Five for Friday | April 8th

#1

I am a stationery addict. I fully admit that. But I have to say that I am in love with this handmade notebooks for my traveller’s notebook that I’ve been making over the last few weeks. This is my collection as of this week – there’s small and large grid paper in some of them, as well as 100gsm plain paper. Covered in some of my favourite 12×12 papers, of course. I use these for meeting notes and PD notes for work!

#2

For referring people to GoNoodle, I was lucky enough to receive a tote bag and some stickers and I can’t wait to share these with the kids when Term 2 starts on Monday!

#3

There weather is cooling down here as Autumn finally starts to settle in. This week was definitely a beanie and (lots of) tea week from Wednesday onwards!

#4

This week I also went to the Melbourne Museum and saw the Jurassic World exhibit. I loved it. I could have stayed and watched the dinosaurs all day.

#5

This week I was fortunate enough to catch up with some old friends and make some new teacher friends with the first Melbourne Teacher Instagram meet-up! It was a fabulous afternoon full of good food, company and some of the most entertaining stories (as only teachers can tell them!). Thanks to all the lovely ladies who came out – it was so lovely to put faces to names and I can’t wait to catch up with them all again soon!

Five for Friday | March 25th 2016

#1

I spent Monday afternoon prepping my Easter gifts for students. No chocolates (too many allergies in my class this year) but found these fun polka-dotted plastic eggs and filled them with foam stickers and Easter-themed confetti pieces!

#2

This was a quote that I heard this week and absolutely loved.

#3

This week my school had their first ever House Spirit Day. There was a competition for most decorated staff member. (I didn’t win, alas.) But it’s always fun when you make a ridiculous fool of yourself for the kids!

#4

My mum made some rainbow-coloured Easter cupcakes last night. She iced them and then I added the speckled M&Ms to the top. They taste pretty good, too.

#5

I received my Easter-themed Goodie Box this week (see an unboxing video here) and I made these cute little bunny boxes for Easter gifts for Sunday. So cute!

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Five for Friday | March 11, 2016

I barely took any photos this week and was worried I wouldn’t even have 5 different activities from my classroom and/or teaching life this week, but amazingly I did. This makes me super happy, because it has been a very, very long week this week!

#1
This week, one of our Investigations science/art activities was salt paintings. This is was the first time I’ve tried this activity with the kids in Investigations (thanks to my lovely team member, Jacinta, for suggesting it!). The kiddos absolutely adore it and came up with some great random glue patterns and had a ball dropping food colouring on to it!

#2
Tuesday’s weather was horrible. (Horrible as in waaaay too hot.) Very unpleasant. Looking forward to cooler weather in the coming months.

#3
Because of the hot weather and planning week we’ve had a bit of quiet developmental play in the afternoons after pack-up. I’m so pleased my kiddos are choosing to explore with maths materials and manipulatives. On Tuesday, the only materials they requested were from the maths supplies – teddies, pattern blocks, Unifix cubes, and MAB. They came up with some very creative ways to use them, too!

#4
We’ve been scheduling in some directed drawing tasks to our writing program. I have a lot of reluctant writers and drawers so this has been a great way to engage them in some drawing and also shared pen writing, too. This week we drew our friend, Pete the Cat. (Although not everyone remembered that Pete was blue. But as Pete would say, it’s all good.)

#5
This morning I woke up to find out that (at least) 5 people have signed up to GoNoodle through my referral links, which is so great! You all know I’m such a fan of the site and the fun, short activities to break up the day, and I’m so pleased some of you are trying it out for the first time! I hope you love it!

And that’s it from me for this week. If you haven’t already, go check out this week’s Tuesday Tip – 5 Ways to End the Day and let me know your tips for the end of the day!

We have a long weekend here in Melbourne, so I’m keen to take a moment to chill out and relax and regroup for the last two weeks before our Autumn break. I hope everyone else has a fabulous weekend, too!

Five for Friday | March 5

A bit late this week, but it’s been crazy!

#1
We’ve been exploring 2D shapes as part of our applied maths lessons over the last few weeks. We had a lot of fun looking through magazines and finding circles, squares, rectangles and triangles in the shape of real life objects. The kiddos worked in their table groups on a particular shape, but they were getting up and sharing their ‘found’ shapes with other tables, too! They were so sweet!

#2
Our school has a fete coming up in a few weeks, and one of the stalls is a silent auction for artwork on canvas created by each class during their Art lessons.  My kiddos’ art teacher and I spent a lot of time loving on how my class’ canvas turned out! All the kiddos helped create the butterfly paper using dispersion paper. (Many thanks to the parent helpers who helped cut out the butterflies and put the canvas together!)

#3
Quick tip: if you find yourself lacking display space (which I am) in the classroom, turn displays into class books and then they’re much easier to have in the classroom all year round! Those 2D shape posters we made above? Are now in a book that the kiddos have been flipping through all week!

#4
One of my team members found this fun shape pizza idea on Pinterest and came up with a version that was appropriate to our kiddos. We spent our Friday after lunch making our wonderful shape pizzas – the kiddos loved ‘shopping’ for pizza ingredients and having a go at counting how many of each shape they used! Can’t wait to find somewhere to put these on display!

#5
Friday was a big day for us. We had Ride to School, 35+ degree (celsius) weather and lots of disruptions to our regular program. In the afternoon, we needed a bit of down-time, so I asked the kiddos what they would like to have a ten-minute play/explore with from the classroom. And guess what? Everything they picked was from a maths lesson! (This makes me so happy.) Teddy patterns, MAB exploration, pattern blocks… Go kiddos!

Five for Friday | February 12th

#1

This week we were looking at the sound /m/ so we read The Magic Hat by Mem Fox and made these cute painted/glittered Magic Hats that we were then able to hang on our deck window! Every year I do some sort of Magic Hat activity (whether it’s painting/decorating a picture of a hat or making an actual hat/crown). These ones were fun, bright and covered in glitter pieces!

#2

We started Investigations this week. The kids loved using the BeeBots and making letters using glass beads!

#3

Another super popular Investigations activity was this Fizzy Paint activity using baking soda, food dye and vinegar. It’s hard to see in these pictures, but the ‘paint’ dries super sparkly and has an awesome texture!

#4

We’ve been practising some directed drawings this week and then writing about them. Today, we shared the pen to write the sentence I see a mouse. This was the kids first go at writing on the IWB, too. I foresee a lot more shared pen writing in the future!

#5

I completely forgot to take a photo of my Valentine’s Day gifts for students, but I did remember to snap a photo of our poem/song for the day from my Ten Little Hearts poem pack. The kiddos had a ball singing this today and were very excited to take home a copy to teach their families. We had a big chat about making sure they tell all the people they love that they love them lots this weekend!

I hope you’ve all had a marvellous week! I can’t wait to see what everyone else got up to!

Five for Friday | Feb 5th

I’m going to take a moment to reflect on how absolutely difficult it is to actually stop and remember to take photos during the first week of Foundation/Prep/Kinder. (To be honest, it’s kind of hard to remember to do anything except keep going during this first week.) I apologise in advance for not too many teaching photos because I honestly was so busy running around that I simply forgot to take photos. I will try better next week!

#1

Prepping for another day of Start Up Learning at school – we filled in this chart as a class. It’s not fancy or shiny, but it worked! I also added a few clipart pieces from some of my favourite clip artists to jazz it up a tiny bit!

#2

I actually remembered to make myself a tea one morning this week as I ran out the door. I call that a win! Kiwi Sorbet by T2 Tea in one of their bright pink mugs!

#3

We made a list of all the things that were important for our class in the upcoming year. Number 1? HAVE FUN! A new class motto for 2016!

#4

Friday afternoon on my way home. That’s bag one of three. Filled with things to do on the weekend. I refused to leave work this afternoon until all student books had their covers and student name labels on them. After a big week I am one exhausted teacher!

#5

But do you know what makes me feel better. THIS FACE! How can you not love this face!

It’s Friday night now and I think I need to go to bed! (Oh, what an exciting life I lead!)

I’m planning my upcoming Teacher Tip Tuesday posts (if you have any things you’d like to see tips on leave comments below) and some new general classroom posts for the next few weeks.

I hope you all have a marvellous weekend!

Five for Friday | January 29

#1

This year I have an external door to my classroom (and a bigger, shared deck area). This is one of my room signs… soon to be surrounded by student artwork!

#2

I’m going to miss early morning cuddles with this ridiculous bundle of fluff. He likes to hog the bed.

#3

The newest addition to my reading corner – a Dr. Seuss curtain, made by my gorgeous Mum. She’s been the superstar in my entire classroom move this year, and I’m very grateful!

#4

Today was the first day of school for my class. I like to use a simple, chalkboard-inspired sign for our first day photos!

#5

My post-student classroom at 12:30pm. Had to tidy up before I went to lunch.

Happy weekend, friends!

Five for Friday | Jan 22, 2016

It’s that time of the week again!

#1

I don’t post too much about my planners over on this blog anymore, but I am loving the Summer we’re having here and it’s been very inspiring to find bright, summer-inspired stickers and paper pieces for my weekly layouts. (This one has a process video here.)

#2

I got a burst of inspiration during the week and made this fun alphabet matching game. It’s currently 50% off in my store.

#3

This week marked 1.5 weeks to go until school starts for the year. I was so happy to catch up with my team leader from last year for afternoon tea on Tuesday. I had this yummy Laurent raspberry eclair. (I also had a great chat and got loads of good advice for leading a team this year!)

#4

If you’ve been reading my blog for anything length of time, you’ll know that I love a good subscription box! This is the Goodie Box – a craft DIY themed box – made in Melbourne. I have an unboxing video here, and if you’re Aussie and you love stickers, bags, bunting and being creative, it’s well-worth checking out!

#5

Today I spent 8 hours in the classroom (with my lovely Mum who helped clean and tidy!) going from a very stressful situation to a room that feels more and more like my classroom. Once it’s completely done, I might do a room tour. (Or maybe a Periscope, if there’s enough interest?)

I hope everyone’s had an amazing week. Enjoy your weekend, friends – you deserve it!

Five for Friday | January 15, 2016

#1
It’s getting close to the end of the Summer break here in Australia, and so this week has seen me do lots of bits and pieces related to school. Mum and I went in to my classroom this week to finalise the display walls and tidy some of the cupboards. (Waiting on the carpets to be steam cleaned before I can do any more set-up.) I also picked up a few new things for the classroom and made a few name-tags.

#2
It was very exciting this week to reach over 1000 followers on Instagram. I’ve had a lot of fun connecting with a great range of Aussie teachers on Instagram, too!

#3
This week has been nuts with the weather. Wednesday reached 42 degrees (celcius) and then Thursday plummeted to 20 degrees. The joys of living in Melbourne!

#4
A group of wonderful Australian teacher-authors have worked hard to put together teaching tips, freebies and back to school resources for everyone in a great ebook available to download for free. Julie from Oz Curriculum HQ has done an amazing job putting this together so do be sure to take a look!

#5
Finally, I managed to finish and upload a project that’s been sitting on my computer for close to 18 months. (It’s one of those things I kept telling myself I’d get done.) Just in time for back to school, too! I believe in celebrating students’ birthdays with them and making them memorable, and that’s what this pack is all about! 50% for the next 24 hours.

Five for Friday | January 8th

Hi friends! I’m joining in the Friday linky party fun and sharing some moments from this week. Here in Australia we’re on our Summer break, so keep that in mind!

#1

I made a trip into the city this week. I don’t do it often anymore  – I used to be in there all the time when I went to uni and worked at Melbourne Central. Now it’s a treat to just go in and wander!

#2

One reason for my trip in the city was to spend a voucher from my lovely students and their families that I received at the end of 2015. I found this gorgeous, hardcover coffee table book. It’s Star Wars. Of course I bought it!

#3

I’m spending a few minutes each day doing a daily drawing challenge over at Creative Bug.

#4

I was totally spoiled this week by my lovely friend in the US who sent me a HUGE happy mail box of goodies. These are some of the stationary things she sent. My cupboard is full of food (which is good, because I’m on holidays, right?!).

#5

Today I had the pleasure of catching up with 4 beautiful Victorian teacher bloggers – Paula (Paula’s Place), Jemima (Jem’s Bright Buttons), Bec (Stars and Wishes) and Chantelle (Miss Jacob’s Little Learners). It’s always such a treat to sit down and chat to these lovely ladies!

I hope everyone has a fabulous start to their weekend!

Check back on my blog this weekend for a labelling freebie that’s coming up!