Five for Funday!

It's been soooooo long since I linked up with the Five for Friday party! Today I thought it was time to get back into it... even though I'm two days late. 😃

1. Our household has been bitten by the Christmas bug already!  We celebrated early with part of the family because we won't be together during the holiday, and because we hosted it made sense to put our decorations up!  The girls wore their new dresses for our family lunch - long enough to pose by the tree before they jumped in the pool.  Instead of swapping presents this year we made (or bought) festive costumes to wear during the day - you can see how gorgeous we looked below! We've also posted the girls' letters to Santa - we got the postcards from the post office and posted them into the special box.

2. Speaking of the Christmas season, I saw this image on my Instagram feed and haven't been able to get the idea out of my mind!

It is so easy for kidlets to get caught up in the 'gimme!' attitude that comes along with Christmas time.  Every day there's treats, cookies, candy and gifts galore - it's easy to get selfish and greedy.  I absolutely LOVE the idea of a 'Classroom Kindness Challenge'.  Each day a challenge card is revealed and kidlets complete the act of kindness. What an easy way to encourage children to think of others during the materialistic holiday season.  You can start any time and could even use the challenge at home with your own children - maybe alongside 'Elf on the Shelf'! Click on the image above to see the pack. 

3. We had another reason to dress up this week! (And yes, the girls wore their same new dresses.)  We spent a lovely afternoon in the hinterland at a wedding.  

4. Being out of the classroom this year has left me really missing the hands on work of teaching.  I was beginning to feel like my days of impacting kidlets were over - and then I received this feedback on one of my resources: 

It really warmed my heart to know that even though I'm not face to face with students each day, I can still do my little bit to help here and there. 😊

5. Some of the oldest products in my store were in desperate need of a makeover!  The past few days I've updated one of my all time fave freebies - counting snowman buttons or marshamllows, and my Christmas playdough mats. Click on the pictures to go to each resource.

That's all from me today.  I'm off to grab some ice cream and to read the rest of the posts in the Five for Friday linky!

Must-Read Novels: 5 books you'll want on your vacation reading list!

Hello friends! Isn't it lovely to wake up and realise that you don't have to lesson plan for the coming week? As much as I love teaching kidlets in the classroom, I sure do appreciate a few weeks of alarm-free holidays. :)  Since we're all having a break from teaching-related things (at least for a few days!) I thought I'd stop past to share 5 of my all-time favourite novels - linking up with Kacey and Five for Friday.  Whether you're relaxing by the pool on your summer vacation or snuggled under a blanket during winter break like I am, you won't be able to put these books down!

1. Three Wishes - Liane Moriarty

You might have heard Liane Moriarty's name mentioned recently - Reese Witherspoon is turning one of her recent books, Big Little Lies, into a movie.  Three Wishes is her first novel - and, in my humble opinion, her best.  It's all about the lives of Lyn, Cat and Gemma - 33 year old triplets who are just about as different as three sisters could be! Each of them are dealing with the ups and downs of their own lives, as well as the challenges that come with being part of a trio.  This story is beautifully written - it's funny and heartwarming. You feel like you know the girls so well that you must keep reading to see how the twists and turns unfold for them.

2. Tully - Paulina Simons

If you've read any Paulina Simons books, most likely it was the Alex & Tatiana trilogy (The Bronze Horseman, Tatiana & Alexander, The Summer Garden) - also three amazing books and well worth reading!  Tully has been one of my favourites since I was about 18 and I've read it probably 10 times. I'll be honest - it touches on some dark topics.  It follows the life of the main character, Natalie, through her teenage years and adulthood.  She struggles with tragedy and loss early in her life and in the years afterwards she's kind of searching for acceptance, love and closure.  

3. Plain Truth - Jodi Picoult

This was the first of Jodi Picoult's books that I read and it's by far my favourite!  It's set in an Amish community where a newborn baby has been found dead in a barn. An unmarried, teenage girl named Katie who lives on the farm is is charged with the baby's murder and is believed to be the mother.  A big-city lawyer comes to live with the family as she represents Katie during the trial and she experiences 'plain' life in a way that opens her mind and heart.  As with all Jodi Picoult books there's a great twist at the end!  (Another fabulous book by the same author is My Sister's Keeper.)

4. Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding

I know, I know! We've all seen the movie so I don't need to explain what this book is about. :) But if you haven't read the book you are seriously missing out. It is hilarious.  

5. The Forgotten Garden - Kate Morton

I've only started reading Kate Morton's books in the past couple of months and I'm so glad I discovered them! She writes stories set in the English countryside and all of them stretch across generations.  The Forgotten Garden is all about a girl called Nell, and her search to find the family she believes abandoned her and her real identity.  Another page-turner that you won't be able to put down - I had to keep reading late into the night just to find out what the ending would be!

Narrowing down favourite books to just 5 is tough!  I could easily add another 10 or so to this list without too much extra thought. :) Hopefully one of my suggestions has caught your eye.  Please click on the images to go to the Amazon listing for each book to read the full blurbs because I'm sure I have done an awful job in describing the stories.  Don't forget your local library will more than likely have a copy of these books that you can borrow for free!

If you have any great novel suggestions I'd love to hear them.  

Five for Friday!

It seems like such a long time since I joined in with Five for Friday! Time to get back into the groove. :)

Last weekend we spent a few days camping on a lake about an hour and a half from where we live! While it was a little bit cold in the early mornings we had absolutely gorgeous weather.  Winter in Queensland is glorious. :) The photo above shows the girls fishing off the back of our boat.

If you love historical fiction you need to read Kate Morton! I read 'The Forgotten Garden' first and was hooked on her style.  The books are so well written and all of them have plot twists that you won't see coming. :)

I've been spending some time revising some of my older products that needed some TLC. At first it felt like a backward step because I wasn't spending time on new ideas... but once I looked through the finished files I was soooooooo much happier with them.  Click on the pictures to find them listed at half price for the weekend.

A couple of weekends ago we went to the Noosa Food & Wine Festival.  I've always wanted to go! We had such a beautiful weekend. Our favourite events were the fancy dinner that had famous chefs serving delicious meals made from local produce, and the Spanish fiesta in the beach tipi!  So much fun - if you even get a chance you need to go. :)

Don't you love a good teacher meme? This one made me chuckle because it's so true... although you could replace reading intervention program with so many other things and it would be equally as accurate.  It's lucky us teachers are flexible!

Happy weekend, friends! Thanks for stopping by.

Photo Catch Up! (Five for Friday)

It's seems like it's been such a long time since I stopped by to share photos of what we've been up to in our classroom! This week I did a much better job of snapping pics, so this post will be a hodgepodge catch up of all the fun we've had in the past week or so.  I'm linking up with Five for Friday, too! :)

Term 2 means getting serious about handwriting. We've been focusing on the correct formation of letters - but that doesn't mean that we're stuck at our desks with pencils and paper!

Chalk on the concrete in the sunshine was a very happy way to spend one of our lessons...

...and shaving cream handwriting is always a favourite.  

We got up and moving with beach ball sight words - kidlets simply throw the ball to each other and then read a word on the panel they can see when they catch it.  I just have 4 beach balls with each term's words written on in marker and choose the set of words most needed for each group.

The sight word stars I made for our library have been a hit.  Kidlets choose a star and use it to search for that word as they are reading.

Phonics review this week was hide & seek sorting!  I hid picture cards around the room for kidlets to find.  We met back at the carpet and took turns to sort our cards into the appropriate beginning sound hoop.

I saw this pin a few weeks ago and adapted the idea a little to use with this igloo tent I've got.  When our phonics focus was /i/ we played "What's inside the igloo?".

I collected a box of things from around the room and gave this rhyme as a clue:

"What's inside the igloo? What could be in it for me? It starts with ___ and rhymes with ___. Oh what do you think it could be?"

This game was a HUGE hit! We played it all week and kidlets were always excited to make a guess and check inside the igloo to see if they were correct.

The igloo also became a coveted 'book nook' during reading time. :)

Number line work has been all about caterpillars! We played Counting Caterpillars on the interactive whiteboard and used Mel's Caterpillar Number cut & paste worksheets to order numbers.  Both the game and worksheets can be easily differentiated - perfect for group work!

Our science work has been all about 'The Seasons' and for the past few weeks we've been thinking about Summer! (I know, I know... the igloo doesn't fit with that. Have I ever told you I'm not good with themes?)

We used this poem as our shared reading text - you can see the marker and stickers that we used on various days to highlight capital letters and the /s/ and /m/ sounds.  This was also added to our poetry journals.

Stef's For All Seasons Bunting came in handy for this topic, too.  We've done the Summer flag so far and they turned out beautifully.

This was mine! :)

I love these colourful paper plate suns - they were so easy to make.  We sponge painted the plates with yellow and orange paint, and then glued paper strips in a loop to the outside when they were dry.

During outside time we turned the sandpit into a beach with an umbrella and beach chairs.  We also had the buckets and spades for sandcastle making, the fishing boat and music playing.

The playdough ice-cream cafe was open again this year.  We had four flavours, cones, cups and sprinkles! Kidlets took turns to be customers, waiters, ice-cream makers or register operators.  So much fun!!

That's all from me tonight, friends.  Jerry Maguire is on TV so I'm all set for a night of pinning and veging out.  Be sure to stop by Doodle Bugs to read the other Five for Friday posts!

Five for Friday!

Boy oh boy, it sure has been a while since I've linked up with Five for Friday! This week was back to school for us after Easter break and that means back to regular blogging. :)

Our first craft of the term (linked to our phonics focus) were these gorgeous handprint monsters.  If you've read my blog before you might know that I love anything monster themed, and these cuties were no exception!

We simply painted each kidlets' hand - they got to choose which fingers were painted - and printed them onto paper.  When they were dry the googly eyes were glued on and a mouth drawn with marker.  Each little monster has it's own personality!

We also made these cute apples from paper plates.

Just paint, cut, staple and you're done! These turned out so well, but seriously - I need to invest in a paper plate factory  I go through hundreds of them every year!

To go along with our /m/ focus we wrote about our monsters, choosing an adjective to finish the 'My monster' sentence starter.

We also worked on a letter m Alphabet Puzzle.

These were perfect for an independent group work activity.

Don't you love it when kidlets return after holidays and haven't forgotten everything they've learnt during the year?  During during Guided Reading this week we revised rhyming words with 'To Rhyme or Not to Rhyme' made by the very clever Brooke!

My Preppies blitzed this activity!  They said each picture names and then quickly decided which mat the card belonged to.  One happy teacher. :)

Tomorrow is ANZAC Day, a time when we remember fallen Australian and New Zealand servicemen and women.  Today our school held a very moving service to honour those who have died  fighting to protect the truly wonderful country we live in.  When we got back to our classroom, my kidlets wrote the word 'Remember' and drew pictures to represent ANZAC Day.

This picture shows a poppy, a sprig of rosemary, a wreath of flowers, and a soldier standing tall and proud.  

That's all from me today, friends.  Be sure to come back on Sunday to check out my post for the 'Swap, Share, Give' linky that a bunch of us Aussie bloggers have planned!