Weather, Feelings and ... Graduation!!

Wow, I can't believe that I only have 4 more teaching days left of Term 1!  Mind you I am really looking forward to the 2 week break, to get re-organised and ready for Term 2!!

We have had a very busy past week in class, finishing off all of our units and artwork for the term.  We have been studying Weather and we made wind measuring devices!

The kids had so much fun making them, but even MORE fun predicting which parts of the school would have more wind than others.  We then walked around the school measuring wind strength with their wind measuring devices...they were all so excited to see the wind blow the streamers on the end of their creations ... too cute!!

We have also been reading lots of picture books with a 'Feelings' theme.  My kiddies LOVE 'Where The Wild Things Are' by Maurice Sendak.  After reading the book about a million times, we brainstormed 'feelings' on the board and the kiddies each chose their favourite.  They then did a writing piece on what they do when they are feeling happy, sad, excited etc...  We used the fabulous freebie writing sheet by Debbie Candau, from Sailing Through First Grade, which you can find HERE.

We displayed them on our class bulletin board, using the fabulous Max display from the amazing Deanna Jump's Wild Things Maths and Literacy Activities unit.   They then drew their own face onto the display, using the appropriate expression to match their chosen feeling.  I think they did such a FABULOUS job:)

Lastly, this week, I finally graduated from University with my teaching degree!!

Wishing everyone a wonderful week ahead!!

Thanks for stopping by!

The Amazing Powers of Jumbo Pencils!

I am always on the look out for simple ideas to get my kiddies to practice their spelling words.   They are pretty good and usually do them without complaining.  We have lots of different ways of doing them, such as rainbow writing, funny voices etc.  You can check out my freebie Spelling worksheets packet that I posted about HERE.

While I was shopping the other day, I found these jumbo size pencils for 95 cents each at one of our local cheapy shops!  Well, I bought 5 and used them for a new spelling station this morning!  WOW, I had no idea at the time I purchased them, of the amazing hidden powers they hold ;)

My kiddies loved writing their spelling words with them...so much that they asked if they could do it again this afternoon!  Needless to say, I didn't say NO ;)  Best $4.75 I have ever spent, that's for sure , lol!

It seems that sometimes the simplest of things are indeed the best :D

Wishing you all a wonderful week ahead!

Thanks for stopping by!

Where Did That Week Go?

Hi lovely teaching friends!  WOW, where on earth did that past week go?  At times it seemed to drag on (especially Thursday, thanks to a class of what I am sure were my kiddies Doppelgangers!!).

We have been very busy this week in our Yr 1 / Yr 2 class...lots of fun, and some not so fun work thrown in for good measure!!

We are studying WEATHER for our science topic this term, and the kiddies have LOVED all our work on clouds.  We have a fabulous ' Clouds' bulletin board outside the classroom, which I copied from the amazing Abby at The Inspired Apple. 

We have had a lot of fun reading 'Horton Hatches The Egg' by Dr Seuss!!  Each student did a book review and I was planning on doing the FABULOUS Horton Glyph by The Glyph Girls, as a listening task, but due to the time taken up by our new literacy program, I ended up just having to use the glyph pieces to display the kiddies' book reviews.

We also did the 'Rain in a Jar' experiment and then we wrote an interactive writing piece, in the form of a procedural recount.  They LOVED it and we ended up doing a repeat performance of the experiment in the afternoon!  To hear the gasps everytime a 'rain drop' fell was just one of those moments that confirmed that I really do love teaching ;)  The kiddies also had just as much fun creating their 'Rain in a Jar' collages to display their fabulous writing!

I am still struggling and trying to get my head around the concept of our new literacy program ... just not quite sure what to think of it all at the moment!   THANK YOU so much for the lovely comments on my last post. I can't tell you how much inspiration and motivation I get from the lovely comments and encouragement that you leave for me!!  I feel so lucky!

For the first time in 7 weeks, I have finally left my classroom this afternoon, with ALL marking done, spelling words for next week written on the board ready for Monday, and the homework sheets for all 4 differentiated groups photocopied and read to hand out!  Phew...hoping this weekend that I will finally be able to spend some time with my gorgeous family :)

Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend ahead!!

Thanks for stopping  by,

A Steep Learning Curve & A Spelling Freebie...

Wow lovely, friends!  I am so sorry it has been a while between posts, but as I am finding out...this teaching gig is TOUGH!!

As a new graduate, there are so many things that I have never even seen before...let alone had to put together!!

The past few weeks have been a  HUGE learning curve.  Amongst all the learning (mine, not so much my students') a few things we managed to enjoy were:

1.  We (my kiddies and I) stopped a pesky pigeon from driving a bus, wanting a puppy and staying up late!  We just LOVED the Mo Willems Author Study by Sarah from First Grader...At Last!  If you haven't used this great resource, you really should hop on over to Sarah's blog and check it out....SO MUCH FUN!!

2.  We had so much fun reading Splat The Cat by Rob Scotton and then, inspired by the amazing art lesson by Patty from Deep Space Sparkle, creating our own Splat the Cats, using paint, chalk and special paper folded legs!

3.  I had to submit my Teaching Program Folder to our Principal.  It was a HUGE task to get this ready...boy the things they don't teach you at Uni!!  Then it was just as stressful having to go through it page by page with our amazing relieving Principal.

4.  All our Year 1 - 2 teachers have had to begin to implement our new Literacy program into our classrooms!  Again...another HUGE undertaking!  However, guided reading groups are up and running, and we now have literacy centers happening...which is so much fun!  However, due to the different timetable and the amount of time required for the guided reading and guided writing each day, I have noticed that SPELLING has really suffered the last two weeks.  So I am now moving my spelling activities from my word work station and adding them to a specific SPELLING STATION (in place of 'reading to a buddy', which is just not working in our classroom).

I have made up a packet of simple spelling activities that my kiddies are already familiar with.  Nothing new in there, but they are a small set of simple Black Line Masters that you may find handy for your own classroom use.  I have uploaded them to Google Docs.  I plan on laminating mine to get maximum use from them ... gee I can't tell you how much printer ink I have used in the past 5 weeks!!

CLICK HERE to download the Spelling Worksheets Packet.

I have absolutely no idea how all of you amazing teacher / bloggers find the time to create and share your resources, or even just blog!  I hope to discover that secret soon!!

Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend ahead!  I, for one, am so thankful for the weekend and the chance to catch up and get organised again before Monday morning!

Thanks for stopping by!!

Considering A Name Change ;)

I made it through my second full week of teaching and I have a name badge... it is now official, I am a teacher!!  I have to say that I would not have made it, without the help of some amazing colleagues!  Their willingness to help answer my many questions, to share their knowledge and experience with me, and to share their resources, has just made me feel so incredibly grateful and lucky to be teaching with such amazing teachers!!

I thought I would share a couple of highlights *read as ...funny moments* from my week!

Firstly... my class has been having so much fun working our way through the Mo Willems Author Study by the amazing Sarah from First Grader... At Last!  Our focus on the book 'Pigeon Wants A Puppy' resulted in at least 24 out of my 25 students rolling on the floor in fits of laughter and giggles, when someone dared to suggest that puppies need to... wait for it....

Puppies need love, food, water and care...and then...yep the words 'poo' and 'wee' are apparently hysterical, and Yr 1 and Yr 2 students need to roll on the floor in fits of laughter ...too funny;)  Needless to say these wonderful worksheets with such descriptive illustrations,  will not be sent home to parents!

Then this fabulous Fun with Firsties worksheet by Abby from The Inspired Apple, resulted in me considering a name change for my blog...

Good Morning, Mrs. Roody...what do you think?

Hoping everyone has had a wonderful week!  I am so looking forward to catching up over the weekend, with all you have been up to!  

Thanks for stopping by!

(or should that be Mrs. Roody, LOL!!)

A Note From Mrs Rubie...

Warning...LOOOONG post ahead!!

Wow, it has been a while since my last post!!  Thanks to my hard drive stopping just before Christmas and also enjoying the Summer break with my family, I have not had much chance to post!

Well...I have a little news... I have accepted a temporary full time teaching position on a composite year 1 / 2 class for Term 1.  Our school year started yesterday and I get to meet my class (well 'mine' for the next 10 weeks) on Monday!!

I am so excited and quite overwhelmed at all the preparation I have had to do over the Summer and will be doing constantly, but I am so grateful for the opportunity and even more grateful that the position is at our girls' school ... and only a 1 minute walk from home!  So with our Miss Olivia in Grade 6 this year and our Miss Charlotte starting Kindergarten, this opportunity really is just perfect!  I have also been so incredibly fortunate to have joined such a fabulous and welcoming staff, with the loveliest teachers.  They have been so helpful, encouraging and supportive, and I am really looking forward to working with them, and learning as much as I can from them this term!

Over the break I have printed, laminated, cut, pasted and planned for hours...and hours... and well you get the idea.  Many of the things that I have either planned or will be using in my classroom, have come from lovely bloggers and TpT stores. I will be listing and passing on thanks to those whose ideas or creations I have been able to use, in another post!

At the back of my classroom (so there is least disruption) I have set up baskets for completed work which needs to be marked, as well as this 'special basket'....

I know for a fact that there are a few gorgeous little kiddies in my class who are masters at work avoidance!  Drives me crazy....so our class has a WOOPS basket!  This basket is for any work that does not get completed (or not to our neatest high standards!!) and these kiddies will have opportunities during the week to get their unfinished work from the WOOPS basket, to complete.  If by Friday afternoon session they have still not completed their work...they need to sit and complete it while the other kiddies get to choose from fun stations.  Tough? Probably!  Necessary? I think so!  It will also help me to keep a track of who I need to encourage more to keep up to speed with completing their work. I will let you know how it goes!!

What do you do with your non-finishers?  I would really love to know!!

Also, over the Summer break, I was awarded the Versatile Blogger award by the very lovely Jane from The Learning Curve.  

Thank you so much Jane!!  I can't tell you how much it means when someone says they enjoy reading my blog.  It both makes me happy and also encourages me so much, as a new teacher!!  I will fulfill the 'requirements' for the award and pass it on, soon I promise!  It is great to see another Australian teaching blog and lovely blogger, so stop by and say Hi to Jane at The Learning Curve.

...........................................

Lastly, I want to say a HUGE thank you to my lovely friend Mel, who sent me the cutest personalised gift over the break!

These sweet owl cards are so gorgeous ...I don't think that I will be able to part with them!!

Thank you so much Mel, your gift was so thoughtful, very lovely and very much appreciated!! xx

Well, I am off to do some more programming, a little bit more printing and probably a little more laminating too;)  Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend.

Thanks for stopping by!

FREEBIE 3D Shape Mini Unit...

I have been trying to put a lot of my lessons together into some kind of order, this week.  So I put my 3D Shape lesson outlines together to make a 3D Shape Mini Unit which is suitable for Kindergarten to Grade 2.  There are three lesson outlines, which I have based off my state's maths syllabus, but it can be used for any Kindergarten to Grade 2 class.

• LESSON 1 is 3D shape recognition and there are two differentiated student worksheets.

• Lesson 2 focuses on 3D shape identification based on their features, with the 3D shapes being concealed in a mystery bag.  

There is also a printable activity for kiddies to make their own 'Mystery Bag' 3D shape.

It is LOTS of fun and will have the whole class trying to guess each other's mystery 3D shapes, based on the clues.

• Lesson 3 looks at the how and why each 3D shape is able to move down a ramp a certain way.  There is a printable worksheet for this lesson as well.

The lessons can be expanded or adapted in many ways.  All the lessons have printable worksheets / activities and there are suggested art activities for each lesson, using 3D shapes.  There are also 3D shape cards, 3D shape word name cards, and shape movement cards...all ready to be printed and laminated.  They can be added to your maths centers for reviewing 3D shapes.

If you would like to download a FREE copy of the mini unit, just click the link below:

3D SHAPES MINI UNIT

Hope you find the Mini Unit useful for your classroom.  Wishing you all a wonderful week ahead.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

FREEBIE Reindeer Math Cards Packet...

Last week I was subbing on a Kindergarten class and we were doing the end of school year review on 'whole number'.  I find that being a sub can sometimes be a little frustrating because you don't always know where resources are kept, or in fact which resources a classroom may have.

Although we improvised and did lots of fun things to review our 'whole number' strand, I decided to make up a generic card packet that we could use in many different ways.

I created this card packet to be in-line with my state's Kindergarten to Grade 2 syllabus outcomes, but this cute card packet can be used for lots of differentiated math centre activities and games for any Kindergarten to Grade 2, such as:

• number sequencing (1 - 30)
• number sentences (+ - / x =)
• ordinal number ordering / matching (1st - 10th)
• concentration / matching games
• Snap
• Guess the number of reindeer in the ten frame
• and many, many more.

All you need to do is cut them out, glue them onto card stock and laminate them!!  I have also included some blank cards so that you can create any other cards that you might like to go along with the packet.

If you would like a free copy, then just click on the link below the sample images:

REINDEER MATH CARDS PACKET

I hope you find them useful!  If you download them, I would love for you to leave a comment on this post.  Thanks so much!

I used the absolutely gorgeous Reindeer graphics by Leslie from Kindergarten Works.  You can purchase them HERE.

Thanks for stopping by!

Giveaway Winner!!...

CONGRATULATIONS goes to......

to commenter 19...

Dana from 3rd Grade Gridiron

Yay Dana!!  You have won my Aussie Christmas Picture Book Giveaway, as part of Teaching Blog Addict's 25 Days of Gifts!!  Please email me at tmrubie@gmail.com and let me know your postal address!!!

THANK YOU so much to everyone that left a comment on my giveaway post!  My apologies for not replying on that post, but I did not want my comment to have to be included in the random selection !!

It was so wonderful to read that so many of you have connections with Australia.  It seems like there have been many happy memories made for some of you, here in my home country and that just makes me smile!!  I also have connections with the US, having lived in San Francisco and New York City, as well as getting married in the US.

If anyone would like to purchase a copy of the book An Aussie Night Before Christmas, there are so many copies at my local store and they are AU $10 each plus postage.  I would be able to let you know the postage cost tomorrow...but my guess would be that it will cost between $15US - $20US to post...ridiculous that the postage costs more than the actual book!!  I would be happy for anyone to email me to discuss how we could get a book to you:)

THANK YOU so much again for entering my giveaway...I just wish I could have sent each of you a copy.

Wishing you all a fabulous week ahead.

A Rush of Reindeer Fun ...

This week I was lucky to have subbed on a composite Year 1 / Year 2 class.  What wonderful timing to have found this AMAZING Reindeer activity packet from the very talented Sarah over at First Grader...At Last.

We had so much fun with these activities which use the cutest little reindeer you have ever seen!!

We brainstormed fabulous adjectives, verbs, nouns and proper nouns, which we then used to re-write Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer!  Our version was Spotty the Pink Nosed Reindeer!!

We also then used a venn diagram to compare / contrast two reindeer, following a colouring activity.  The adjectives these lovely kiddies came up with were FABULOUS!

Then we did the 'If You Give A Reindeer A Root Beer' activity...which as you can see was so much fun and the results were just FABULOUS!  The mini book activity was lots of fun ... and a great way to include some literacy with this fun art activity!!  We used sparkly pipe cleaners as antlers and the kiddies asked if we could add tinsel scarves!!

Without a doubt the highlight for the kiddies was singing the Reindeer Hokey Pokey!  They have even nominated a student to be the Reindeer Hokey Pokey monitor in case I ever sub on their class again, to remind me that they want to play it again...too cute!!

We finished the day with my version of the Heads Down, Thumbs Up game... really the same game, we just used the word 'antlers' instead of thumbs ;)

Sarah's Reindeer Activity Packet was so much fun... If you want to read more about it, then stop by her fabulous blog by clicking HERE!

Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to enter my Aussie Picture Book Giveaway by clicking HERE!!