Photo Catch Up - it's been a while!

It sure has been a while since I've stopped by to share photos of the things we've been up to in my classroom! This post has no real theme - it's just a hodgepodge of pictures that I'd taken in the last few weeks of term - and it seemed that most of them were snapped in a hurry, so sorry about the quality. :)

The end of Term 1 means lots of reviewing of the concepts I want to make sure my kidlets really 'get' before the Easter break.  As we worked on counting skills two games became the new favourites!

'Race to Fill the Cup' is super fun and very simple to set up.  All you need is some large cups (or really any container), some counting cubes and a die.  Kidlets roll and count that many cubes into their cup.  The first to fill their cup is the winner!  For extra fun I made some pocket dice cards and included a little 'thief' clipart.  When he was rolled, 1 cube had to go back into the middle.  A regular die would work just as well.

Dino Dash is perfect for easy differentiation.  Some of my groups used one die to practice counting, while others used two and worked on early addition skills.  Dinosaur tokens are moved along the rock path and stop to 'rest' under the trees when they make it to the end.  Players have to get as many dinos to the end of the path as they can.  You can grab this game in my store (click on the pics!) and add some plastic dinosaurs for extra fun.

We linked up number representations to review numerals, ten frames, words and dot patterns to 10. 

We made shape ice-creams to review 2D shape!  And who knew that some old cardboard would turn out to be the smash hit of the year so far...

...?  I needed a five minute time-filler activity so during lunch time my TA cut these shapes from old boxes.  I blindfolded a kidlet who had to identify the shape by feeling the number of sides and corners etc.  After we'd done the four shapes I wrapped up the activity and those who'd missed out on having a turn were devastated.  They literally begged me to keep the shapes out as a fast finisher option, and for weeks afterwards there would always be a pair of kidlets playing the 'Mystery Shape Guessing Game' - complete with high levels of excitement.  Who knew it would be such a hit?!

Once a week we do a whole class sorting activity to introduce or review reading and phonics concepts.  That activity then became a small group task. You can click on any of these photos to see the matching pack.

We reviewed letters, words and sentences and completed a cut'n'paste worksheet.

We worked on those tricky medial vowel sounds - next term we'll use mailboxes showing letters only rather than our Sound Waves cards.  We'll do the recording worksheets then too.

These cute tulips are sorted by the number of phonemes (sounds) in each picture.  We also did a cut'n'paste activity to match this sorting work as well, but who knows where that photo ended up. :)

Squirting sight words was by far the most fun sight word review we did all term.  We wrote the words  with chalk inside a bug shape on the path outside.  Depending on the group, kidlets squirted the bug containing the word called or identified the word based on clues given.  "This word has 4 letters and starts with l" etc. Perfect for kinaesthetic learners!

Phew! Told you I had lots of photos! Hopefully you've found an idea or two that you can use in your classroom. :)

Our Week in Photos!

This post is brought to you by the wonderful condition called 'Sunday Afternoon Laziness'!  I took lots of photos this week and have lots of fun activities to share... but am feeling too lazy to organise them as anything other than a photo dump with quick captions. I hope you'll still find an idea or two that you'll be able to use in your classroom. :)

Tumbling Chimps is perfect for fine motor fun! I found it at Big W - they have lots of cheap games that would be wonderful for the classroom.

Kidlets used bingo dabbers to dot over a line...

...and if they had time, cut along the line through the middle of the dots.  Fine motor and scissor skills all in one!

 Tracing this week was with our new Scentos markers! Had to remind them not to sniff the pen directly. :) The room smelt so gorgeous all week.

New favourite maths game? Dino Dash!  This super fun game works on early addition concepts, or you can use it as a counting game for those who still need that practise.

We played Beach Bingo (part of Mel's bundle) - working on numbers to 10. 

My kidlets loved making a Flip Strip from Cara's pack!  This week we matched quantities to 5 as our easy review task.

We worked on representing numbers in different ways using counting cubes and ten frames.  I called a number, the kidlets built it and then told me how they had organised their cubes - 6 might be 3 and 3; 4 and 2; 5 and 1 etc.

During Literacy groups we played Stretchy Snake Bingo -  I love this as phoneme blending practise.  The caller says each word as individual sounds, and the kidlets have to blend them together to figure out if that picture is on their card.

It was a bingo kind of week - we played Brooke's Alphabet Bingo, using wooden letters drawn from a bag instead of calling cards.  

Our sight word work was stamping with playdough!

We used the pocket chart to sort Letters, Words and Sentences - this was a whole class activity that will be reviewed with an independent cut & paste task this coming week.

Last but not least - I love these colourful vases of flowers that we made as part of our phonics work.

Phew! That's all from me, friends. :) Enjoy the last of your weekend!

Easy Maths FUN!

Hello friends!  I feel like I have been really neglecting this little old blog lately - so I'm here today to share 4 easy and FUN ideas that I've been using this week in Maths!

We're working on identifying numerals up to 100 this term.  Using my pocket chart I hid little monsters behind five numbers.  Kidlets took turns trying to find the monsters by asking 'Is there a monster behind the number...'.  I've played this game before using monsters hidden behind sight words and the same thing happened this time - the whole class was absolutely bursting with excitement to have a guess.  And the reaction when a monster was discovered was priceless!  :)

While playing this game it was easy to see who was confident with their numeral identification and who needs more work on this.  You can also ask for guesses that are less/more than specific numbers, even/odd, teen numbers etc. and this allows you to differentiate the game really easily for those who are ready for something trickier.

Nothing is easier to use for number identification tasks than board games!  Whether the kidlets are identifying dot patterns or numerals on a die or on the game itself the idea is the same.  This week I used Chutes and Ladders because the board shows the numbers 1-100.  As each player took their turn I had them count out loud as they moved their piece along the number line.  If you can't find a board game with the numbers you need to work with on it, it would be very easy to whip up a grid and make your own!

You might have read my post earlier in the year all about a DIY game called  Pirate Treasure Ten Frames.  This next game is kind of similar, except the kidlets work with teen numbers.  I call it 'Chook Champs'! ('Chook' is an Aussie slang term for chicken.)  All you need is a whole stack of egg cartons.  Cut them down so that you end up with ten frames - these cartons are perfect for working with manipulatives in any number work you do.  To play Chook Champs each kidlet needs two ten frames each.  They take turns to roll a die, adding cubes (or whatever) to their cartons.  As they play, discuss the number of cubes they have collected.  'You have ten and four more, what number do you have?' 'Who has the most cubes?' 'How many more do you need to make 10 or 20?'  I've found that this is a really engaging way to reinforce that tricky teen number concept.  You can also have them record their number on a whiteboard after each turn to practice writing those numbers.  When both ten frames are full, kidlets get a Chook Champ card! (This is just a picture of a chicken.)  The player with the most chickens at the end of the playing time is the Chook Champ!  Warning: excitement levels often make this game noisy. :)  

Last of all is an idea for working on addition concepts that you can adapt to any theme or for any hands on counters you have.  My version is called 'Dino Dash'.

Use two pocket dice and some dot pattern cards.  Kidlets roll both and add them together to move their dinosaur along the path.  When one dinosaur makes it to the end, they have a rest under the tree and another dinosaur begins his journey.  They player with the most dinosaurs resting under the tree at the end of the game is the winner!  To use this game all through the year I simply change the numbers in the dice.  To work on the 'count on' strategy I have one die with numerals and the other with one, two or three dots.  Later in the year both dice will have numerals on them when we're ready for addition to be a little more abstract.

If you don't have plastic dinosaurs just make up a board that suits whatever you have!  Maybe bugs along flowers, or teddies walking towards a picnic - the possibilities are endless really.   :)

I really hope you found an idea that you might be able to use in your classroom!  I'd love to hear from you if your kidlets enjoyed these simple but fun activities.

Five for Friday! Sunshine, Costco, Dinos and a GIVEAWAY!

As I sat down to gather my thoughts for today's Five for Friday I almost couldn't remember anything I'd done at school this week! We're getting set to write report cards, so I can only blame my scarce collection of photos and scatty memory on a super busy week. :)  My five random moments are just that - quite random!

Summer break?  Nope, just an almost-Winter's day in Queensland!

It's the perfect time of year to enjoy long walks in the sun!

This week I decided it was time to get organised!  I transferred all of my TpT ideas to one notebook, instead of random bits of paper and notes on my phone and laptop.  I've got two 'to-do' lists on the go as well, one for home and one for my blog etc.

It's helping so far!

I introduced one of my favourite Maths games to my kidlets this week!  I call it Dino Dash.

The idea is simple.  Kidlets roll two pocket dice, with dot patterns for 0 - 3.  Each child has a card with a rock path on it and we use a container of plastic dinosaurs.  After the dice are rolled kidlets move their dinosaur along the path after counting the total number of dots.  This works on counting, subitising, number bonds and introduces addition in a relaxed way.  Later in the year I'll change one of the dice to show numerals - perfect to work on counting-on skills.  Once the dinosaur reaches the end of the path they have a rest under the tree, and a new dino starts his journey!  The kidlet with the most dinosaurs under their tree at the end of the playing time is the winner. :)

You could adapt this game to play with any manipulatives that you have - frogs on lilypads, insects on flowers etc.  My kidlets go mad for this game!

Big excitement 'round these parts recently...

...Costco opened!  It's the first in Queensland so the hype around opening day was HUGE!  I'd shopped at Costco when I was living in Canada so I wasn't quite as excited as some of the other people I saw there. Everyone was loading their carts up with huge smiles on their faces and one of the employees I spoke to said they turned over more than $1 million on their first day.  Crazy! Although my photo only shows about 5 people there it was actually super duper busy, so I just had a quick look and only bought a few cleaning products and a 10kg bag of rice to make rainbow rice for the sensory bin at school. :)

Time for the GIVEAWAY!  It's a miracle - I finally added a new product to my TpT store!

Not sure about you, but I find Show & Tell in the classroom tedious (I know... I'm a terrible teacher)!  It seems to veer between kidlets whose parents have made a larger than life poster that the child has had absolutely no part in and those that have literally grabbed something out of the car on their way into school.  I wanted a way to make Show & Tell times effective for developing oral language skills by providing guidelines as to the type and amount of information children should present.  The templates also help me to assist those little ones who've forgotten what they wanted to say, and because everyone has had the same poster to complete they all feel proud of theirs when it goes on display.

(I've included two sets of templates - one with Aussie spelling and the second is US friendly!)

There's 10 different topics in the pack.

Check it out here or 'Pin it to Win it'!  Leave me a comment with a link to the board you pinned to and I'll give away three copies at the end of the weekend. :)

Happy weekend friends!  I hope wherever you are you're enjoying some rest and relaxation - you deserve it!

Lauren