Five for Friday! 19/10/13

Another Friday, another five random moments to share!  I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs - you should too! :)

1. We've been learning about living and non-living things in our Science lessons. This week we had some great opportunities to interact with different living things to learn about their needs.  First up was a gorgeous mother hen and her chicks that our Kitchen Garden teacher brought from her farm.  The kidlets were very interested to learn about how the hen teaches her chicks to scratch and peck for food, and loved seeing the tiniest chick hide under her mum to stay safe from little hands. :)

2. On Wednesday we had a day out at an aquarium here on the coast.  We learnt about lots of different creatures that live under the sea and in fresh water. We got to meet some sea stars and sea cucumbers in the Touch Tank and saw 2 seal shows.  My favourite part of the day was when each group had some free time right before we went home (the rest of the day had been a guided tour). One of the parent helpers took her group of boys back to the tunnel tank and they spent the whole time chatting to each other about the different animals that they could see, asking each other questions and sharing facts they knew about the fish, sharks, stingrays and turtles.  When I wandered past them all 4 were standing with their hands on the glass, staring at a reef shark hiding near some coral.  Such precious kidlets! 

3. A parcel arrived yesterday - full of treasures that I bought online!  I've now got some Alphabet Sand Moulds, Letter Stampers and Alphabet Beads to use in word work activities, and some of those coloured plastic link things that I've had my eye on for ages.  I've seen ideas from other blogs that use these to sequence number cards and spell sight words using letter cards, but I'd love some other ideas if you've got them! :)

4. I love working with kids, they say the funniest things.  I posted this story on Instagram last night from a conversation I had with a little cutie in the playground.  Now, I know I'm not a medical expert but for a while I was seriously confused!

5. No photo for this one!  Next week is a short one with kidlets for me.  We have a student free day on Monday, and then I'm off 'networking' (doesn't that sound official?) at another school on Tuesday.  Does anyone else struggle to let another teachers take control of their class... even for just a day? 

OK, it's time for another coffee in an attempt to motivate myself to get the housework done.  I MUST resist the urge to spend hours blog hopping!!  Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Lauren

We Like to Move It, Move It!

Happy Tuesday Eve, bloggy friends!  Four more days of school til Spring break - yay!  And look at me, posting something that's not a linky. :)

In our Science work this term we've been thinking about how things move - objects, animals and people. Here's a peek at some of the activities we worked on!

Aren't lessons more fun when they are outside?  We took our Science scrapbooks and pencils to the undercover play area (no reason, just for a change of scenery!), along with a box of objects - things like a toy car, a block of wood, a ball, a teddy bear and a barrel shaped container.  We then put them to the test -  could they be moved by pushing, pulling, hitting or blowing?  My kidlets had lots of fun with this activity, they made predictions and were surprised by some of the results.  We recorded our findings, took turns and discussed what was happening each time.  Success!

Sorry Teddy, she's just so pushy!

No surprises when this huge block didn't move with breath power!

This toy didn't move after one kidlet blew on it, but everyone was convinced that it would move if a team combined their breath!  I didn't think it would, but let them try.  I had to eat my words when this group tipped it over! :)

We used hoops and toy animals to sort groups that moved in the same way - walk, fly or swim.  Later that week, everyone got a page of animal pictures to sort and glue into their scrapbooks.  I was expecting a replica of the sorting we had done together and to be honest had my mind on other things as they were busily cutting and arranging their animals.  Was I ever impressed when I scribed their group names and saw the amazing job they had done!

Run, walk, climb, slide, swim, fly, waddle, jump.

Cutest thing ever - the 'wiggle' group. :)

This clever cat figured out that a bluebottle didn't really fit into the 'swim' group, and wanted to know if it could be by itself in a group called 'float'.  You got it, buddy!

Objects, animals... next on our list was people.  We provided a heap of move-able equipment during outside Discovery Play time.  The favourite was scooter boards, closely followed by the 'caterpillars'.  Some of the boys spent ages creating a complex marble maze, getting their angles just right to create optimal marble rolling speed!

Caterpillar-ing along.

Scooting down the hill.

One of the Amazing Marble Mazes!

Well folks, that's all she wrote!  I hope this might have given you a few ideas if you've got this topic on your Science radar.  Have a wonderful week. :)

Lauren

Five for Friday! 14/06/13

One more week until Winter break!  Woo hoo!  This week at school was busy, busy, busy... but I did manage to snap a few photos to share for Five for Friday.

Link up with Doodle Bugs!

1.  In our Science unit we have been learning about the Seasons and this week was all about Autumn.

The kidlets loved these paintings... mostly because they loved getting their arms and hands all painty!  We don't get a lot of trees here that change colours and drop their leaves, so we read lots of books and looked at lots of pictures before we did this craft.  

2. In our Literacy work we've been looking at word families.

I have been doing this activity for-eva because the kidlets love it.  We read Cat in the Hat and then brainstorm all the words we can think of that end with -at.  We add a few to our painted hats and display them around the room.  Such a great visual reminder of the word family.

3. Rain, rain... go away!

Another week of rainy lunch breaks.  Luckily I grabbed a few new DVDs a few weeks ago so one day I popped on 'Elmo in Grouchland'.  Although I had planned to tidy and take down some displays while they were watching, I ended up spending most of my time engrossed in the movie too! What is it about kids' movies? :)

4. I love working with some of my best friends!

The sun came out on Friday and while our Preppies were enjoying their outside play time I ran into Sarah, also out in the playground with her Year 2's who were having a market day.  

5. Don't worry, I won't spend this all at once!!

I had to giggle when I received this email from TpT.  In late May I posted my first ever product and had sold a whole ONE item by the end of the month.  I've read a few TpT tips that say I need to be patient with my sales so I'm not too worried... and the June payment will already be larger! :) I'm hoping that on the holidays I can get to work on a few products that I plan to use next semester and add them to my store.  Until then, I'll add my $1.76 to my rainy day fund! :)

I'm off to run a heap of errands to get organised before I jump on a plane next Saturday to Canada.  When I get home I plan to spend some time blog-hopping through the linky.  I'd love to read what you've been up to this week!

Happy Friday!!

Lauren

Finally Five for Friday! 24/05/13

After a looong week fighting the flu I'm so glad that it's finally Five for Friday!  Link up with Doodle Bugs to share your highlights of the week that was. :)

1.  This snake skin was brought in by one of my kidlets for her 'Show and Tell' and is currently on the 'Discovery Table' in my classroom freaking me out every time I walk past.  I thought a metre long snake skin was bad enough... until one of my teaching partners found a FOUR METRE LONG skin just outside the playground fence while she was retrieving a soccer ball.  The snake that lived inside this skin was a nice, big, fat one - the middle section would be a good 10 centimetres wide.  We are hoping that it has slithered off far away into the bush!

2. Check out these gorgeous collages that my kidlets made today!  I was so impressed.  I think it was the Mozart playing that inspired such beautiful artwork. :)

3. We have been studying 'The 5 Senses' in Science and had a culminating day where all 3 Prep classes rotated around activities that celebrated the wonderful ways we can use our senses.  There was cooking, making musical instruments, a tactile walk and these jars of coloured sands that are beautiful to look at using our sense of sight.  We used cooking salt and chalk - aren't they cool? (And yes, our 5 year olds did all the work to make a jar each!)

4.  My Friday night plans involve the couch, my snuggy and a hot water bottle...

5. ...as well as a few of these babies.  Yes, I am just that cool!

Happy Friday friends!  

Lauren