Two for Tuesday with TTT!

Stopping past super duper quickly to link up with The Teaching Tribune for Two for Tuesday as part of their Summer Bloggin' series!  I've listed 2 products in my TpT for 50% off.  I found it really tricky to pick, so I've chosen one of my most recent products, and a best seller. :)

Shark! is a fun CVC reading fluency card game - grab it here for $1.50! 

I have a real soft spot for my Playdough Mats.  They were one of my first products and were much more popular than I thought they would be.  I use them all the time in my fine motor groups, and in maths groups at the beginning of the year.  They are also $1.50 and you can pick them up here.

I'm off to check out all the other awesome products discounted for this linky. :)  Happy Tuesday lovely friends.

Lauren

Monday Meet Me!

I've gotta admit, 'getting to know you' posts are my absolute favourite to read!  I guess I must be super nosey. :)  This week as part of their Summer Bloggin' series The Teaching Tribune is hosting 'Monday Meet Me' - perfect to get to know your favourite bloggers better - and maybe to meet some new ones!

Here's a little bit of random info about me:

I teach 4 and 5 year olds in their first formal year of school.  Here in Queensland it's called Prep, but most other places around the world it'd be called Kindergarten.  I LOVE it, I have definitely found my niche. :)

I have a pretty wonderful life - I live 2 minutes walk from a gorgeous beach, I have a great job, a wonderful family and a pretty special man who loves me.

I watch anything reality based... but dating/romance shows are my fave.  As we speak I'm watching 'Come Date With Me' - one of those elimination dating shows.

I'll listen to any type of music.  Growing up my Mum always had the radio on so I literally know the words to pretty much any song that I hear - doesn't matter if they are old or new, well known or not!  I can't stand silence, so at home I play Pandora when I'm cleaning or working.  

I read way too many blogs!  I have to set a time limit on how long I spend perusing Bloglovin' because I just LOVE searching for new classroom ideas and getting to know teachers from all around the world.

I do things in a round-about, illogical way.  I have the attention span of a flea and will forget that I'm right in the middle of a task and move on to something else.  I drive myself completely crazy sometimes and say to myself "Finish what you started, Lauren!"on a regular basis. :)  Please tell me this is normal?

Link up to 'Monday Meet Me' so I can visit and get to know you better, too!  I'm going to read one post in between each report card comment I write.  Tomorrow is 'Two for Tuesday' so I also need to plan which 2  of my TpT products I'll offer for 50% off.  :)

Lauren

P.S. There's still a few more hours left in my 'pin it to win it' giveaway if you'd like to join in!

New Products to Give Away!

I've been very busy this past week or so whipping up some products that my kidlets need to practise some important concepts and skills.  I thought I'd quickly share them with you in case they will come in handy in your classroom too!

The first is a simple game to practise CVC reading fluency.  I love using card games in the classroom because by keeping the format similar the kidlets can play them independently even when the skills being developed change!  This one is easy - children choose a card and if it features a friendly sea animal they read the word and keep the card.  Watch out for the shark though! If he is on the card that player must return their cards to the pile.  The kidlet with the most cards at the end is the winner.  The pages are organised by medial vowel sound and words have been chosen to use a wide variety of consonant phoneme combinations.

Check it out in my TpT store here!

I'm always looking for ways to integrate fine motor development with curriculum areas, and have also been trying to think of ways to use the giant container of plastic chain links I bought and have rarely used.  After doing some assessment and discovering that some of my treasures needed some more practise with number recognition I whipped up this activity.  It's proven to be a huge hit so far, and I love that it combines fine motor with maths!

I'm planning on making a lot more activities like this one. :)  Find 'Link It Up 0-20' here.

Last but not least is a noun, verb and adjective sorting activity that I plan to use in my pocket chart.  The pack includes some bonus recording worksheets.  

'Sort it Out! Nouns, Verbs and Adjectives' is designed in a similar way to one of my best selling products - 'Sort it Out! Letters Words and Sentences'

Now time for the giveaway!  Simply make sure you follow my TpT store and then pin any image from this post!  Leave a comment with the link to the pin and I'll come back tomorrow afternoon and choose 3 random winners to receive the product of their choice. :)

I'm linking up with Teaching in a Nutshell for Sell It Saturday! 

Lauren

Five for Friday! Gumballs and rainbows and hats, oh my!

Oh Friday... how I have missed you.  Let's not dilly dally - here's my Five for Friday!

I seem to have accidentally stumbled upon a rainbow themed week!

We made these gorgeous torn paper rainbows....

We made new rainbow rice for the sensory table...

I bought my favourite Enid Blyton books in a set...

and we needed new reading pointers.

This week was all about fun that is funny as we used 'The Cat in the Hat' as our Literacy focus. You can read more about it here.

This week part of our fonics phocus was 'g'.  We made these gorgeous gumball machine crafts.  They were so easy - the stars of the show were some dollar store dot stickers!

New favourite fine motor activity that includes curriculum content?  Uh, this one!  My kidlets were so excited to complete this activity, not sure why but I'm not complaining. :)

I LOVE image quotes.  I mean,  really really love them!  I saw this one on the lovely Mel's FB page and her caption was 'There is room for your dreams too!'.  I got some good news this week (like, AMAZING news!)... turns out that Mel is right and maybe there is some room for a dream I've had for a long time! :)

That's all from me lovely friends.  How was your week? I'd love to hear from you if you have time to leave a comment. :)

Lauren

Lots of Fun that is Funny (inspired by The Cat)!

What better way to work on rhyming (amongst other skills!) than with 'The Cat in the Hat'?  This week we've had lots of fun that is funny so I thought I'd stop past and share!


The first activity we did after reading the book was to discuss what we knew about the Cat character based on the clues in the story.  We brainstormed a list that included the adjectives funny, helpful, messy, tricky, naughty, fun, energetic, disruptive, happy etc.  The kidlets then chose the two they thought best described the Cat and wrote them in a speech bubble for him to say.

Don't ask me why the colouring in is so random on these two! 

The next challenge I set for the kidlets was to create a new character with a name that rhymed just like the Cat in the Hat.  I was really interested to see which of my treasures could successfully manage this, and was so proud of their ideas and the way they chose words that rhymed.

The Five in the Hive

The Fly up High

The Bird in the Herd

My absolute favourite is this last one, just look at the way she has visualised her character!  I love the faces watching the stage (complete with lights!), the boy with his hands to his face in astonishment, and the girl's twirly legs. :)  I can't wait to see it when this sweetie has coloured her work in.

The Girl Doing a Twirl

We wrote about what that cheeky Cat might do if he visited us at Prep:

The Cat in the Hat would break all of the glass.
(Please excuse the grammar error - it wasn't me I promise!)

He might knock down all the things, like some rubbish bins or some toys.

And of course, we couldn't let the opportunity of making a hat pass by!

Before I go, I should let you know that I'm having a 'pin it to win it' giveaway of my newest product - a fine motor fun with numbers pack - on my Facebook page! Pop over to check it out. :)

Lauren

Torn Paper Rainbows - Tuesday Art Linky!

Today I'm linking up with my friend Mel from the Pond to share a simple art activity my kidlets worked on today!  We've been learning all about the letter r this week and these torn paper rainbows were the perfect way to add some colour to our classroom walls.

All you need is a rainbow template (I downloaded one after a google search but it would be easy to draw), construction paper, glue and cotton wool!  We had cut the paper up into long strips for the kidlets, but if your class is a little older they might like to try tearing larger paper into strips themselves.  Simply tear the strips into pieces and glue onto the template, being sure to overlap them a little.  Pull the cotton wool apart before gluing onto the cloud shapes.

This was such a great activity and one that my little ones really enjoyed.  It was challenging for those who are still working on their fine motor control, but in the end all of the rainbows were finished perfectly... and they look gorgeous on display!

Go ahead and link up with Mel to share your art idea! :)

Have a wonderful week, friends!

Lauren 

It's Currently JUNE!

I just l-o-v-e Farley's linky!  I love to have a sneaky-peek into the lives of the bloggers I stalk follow and Currentlies are the perfect way to do that. :)  No need to hide in the bushes outside my house with your binoculars, here's what I'm up to this lovely June:

Listening: I'm so excited about my dinner!  Pity it's got more than an hour left to cook...

Loving:  I struggle a lot with back and shoulder pain and recently have taken to soaking the pain away in a nice, hot bath!  It's such a relaxing way to unwind - and with a book and glass of wine the troubles of the day literally melt away.

Thinking: If you read my Five for Friday post you would have seen my new attempt at staying organised.  For those of you who were wondering (lol) my to-do lists are keeping me on track!  I actually got 2 new products posted to my TpT store last week (both of which I love!) and my house is clean and tidy. 

Wanting: I know most of the people reading this are in Summer already, but we're 2 days into Winter and the weather has been all too warm for my liking!  Where's the cold days and even colder nights?  Today I had my cardigan off before 8:30am and put the aircon on around lunch time. Sigh...

Needing: I have so many awesome resources that I need to get prepared.... Nothing else to say about that, you get it! :)

Summer Bucket List:  We have winter holidays coming up in just less than 4 weeks, so I'll pretend that's my Summer!  I'm hoping to spend lots of time on the beach (about 2 minutes walk from my house) because this time of the year is still more than hot enough for some time in the sun.  I'd also love to cook some of the million meals I have pinned, and get into the groove of creating new things for my kidlets.

There you have it!  Another Currently done and dusted.  Now I"m off to catch up on what you've all been doing. :)

Lauren