Friday 13 June 2014

Five for Friday... Gratitude after a great day. :)


Another Friday... another chance to reflect on the collection of random moments that combined to make a busy week. Thanks to Doodle Bugs for hosting! I had a great day today... maybe the best I've had all year with my tricky bunch of kidlets.  I am feeling very thankful, so my Friday Five has a theme of 'gratitude'. :)


All year I had been wanting to make some 'Whisper Phones' for my kidlets to use during their 'Read to Self' time.  I'd looked into buying the parts at my local hardware store and there was never a week that I could spare the money (who knew plumbing pipes were so expensive?!).  I ended up putting a note on my foyer noticeboard, asking if any dads/grandads/uncles were plumbers, because I had a project I needed help with.  Last Friday, one of my mums said that her brother was a plumber.  I explained the idea of 'Whisper Phones' and showed her a photo, asking her to see if her brother had some pipe offcuts I could maybe use.  On Tuesday morning, this is what she brought in:


Not only had she shown her brother the photo, but he had glued together a set of 10 made from brand new pipes!  I was just amazed and so thankful. :)  A bit of rainbow duct tape later and the kidlets are using them every day to listen to their reading.


Today I am grateful for generous people.


In our Literacy groups this week our phonics revision activity involved searching in rainbow rice for magnetic letters.  



When they found one, kidlets would say the letter name, it's sound/s and name some words with that sound at the beginning, in the middle or at the end.  They would then write the letter underneath the matching picture on their worksheet.  

The beautiful rainbow rice was made last week by on of my parent helpers, and the sensory table was given to me after it was replaced in the Library.  They had been using the centre container to store pencils and didn't even know that it was a supposed to be used as a sensory table (meanwhile I had been coveting it for ages)! :)


Today I am grateful for lovely Mummies who give up their time to help (and also those who allow me to publish photos of their adorable kidlets!), and for working at a school that provides wonderful resources for me to use to help my kids learn.


I jumped on to TpT last night and was prompted to take their survey. One of the questions asked something along the lines of "How has TpT impacted your teaching and the way your children learn?".  It really got me thinking... I stumbled upon the world of teacher bloggers when I was having a year off, working in Canada (selling jewellery) and desperately missing my classroom life.  I jumped on the blogging bandwagon and quickly became obsessed with pinning and reading blogs (as well as writing my own).  Through this, a door opened to, like, a BILLION teaching ideas that I'm sure I would have never come across (see #1 and #2 of this post, for example).  My teaching has been impacted in a huge way - I am constantly inspired and searching for the best way for my kidlets to learn a concept or skill in a way that is engaging for them - and I am proud of the resources I have created as a result.


In my fine motor groups this week I used Link It Up... the precious kidlet in the photo on the left is my bounciest boy and he was engaged for almost 20 minutes (!!) with this activity. This, my friends, is a miracle.


We played Shark! this week in guided reading and it made me so happy to hear the giggles and shouts of  "shark attack!" as each group played.  Mostly though, it warmed my heart to see the looks of pride in my kidlets' faces as they read the CVC words by themselves.

Today I am thankful for inspiration from the teaching community.


When I got home this afternoon there was the most gorgeous bunch of flowers waiting for me on the doorstep!


Today I am thankful that somebody loves me.


It's almost the end of term here - 2 more weeks and we will be halfway through the year!  I love my kidlets, but man-oh-man they are tiring.  :)  It's also report card season... and I have nothing nice to say about them!  I am exhausted...


...but tomorrow I can sleep in!  No alarm, nowhere to be, nothing (well... apart from housework) to do. I saw this picture this week and it made me wonder if Sleeping Beauty was a teacher?


Today I am thankful for silent Saturday mornings.

Well friends, that's all from me.  Today's Five for Friday was really therapeutic for me, so if you've stuck with me to the end, thank you. :)  I really appreciate the lovely friends I've made through the blogosphere. 

Happy weekend!

Lauren





















11 comments:

  1. Looks like you had a great week! Your flowers are beautiful. And how lucky that someone made you those whisper phones. I have wanted to make them for a couple summers now but have not gotten around to it yet.

    Jessica
    Literacy Spark

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  2. I had a few of the pipe whisper phones waiting for me when I got my new classroom. I love having them, but I need a larger set. I guess it's just another thing to add to my summer to-do list! I love the rainbow tape you added to them!
    Jenny
    Livin’ the Third Grade Dream

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    1. Hi Jenny,

      The rainbow tape has been used on lots of classroom projects and kind of became the inspiration for my colour scheme. Not sure what I'll do if they ever stop making it! :)

      Lauren

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  3. I hope you fill up on alllllll of your sleep needs!!

    Alexis ♥ Laugh. Eat. Learn.

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  4. I love the whisper phones. I made a set for my class as well. The kids really love them :) Beautiful flowers!

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    1. Hi Rachel!

      Thanks for stopping by. My kidlets love the Whisper Phones too, so glad to have them. :0

      Lauren

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  5. What an uplifting post! It looks like you had a great week. I hope the weekend is just as good...
    Courtney
    Polka Dot Lesson Plans

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  6. I have been using whisper phones for a couple of years now - the kids love them! Where did you get that amazing duct tape??? The contact on mine is looking a bit sad...

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    Replies
    1. It's Scotch brand and I just got it from my local grocery store. Are you in Australia, if so check out Woollies. :)

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  7. A great post Lauren! I used your Link it up this week as well, stay tuned for pics of it in my Five For Friday, my kiddos loved it.

    Tania
    Mrs Poultney's Ponderings

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Thanks for popping by!