Teacher Teacher

Easter is just around the corner

noreply@blogger.com (TeacherTeacher) — Sun, 22 Mar 2015 01:59:00 +0000

I can’t believe Term 1 is nearly over and Easter is just around the corner.

We have had fun in grade 1 as the time has flown by. So much fun that I haven’t had time to post anything. Sorry New Years resolution, broken again!

For our Prep (Kindergarten) to Year 2 Easter Hat Parade we will parade to the local shops where the kids will get some Easter goodies. We have been busy investigating, designing, producing and reflecting on our Easter Hats for our technology unit this term.

Yes I got the glitter out and was on glitter patrol for the making of these hats. Can’t wait to see the kids wear them and they can’t wait either. They ask me every day when they can put them on!

Here are some snaps of the Easter Hat Production.

If you are looking for some Easter themed activities to use in your classroom be sure to check out my Easter literacy, numeracy and card packs.

Easter Literacy Activity Book

Easter Literacy Contents

Easter Literacy Preview

Easter Math Activities

Easter Maths Contents

Easter Maths Preview

Easter Cards

Click Here to purchase all 3 sets in a bundle now reduced!

Meeting my new class

noreply@blogger.com (TeacherTeacher) — Sun, 18 Jan 2015 03:58:00 +0000

Hello again! It is getting to that back to school time and even though I’m supposed to be on holidays I have started work! I’m sure I’m not the only teacher.

I am starting at a new school in 2015 and was lucky enough to meet my new class in the last week of school. We had just under an hour of getting to know each other, which went too quick!

I have grade 1 next year. They were as excited as me and were a very chatty bunch! Not like last year.

I will be Mrs Wilkes this year not Mrs Hayley and I think it will take me awhile to get used to my name!

Of course I over planned for the hour and had too much to do but now I’ll save some of the activities for the first day. The activities we did can also be used on the first day or week of school. A lot of ideas were found on Pinterest (where else)!

Here is a look at what we squeezed in.

Getting to know you ball

1. After lining up we walked to out new class

2. We sat on the carpet and I introduced myself then we went around the circle saying our names

3. My ‘All about me’ power point with photos couldn’t be played as I did not have my new teacher laptop yet! I’ll save that one for the first day

4. Getting to know you beach ball was thrown around the circle. When the students caught it they had to read the first word they could see “looking at them” to tell us about them. Words I wrote were: family, colour, sport, school, movie, I like, pet etc. Most of the kids loved this and we made sure everyone had a turn. It was a bit long for some of the wriggly ones! I’d plan for at least 20 minutes.

5. Eyes Shut Self portraits. This was fun! I modeled my portrait first and the kids had such a giggle at my drawing. Then they went to a desk, wrote their name, closed their eyes and drew themselves on the left side of the page. They opened their eyes and looked at the silly drawings then drew their real portrait with eyes open on the right side. Of course their were some kids who ‘cheated’ and peeked to make their drawing perfect but others followed instructions and had fun squishing eyes closed or covering their eyes with their hand. We were going to colour these drawings but time ran out. I am deciding whether to colour them on the first day or to hang them up and leave them in pencil.

6. Aaargh! Time went so fast. Just as they were leaving I took a quick photo of each child so that I could make a display for the first day of school and use the photos in my student profiles.

Phew! Cannot believe I ran out of time. I also had a story to read and was going to take a photo of them holding a chalkboard with their name but alas this will have to be done on the first day.

Eyes Closed for Portraits

Trying not to peek!

Eyes Shut Self Portraits - My Model

One of the kids portraits! So funny.

Another student who didn't peek the first time!

Did anyone else get to meet their class? Leave a comment below and share what you did.

Aussie teachers enjoy the rest of your holidays!

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Top 10 Classroom Dancing Songs

noreply@blogger.com (TeacherTeacher) — Mon, 29 Dec 2014 02:12:00 +0000

All ready for the school disco!

Those who know me well know I love to dance. Whether it be at a bar, club or pub, at a concert, in the lounge room, in the car or just sitting in a chair I love to dance. I’ve been to lessons since I was young and have tried a bit of everything including jazz, hip-hop, ballet, tap, ballroom, Latin, rock and roll and belly dancing.

Love school discos!

My favourite place to dance is in the classroom. I love playing music for brain breaks, transitions and in the back ground while we work. I am always encouraging kids in my class to show off their moves. Watching them bust a move always makes me smile.

I have had many giggles, eye rolls and groans at some of my most gracious and elegant choreographed steps. Even better is when the kids copy these ‘Mr Bean’ style moves.

I thought I'd share with you my Top 10 Classroom Dancing Songs.

Most of my top 10 classroom dancing songs already have easy dance steps for the kids to copy and are great for getting everyone dancing (even the reluctant kids). You’ll find videos on you tube so you can copy and learn these easy steps. The others are great songs to make up your own moves. My advice if you are not a confident dancer is to pull out some hip shakes, walks forward and backwards, claps, stomps, knee bending, spins and nothing beats the old grapevine!

1. Cha Cha Slide – DJ Casper

Best ever classroom dancing song. It is fun, easy and gets all kids moving. Just listen to the lyrics and follow the words of the song.

2. Blame it on the Boogie – Michael Jackson

Best song for some disco style moves.

3. I Like to Move It – Reel to Real

This one will give you and the kids a work out!

4. Hoedown Throwdown – Miley Cyrus

Who can resist a line dance? The kids love a bit of Miley Cyrus (pre-wrecking ball days).

5. Macarena – Los Del Rio

An oldie but a goodie. Most of us know the Macarena moves.

6. Wobble – V.I.C.

Great song to dance like no one is watching. We love doing silly ‘wobbles’. The Wobble is another line dancing style dance. A word of caution though; some of the lyrics are a bit inappropriate; “Hey big girl make em back it up”, “I got em shaking their boobies like congos”. I think the kids don’t pay attention to the lyrics but parents might!

7. Happy – Pharell Williams

I don’t think I need to say anything about this Happy song.

8. 5, 6, 7, 8 – Steps

Another line dancing style. You’ll need plenty of grapevines for this one.

9. Nutbush City Limits – Tina Turner

Another song to get your heart rate up. It just doesn’t get old.

10. Greased Lightnin – John Travolta

Channel your inner John Travolta and pretend you’re wearing your leather jacket, tighty whitey shirt and skinny jeans.

Do you have a favourite song for dancing in your classroom?

Leave a comment to share and have fun dancing!

Click here to visit my Teachers Pay Teachers Store

2015 Goals

noreply@blogger.com (TeacherTeacher) — Sat, 27 Dec 2014 05:22:00 +0000

2015 is just around the corner and resolutions and goals are on the mind.

More blogging is definitely one of my goals however you will not find it on my resolutions list. I have deliberately left it off the list to save room for other more achievable goals and so I won’t face the blog guilt when/if I don’t achieve it!

To start the year off on the right track (with a blog post) I’m joining Second Grade Nest with a 2015 Resolutions Linky.

Here are 5 of my 2015 goals!

And a couple of extra goals.

For my teaching professional goal I want to continue learning in my favourite area, literacy and teaching reading and writing. A long-term goal of mine is to become a literacy coach or specialist and I have loved studying Reading and Writing Difficulties for my masters this year.

Another professional goal is for my Teachers Pay Teachers store. It is more of a general or widespread goal to become more active by creating more products for my class and to share, linking up with other stores and bloggers and learning more about both the business and classroom practice. Broad I know but there are lots of little goals in there!

A personal goal of mine is to stop shopping! GASP! Yes a tough one I know. I have managed to live for 2 years on a remote island with only minimal online shopping. On visits to Brisbane however, I have hit the shops and bought myself all sorts of goodies from clothes to shoes to jewellery. My fear now is that having the stores just a short drive a way is very dangerous.

I want 2015 to be more about the experiences not the material things. Yes I know I want those shiny new shoes but do I really NEED them? Probably not. So 2015 will be the year of wearing things until they fall apart. Clothing, shoes, jewellery and underwear (holes are acceptable in my opinion)! By working towards this goal I am also helping myself achieve goals 1, 2 and 4 from above, winning!

Check out Sarah Wilson’s blog posts for her take on material things and some inspiration; Why Iwore the same pair of green shorts for 8 years and B uy experiences not things.

Get active! Notice I didn’t use the word exercise? I think getting active sounds better don’t you? That means walking my chocolate labby Dexter, escaping to the beach, finding some bush walks outside of Brisbane and generally getting out of the house. I think it can be done.

So there are my goals. What are yours? Leave a comment below to share….

Thanks to Second Grade Nest for the Linky!

Motivational Monday Freebie - Rock On! with Sight Words Four in a Row Game

noreply@blogger.com (TeacherTeacher) — Sun, 24 Aug 2014 23:30:00 +0000

24th August 2014 Motivational Monday Freebie

It’s been some time between not only blog posts but also Motivational Monday Freebies.

Today’s freebie for your Monday is a sample from my Rock On! With Sight Words Pack 1

This is a Four in a Row Bingo Game with sight words and an awesome kids rock star and glitter theme.

Print and laminate this game to use in literacy lessons and centre work.

Sight words included are:

a, and, away, big, blue, can, come, down, find, for, funny, go, help, here, I, in, is, it, jump, little, look, make, me, my, not, one, play, red, run, said, see, the, three, to, two, up, we, where, yellow, you.

To get your hands on this freebie from my TPT store click here.

To access it through google docs click here.

Please click here for my full Rock On! Sight Words Pack 1.

Also available are sets 2-5

Pack 2 Rock On! with Sight Words

Pack 3 Rock On! with Sight Words

Pack 4 Rock On! with Sight Words

Pack 5 Rock On! with Sight Words

Finally get all 5 packs in my bundle. If purchased together you can save $10.

Rock On! with Sight Words Bundle

Preview of Rock On! with Sight Words Bundle

Enjoy this freebie and have a wonderful Monday!

Welcome Sheera our new class pet (RIP Leonardo)!

noreply@blogger.com (TeacherTeacher) — Sun, 24 Aug 2014 09:34:00 +0000

Farewell sweet Leonardo

You may remember Leonardo the turtle our lovely class pet from one of my previous posts. Sadly Leonardo did not survive his last trip home with a student (lost, chewed by a dog or destroyed by a sibling I’ve been told). The class were upset at first but quickly forgot poor Leonardo after their kind teacher told them she would get us another class pet. Not to be mistaken for a softy the children have been told that the loss of the next pet would mean no more class pets!

It was an extensive process choosing another pet. The class was the ones making the decisions.

First was a suggestion of animals (tiger, shark, giraffe, turtle, crocodile and snake).

Voting for an animal

Next a class vote on the type of animal. Each student recorded votes on paper. They were placed in a tin then drawn out and recorded in a tally next to each animal name. Tiger was the winning vote.

The votes are in

Tallying the votes

Students loved tallying the votes (they didn't even know it was maths)!

The final numbers

Next Mrs Hayley had to track down a stuffed tiger toy. The mission was finally accomplished by donating to the World Wildlife Fund who then sends a stuffed animal, bag, adoption certificate and photo.

While we waited for the tiger to come from the USA to Australia another vote occurred to decide whether the tiger was a girl or a boy. Girl won this time.

Then we started thinking about names. Some of the suggestions were Nala, Sheera, Tiger, Stripy and Alice. The winner: Sheera.

It took a few weeks to finally get Sheera to our remote island home.

She has finally arrived.

Sheera the Tiger

After her first week she has sat with students during our carpet time, sat on desks to help with work, played tennis and with hula-hoops, participated in reading groups and helped us with our math. Sheera goes home with students on the weeknights in a special bag with a writing book and pencil. She has been home with 2 students for a sleepover. They have both returned Sheera (unharmed) and presented their talks about what they did with Sheera.

Reading, hula-hoops and tennis fun!

Going home for a sleepover.

The next sleepover

Once again it is great to have a class pet. The students have fallen in love with Sheera and want to spend any time they can holding her in class. It has been great to help with behaviour management, oral language, confidence, writing and hopefully more responsibility looking after her at home!

I’ll be trying to share more Sheera adventures throughout the rest of the year.

Does anyone else have a class pet? Have you thought about donating to WWF. Click here to head over to their website. I’d love to hear your class pet stories.

Don't forget to follow

Back to School (or halfway through) Sale!

noreply@blogger.com (TeacherTeacher) — Mon, 04 Aug 2014 08:28:00 +0000

Well it has definitely been too long since a blog post! Toooooo long!

Its not like you have not been on my mind dear blog. You have I swear. It’s just that it’s been a hectic time and I’ve been focusing on lots of other things. Its not you its me.

Click on this link to visit the store

I know you’re probably feeling a bit ripped off too because this is just a quick post to share some back to school (or halfway through school in Australia) love and to let everyone know about my Teachers Pay Teachers sale. But don’t fret I’ve got some posts coming your way soon. Too many ideas that will keep you busy and satisfy your every blogging need!

But enough of all that! Yes even though I live in Australia and we are halfway through our school year I am participating in the TPT sale along with so many other great sellers.

For 2 days everything in store is 20% off as well as another 10% from TPT (just enter the code BTS14 at checkout).

I have been frantically finishing some of my half finished products and have 2 more up in store. My Rock On! With Sight Words Bundle and We Rock Our Goals individual student goal display are shown below. Click on the photos to see the products on TPT and download my preview file for a closer look. I have so many more to add but am still putting the final touches on those so stay tuned.

Head on over to the Teacher Teacher Store on TPT to check out what’s on sale while you can. Time is ticking….

Free Product on Teachers Like Freebies

noreply@blogger.com (TeacherTeacher) — Mon, 21 Apr 2014 00:30:00 +0000

I'm very excited to be featured on the Teachers Like Freebies blog this week.

My Guided Reading Comprehension Graphic Organisers are on show!

Here is a short sample of what is in the product.

You can find these on my TPT store as my featured freebie or through the Teachers Like Freebies blog page.

If you haven't already head on over to the Teachers Like Freebies blog and subscribe to receive wonderful freebies from many talented teachers.

My Motivational Monday Freebies will start back up again soon (I've been a bit slack on my Easter Holidays). If anyone has any suggestions about what they would like to see free please leave a comment below.

Happy Easter Sale and New Products

noreply@blogger.com (TeacherTeacher) — Sat, 19 Apr 2014 05:06:00 +0000

So I’ve been absent from the blog world for quite some time! Easter school holidays are almost over (Nooooooo!) and it is back to school next week. I’ve already had 2 dreams (nightmares?) about naughty children and hiding in my office!

I’ve been extremely busy creating new products for my class and have uploaded them in my store this week. Last month I completed my Phonics Pack 1. I’ve now finished Packs 2 and 3 and also created a bundle in my store. I’m very happy to say my Phonics folders are now all organised and my lessons and activities are ready for the next term or 2! No planning, creating and printing necessary. I’ll be having a laminating party tonight with myself and a movie or two.

So to celebrate Easter and my new products I’m having a sale in my Teachers Pay Teachers store!

For 2 days you can save 20% off everything! New products and old. The sale dates are April 20th and 21st. There are many other sellers with sales as well. What could be a better way to spend your Easter Sunday than with a TPT shopathon?!

Here are some pics of my newest products that I am oh so proud of. And of course these will be included in the sale. Click on the links to find them in my store. Leave a comment below and tell me what you think?

Phonics Pack 2

Part 1: Letter Work

Part 2: Word Work

Part 3: Sentence Work

Phonics Pack 3

Part 1: Letter Work

Part 2: Word Work

Part 3: Sentence Work

Phonics Bundle: Packs 1, 2 and 3 Save $6.00

Pack 1: Letters smtcgpao

Pack 2: Letters rldbfhiu

Pack 3: Letters vxyzjnke

Monster Number Boards for Number and Place Value Work

Monster Number Boards

1 digit number board

2 digit Number Board

I’ll be posting some more details about my Phonics lessons in the near future so stay tuned. In the meantime have a Happy Easter!

Motivational Monday Freebie – Part Part Whole Party Page

noreply@blogger.com (TeacherTeacher) — Sun, 23 Mar 2014 22:00:00 +0000

How was everyone’s weekend? Mine was fantastic, a relaxing day at the beach and a productive day in the classroom preparing for my week.

Not sure if anyone has noticed but there are only 2 more weeks til Australian Easter school holidays! I’ve definitely noticed and yep the countdown is on. I’ve got a list as long as my arm of goals, things to do and how I’m going to relax around my lovely island home.

But enough about that, let’s get our heads back into Monday.

Today I have a Part Part Whole Party Page as my Motivational Monday Freebie for the 24th March. Once again I print and laminate copies so that we can reuse them. Or you could print and shrink them down to 2 or 4 to a page on a paper copy.

I’ve used this page with the kids while we are learning addition and subtraction. We use counters, cubes or bead strings alongside this to separate numbers into parts then write the addition sentence and turnaround addition sentence. Then we write the subtraction sentence and turnaround. I used to think part part whole was a bit boring but we love having some fun with these party pages. I have been so happy with the progress of the kiddos. I think they finally ‘got’ how to complete these independently. The students have their first ‘real’ maths test tomorrow that includes showing their thinking for addition and subtraction problems. I hope they do well. Fingers crossed.

Here is the link to the Part Part Whole Party Page freebie or alternatively check out my TpT store and some of my other products.

If you are looking for more classroom freebies I've linked up with the Classroom Freebies Blog: Manic Monday. Check out this fantastic blog full of free resources.

Phonics Work Pack 1 Complete!

noreply@blogger.com (TeacherTeacher) — Sun, 23 Mar 2014 08:48:00 +0000

After working on this pack for the last month I have finally finished my first Phonics Work bundle! Yay!

My class this year has a lot of little grade 1 students who have not yet learned to read and do not recognise most letters or sounds. At first I panicked a little (just a little) as in my previous year of teaching I my grade one students knew the basics so I wasn’t quite sure where I was going to start. Memories of university courses and teaching prep (kindergarten) students were a bit fuzzy so I did what most of us would do… hit the internet, pinterest and teaching textbooks to come up with a plan of attack.

I have used a phonics programs before but was not entirely happy with the structure and lack of resources to use. After a lot of reading I decided to structure my phonics lessons around another program although lacked the funds to purchase all of the resources and materials.

My first phonics pack has three parts to it:

1 * Phoneme/Letter work

2 * Word work

3 * Sentence work

Part 1: Phoneme/Letter Work

Preview: Part 1

Part 2: Word Work

Preview: Part 2

Part 3: Sentence Work

Preview: Part 3

Each part builds upon the previous part. First the students learn 8 phonemes and the corresponding letters. Once they know these first 8 sounds they can start to blend CVC words (using only those 8 letters) and move on to the word work. After this they move on to the sentence work with CVC words and basic sight words.

The first letters are s, m, c, g, t, p, a and o.

I have used this pack for my grade 1 students in Term 1 and plan to move on to the next 8 phonemes next term.

Activities include flashcards, writing pages, tracing pages, reading pages and mini books, worksheets, cutting and pasting activities, dice games, four in a row and bingo games.

The pack is mostly in black and white with a few colour pages.

Print, laminate and reuse! I keep paper copies in my folder but I also have multiple laminated copies to reuse and save ink and paper.

I’ll keep you posted about my next pack that will use the next 8 sounds I’m hoping to get that done over Easter break. I’m very excited about sharing this with you. I’d love to post more about it but time is running out before Monday hits! You can purchase this pack from my TpT Store here. Please feel free to leave a comment. What do you think?

Motivational Monday Freebie - Ten Frame Kids

noreply@blogger.com (TeacherTeacher) — Sun, 16 Mar 2014 22:00:00 +0000

It’s been a very busy weekend for me. Obviously not socially but I found my motivation to try and finish off some packs I have been working on. They are almost there and will be popping up in my store during the week (fingers crossed).

Today’s Motivational Monday Freebie is my Ten Frame Kids. These are black and white printable ten frames with cute little kids on each one. I have printed, cut and laminated these and we are using them with a lot of our number work. We have got so much use out of them making numbers, learning about teen numbers, doing addition and subtraction and learning our tens facts. The students have enjoyed using them. Just don’t make the mistake of giving a boy a ten frame with a girl on it. Oh no that won’t fly Miss Hayley! A boy cannot use a ten frame with a girl on it.

You can download the Ten Frame Kids here or find them in my TpT store.

Have fun with these in your class or home.

Does anyone have any suggestions for future freebies? If so leave a comment below.

Motivational Monday Freebie - Guided Reading Planning and Observation Pages

noreply@blogger.com (TeacherTeacher) — Mon, 10 Mar 2014 02:30:00 +0000

So I’ve finally been able to finish off some of my ‘half finished’ products that were piling up on my desktop and I’m happy to announce that every Monday I will be giving you a freebie product.

I have a bit of a love hate relationship with Sundays. Love because it is a day off and time to relax or catch up on some work. Hate because as the day goes by I know Monday morning is approaching and I need to say goodbye to the weekend and muster up some Monday motivation.

I’m hoping my Monday freebies will give you a bit of extra motivation for the week ahead (or just something of use for your classroom or home).

My first Motivational Monday Freebie is a copy of my guided reading planning and observation sheets. Get it for free here or have a look through my TPT store. I use this printable for my guided reading groups. The planning sheet allows me to map out my lesson, choose a focus and write questions for before, during and after reading. It also has a spot for me to note new vocabulary, sight words and phonemes that are in the text.

The observation sheet provides a space to record reading behaviours the students are using and make a note of future work or lessons each student will need.

I keep multiple copies of this in my guided reading folder and when I’m done file the sheets under each reading group. They are great to refer back to and use come reporting time. I hope you enjoy this freebie and have a wonderful Monday! Remember the weekend is only 5 days away.

Parent Open Day

noreply@blogger.com (TeacherTeacher) — Sun, 09 Mar 2014 05:56:00 +0000

Last week we held a successful Term 1 Parent Open Day. I’ve read a lot of blog posts and seen a lot of pins about the different things teachers do for their open days and all I can say is WOW! Some teachers go to great lengths to make presents, displays and little activities for parents.

I did not go to such lengths for my open class and kept to a ‘less is more’ or ‘cheaper’ approach. I did not buy extravagant presents. I did not have apples as gifts. I did not write cute little poems. I did not set up treasure hunts. I planned a more realistic afternoon that took me few hours of time rather than a weeks worth of effort. I think what I did do was not so bad. Here’s how my afternoon ran.

Parents were welcomed into the class and got to check out our student Guess Who wall. Students had completed a guess who page with a self-portrait and facts about them. Parents had some fun trying to guess which page was their child’s.

On each of the students desks were some of their books to show their work so far and their recent assessments.

I showed a power point presentation that included information about me, work and assessments covered so far, upcoming work and assessments, information about our class pet Leonardo and Buddy class from Brisbane, Homework expectations, student goals and an invitation for our first class Parent Party (more on that later).

I also made a photo presentation using imovie with photos of the class so far and some very funky music that had the parents bopping in their seats. I love using imovie to make fun presentations that look like they took hours but in reality took little time with all of the templates available.

Lastly I presented the parents with an envelope to take home with a copy of their child’s goals for Semester 1, a card made by their student to thank them for coming and a photo of the students first day of school. This was our present to them.

We had a good afternoon and it was a great opportunity to catch up with families and chat to them about their child’s progress. And best of all it did not cost a bomb!

I have the pages I used for the envelope cover page, student card and guess who printable as a freebie for you to use in your classroom if you would like it you can download it here or check out my TPT store for freebies and other products. Hopefully it saves you some time and money too!

I’d love to read about what other people have done for their parent open days. Do you have any tips or ideas that save time and money?

Bloglovin

noreply@blogger.com (TeacherTeacher) — Wed, 05 Mar 2014 11:30:00 +0000

Teacher Teacher Blog is now on Bloglovin. Subscribe and follow your favourite blogs in one place.

Find Teacher Teacher on Bloglovin here.

Thank you to all for following so far!

JOMO – What?

noreply@blogger.com (TeacherTeacher) — Sat, 01 Mar 2014 08:55:00 +0000

More like "Teacher at the end of Week 5 Term 1!"

After an extremely busy school week including numerous 10-hour days I made it to Friday and collapsed on the couch with my dearest husband Lee (who has been my house husband this week cooking, washing and doing a lot of dishes).

We all know a teacher’s job goes beyond 9-3pm weekdays. If I hear someone tell me how great my working hours are again I might just resort to an angry outburst. This week I have struggled with fitting it all in and have developed a neck pain that I’m sure is from a combination of my ever present “To Do List” and my anger at not having a 27 hour day instead of 24! “Just 3 more hours a day is all I need,” I whine to Lee this week.

I woke up this morning with my never ending To Do List floating around in my head and decided to push it to the back of my mind. I must say although my thoughts drifted to the classroom, darling Johnny’s behaviour, sweet Jenny’s reading development and little Jimmy’s counting difficulties, I’m glad I’ve done it. A day of cooking, cleaning, reading and drinking cups of coffee while browsing mindless trash on the internet has done me wonders. Yes I can hear you all now. “She thinks cooking and cleaning was better than doing school work?” Yep! Crazy right.

During my Internet browsing I did find the time to clean out my 355 emails (345 of which were junk I’ve subscribed to and never read) and finally found the time to read some blog posts (which are not to be confused with the junk emails)! I came across a post from Sarah Wilson’s weekly blog titled ‘the joy of missing out’ (read it here) or JOMO. “JOMO – what?” I say.

JOMO or the joy of missing out is 2014s newest ‘thing’. Apparently 2013 was the year of FOMO – fear of missing out (described as negative feelings of nervousness, anxiety and envy that you are in fact missing out and that other people are experiencing better things than you). Well I guess living on a remote island I miss more than just general news and current events. I missed out on FOMO last year! Or actually being aware of FOMO! Funnily enough sometimes being away from friends and family we have felt a fear of missing out. Missing significant birthdays, parties, social events and our good friend’s wedding last year brought on those feelings of ‘missing out’.

On the other hand being able to walk 15 metres from work to home and spend quality time with Lee and some trashy TV on a Friday night brings on feelings of happiness and relaxation for me! After a long week of work I can’t imagine wanting to travel home through the city, get dolled up and go back out again on a Friday night to socialise. People often ask what do you do on the island? Well work, work and more work is my answer. When I’m not working I’m doing what I call ‘nothing’ or what others call ‘being lazy’ or ‘veging out’. One of the perks of living remote is being able to just do nothing! Go on; call me a grandma or a homebody or a hermit! Don’t get me wrong I love going to Brisbane and seeing people and actually having a social life but I also get excited about shutting out the world and having a date with a few episodes of Suits, Dexter or SATC (oh and Lee of course)! This is when I’m feeling JOMO.

Who would have thought doing nothing today would bring such a wealth of new knowledge and vocabulary for 2014 hahaha! And as an added bonus for today that horrible neck pain has disappeared! I’m making a new resolution to have my ‘nothing’ day or night more often just so I can experience the wonderful feelings of JOMO.

But wait a second. Not doing schoolwork and relaxing might just bring on some FOMO. Missing out on getting some work done. Hhhmmmm no I think I’ll ignore that thought and bring back the JOMO!

Hope you are enjoying your weekend too.

It wasn't all homebody activities today.

Squeezed in a walk at low tide

SALE SALE SALE

noreply@blogger.com (TeacherTeacher) — Thu, 27 Feb 2014 08:06:00 +0000

The Teachers Pay Teachers 3 Million Teacher Strong SALE has begun.

Teacher Teacher Store is taking part in the sale for 2 days.

Use the TPT code TPT3 at checkout PLUS everything in my store is a further 20% off.

New Easter products have been added just in time for the sale.

Check out my Literacy Activity Book with 30 pages of Easter themed literacy activities.

Easter Literacy Activity Book Preview

OR my Maths Activity Book with 30 pages of Maths activities.

Easter Maths Activity Book Preview.

OR my Printable Easter Cards both colour and black and white.

Or all three in my Easter Bundle.

Everything in the store is on sale for 2 days. Click here to visit my store.

Meet Leonardo

noreply@blogger.com (TeacherTeacher) — Fri, 14 Feb 2014 07:22:00 +0000

Leonardo

This is Leonardo. He is our class pet. We will be looking after him in the classroom AND the students will get to take Leonardo home for a night and have a sleepover. Leonardo will also come with a book that the students will write in and share what they have done with Leonardo. Hopefully it will be things like do homework, watch TV, read a story and not things like go for a swim in saltwater, get drawn on by my sister, have dinner spilled on me! The students will then share their adventure with a short presentation in the morning to help develop oral language and confidence.

Leonardo was introduced on Monday. He came in the post on our weekly barge. The kids were so excited to meet him. We decided he was a ‘he’ not a she and also picked his name through a class vote. Some of the suggestions were quite funny: Squirt (came from me to get the ball rolling and comes from Finding Nemo) and Crush (also Finding Nemo). Then there was; Milo, Fred, Leonardo and Brian! The votes were counted and Leonardo it was.

Writing with Leonardo

Culture with Leonardo

This week he has been a nice companion when sitting on the carpet for whole class lessons. Even the fidgety little ones have held him carefully and still. He has sat on our desks to help with work and has been on playground duty with me (the year 6/7 kids think I’m nuts). Today he had culture with us and now he is preparing for next week when he will go home with the first child.

Leonardo helping with insect drawing

This weekend I will be making his book, his bag (waterproof – and you know why) and also a little note for parents with a wish that Leonardo returns to class each time!!

I’m looking forward to seeing how his first trip goes!

Back in the Swing

noreply@blogger.com (TeacherTeacher) — Wed, 05 Feb 2014 09:12:00 +0000

Week 2 of school for 2014 and we are back into the swing of things. We are into our reading, writing, spelling, sight words, maths, science, health, visual art and history work. Phew!

Homework started this week and I’m happy to say the kids said, “YES!” with fists pumping in the air. Wow, that was a shock. I didn’t realise they were that into it. I know there are times when I have a groan about making it, printing it and photocopying it. Last year I swapped and changed a bit with what I sent home but this year I think I’ve got it all figured out (so far).

The students in my class take home:

* 1 home reader for year 1 and 3 for year 2

* a spelling list in a homework book with instructions on how to practice the words each week

* a page of sight words to learn to read

* a page of maths work

Reading bookmark for fiction and non-fiction texts

I send home as much information as I can to parents to help them help their children. I’ve made this reading bookmark for students and parents to use at home together. It has questions for before, during and after reading and has fiction questions on one side and non-fiction questions on the other. I know many parents don’t realise that reading and comprehension starts before opening a book and continues after it has been read. I hope that this “little something extra” can assist families at home. This is not just for teachers but parents too! You can download it for free here or find it in my freebies page.

Magic 100 Super Sight Words homework pack

Super Sight Words homework page

Something else I’ve refined is my sight word homework. I have made lists for each of our Magic 100 and Magic 200 words that can be used at home, then one side is returned to class signed by the student and parent while the other is left at home for future use. I love the 'super sight word' theme. You can check out my sight words homework list for Magic 100 here and Magic 200 here and don’t forget to have a browse through the rest of my Teachers Pay Teachers store. I'm currently working on words 201-300 and 301-400 for the kids who have finished the other lists.

We’ll see how much the kids enjoy their homework after this week. Already I’ve had about 6 students bring it back after one night even though its not due til next Monday. They are so cute. I think they just enjoy bringing something to and from school.

I’d love to hear about other homework systems and thoughts. Feel free to leave a comment below.

Until next time,

First week complete and yes we had water!

noreply@blogger.com (TeacherTeacher) — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 09:27:00 +0000

Wow! Week 1 of school has flown by already and only 9 more weeks until the holidays. Not that I’m counting already. The kids in the class have certainly settled and by Friday were not shy at all. I remember starting last year as the new teacher at the school. The students were so quiet and shy that whenever we played my ‘getting to know you’ games I could almost hear crickets! Not this bunch.

Blowing our nose

This week was full of rules, routines and getting to know you activities. There were many rehearsals of walking around the class, sitting on the mat, sitting at our desks, staying in our seat, walking to the tuckshop and how to use our pencils, rubbers and glue (with only 1 glue stick fatality). Phew!

Washing our hands

Walking to the tuckshop

My favourite getting to know you activity was the silly self-portraits we made and hung in the room. We wrote things about ourselves and stuck that page on the body then attached the head, legs and arms. Mine shows such a resemblance don’t you think? I got this idea from Pinterest by Kallangur State School

The kids had messy fun with this one. Legs, arms, bodies, heads, scissors and glue everywhere! I’ve made a template to use for this activity that you can find here or in my Freebies page.

Miss Hayley's Silly Self-Portrait

The student's self-portraits

This one is missing a leg!

We made a friendship fruit salad on Friday after reading the book I’m the Best by Lucy Cousins. I can’t claim this idea as my own either I got it from Crazy For First Grade

After reading the book we talked about how the animals were feeling and why. Then we came up with a list of what makes a good friend. I told the students each ingredient (or spoon full of fruit salad mix) was one of those things that made a great friend. After putting it all into a bowl and mixing I got out a pear that I had fun throwing around my kitchen 2 days before! It was bruised, brown and it was smelly. We talked about words to describe the pear: rotten, stinky, yucky, bad. Next we talked about the rotten pear being like a rotten friend, someone who doesn’t do the nice things that we put in our friendship fruit salad. I asked if we thought the rotten pear should be in our fruit salad and the class voted NO. So it was chucked in the bin. Of course we ate the friendship fruit salad and the kids loved it. I wish I had a camera with me at that time especially when I pulled out the rotten pear. Now when the students aren’t being ‘a good friend or class member’ we talk about being a ‘rotten pear’ and the friendship fruit salad.

I’m not sure about everyone else but Friday night I was exhausted and couldn’t move off the couch. I hope all the teachers out there had a great first week back.

Had to share this one. My Teacher Aide captured me explaining how to use the glue stick properly. Nice facial expressions :)

Some more good news: our Internet is back on at school and I can now print! The classroom has been almost complete for a week but now I have no excuses I can finish printing my displays and proper labels. Stay tuned for photos of the finished (is it ever finished?) product.

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First Day Fun

noreply@blogger.com (TeacherTeacher) — Tue, 28 Jan 2014 08:32:00 +0000

The first day of school for 2014 has come and gone and I have survived! There were only a few set backs such as no school internet, a huge water leak in the class drowning some student books, no water at school with kids sent home at lunch time and a lingering tummy bug from yesterday but we remained positive. Who needs the internet in class anyway? The books can be replaced. A half day eased us all into the school year and I am feeling 100% better this afternoon.

With my blog finished over the weekend thanks to the amazing Rebekah Louise Designs (check out her wonderful work here) I thought there was no better time to write my first blog post than the first day of school.

This year I have Grade 1 and 2 and my goodness haven’t they grown from last year. The year 2s in my class had me last year for year 1 and are so proud to be the “big year 2 kids” and show the year 1s the ropes. The year 1 students made the transition from prep (kindergarten) and loved to get to know how things work in our class. They didn’t even seem to notice the lack of playtime!

The half day meant that not everything in my planning got done, but the rest of the week will now be even busier.

Success Wall

I thought I’d share some pics of one of our class data walls or as we like to call it our success wall. In our class we have four success walls where we share our achievements and use them to set individual goals. This year I decided to have:

* a beach/sea theme for our Superstars of the Sea classroom behaviour management/points system

* a map of the islands for our Sight Words wall where each student has a little boat travelling around the islands

* a ladder for our reading levels with the students photo moving up the ladder

* a monster maths race for number goals with monster characters racing to the finish

These photos show our Success Wall with three of the four data wall displays completed. The monster maths will be added and ready for next week (yes once I get some time to finish it).

Superstars of the Sea Display Chart

The kids loved the Superstars of the Sea display and I wonder why? Rewards! Once each student gets 10 points for following the class rules and displaying appropriate behaviour their sea character moves along the wall and they get to choose a reward. I’ve decided this term to put all of my reward cards into a bag and have the students select one at random. Most of these rewards are free but some such as Prize or popcorn party obviously come with a cost. I’m hoping the random selection might save me some of the money I spent on prizes last year.

My Superstars of the Sea display and table points chart is available from my Teachers Pay Teachers store HERE.

I’m looking forward to the rest of the week and will be sure to add some updates and share what we have done (if there is water at the school!!!!)

Check out my Meet the Teacher page for more info about me and the story behind Teacher Teacher. Don't forget to leave a comment or share your first day stories.