Silence for Sandy Hook Elementary

Giveaway Winner and a Maths Freebie!

Firstly, I would like to say a big CONGRATULATIONS to Cindy for winning the Awesome Aussie Giveaway!  I hope you enjoy your fabulous prizes totalling $70!!

Secondly, I would like to thank the lovely Brooke from Teachable Moments for the idea, organisation and the hosting of a really fun giveaway!

Thirdly, A huge hello to everyone that found my blog through the giveaway!  Welcome!!!

Now for the FREEBIE ... !  This week my kiddies have been reviewing length.  We have been using rulers and having lots of pirate-themed fun!  I created some pirate-themed worksheets to supplement the maths program that I am required to follow.  I incorporated the amazing 'Friday I'm In Love Font' on the cover page,  by Mel at From the Pond which you can also download for FREE by clicking  HERE.

My kiddies LOVED the pirate theme and were especially excited by the 'Measure to the Treasure' worksheet!  They all wanted to take the completed worksheet to lunch, so they could do treasure hunting during their lunchtime play session ... too cute!!

There are 2 versions:

 You can get a free copy of the AUSTRALIAN VERSION (using centimetres) HERE.

You can get a free copy of the US VERSION (using inches) HERE.

I hope you find it useful!

Thanks for stopping by!

Tina

Awesome Aussie Giveaway - Now Closed!

THIS GIVEAWAY HAS NOW CLOSED

One of the best things that I have experienced over the last 3 years of blogging, whether it be on my personal  blog or this teaching blog, is the opportunity to meet like-minded people from all over the world, as well has here in Australia.  I have been motivated, encouraged and inspired by so many amazing people, both as a Mum  / wife and as a teacher.

Over the past few weeks, it has been fantastic to find that the number of amazing Australian teacher / bloggers is growing!  There are wonderful Australian teachers out there who are blogging and/ or have TpT stores!  Thanks to the lovely Brooke at Teachable Moments, we have come together to participate in an Awesome Aussie Giveaway!  Just click on the fabulous button below, which was created by Mel at From the Pond!

Brooke at Teachable Moments is kindly hosting the giveaway and I have contributed my Little Blue Owl Classroom Labels & Tags Packet as well as my Hidden Pictures - coordinate / ordered pairs graphing packet, both of which are from my new TpT store.

There are many other Australian teacher / bloggers offering some fantastic prizes as part of this giveaway, so jump on over and enter ... you may just find a bunch of incredible blogs and inspirational teachers that you had not discovered yet!

THIS GIVEAWAY HAS NOW CLOSED!

Thanks for stopping by,

Tina

Sound Rocks

It seems that the science topic of SOUND is a popular theme for term 4 here in Australia!  I know quite a few of my teaching friends at different places around the country are all programming to teach this topic next term.

An incredible SOUND resource is the Primary Connections - Sounds Sensational unit of work!  Unfortunately I can't remember who I loaned my copy to and it is currently unavailable as it is being updated to comply with our new National Curriculum.  BUT if you don't have a copy ... then keep an eye out for it's re-release as it really is a FANTASTIC resource (AS ARE ALL OF THE PRIMARY CONNECTIONS UNITS).  OH... and if the person I loaned my copy to is reading this, can I PLEASE have it back???  Thanks!!!

I have been busy programming my SOUND unit and have created a whole packet of worksheets and printables to go along with my unit.   Suitable for Kindergarten to Yr 2.

The worksheets / printables have a rock star theme (thought my kiddies would like that) as I am also integrating my Creative Arts MUSIC and Visual Arts with my science lessons.  I have used the AMAZING digital graphics by Nikki at MELONHEADZ ILLUSTRATING.

Included in the packet is:
- Contents Sheet
- Student Journal Cover Printable
- KWL Chart Printable
- Sound Word Bank Recording Sheet
- Sound and My Senses Worksheet
- Sounds From Around Our School Recording Sheet
- Sounds I Like / Don't Like Worksheet
- My Favourite Sound Worksheet (both US and Australian spellings)
- Pitch and Volume Worksheet
- How Does Sound Travel Worksheet
- Sound Vibrations - guided investigation recording sheet
- I Am A Sound Scientist Worksheet
- My Sound Art Recording Sheet.

Although this is not a series of lesson plans or a unit of work, it is designed to be used with your own science lessons on the topic of Sound.  However, you could use the worksheets as a guide for a sequence of lessons on the topic.  You can find my SOUND ROCKS worksheet packet HERE.

Term 4 should be a LOT of fun!  This is my last term with my first ever class!!  I feel so LUCKY to have had my contract extended each term and am SUPER EXCITED that I will be staying with my kiddos to see out the full teaching year.

Thanks for stopping by

Tina

SOUND ART - a digital artwork lesson freebie

I am really on a roll these holidays...creating lots of resources that I will be using with my class next term.  For science we are studying sound and I wanted to create a fun visual art lesson that I could integrate with my science unit.

I wanted it to be something that was engaging and meaningful for my kiddos, as well as something that used technology....combining as many curriculum outcomes into one lesson as I can ;)

I have created this lesson where my students will say their name into a microphone and their voice / name spectogram will be recorded on a smartboard / laptop / classroom computer using the free downloadable AUDACITY program.

My voice / name spectogram after I took a screenshot from the Audacity program screen and then cropped it in MS Paint.

They will then use MS Paint to crop their voice / name spectogram and then use the free online photo editing program BE FUNKY, to create a pop art version of their spectogram.

The spectogram once it has been given the Pop Art makeover in the photo editing program BE FUNKY!

I will then get them to use the text function in BE FUNKY to add their name to the centre of their artwork.  I think mine turned out really cute and I think my kiddies will really enjoy creating a unique personalised digital artwork.

You can download my lesson outline in my new Teachers Pay Teachers store for FREE until Tuesday 2nd October at 9.00am Australian time.

Hope you can find it useful in your classroom:)

Thanks for stopping by!

Tina

Fairy Garden Spelling Word / Sight Word Game

One of the best things about holidays is having the time to create resources which are tailor-made for the kiddies in my classroom!  No better way of engaging and differentiating ... in my opinion!

One of my little blossoms requires a lot of support and is only just starting to consistently recognise some basic sight words.  She also finds it difficult to focus and concentrate if she is not REALLY engaged in the activity.  She LOVES fairies... so I created this very simple game for her.  I can't wait to use it with her next term as she works on her very own individualised spelling word list :)

Basically, you just write whichever spelling words or sight words that you want to focus on, onto the circles of the laminated game board with a dry erase marker.

You then just ask your student to place a game piece onto a particular word and use your own strategies to assist them.

Your student can then complete the worksheet:)

I am going to keep this in my writing centre basket.  I know that my little blossom will be so excited to have her very own game :)

I have listed this game in my TN store and am nearly finished on a Pirate - themed version for another student in my class.  I will post about the pirate version once it is complete!!

The gorgeous graphics used in this packet are from the AMAZING Melonheadz Illustrating and KPM Doodles.

Thanks for stopping by!

Tina

Hidden Pictures - Position Graphs

At the end of last term, we were reviewing the mathematical sub-strand of POSITION.  I found that my kiddies had a great grasp of positional language and directions, but they were not ready to move onto plotting coordinates.

I have just finished creating some easier Hidden Pictures, using positional markers (eg. A 1 etc...) which is a great way of preparing my kiddies for Grade 3 when they will move onto plotting coordinates!

There are 5 hidden pictures (an owl, a dinosaur, two robots and a butterfly) and their accompanying secret codes (positional markers) as well as the blank grid paper template.

This packet is a fun and engaging way of introducing students to position graphs.  It can be used as an independent maths activity where it will satisfy and assess outcomes related to position.

OR

You can use it as a teacher directed, whole - class lesson, which means that it can satisfy the maths outcomes as well as literacy outcomes for talking / listening.

I have two copies of this packet to giveaway.  The first two commenters to indicate that they would like a copy (and leave their email address in their comment) will receive a freebie copy:)

You can also CLICK HERE to find the packet listed for $2.00 in my TN store.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Tina

'Area Robots' Worksheet and Classroom Book Freebie...

This week in maths we are revising the measurement of area.  I really love teaching this particular topic and the kiddies in my maths group have already grasped the knowledge and skills required to fulfill their curriculum outcomes.  So we had a little arty fun with area today :)

I find that there are so many textbooks and resources for teaching maths, but my favourite resource and the one I ALWAYS head straight to for ideas is the NSW Board of Studies Mathematics Work Samples, which is directly related to our state syllabus across all grades!  I got the inspiration for this lesson out of this document.  

Our lesson required the students to create 'area robots' using grid paper and then they answered some questions about the area of their robot parts.  They also paired up with a robot buddy and compared the areas of their robots.  The kiddies really enjoyed it and it was a great informal assessment task for me to check their basic understanding of the topic!  Here are some examples of their wonderful work...

My maths group did such a fabulous job that I, of course, have decided to turn their work into a class book.
For a free downloadable copy of the class book cover page and the worksheet that I created, just CLICK HERE.  The super cute robot clip art that I used for the book cover is from an Etsy store called Solpashop.

Over the past week I have received email notifications of comments on my last post, which are not appearing on my actual post...not sure why this is happening.  They are also No Reply Comments, so I can't even reply to them by email.  If you have left one of these comments, please know that I appreciate them very much and thank you so much for taking the time to comment on my blog!!

Thanks for stopping by!

A Four Seasons Foldable Freebie!

Hi everyone,

I know it has been ages since my last post, but it has been a long school term so far.  I battled the flu season and lost big time, as well as just trying to make it over that Winter hump...bring on Spring I say!!

Speaking of seasons,  I thought I would share one of the simplest lessons that I have done this year.  It was a spur of the moment lesson as my planned one just wasn't making sense to my kiddies!!

A couple of weeks ago my maths class were reviewing Measurement, and in particular Time.  We have got the whole telling time on the hour and half hour down, but they were still struggling with reading a calendar and remembering which months went with which season.

To cut a long story short, I ditched my planned lesson after about 10 minutes!  I listed the seasons on the board and the months in each season next to them.  The kiddies then came and wrote their names beside their birthday month and since all of my maths class celebrate Christmas, we also listed that as well.

I then got them to make a foldable.  They wrote the season on the front of each little 'page' and decorated it with drawings that reminded them of that season.

Inside, they wrote the corresponding months for each season.

This one little lesson satisfied curriculum outcomes from Maths, English and HSIE!!  A really good reminder for me that sometimes the simplest lessons can often be the most effective, in many ways!!  My kiddies told me that they LOVED making the foldable and that it was sooooo much fun!  Hearing that sure made my day, as many of my friends know how much teaching maths scares me!!

Anyhoo,  I have created a proper printed version that I will use next time.

There is an Australian version using the word 'Autumn'.  CLICK HERE for this version!

There is also a version for my US friends using the word 'Fall'. CLICK HERE for this version!

I hope you find it useful in your classrooms.

We have also been really busy studying Living Things in science...hence our family are now the lucky owners of our class 'living things'!

Yep ... 4 gorgeous chickens!!   More about them in my next post:)

Thanks so much for sticking with me here on my blog and for stopping by!

Have a great weekend, everyone!!

Tina xx

Class Books ...

As a beginning teacher, I am always in awe of other teachers who have built up fabulously stocked classroom libraries!   I try to add a book (sometimes 2 or more) each fortnight on payday, but by far the cheapest, easiest and most enjoyable additions to our classroom library are 'class books' that are compiled using my students' work.

We do a LOT of writing as part of the literacy program we are trialing this year.  Some of the writing we do, like our Action Super Hero writing pieces (from the Action Verb Unit by the Teacher Wife) has an end purpose and display format already chosen to fulfill different curriculum outcomes...

These are on display on the bulletin board outside our classroom, but I will compile them into a class book when I go back to school next week.

However, a lot of our writing is not always to this standard of visual presentation, but the actual content is full of amazing ideas, stories and thoughts that the students have enjoyed putting on paper.  Of course, they usually always draw an illustration to go with their writing!  I find that either getting my more capable Grade 2 students to type out the pieces of writing for the class, or doing it myself, and then pasting this onto the accompanying drawings, making a cover sheet and then binding them to add to our classroom library is always a HUGE hit with the students.  They just LOVE to choose a class book to read during silent reading.

Our most recent class book came about from a spontaneous writing exercise that we did on our last day of term.  We had read the fun book 'A Monster Wrote Me A Letter' by Nick Bland earlier that week and instead of my planned writing lesson, my kiddies wanted to design their own monsters and write about what they would do if a monster came to their door!  How could I refuse?  The result was some fantastic writing, some fabulous monster illustrations and a whole heap of fun!  No pics I am afraid as I left them in the classroom and have not been in over our two week break...sorry!  BUT here is the freebie cover sheet and writing template if anyone would like to download them.  Just click HERE.

Do you create class books?  What class books have you compiled for your classroom libraries?   

Thanks for stopping by!

Connecting Over Lunch...

Not sure about you, but my days at school are so busy and I am constantly having to only 'half listen' to all of the things that my kiddies ABSOLUTELY MUST tell me!!  You know the things I mean...such things as what their dog ate for breakfast two weeks ago, or how their boy bunny had babies on the weekend etc!

I would love nothing more than to sit down for the whole day and listen to their fabulous news and wonderful chatter... I am just not so sure the Department of Education (or their parents for that matter) would be too thrilled with me doing such a thing!

So... Thursdays are the only day that I don't have any kind of staff duty (YAY for Thursdays!!).  I have decided that every Thursday for first half lunch only (I need at least one part of my duty free lunch time to myself), that I will invite one of my kiddies to have lunch in the classroom with me.  We can chat and I can catch up on what they have been doing and hopefully make up for some of the times that I really can't drop everything and listen.

I have made up some invitations which I will laminate and hand out to one student every Wednesday.  To be chosen, students will need to have been well behaved for the week leading up to the Wednesday... hoping it might help with classroom management as well!!

CLIP ART BY:   KPM Doodles, Saraink and Delicious Scraps

CLICK HERE if you would like top download the freebie invites from Google Docs.

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend!  Thanks for stopping by and I would love you to leave a comment sharing how YOU connect with your students?  Thanks!

Autumn Art and Writing ...

Happy Mother's Day to all my 'Mama' friends!

Here in our town, it seems that Mother's Day and the start of our truly cold weather, go hand in hand!  Yesterday was beautiful and sunny, but today is very cold!  We can definitely feel Winter on its way!

This past week in class, my kiddies have been having lots of Autumn art fun.

One of my kiddies brought some fabulous homework in last week!  He had done some autumn leaf rubbings and then written his spelling words on the leaf art!  I loved it so much that he very proudly shared it with the rest of the class and this inspired a wonderful afternoon of gathering leaves and doing leaf rubbing artworks (sorry, but my kiddies took their artworks home before I could take a picture!!).

This then lead to us deciding that we would like to do some shaving cream marbling art and turn it into fabulous autumn leave shapes to display our Autumn writing that we had completed.  The class identified the colours required, from the real leaves they had collected from our playground.  We then used shaving cream and poster paint to create our marbled paper.  We then used some free Fall / Autumn Leaf shapes I found on TpT by C and L Curriculum, to trace and cut out or 'leaves' ... you can download the free shapes from  HERE.

I think they did a wonderful job and the display looks FABULOUS under the windows with real Autumn Trees in the background!

We also did some Earth Day writing a couple of weeks ago (I forgot to post about it...) and this has been our corridor display:)  It is so sweet to hear the Kindergarten kiddies say hello to the Lorax as they walk past our classroom ... too cute:)

We have lots of busy things happening this week...including spending the week focussing on The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch, starting our Maths assessment and performing a dance item at our school assembly!!  Busy times ahead:)

Hoping everyone has a wonderful week ahead!

Thanks for stopping by!