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!

 

 



Makin' Stuff

Today I did some work at school and made a couple of things.

 

Here's the first thing. It is a wonky bird. Started as a goose but slowly evolved into an awkward seagull! I made this one for a little girl in a foster home. I always see her with her foster mum (a parent at our school) and she is always carrying an armful of toys. I thought she needed an awkward seagull.

 

 

This one is for the classroom. It is an old op shop mirror, spray painted and I used Sharpies to write the quote. You have no idea how handy it is to have a mirror in the classroom, until you get one! It is good for all kinds of things. Social studies, checking wobbly teeth, looking at cuts and scratches and making funny faces into (that's my favourite when I catch kids doing this... makes me giggle every time).

 



Shopping again... Oh, my!

You know how I said I was going to pick up my step-son at the larger town down the road... well, I bought some more things.

I know I shouldn't have.

I feel guilty.

But how could I leave them there?

 

DISNEY CD and book sets for listening centres. These were on a discount stand for $3 each! Can you believe it? Love Target right now.

 

 

This vulture toy is actually a dog toy (hehe!) but I'm planning to use him for studies of other cultures. He has some Maori looking patterns on him and I think he can pick places on a world globe and we can study the cultures in class, 'Culture Vulture'.

 

I also got a couple of cute dresses. Our teaching staff usually dress up in classy outfits for Melbourne Cup Day. Not the children, just the stuff... it makes the kids laugh and be a bit curious about the history of the race, one of the dresses will do quite nicely for that since I didn't own an appropriate dress!

Saturday School Shopping... the best kind of shopping there is!

Lately I've been finding lots and lots of goodies to use at school.

It is costing me a small fortune (I say 'small' because most of it is from the dollar shop and op shops (thrift stores for those of you in the USA).

Let me share some of the cool bargains and what I hope to use them for, in the classroom!

 

Op shop photo cube box. You add photos on the outside. Not sure what I'll use this for yet, but for $1, I couldn't walk past it.

 

 

Op shop: Pure wool vintage blankets $5. I'm going to upcycle these into gorgeous cushion covers and stencil common punctuation marks on either side. We can use them as cushions in class library or as a punctuation task (just print the sentences onto A4 paper and get the kids to throw the correct punctuation cushion into the correct place, I'll blog about how this works out later!) The cat is happy... for now.

 

 

Op shop bird puppet ($1) and basket (50c). This bird is actually supposed to make a sound but it is broken (I ripped that bit out) but the best part is, the pocket in it's butt where the battery goes, fits a plastic egg. I'm hoping to use her as a 'wORd bIRd' which teaches kids how to flip the sound a digraph makes or to try a different option for the same sound. The fact that it can have an egg inside allows for some great word family fun like this: Examples of how to use a word family egg

 

I got some more stuffed toys from the Op shop at the same time but I'm yet to figure out if they will just be 'reading buddies' or if they have a more specific use.

Dollar store wrist bands. These are good for randomly selecting groups. Choose a band from an opaque bag and get into the group with the same coloured bands. No arguments. Also good for Chance and Data math games.

 

 Way cool find. $10 from the post office. Comes with clay, software (simple!), background and an easy to read book. The possibilities are endless for engaging students with this. I can make social stories myself, to teach social situations and responses. Students can write scripts, design storyboards, read the instructions, develop a soundtrack use computers... the list goes on... and it is soooo easy!

 

 

 

These are just cute AND the most expensive. $7 cute turtle (not sure what for just yet), $7.50 cute post-it dispenser for my desk and $9 'annoying orange' toy which shouts dumb jokes when you press it. I think I'll use the orange to announce if something in class isn't working well and we need to change our mind about it. To show that we can be flexible and not frustrated when things don't go to plan... maybe.

 

 

Echo mic $3 from the newsagent and bubble gun $4. I think I will buy a set of six echo mics. You talk into the over sized mic and somehow you can hear your voice echo back. It has a little spring inside and NO BATTERIES. I can use these for taking turns to talk in group discussions, presenting work and for reading to self tasks (hence buying a set of six). The bubble gun doesn't need batteries either. Just dip the end in a little bubble solution and pump the trigger to let loose a spray of bubbles. I'll use this to teach self control (don't pop the bubbles!) or as a classroom timer (quietly to the carpet before the last bubble reaches the floor).

 

I'll keep you updated on future purchases and let you know how my cushions and stuffed animals go, when I get to creating something from them.

 

I have to head to the larger town down the road tomorrow, to pick up my step-son for the school holidays (around 120kms, we live in a very small, quite remote town) and I'm sure I'll be visiting the thrift stores there too!

 



My favourite things- Best stuff right now!

Coffee! (and energy drinks)

 

Cute nail polish (I just put on my football colours polish tonight, for 'Football Colours Day' at school tomorrow. Raising money for leukaemia research).

Cute shoes (flats are saving my life in the art room at the moment!)

My treadmill and retrofit computer desk I made for it! It is excellent, I can now justify the time I spend hunting in the education section of Pintrest. I usually spend a 1/2 hour on it at 6am and hour on it in the evening (but not tonight because I was madly painting faces and ushering for the school production).

Wasabi peas. Why am I so addicted to these?

 

I'm also having great shopping moments for school goodies but I'll save those for another post!

 

What things are you keen on at the moment?

 



A little gift- It's all about food at the moment.

You know how I said I had had some unexpected moments just recently and was feeling a little down? Well, here's another unexpected moment...

A special homemade gift from a parent. It is a thankyou gift for taking the art position for the term while the regular art teacher was away with a sick family member. THIS unexpected moment has made it all worthwhile.

 

 

It is times like these that you realise how much your work makes a difference.

 

 

Now, since it as all about food at the moment... A special treat I made for a class that I am temporarily teaching during the literacy block. Can you guess which text we are working on?

 

 

That's right! The Gingerbread man! They are even made with treacle because the children didn't know what it was. I might even let them have a little taste of it on a pop-stick.

 

 

Next post WILL NOT be about food.

(No promises though! Hehe!)

 





It's Cupcake Week!

Apparently it is 'Cupcake Week'. In honor of the special occasion, I made these for the staff at school (I don't have a class so the staff get the spoils).

 

It is my first go at roses so don't laugh at the chunky wonkyness.

 

Nothing else to report.



Creative Organisation

I'm one of those people who, when doing a professional development course and they spring a personality test on me, well, always end up in the extreme depths of the 'Creative' sector.

Being organised is not a natural thing for me but a few years ago, I started working on it. Slowly I've become better at getting my life into some working order, instead of the random, creative chaos it was.

Last year I went on a health kick and started following a strict eating and exercise plan. This included pre-organised shopping lists and menus. After following the plan for a few months, I realised I liked the ease of having everything pre-arranged! I started feeling more energenic as a result of healthy eating and discovered the Japanese Bento style of lunches.

I recently took up crochet and this is an upcycled Ferrero box set I made... complete with a lunch salad inside!

NOW an organised world was opening up to me! I started using the extra energy I had to organise all aspects of my life. My freezer and pantry databases were created (so I could track what was used which makes shopping easier). I separated freezer contents into cheap stripey bags from the $2 shop and labelled the bags so that there would be no more rummaging in there... or digging everything out to clean the freezer! I began making up a week's worth of lunches and dinners on a Sunday. This left the weeknights open for my treadmill and homework, as well as some time with the family!  

 

Winter bulk dinner preparation. SOUPARAMA!
 

 

Spring/summer salad preparation.
 

 

Bento lunches are the cutest things. Lots of care is put into presenting the food and packing it into your little lunchbox. I skip the carb portion and limit my protein... so, salads are my staple for lunch.

 

 All done! Lunches, dinners and some veggie sticks for snacks, for the week!

 

I started wondering how else I could arrange my life to make it more simple and easy. I labelled an expanding file for warranties and instruction booklets, sectioned tax papers into yearly manilla envelopes and put white envelopes inside for different receipts, adding totals of deductions of the outside, as I collected them. I pinned push pins into my wardrobe doors to hang necklaces from, used egg cartons in drawers for earring organisation and asked my husband to help me make some other 'organising stuff' like shelving to hide the toaster and microwave in the kitchen cupboards.

 

 Thanks hubby! Now I can see all of the different polishes I have.

(There will be a post about these to come. Yes, it does have a little link with teaching!)

 

Then I discovered Pintrest.

Oh, MY!

 

Pintrest is so fabulous. I love it. The fact that I can go to a section about education and pick ideas and file them into organised little folders, for easy and quick recall when I need them, just blows my mind.  

 

So, what does all of this have to do with being a better teacher? Well, it makes me feel good I have some control of the clutter and madness which used to fill lots of my day and now have time for things I want and need to do. I'm not feeling like I have no time of an evening to do things I want (hang out with family/hubby and have a treadmill romp evening and  morning) as well as get the planning/reporting/extra school activities done!

 

I beg of you... try it... do something to get yourself more organised today! (Do a search on Pintrest for 'organisation' but be warned... it is addictive!)

 

 



A little bit about me- first post jitters!

So, I've been putting off writing a first post.
I've had a combination of feelings and I wasn't sure if I should even be writing a blog.
"Am I a good enough teacher? Who would even want to read about what I do? I don't have a class at the moment, will I have enough to write about?" were (are) just a few of the thoughts I'm having about starting a blog.
I've been inspired by some of the most amazing blogs and feel like I'd like to have a go at it... and here I am!

First, credit to some very cool blogs which have inspired me and even though I haven't asked permission, I'd like to recognise the wonderful writers and add links to them:
http://coffeekidsandcompulsivelists.blogspot.com.au/
http://familyrunningmyjourney.blogspot.com.au/
http://secondgradelockerroom.blogspot.com.au/
http://3rdgradesahoot.blogspot.com.au/
http://clutterfreeclassroom.blogspot.com.au/
http://dandelionsdragonflies.blogspot.jp/
http://www.schoolgirlstyle.com/
Before you go tripping around those wonderful links... stay with me! I have more to tell you about ME!

I have been teaching for years and have taught grade Prep (Foundation year now) all of the way to year twelve. I'm currently in a leadership role and also doing some reading intervention and other bits and bobs around the school (such as mentoring, coaching etc).

Recently I've had some, lets just say 'unexpected experiences' and was feeling a little down. Then I found PINTREST! Oh my! How I was inspired! That's when I started really missing having a full-time class and began collecting HEAPS of ideas for if (when) I get into the classroom again. I can... not...WAIT.

One of the worst and best things I ever did was to donate all of my old resources to other teachers when I finished up at the end of last year. The worst because I don't have any teachery stuff left and the best because now, I get to renew my resources and create a better bundle! 

So, I've set to work, making and getting stuff in preparation for my next class. I've submitted my preference to have a class with the principal. Now I'm busily working to build my stash. I'll endeavour to show you how I'm going as time goes by.

I've got lots to tell you about already but this post is already more wordy than I'd like so I'll leave it for another day.

Thanks for joining me here!



Testing adding pictures.

 

 

Testing adding a signature.