Five for Friday! Mozart, Caterpillar Maths, Fashion Funnies & Big Giveaway News!

Friday again?  That means it's time for Five for Friday!

1.

Friday morning saw my outdoor classroom area transformed into an Art Studio!  The kidlets were let loose with glitter, fabric, crepe paper, cupcake wrappers, raffia, paper shapes, stickers and a tonne of other crafty treasures.  The result was a clothesline full of gorgeous collages.  My favourite part of the day was Mozart playing in the background, and the very serious looks on the little artist's faces. :)

2.

After struggling through some pretty horrible back and shoulder pain this week I ended up taking Thursday off to try and rest a little.  After a tough physio session that ended with me covered in sports strapping tape (which helps with the pain a lot!) I spent the rest of the time at home.  I dug out some Easter bits and pieces... how cute is this bunny?!

It's amazing how a bit of relaxation can make you feel productive!  I cooked up a big pot of vege soup for dinner, just to top off a perfect day at home. :)

3.

This week and last our focus book has been 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar'.  To tie this in with the ordinal number work we started in Maths, I stole an idea from my friend Stef's Instagram.  We cut and glued the fruit the Hungry Caterpillar ate to match them up with 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th labels.  Add a few more bits of card and you have a super cute Very Hungry Caterpillar hat! :)

4.

I've been LOVING! this product from Marsha over at A Differentiated Kindergarten. Her I Can Do It Myself: Segmenting Fun pack was perfect for my kidlets to do some independent phoneme segmentation practise.  Each card is clipped closed so that only the picture is visible.  Kidlets place down 1 counter for each phoneme they hear.  The card is unclipped for them to check their work!  I took a tonne of photos of this pack in action... but none of them turned out!  You'll just have to believe me that we had lots of fun, with lots of learning too. :)

5.

Soooooo.... in a week or so I am heading to Canada for a quick trip back to my home-away-from-hometown, Calgary.  I've been thinking about what I'll pack for the 'Spring' weather (still snow and ice there!) and have been checking out my Pinterest fashion board for ideas and I actually own a lot of similar stuff that's in some of the outfits:

But, instead of looking like this...

...I always feel like I end up looking like this: 

Anyone else feel the same?! :)

Be sure to come back tomorrow for a big giveaway!  A few of us Aussie bloggers have teamed up to swap and share some awesome products, and you'll have a chance to win all of them!

Happy weekend, friends. :)

Lauren

It's Currently November!

Let's ignore the fact that it's NOVEMBER already, and this year is clearly racing past at warp speed, and get straight to Farley's Currently!

Listening - I have Peasant Vision (a.k.a no cable) so Saturday night is sometimes a TV wasteland.  Luckily, Channel 11 plays back to back Sex and the City repeats!

Loving - My cousin Emma is 3 weeks younger than me (our Mums are the 2 youngest sisters of 6) and we spent most of our childhood together. On Thursday night she had her first baby, a 6 pound 3 ounce boy they named Tennyson James.  I met him this afternoon and he is absolutely perfect.  Beautiful soft skin, loooooooong fingers and a gorgeous, wise little face. Perfection.

Thinking - On Friday I'll celebrate the first anniversary of my 30th birthday!  I love birthdays!!! Last year we went to Vegas and had a super fun weekend.  This year I'll be with my kidlets at school.  Not quite the same, but just as special.

Wanting - I ordered this dress from ModCloth and I am just dying to wear it! 

Needing - Fairly self-explanatory I'd say. :)

A Yummy Pin - I really did find it hard to pick just one yummy pin.  I frequently pin recipes, and more often than not I try them out.  Follow my Meal Planning board for lots of delicious treats.  Today I'm sharing a meal that is honestly the easiest thing you could ever cook.  All you need to do is throw some chicken thighs (skin on), pieces of chorizo and some potato and onion quarters in a baking dish.  Drizzle on some olive oil, add orange zest and oregano and bake.  Try it - you will come back to thank me, I promise! (Just don't over cook it - I usually cover mine with foil to avoid drying the chorizo out.)

This is a recipe from Nigella Lawson.

Happy November everyone!  I hope you are currently happy and healthy. :)

Lauren

Five for Friday! 01/11/13

Another Friday... another five random moments to share!  Link up with Kacey over at Doodle Bugs to join in on the fun.

1. We finished up our Science work on living and non-living things this week, and 'The Lorax' was the prompt for our Writing Project during group time as we thought about how to care for the environment.  We made these gorgeous paper plate Lorax faces to remind us that unless someone like us cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not! 

2. On Monday we start our new unit - all about CHRISTMAS! I'm super excited - I l.o.v.e Christmas! This afternoon I stayed back to get some decorations up in my classroom, and I can't wait for the kidlets to arrive on Monday so I can see their faces when they see all the sparkles!  All of our special Christmas stories are under the tree ready to read.

Even our cheeky Reading Corner owls have decorated for the Christmas season! :)

3. During our outside play time today we had water play.  The kidlets all arrived at school in their togs and had lots of fun running in the sprinklers, splashing each other and sitting in the toy boats full of water.  A perfect Queensland morning in the sun!  This was my favourite photo - hats pegged to the gate to dry. :)

4. Finally wore this coral necklace out after owning it for ages and not being brave enough to wear it. Does anyone else leave stuff that they love to gather dust, or is that just me??

5. It's almost the end of our school year and I am struggling when that 5am alarm goes in the morning.  I love this quote - it's perfect for me this week!

Happy Friday friends!  This tired teacher is off to bed.  :)

Lauren

Favourite Pins Friday!

Friday linkys are a great way to remind you that another week has just flown by at warp speed!  This week my kidlets spent most of their time inside due to rainy weather, so by Friday afternoon they were cranky with cabin fever.  After a busy week with barely a break this tired teacher was asleep at 8pm last night!  That's ok though, it just means that I'm up nice and early this morning (it's Saturday already here!) to put together my Favourite Pins Friday post so I can link up with Cara from The First Grade Parade!

This week I found 2 quotes that are so perfectly relevant to some days at school!  I think I might print and frame them for my office. :)

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This term I'm trying to shake up my writing instruction to really engage the kidlets.  At this stage, the mechanics of writing are so consuming for them that they sometimes view writing tasks as a marathon to overcome.  I think these story bags will really get them excited to write!  All you need to do is fill them with objects to inspire a story.  I'm going to do this as an oral language activity before it moves to a Writing Workshop task. 

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I'm looking forward to completing some of these art project with my kidlets.  Simple ideas with really effective results!  There's 5 lessons in the original post.

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Wardrobe inspiration for the week!  Love this bright yellow combined with denim and neutral accessories.

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I am obsessed with this bedroom... but it does look expensive! :)

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Ok, time for me to make a confession... my secret pinning obsession is cute puppies!  I just die every time I see one, and have probably pinned way more than a girl of my age should have!

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Follow me on Pinterest if you'd like.  

Happy Friday everyone!  I hope you have a lovely, relaxing weekend. :)

Lauren

Favourite Pins Friday!

Guys, this is my third post in three days.  I know, crazy right?  Be alert but not alarmed.  

Cara over at The First Grade Parade is hosting a super fun linky for us all to share our favourite pins, so even though I have a heap of things to get done today I just can't pass up the opportunity to join in.  I've put a load of laundry in the washer though, so technically I'm multitasking! :)  

Link up and share your favourites too.  Such a clever way for us to get to know other bloggers - Pinterest is the window to the soul! (Follow my boards here if you like!)

My favourite school pin this week is this cute 'Share Chair'.  What a great idea!  My kidlets love to share their work, and a special place like this would make it even more exciting.

Original image from Middle School Frenzy.

I also love this 'Desk Monster' idea.  I'm thinking of modifying it a little - maybe once a day asking the kidlets to leave their finished work on their desk as they leave for lunch or a specialist lesson for the 'Great Work Monster' to come and visit.  The special note and treat would be left for the child whose work is super impressive!

Original image from Lessons with Laughter.

My favourite pin for the home this week is this gorgeous colour combo - turquoise, coral and grey!

Original image from Afternoon Artist.

Long before Pinterest, I had a folder of quotes saved on my laptop.  They are still one of my favourite things to collect!  This week I found two great ones from very intelligent men!

Image from Mobile 9.

Image from Pic Monkey.

Finally, what would a week of pinning be without a little style inspiration?  I'm mad for navy and always love a little sparkle, so these two ideas jumped out at me as soon as I saw them!

Original image from Polyvore.

Image from Tumblr.

Oh dear, I can hear the washer beeping to let me know the laundry is finished... better get back to it!  

Lauren