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.

Hands on Maths!

When I saw this linky (hosted by Mrs. Wills Kindergarten) I knew it was one I just had to join in with! Hands on activities instead of worksheets is the best way to teach maths to little learners, and during my years in the classroom I have collected a TONNE of ideas. :)  There's no way I could share all of them in just one post, so here's a few of my favourites:

At the beginning of the year when we are learning all about numbers (some kidlets working on just recognising them) I love to bring out the hula hoops and do some sorting!  In the above photo you can see that the blue hoop holds all of the items representing the number 1, and the pink hoop is anything else.  We did this for each number (and also for shapes) and it sparked some really great discussion.  I used a lucky dip bag for each kidlet to pull a card or item from.

By punching holes in any number flashcards you can create a hands on number line!  Great for number recognition, counting and ordering.  I love using my plastic chain links.

Speaking of chain links, we also use them for this task.  Matching various representations of each number. :) Click on the image to see this product in my store.

Another easy counting activity is to thread beads onto pipecleaners.  I use a sticky label to attach a number to each one. This is great for a number warm up, fine motor group or in a 'Fast Finisher' tub.

Our 'Number Monster' makes an appearance a few times each week.  You can use any flashcards or objects and have your kidlets feed the monster.  This activity is super easy to differentiate!  Simply ask each child a question appropriate for their stage of learning.  For example "Feed the monster the number 4", "Feed the monster a number more than 7", "Feed the monster the number that is 1 group of ten and 6 ones", "Feed the monster 2 numbers that equal ten."  The options are endless really.  Be sure to give your monster an authentic 'NOM NOM NOM' sound - the kidlets think it's hilarious!

I personally think games are the easiest way to include hands on activities during maths small groups.  This one works on numbers to 20 and is a freebie in my store (click on the image to find it).  Kidlets roll the dice and add googly eyes to their monster.  The first to 20 wins!

Another monster game! (Yes, I do love monsters!) For this one I hide 5 little monsters behind random numbers on my hundreds board (mine's a pocket chart).  Kidlets take turns to ask "Is there a monster behind the number ...".  You'll be surprised at how enthusiastic your class will become about this game! I used it initially as a 5 minute time filler, but it quickly became a regular carpet time activity.

I love this winter themed counting task!  Kidlets read the numeral or number word and add buttons to their snowman or 'marshmallows' to their hot chocolate.  This is also a freebie in my store - click on either of the images!

OK... it must be time for an idea that's not all about number!

I love a good craftivity and this one is perfect to use when teaching mass.  Simply provide your kidlets with a template (or have them write it - depending on what time of the year it is!), a paper triangle and rectangle.  They simply glue the pieces down to make a 'seesaw' scale and draw themselves and another object. :)

One of the easiest concept to get hands on with is definitely patterning.  I always found it difficult to find an activity that kidlets could complete independently (without just playing around with the manipulatives I'd given them - although that's definitely appropriate some times!).  I made these cards to use with pattern blocks - kidlets simply flip to a pattern, copy it using the blocks and then continue it themselves! Click on the image to see this pack.

Last (but not least!) I have a Pinterest board dedicated to hands on maths ideas.  Click here if you'd like to follow it!

I hope you've gathered an idea or two from this post. :) Make sure to click through the other blogs linked up to grab some more great ideas.

Back to School - Tips for a Fab First Day!

Today I'm joining in with a fun linky to share some tips for a FABULOUS first day of Prep!  Once you've read my post, be sure to head over and visit Oz Curriculum HQ to collect even more great ideas. First up, here's a few ideas to help you 'Set the Scene'.  In other words, what you need to do to make sure your classroom is ready for your new kidlets!  One of the most valuable things you can spend your time on before school starts is setting up your room so it will be useable for the different activities you will want to do with your class.  You're probably thinking posters, decor, cute rugs on the floor... All that stuff is great but you can add them in time.  Decide what areas of your room you will need set up and get all the furniture in place.  Have the bulk of your resources stored so they are near where you will be using them. Add children's work, anchor charts and colourful decorations as the term goes on.  I wrote a post earlier this week with some more ideas you might like to check out. Make sure to spend some time before you meet your class getting to know as much about them as you can.  Read their kindy or previous school year reports (you may even have an enrolment file to look at) and make notes about anything significant that you might need to plan for.  Perhaps some children have medical issues, some will have family situations to be mindful of - and maybe you might even get an insight into their interests so you can plan activities to suit. Most importantly - make sure you have your head (somewhat) around your curriculum for the first few weeks of term.  I'm never that great at planning too far ahead, but I always (mostly) have the full week ahead planned out lesson by lesson and then notes beside the coming weeks when I have an idea that will fit. The start of the year will fly by and if you're planning on the hop you might find yourself suddenly in Week 4 with lots of catching up to do. Trust me - I've been there, done that! :) Next up, what to do 'When Students Arrive'?  If you teach Prep like me, you need to know that each child will have at least one, most likely two, probably more, adults with them on their first day.  To minimise the chaos, have signs up to let parents know what they need to be doing.  You can only talk to one child and their family at a time so make sure it's clear to others what they should be doing when you're chatting to someone else.  I like to have bag lockers and desks labelled so kidlets know where to store their belongings, and then I put a simple colouring in out for them to work on while everyone arrives.  Once everyone is there and first day photos have been taken I ring the bell and say "It's time to get started! Say goodbye to Mum and Dad.  We're going to meet on the carpet and have some fun!"  Make it clear that once the day starts, visitors need to leave - I usually only give it 20 minutes before I start the day.  That sounds harsh, but honestly some will want to stay all day! You will need to make allowances of course for children who are having trouble saying goodbye - but if you keep the room calm and relaxed you won't have a problem.  One of the big jobs you'll have on the first day is dealing with 'Equipment'.  The easiest way to solve this problem is to ask parents to leave the whole bag of books and stationery under their child's desk (or somewhere else if you have room).  Have a few spare plastic bags just in case.  Print out a class set of booklists and during the first day or two go through each bag and check that everyone has what they need.  If not, you can ask parents to bring in the missing items before you're going to need them.  As you unpack each bag you can organise the equipment into chair bags, tubs or trays. Lucky last - 'First Day Activities'!  The first day of Prep is overwhelming for kidlets and the teacher.  You want to keep your class busy and engaged without exhausting them more than necessary.  Make sure to take time to tour the classroom and lunch/play areas so that children feel comfortable.  Once everyone's settled, keep the rest of your lessons fun but relaxed.  Remember that most of your class will have never worked at their own desk or glued into a scrapbook, and their scissor skills might be poor.  Don't try to do all the 'new' things on the first day. :)  I like to read 'The Kissing Hand' and have the children paint their hand to print.  They then glue a heart in the middle of it and I include this poem from Camp Kindergarten: We also do our 'Monster Manners' - I posted about that here earlier this week.  Apart from that we go lots of singing, simple games and stories as well as snack and toilet breaks.  In the last session I like to have free choice play time - most kidlets will be exhausted by then and you can learn lots about their little personalities by watching them play and interact with others. :)

Here's to a fabulous first day back for everyone!

An InLinkz Link-up

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

It's Currently April!

Happy April, everyone!  Here in Queensland that means some cooler autumn weather (finally!) but I know for lots of you it's the opposite and you're probably celebrating spring sunshine. :) Writing this post has been on my mental 'to do' list for days, so I'm glad to finally have a few minutes to sit down and get it done. 

Listening/loving/thinking: I'm on two weeks of Easter break which means sleeping in! I live right by the beach so the Easter long weekend usually means that things get really busy around here with people on holidays.  The weather prediction was for torrential rain (it ended up being sunny all weekend) so it's not as busy as it usually is, but there's still enough people around to create a nice, happy, holiday vibe.  My nephew was here for a few days and we spent lots of time exploring rock pools and building sandcastles. 

Wanting: It seems that I've fallen out of love with every piece of clothing that I own! I think a day of serious shopping is in order to stock up on some new clothes and accessories.

Needing: A few times a year a bunch of clever bloggers get together for a Swap, Share, Give linky party.  We swap and review a product, give them away to lucky winners and also share awesome freebies.  The next one is coming up soon and I need to get started on my freebie!

Eggs-plaining my name: Even though my name is Lauren, I'm mostly called Lozzy by family and close friends (Loz is the Aussie nickname for Lauren). When I first started my blog I wanted a name that represented the things I find most important in the classroom - so I settled with Love, Laughter and Learning in Prep. 

Another Currently done for the year! Time sure flies when you're having fun. :)

Five for Friday!

I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs for another Five for Friday! We had a great week that unexpectedly turned out to be a short one - here's a peek at what's been happening.

Here in Queensland we've been having some pretty wild weather.  Yesterday a huge cyclone developed just north of where I live, and overnight it intensified.  School was cancelled today due to the torrential rain, damaging winds and flooded roads.  It was an unexpected treat to have the day off, but unfortunately the cyclone has hit some communities pretty hard.  

I took this photo first thing this morning down at the beach.  Pretty soon after that the rain really set in and it hasn't stopped all day.  Just now the edge of the storm system is reaching us and the wind is pretty scary.  I've enjoyed a day on the couch reading 'Gone Girl', drinking coffee, snoozing and watching TV!

This week my kidlets had fun making paper robots as part of our phonics focus.  I absolutely love this activity because I just provide paper and a few other bits and pieces and let them go for it! Each little robot has it's own personality and they always turn out so well. :)

We start by talking about the types of things we should have on a robot - buttons, lights, computer panels etc. - but that's about the only direction the kidlets have.  Such an easy way to let them be creative!

I finally got to finish something I've had on my 'to do' list for a long time!  I asked the wonderful Mel from Graphics from the Pond if she could make a set that included a fly swat and some bug spray so I could jazz up a game that is by far the favourite of each year's kidlets.  "Let's Go Buggy" is a counting game that works on number recognition as well as early addition and subtraction concepts.  All you need is a pocket die and some plastic bugs from the dollar store.

Kidlets roll the dice to add bugs to their jar - in the pack I've included numerals, number words and picture cards so you can choose the one that best suits what you're working on.  If a fly swat is rolled, 1 bug must be removed from the jar - but if bug spray appears all of the bugs must be emptied and that player starts again. The first to 10 bugs is the winner! :)

 

If you'd like to play this game with your class it's on sale for a few days! Click on any of the photos to check it out.

Our poem this week was "Galumph Went the Little Green Frog!". After singing it, reading it together and finding our focus sight words on the whole class copy I sent the kidlets to their desks to illustrate their own copy in their Poetry Journals.  I just love watching them read it carefully, and many even took the initiative to find and circle the sight words for themselves. Plus, how cute are their drawings?

Love the rainbows and flowers. :)

If you're an Aussie teacher you might like to check out the new 'Teacher Toolbelts' that were just finished this week.  Super handy for the classroom and pretty cute too!

My favourite is the design called 'Classroom Caterpillar Triple Treat'. Check them out here!

That's it from me today, friends. Sometime over the weekend I'll be back to share some of the fun learning my kidlets got up to during the week. Happy Friday everyone!