Monday Meet Up - Randomness with The Teaching Tribune!

I've said it before and I'll say it again - I love 'meet me' style posts!  I just love to find out details about the bloggers I love.  This week the theme for The Teaching Tribune's Monday Meet Up is 'random' - I can't wait to go and read everyone's posts!

1. My friend Kristy and I used to spend a lot of our weekends playing 'real estate office'.  We had a tonne of stationery bits and pieces - notebooks, stamps, pens, folders - that my Mum had given us from her work, and a pile of 'open house' brochures that we had made ourselves.  I would be the secretary and Kristy would be the agent.  I'd book appointments for her and she would go out to the back garden and 'show' the houses to our imaginary clients, coming back to check her messages and make sure I'd done the admin work she'd left for me.  We would play for hours!  

2. My middle name is Rebecca, and for a long time when I was growing up I wished it was my first name.  Not really sure why! I'm happy with Lauren now, but if I had to choose another name I guess it would be Rebecca.  I love names though - quirky ones and ones with lots of meaning especially.  My first question when I hear a friend is pregnant is "What will you name the baby?". Leave a comment if you or one of your children has an unusual name - I'd love to hear the story behind it! :) 

3. I really had to think hard about 'the worst' thing that's happened in my classroom.  The situation I described was back in my first year or two of teaching.  It sure did give me a fright!

4. This was a no-brainer! I love, love, love Anne of Green Gables.  The language, the imagery, the romance... Gilbert Blythe was always the man of my dreams! Now that I think about it... Anne might be the reason that I became a teacher. :)

5. My 'little' brother (he's 3 years younger than me) has been bigger than me since I was about 12.  :)  

6.  I'm not a real breakfast eater.  I start the day with a coffee and usually eat a few hours after I get up.  School days I have muslei and yoghurt, but for special occasions I go to a local cafe and order one of their huge pancake stacks with banana and caramel.  They are to. die. for!

Link up to share some randomness!

Monday Made It! A fun fine motor idea.

I always feel so accomplished when I've made something worthy of linking up with Tara for Monday Made It!  Today I'm sharing a super simple but very fun idea to use as a fine motor activity.

You've probably seen these little guys on Pinterest - I'm not sure what their official title is, but in my classroom we call them 'Mike'. Not sure why, probably because they kind of look like the green fella from Monsters Inc.  My Mikes needed some TLC these holidays, and one had disappeared completely so I figured as I was making another I should share the process with you!

You'll need some cheap tennis balls, googly eyes, a craft blade (here we call them Stanley knives, but you might have an X-Acto) and super glue.  I've tried PVA in the past, but without fail I end up having to re-glue after a while so super glue is better value for money!

Use the knife to cut an opening in the tennis ball - about 2 inches long.  Please be careful! Make sure you have the tennis ball on a hard surface so it won't move, and be sure to cut super slowly so the knife doesn't slip.  

Glue the googly eyes on - whichever glue you're using might soak into the furry fabric part of the tennis ball before it sets so make sure you glue on top of the rubber strip.

That's it!  Now you have your very own Mike to use in fine motor activities.  Kidlets squeeze the mouth open to feed him... well, anything! Pom poms, beads, dry beans - anything you have.  This activity really works the hand muscles of little ones so can already be tricky, but to increase the difficulty you can have them use tweezers to feed Mike. 

Well, that's one project done! I think it might be time to scroll through Instagram to check out the #bloghoppin2014 Scavenger Hunt fun, as well as all the pics from Vegas that have been making me so jealous. :)

Sunday Smorgasbord!

I was going to start this post by saying that I have been such a lazy blogger this week... but then when I thought about it, it seems that I have been a lazy person in general! I'm linking up with Fabulous in First to share a bunch of randomness from my lazy days.

In no particular order...

It's really, truly Winter here at the moment!!  Temperatures often get very cold overnight - but this was during the day! While the sun was out!  Brrr.

My plan for the holidays was to get my eating back on track.  Usually I eat really healthily - lots of fruit and veggies and no lollies or chocolate.  The last few weeks of term I was super disorganised and ended up eating lots of junk so I had planned to avoid treats when the term ended.   See the above photo for an example of how that went!!   Last night in an attempt to eat well I made my favourite, baked salmon!

So easy and tasty - just season with salt and pepper, add a few lemon or lime slices to the top (if you want) and wrap in foil.  Bake at about 180 degrees C for 20 minutes or so, sometimes it takes a little longer if the salmon is thick.

I've also been trying to get out every day for either a walk by the beach or to the gym.  This photo was from a late afternoon walk - it was cold but the views were lovely.

Finally got a new rug for my 'office'.  The photo doesn't do the gorgeous green colour justice.

And since I was in the shopping mood, I grabbed a new teacher chair and some more classroom storage from Ikea.

Spent some time with my precious nephew on Saturday.  Here he is waiting for his 'pet snail', Slimey, to come out of his shell.  (He never did!)

We played 'Turtle Rescue' - he was the injured turtle that we had to save from the open ocean.  My brother does a pretty good impression of Shellington from Octonauts so he was the preferred rescuer.  In this photo he is checking the turtle's fin before attaching a tracking tag and releasing him. :)

I think I can hear the housework calling me... it might be time to get off the couch and get some stuff done!  My plans today include updating my Reading Fluency Card Game Bundle with my 2 new games - when I do that I'll increase the price a little so if you grab it now you'll get the lower price AND the new games when they're added, too! I also need to email the winners of my 'Pin it to win it' giveaway - Sarah B. and Bec!

Have a wonderful day friends. :)

Hey Presto! {Pin it to win it!}

This year my class is full of very high energy, exuberant characters.  I love them to bits... but boy are they tricky to find resources for!  They love games and hands on activities, and seem to really be motivated by competition... with fickle attention spans! What's new for 5 year olds, right?  Combining all this with the fact that many of them need to become much more fluent with their reading (at various skill levels) sent me on a mission to create a set of games that would allow them to read, play and win! Today... my mission was completed. :)

I have kidlets in my class who are working on reading CVC words, some who are ready for trickier words, and some who need practice reading simple sentences.  I wanted to make games that were essentially the same concept (similar to Bang!-type games) so that when each new pack was introduced the format was familiar to my kidlets while still focusing on their ability level.  I started by making Shark! (CVC words) and then moved on to Fox in the Hen House! for digraphs and Shiver Me Timbers! for sentences.  Today I finished Hey Presto! and am so excited to use it for my little learners who need to practice reading long vowel 'Magic E' words! :)

I'm so hoping that these resources can be of use to others!  How about a giveaway? Pin any of the below images to WIN the game of your choice!  Pin more than one image for extra chances to win. :) (Don't forget to leave a comment with the link to your pin.)

Happy Thursday, friends! I hope you are enjoying cable TV and the good wine like I am... but then you might not be at your parent's house. :)

July Currently & Two for Tuesday!

I'm being a lazy blogger today and giving you a BOGO post - I'm linking up with both Farley and The Teaching Tribune! :)  First let's tackle the Currently.

It's early Wednesday morning here and I just got up - the first thing I needed to do was pack the dishwasher because I have been a super lazy housekeeper the past couple of days!  I can hear it whirring away, along with some morning TV and a lovely sea breeze outside.  I've also made my first coffee of the day... but the caffeine hasn't quite kicked in yet so there's lots of things whirling around in my brain - but not anything that I can pin down!  Once I do wake up properly I'm really hoping that I can cross some things of my to do list today.  I know I should try to go to the gym, my plan for eating really healthily this winter break has been an epic fail. :)

It's been cold here lately  and I'm LOVING it!  Finally some weather that lets me wear my huge collection of boots, scarves and coats. :)  I'll have to choose an outfit for the 4th - no holiday here of course, but I'm spending the day at IKEA with my Mum. I need to buy a desk and rug for my office area.  

Now it's time for Two for Tuesday!  Today I've marked down 2 reading fluency games - 'Shiver Me Timbers' and 'Fox in the Hen House'!

'Shiver Me Timbers' is a pirate themed game that will have your kidlets reading simple sentences.  Don't be alarmed when you hear cries of 'Arghh!' as they play - it's all part of the fun. :)  Click on the photo to visit my store.

'Fox in the Hen House' is my newest game - it allows children to practise reading sh, ch and th words while trying to avoid the sneaky fox in the hen house. :) Click on the picture to see it in my store.

These games are down to $1.50 for today and tomorrow!! That's a bargain, friends!!

Well, I guess productivity involves leaving the couch... wish me luck! :)

Monday Meet Up with TTT - Things I'm Thankful For!

If it wasn't for linkies, my poor old blog would be feeling rather neglected lately! Today's link up is courtesy of The Teaching Tribune - they have been hosting the funnest Summer Bloggin' series! (Let's be honest, 'most fun' just doesn't have the same impact!)  The theme of this week's Monday Meet Up is themed around things we are thankful for - and I've included a few photos for you, too! :)

1. I am thankful for my family.  I am so lucky to have a HUGE family (something like 50+ cousins on my Mum's side) and lots of friends who are so close they are like relatives.  Just tonight I heard that the lovely Nana of my oldest friend passed away.  It got me thinking about the blessing that family is. This photo is of my cousin Emma, my cousin James, me and my oldest friend Kristy... we re-created this pic when we met in Seattle a few years ago - 2 living in Vancouver (1 with a new wife), and 2 travelling (1 with a new fiancé). :)

27-ish years later + 1 fiancé  and 1 wife. :)

(This is a terrible photo - but we did have an amazing time!)

2. I am thankful for my lovebird. What else is there to say?

3. 5am alarm, nose blowing, spew cleaning, hearing my name a million times a day... all worth it!  I am thankful for a job that I love.  This photo is from a lifetime ago, when I was teaching a composite 1/2 class, these were the 'big kids'.

Link up if you can to share some things that you are thankful for! Thanks to The Teaching Tribune for hosting. :)

P.S. I'm hosting a giveaway on my Facebook page - pop over to enter!

Sunday Smorgasbord! End of term randomness and holiday plans

I'm only three days into holidays and already woke up this morning thinking 'what day is it??'.  Gotta love that feeling of total relaxation... but it does mean that I'm way too late to link up for Five for Friday!  Luckily, the lovely Michelle at Fabulous in First hosts another fun linky that doesn't require me to count. :)

Our last week of term was nice and relaxed - we played lots of games and revisited some activities that were favourites!  (Click on the photos to go see the products in the various stores they are from.)

Stretchy Snake Bingo in the sun - we've moved from the kidlets just listening to the segmented word and blending the sounds together to them stretching the sounds out for their friends. 

Shark!  I put this game away at the end of reading groups and it mysteriously made it's way back out for free choice time.  I don't mind... a bit of extra reading practice never hurt anyone! :)

I Spy the -ap family.

More reading practice, this time with sentences.  I really think my kidlets love to play this game just so they can call 'Arghh!' when they find a pirate.  It's called 'Shiver Me Timbers!'

Our end of term party was 'Frozen' themed - we had lots of fun snacks and watched about half of the movie.  We ran out of time to finish it - but since the kidlets have all seen it about a million times at home they didn't mind. :)

My plans for the rest of winter break are fairly simple - this was the view of the beach yesterday afternoon so I'm hoping to do many more walks to enjoy the sun and fresh air. I have a long 'to do' list, but am hoping to balance work with something relaxing each day.  My main goal for today is to create my first bundle on TpT! I must admit I'm a little nervous. :)

I'm off to get out of my PJs in an attempt to feel motivated... but let's be honest, I could still be here on the couch in an hour! 10am on the first Monday of vacation is surely the best time to veg out?