP!

 

 





MORE Making!

I know I promised you a freebie now that I know how to make clip art but while I'm on holidays and have plenty of daylight hours, I just can't stop making displays and stuff for my classroom. (Remember: I don't have an actual classroom this year, this is all in preparation for next year... fingers crossed that my principal hears my pleas to teach children in my own classroom again!)

Anyway, I've utilised some of the pins I've accumulated on Pintrest and made a couple of 'long life' things for the room.

Here are my exit pass lanyards for the toilet, office, library etc. I haven't put the laminated labels on them yet. They have a clip on/off buddy tag too... handy for times when you do and do not want the children to head off with a buddy.

 

 

No name board... to peg up work which, well, has no name! (Students who recognise their work can collect it, otherwise it is filed in the round filing cabinet. If you know what I mean).

 

 

Birthday calendar. One clip for each month. I'll hang laminated tags for each child with their date beneath the month they were born (I haven't labelled the month clips yet).

 

 

Here's my very own idea (NOT a Pintrest rip-off!) The hangers on the back of the displays are a recycled ring pull off a dog food can! I cut a circle washer out of my Redbull can with scissors and screwed it on (feel free to pin this idea hehe!) 

 

 

I am thinking that my next making project will be a display frame for quotes I will use to begin discussions about social situations. I'm planning to put together a year's worth of these 'discussions'... but more about that later!

 





Makin' MORE Stuff

I love having the time to make things during the holidays.
There's daytime time for paint to dry, instructions to be Googled and problems to be pondered.

Yesterday I did something for myself and made a little sundress off a dress I bought on the weekend.

Today I've learnt how to make clip art! (Expect some freebies soon)



Here's my office space. Yeah, it is the coffee table. I do have an office upstairs but on the holidays I find this far more comfy and inviting.

 

 

Here's my first bit of clip art. As you can see, it is just a scrappy test piece but feel free to take it if you like it! Hehe.

 

I also made this.

Well, I revamped this. It started off as a pine $2 shop pin board which had been abandoned at school. It had those sun stains on the cork and the frame was dusty and grubby.

A bit of a wipe down and spray with my 'classroom colours' spray paint and it looks like new... not only that, it matches my decor.

Excellent!

I may hot glue some faux flowers or ribbon on it later but first I need to see how my room looks with all of the decoration I'm planning. I don't want it to be too busy or girly.

 

 

Off to make some clip art freebies! See you soon!