Term Four - No Chore! Breeze through to Summer

Hello teacher friends!

Here in Australia we have just started our final term of school for the year. I've only got 8 more weeks until Summer break! It is fun term for us, filled with lots of exciting activities for our students to conclude their year of learning. 

It is however, often a term that can be stressful and busy. I have teamed up with some online Australian blogging friends to bring you some tried and tested teacher tips that you can implement now, or begin to plan for to make this term easy to manage. 

These tips are simple and relatively easy to implement - keeping things simple and practical is one effective strategy for easing classroom craziness. 

After you have read my tip, please visit the other blogs in the link up below to find more ways to cruise through Term 4. For continued ideas and time savers, don't forget to also follow us all on Facebook and Pinterest! 
My top tip to help you breeze through to Summer is simple - all you need to do is reflect and refine! :)
Reflect As you set about tidying up you classroom towards the end of the year, spend some time reflecting on what really worked well for you this year, and what might have needed some more 'tweaking'.  Were you happy with your furniture arrangement? Were your resources stored neatly and easily accessible? Did the routine you established work for you and the children?  Make a list of those things that you definitely want to repeat in 2016, and also one that shows those things you want to change.  When you've enjoyed some time in the sun over the Summer holidays and are ready to think about school again, you'll have a ready-made 'to do' list to get you back into the swing of things and make next year even better than this one!
Refine As teachers we tend to keep anything that we think might come in handy one day.  Problem is... lots of those things just end up taking up valuable space in our classroom or house.  If you've got 'stuff' in storage that you haven't used all this year, have a really good think about whether you actually need to keep it.  Chances are that you will collect lots more over the holidays - especially with after Christmas and back to school sales - so take the opportunity to have a spring clean and free up some space.  Another great way to make your life easier when you come back to school next year is to check that all of your games and resources are in good working order.  As you pack them up for the last time this year check that all of the pieces are there and make a note of anything that might need reprinting and laminating.  Throw out anything too sad looking and make a shopping list of bits and pieces you might need to replace.  Well-loved games do tend to get dirty and my kidlets love to peel laminate off if they find a loose corner! :)
Enjoy the last few weeks of school, friends!

An InLinkz Link-up

Five for Friday at the end of a wonderful week!

Two amazing things: I actually took photos worthy of a Five for Friday this week, and I'm posting on Friday! The world has turned on it's head.  Link up with Doodle Bugs to share five random moments from your week... but check out mine first! :)

1. I spent far too long this week matching up clipart kidlets with my classroom kidlets to make new book box labels!

Mel over at Graphics from the Pond has a collection of 100 Scrappy Kids and I found one that perfectly  captured the personality of each of my sweeties.  They loved  their little cartoon image and today's 'Read to Self' was especially exciting because we got to use the boxes with the new labels for the first time!

2. If you read my post yesterday (two posts in two days!) you would have seen the cute beach themed cupcakes we made earlier in the week. We continued the Summery vibe today with a playdough ice-cream stand in Outside Time!

We made a few batches of playdough and coloured them to make chocolate, strawberry, mint, vanilla and banana ice-cream.  There were tables and chairs, a cash register, spoons, bowls and real sprinkles! So much fun... and lots of language development as the kidlets took orders, gave their menu choice and chatted with their friends at the tables. :)

We painted ice-creams as well, using matchsticks on the cone part to get the waffle pattern.  The sandpit was set up as a beach, with boogie boards, umbrellas, towels and Beach Boys music playing... but I was so preoccupied ordering my ice-cream that I didn't get a photo!

3. I was at school until about 7pm tonight getting my classroom clean and tidy for our Open Day tomorrow.  Working on a Saturday isn't my number one favourite thing to do, but I do like the opportunity to give my room a bit of a spring clean.

The Alphabet Monster is all set up ready to meet prospective students and the families of current kidlets.

The sign says: Would you like to feed the Alphabet Monster?  Today he is eating words that start with t and s.

We also made these super colourful countdown rockets earlier in the week to brighten up a bare wall. I usually make this craft each year but had forgotten this year until I was reminded by my friend Jemima at Luck's Little Learners when she shared about a similar one she had made with her class.

We cut a mixed up number line into pieces and glued it down to count from 10 - 0, then added paper shapes and torn paper to make the rocket.  Before I displayed them I added a photo of each child as the window.

4. I finally got a chance to put down all of my Sit Spots!  I'd put down a few to test them but wanted the floor to be super clean before I set up the whole class.  I loved my old colourful rug... but I must admit I love my new polka dot floor space more!

And yes... as soon as I posted this photo I can see that I need to move the back row one spot over. I won't be able to sleep tonight thinking about them being off-centre! 

5. Our current favourite Brain Break on GoNoodle is 'Let it Go' from (where else!) 'Frozen'.  My kidlets are absolutely desperate for me to let them watch the movie at school... as if we regularly watch random movies!  Yesterday, I got this Quote of the Day:

Me (trying to play a YouTube clip): Oh, it's frozen.
Kid: WE'RE WATCHING FROZEN!
All Other Kids: YAAAAAAAAY!
Me: No, not Frozen the movie... the computer's frozen.
Other Kid: This is the worst moment of my life.

It was honestly the quickest mood swing I had ever seen! (I sometimes post my funny Quotes of the Day on Instagram... follow me @lozzybeck and I'll follow you back!)

Well friends, I have about a million printed photos to turn into some sort of a display for Open Day tomorrow so I'd better get to it.  I'd love for you to leave me a comment and let me know how your week went!

Lauren

Summer Time Cupcakes: Fun with Procedural Texts!

Any time that cupcakes can be legitimately integrated into the curriculum = happy kidlets (and happy teacher!).  We had lots of fun yesterday decorating these gorgeous 'Bears on the Beach' treats, working on procedural texts and verbs with a Summer theme that links with our 'Seasons' Science unit!

We started together on the carpet, reading through the procedure that I had written on some chart paper.       We discussed how this text looked a lot different from the books that we usually read.  The kidlets pointed out the numbers and the fact that the sentences were short and to the point.  We practised saying the word 'procedure' and talked about where we might see this type of text and what it would be used for.  Mum's recipe book and 'how to' craft books were hot topics. :)

The kidlets then matched up the photos I'd taken the night before with the step that described them.  We found the verb in each step (you can see that I've put a light blue star around them). 

After that, it was time to get to the fun part!  At lunch time we had set out everything needed to decorate the cupcakes on the desks.  We followed the procedure by dipping the cupcakes in cookie crumbs (sand), laying out the towel (a piece of fruit roll up) with the bear (Tiny Teddy cookie) relaxing under an umbrella!

They really were cute when they were all decorated, and the kidlets were super excited to make them.  I know that as we continue to work on procedures this lesson will be a great reference - who doesn't remember a lesson that involves cupcakes! :)

Lauren

Summer Bucket List Linky

I was feeling super left out of the fun linky party that Miss Kindergarten is having... Everyone is sharing their plans to sleep, read and travel over the Summer holidays, but here in Australia we are heading into Winter and our long break from school is an age away.  And then I realised... I'm heading to Calgary for our end of Semester break and it will be Summer in Canada - woohoo!  I can join the party after all. :)

Number 1 on my list is to spend lots of time with this boy.  He was here at Easter time, but I miss him so much!  Can't wait to see him again. :)

We're going to go on a road trip from Alberta into BC - my cousin and his wife live in Summerland.  Doesn't that sound like a magical place?  Chris and I have a tonne of fun with James and Tina so it will be good to see them again.  

I'm going to stop by all of the stores that I love in Canada but we don't have here - Jacob, H&M, Walmart, Spring, Target, Aldo, Chapters... There's a good day or two of shopping right there! I'm also going to grab a Pike's Place from Starbucks!  It's tricky to find a Starbucks here (not that I've really looked hard!).

Last but not least, I'm looking forward to seeing all of my Canadian friends again. :)

Link up and share your Summer bucket list too!

Lauren