Winner and some Letter Fun

Thanks to everyone that entered my Aussie Animals giveaway……the winner is number 2!

If you missed out, you can check it out at my TPT store (click the picture below).

I thought I'd also share with out some of the crafts we've done over the last few months……..these were all done during our focus letter weeks…….we're now finished with those and onto word families but I thought some of them were still worth sharing :-) 

You can't see it too well in the picture but after these were coloured, we used glitter paint so they are all sparkly….they are my favourite thing that's hanging up in our room. 

Zebras……..all the kids did them and they are ALL different……..I LOVE them :-)

And last but not least….yo-yos………..it's sooooo hard to think of a y craft!!!! 

Stay tuned….I plan on sharing some of our farm things with you later this week.

Australian Animals

Hi everyone,

I know it's been a while since my last post….. a lot has been happening for me…..mostly going back to full time teaching has been TOUGH (not the teaching part but the juggling of my three favourite little people) and getting settled in a new country :-) I have also felt very creatively squashed at the school I am currently working at……….BUT I have recently found out that I have a NEW job for next year (in January over here), teaching Kindergarten……I am too excited for words! I walked into the kinder room and was soooo happy to see some familiar things like Daily 5, Whole Brain Teaching and products from some of my favourite TPT sellers around the rooms…………I am soooooooo excited and can't wait for next year! I'm sure you'll be sick of hearing all about it until then.

 

For quite a few months now I have been working on some "Aussie" things………..I feel that kids around the world need to know about our beautiful and unique animals. This is what I have so far (a centre pack will follow……just waiting on some clip art to be finished)….

In this pack, you will find 16 SIMPLE crafts and facts for the following animals:
Rainbow Lorikeet
Echidna
Bilby
Cockatoo
Possum
Emu
Wombat
Cassowary
Saltwater Crocodile
Flying Fox
Galah
Frilled Neck Lizard
Quokka
Platypus
Koala
Kangaroo

Step by step instructions, patterns, 2 sets of facts (in cloze passages) and answers are included. You will find one single copy of each pattern and a class set of each piece to make it easier to copy for you.

An easy and harder Cloze passage are included for each animal…..you choose what suits your kids the best! Do you know what a baby Koala eats for the first six weeks of life? The answers will gross you out and is included in the fun facts your kids will learn.

You can use the pack in the following ways:

1. Are you learning about a particular Aussie animal? Have the whole class make a page with the facts and display them.

2.Make a class book and have each student make a page and share what they found out!

3. Have each student make their own book with as many (or as few) pages as you want.

4. Make the craft and have the students write a story about that animal or find out their own fun facts!

All of the crafts were made by using colored construction paper. 

You can check it out at my TPT store BUT if you want to win one, all you need to do is follow this bog on Bloglovin' (see the side panel) and leave me a comment below. If you're super keen and want a second entry, just pin one  of the images above and leave me a comment below that you did…..easy enough….right! I'll pick a winner in about 48 hours. 

It's a Switch!

Sorry I haven't been around for a while! the last two weeks were CRAZY for me. We had late things on at school a few nights out of the week (including parent teacher interviews). I've been on holidays for a week (with a week to go) and my time has been programming for an integrated unit……..needless to say that even though I've been on holidays I haven't seen much on my kids! 

I also ran into a few little snags with some "intellectual property" issues…………very interesting! I never read (or had) any issues with this while I was in the USA with using things you create with your own class…………are you guys having any issues with this or does it just seem to be in Australia?

I've found out a few things……….so basically from now on, what you see me create will NOT be used in my own classroom (sad I know)……. I will sometimes post pictures of some cool things we do and our art etc but I will not be able to use the things for sale in my store in my classroom.

I AM planning to be organised with my blogging and DO hope to have regular posts each week  with freebies and 50 cent files. there will also be Linkys and fun :-). I just need a few extra weeks to organise myself for next term and spent some time with my kiddos :-)

Meanwhile, Google Reader will be GONE tomorrow. I made the with to Bloglovin' a couple of months ago to check it out. So far I'm really enjoying it. It literally took me a few seconds to join and Bloglovin' automatically imported all the blogs I already follow. If you haven't done the switch, make sure you do it today :-)

Make sure you press this little button below :-)

 

U is for Uluru

Last week was "U" week. My class has been learning about "All Things Aussie" this term, so when it was pouring down with rain and I knew we'd miss sport, I set them onto this project.

This was another directed drawing task that we completed on black cardboard. Unfortunately, I FORGOT my camera :-( So I couldn't take step by step instruction pics. For this task, I showed the class what lines to draw in white pastels so they could see it. They drew on their page in lead and then we coloured in with pastel as we finished each section.

When we had done all the drawing and colouring, we added the white paint dots with the end of our pencil. The whole project took a little over and hour to complete. I think the results are fantastic and am always amazed at what 5 and 6 year olds can accomplish!

 

 

ROOOOOOAR!

I

 

I couldn't help myself! I saw these ADORABLE clowns that my lovely friend Julie from Mrs Stowe's Kinder Cottage made with her kiddos and I knew I had to do something cute with a photo of my kids………here's what I came up with………a little class of lions :-) 

All I did was take a photo of my kids, print it in black and white, enlarged it, stuck it on brown cardboard (for strength) and then the kids stuck on the mane and drew the nose and whiskers with a black oil pastel. 

They look like they're stuck on the blinds but they're not…..there is a little ledge above the blinds that I have them on…………until that back wall gets painted, I don't really have much wall space.

 

A Little Motivation!

I was cleaning up my little guys room last week………..dress ups were EVERYWHERE!!!! As I was putting them away, my eye suddenly caught sight one one of the many superhero capes we had made for Channing's birthday party a fews ago. PERFECT!!!!! Just what I needed…..

 

…….Welcome a new little "motivation" for my class……..Super-Star of the day! They get to wear the cape all day, sit on my chair with me while I read stories, help with jobs and best of all, get a cute little award at the end off the day.

So far it's been a hit with the kids as well as the parents :-)

Lions Are Loud!

This marks the very first week of "What's Hanging Up Wednesday". I'm hoping that this will be a weekly post where we can share some great  ideas with each other. Show us something you have hanging up in your classroom by linking up at the end of this blog post. I can't wait to see what you have hanging up in your rooms! It doesn't have to be art…..it could be a writing activity, a math paper…..anything hanging anywhere :-)

Last week, our letter of the week was Ll (we use "Ants in the Apple" at the school I'm teaching at). I saw a picture of these cute guys on Pinterest but the link didn't lead anywhere. I decided that I could do this with my class and I'm so happy with how they turned out! If you'd like to make these "Loud Lions" with your class, here's how we made them:

1. Give each child a half sheet of large cardboard (Or a large sheet of construction paper if you're American). I had the kids draw each shape step by step on their paper with lead pencil. When we were finished with the lead, they went over it and coloured in with oil pastels.

2. Colour in the face with an orange oil pastel.

3. Colour in the inside of the mouth with a brown oil pastel. I kept reminding the kids that they should be covering up all the black spaces they see.

4. Colour the nose yellow. Make a second circle in the eye and colour the outer eye and the teeth white. Use a green pastel to colour the inner eye and a black pastel to colour the in the iris, the nostrils, make freckles and a cross looking "V" above the eyes.

5. We then used orange and yellow paint to paint out mane. I LOVE how they all turned out so unique :-)

 Now it's your turn! What do you have hanging up this week?