Easter is just around the corner

I can’t believe Term 1 is nearly over and Easter is just around the corner.

We have had fun in grade 1 as the time has flown by. So much fun that I haven’t had time to post anything. Sorry New Years resolution, broken again!

For our Prep (Kindergarten) to Year 2 Easter Hat Parade we will parade to the local shops where the kids will get some Easter goodies. We have been busy investigating, designing, producing and reflecting on our Easter Hats for our technology unit this term.

Yes I got the glitter out and was on glitter patrol for the making of these hats. Can’t wait to see the kids wear them and they can’t wait either. They ask me every day when they can put them on!

Here are some snaps of the Easter Hat Production.

If you are looking for some Easter themed activities to use in your classroom be sure to check out my Easter literacy, numeracy and card packs.

Easter Literacy Activity Book

Easter Literacy Contents

Easter Literacy Preview

Easter Math Activities

Easter Maths Contents

Easter Maths Preview

Easter Cards

Click Here to purchase all 3 sets in a bundle now reduced!

Meeting my new class

Hello again! It is getting to that back to school time and even though I’m supposed to be on holidays I have started work! I’m sure I’m not the only teacher.

I am starting at a new school in 2015 and was lucky enough to meet my new class in the last week of school. We had just under an hour of getting to know each other, which went too quick!

I have grade 1 next year. They were as excited as me and were a very chatty bunch! Not like last year.

I will be Mrs Wilkes this year not Mrs Hayley and I think it will take me awhile to get used to my name!

Of course I over planned for the hour and had too much to do but now I’ll save some of the activities for the first day.  The activities we did can also be used on the first day or week of school. A lot of ideas were found on Pinterest (where else)!

Here is a look at what we squeezed in.

 

Getting to know you ball

1. After lining up we walked to out new class

2. We sat on the carpet and I introduced myself then we went around the circle saying our names

3. My ‘All about me’ power point with photos couldn’t be played as I did not have my new teacher laptop yet! I’ll save that one for the first day

4. Getting to know you beach ball was thrown around the circle. When the students caught it they had to read the first word they could see “looking at them” to tell us about them. Words I wrote were: family, colour, sport, school, movie, I like, pet etc. Most of the kids loved this and we made sure everyone had a turn. It was a bit long for some of the wriggly ones! I’d plan for at least 20 minutes.

5. Eyes Shut Self portraits. This was fun! I modeled my portrait first and the kids had such a giggle at my drawing.  Then they went to a desk, wrote their name, closed their eyes and drew themselves on the left side of the page. They opened their eyes and looked at the silly drawings then drew their real portrait with eyes open on the right side. Of course their were some kids who ‘cheated’ and peeked to make their drawing perfect but others followed instructions and had fun squishing eyes closed or covering their eyes with their hand. We were going to colour these drawings but time ran out. I am deciding whether to colour them on the first day or to hang them up  and leave them in pencil.

6. Aaargh! Time went so fast. Just as they were leaving I took a quick photo of each child so that I could make a display for the first day of school and use the photos in  my student profiles.

Phew! Cannot believe I ran out of time. I also had a story to read and was going to take a photo of them holding a chalkboard with their name but alas this will have to be done on the first day.

Eyes Closed for Portraits

Trying not to peek!

Eyes Shut Self Portraits - My Model

One of the kids portraits! So funny.

Another student who didn't peek the first time!

Did anyone else get to meet their class? Leave a comment below and share what you did.

Aussie teachers enjoy the rest of your holidays!

 

 

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Top 10 Classroom Dancing Songs

All ready for the school disco!

Those who know me well know I love to dance. Whether it be at a bar, club or pub, at a concert, in the lounge room, in the car or just sitting in a chair I love to dance.  I’ve been to lessons since I was young and have tried a bit of everything including jazz, hip-hop, ballet, tap, ballroom, Latin, rock and roll and belly dancing.

 

Love school discos!

My favourite place to dance is in the classroom. I love playing music for brain breaks, transitions and in the back ground while we work. I am always encouraging kids in my class to show off their moves. Watching them bust a move always makes me smile.

I have had many giggles, eye rolls and groans at some of my most gracious and elegant choreographed steps. Even better is when the kids copy these ‘Mr Bean’ style moves.

I thought I'd share with you my Top 10 Classroom Dancing Songs.

Most of my top 10 classroom dancing songs already have easy dance steps for the kids to copy and are great for getting everyone dancing (even the reluctant kids). You’ll find videos on you tube so you can copy and learn these easy steps. The others are great songs to make up your own moves. My advice if you are not a confident dancer is to pull out some hip shakes, walks forward and backwards, claps, stomps, knee bending, spins and nothing beats the old grapevine!

1. Cha Cha Slide – DJ Casper

Best ever classroom dancing song. It is fun, easy and gets all kids moving. Just listen to the lyrics and follow the words of the song.

2. Blame it on the Boogie – Michael Jackson

Best song for some disco style moves.

3. I Like to Move It – Reel to Real

This one will give you and the kids a work out!

4. Hoedown Throwdown – Miley Cyrus

Who can resist a line dance? The kids love a bit of Miley Cyrus (pre-wrecking ball days).

5. Macarena – Los Del Rio

An oldie but a goodie. Most of us know the Macarena moves.

6. Wobble – V.I.C.

Great song to dance like no one is watching. We love doing silly ‘wobbles’. The Wobble is another line dancing style dance. A word of caution though; some of the lyrics are a bit inappropriate; “Hey big girl make em back it up”, “I got em shaking their boobies like congos”. I think the kids don’t pay attention to the lyrics but parents might!

7. Happy – Pharell Williams

I don’t think I need to say anything about this Happy song.

8. 5, 6, 7, 8 – Steps

Another line dancing style. You’ll need plenty of grapevines for this one.

9. Nutbush City Limits – Tina Turner

Another song to get your heart rate up. It just doesn’t get old.

10. Greased Lightnin – John Travolta

Channel your inner John Travolta and pretend you’re wearing your leather jacket, tighty whitey shirt and skinny jeans.

Do you have a favourite song for dancing in your classroom?

Leave a comment to share and have fun dancing! 

 

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Motivational Monday Freebie - Rock On! with Sight Words Four in a Row Game

24th August 2014 Motivational Monday Freebie

It’s been some time between not only blog posts but also Motivational Monday Freebies.

Today’s freebie for your Monday is a sample from my Rock On! With Sight Words Pack 1

This is a Four in a Row Bingo Game with sight words and an awesome kids rock star and glitter theme.

Print and laminate this game to use in literacy lessons and centre work.

Sight words included are: 

a, and, away, big, blue, can, come, down, find, for, funny, go, help, here, I, in, is, it, jump, little, look, make, me, my, not, one, play, red, run, said, see, the, three, to, two, up, we, where, yellow, you.

To get your hands on this freebie from my TPT store click here.

To access it through google docs click here.

Please click here for my full Rock On! Sight Words Pack 1.

Also available are sets 2-5

Pack 2 Rock On! with Sight Words

Pack 3 Rock On! with Sight Words

Pack 4 Rock On! with Sight Words

Pack 5 Rock On! with Sight Words

Finally get all 5 packs in my bundle. If purchased together you can save $10.

Rock On! with Sight Words Bundle

Preview of Rock On! with Sight Words Bundle

 

Preview of Rock On! with Sight Words Bundle

Enjoy this freebie and have a wonderful Monday!

 

Welcome Sheera our new class pet (RIP Leonardo)!

Farewell sweet Leonardo

You may remember Leonardo the turtle our lovely class pet from one of my previous posts. Sadly Leonardo did not survive his last trip home with a student (lost, chewed by a dog or destroyed by a sibling I’ve been told). The class were upset at first but quickly forgot poor Leonardo after their kind teacher told them she would get us another class pet. Not to be mistaken for a softy the children have been told that the loss of the next pet would mean no more class pets!

It was an extensive process choosing another pet. The class was the ones making the decisions.

First was a suggestion of animals (tiger, shark, giraffe, turtle, crocodile and snake).

Voting for an animal

Next a class vote on the type of animal.  Each student recorded votes on paper. They were placed in a tin then drawn out and recorded in a tally next to each animal name.  Tiger was the winning vote.

The votes are in

Tallying the votes

Students loved tallying the votes (they didn't even know it was maths)!

The final numbers

Next Mrs Hayley had to track down a stuffed tiger toy. The mission was finally accomplished by donating to the World Wildlife Fund who then sends a stuffed animal, bag, adoption certificate and photo. 

While we waited for the tiger to come from the USA to Australia another vote occurred to decide whether the tiger was a girl or a boy. Girl won this time.

Then we started thinking about names. Some of the suggestions were Nala, Sheera, Tiger, Stripy and Alice. The winner: Sheera.

It took a few weeks to finally get Sheera to our remote island home.

She has finally arrived.

Sheera the Tiger

After her first week she has sat with students during our carpet time, sat on desks to help with work, played tennis and with hula-hoops, participated in reading groups and helped us with our math. Sheera goes home with students on the weeknights in a special bag with a writing book and pencil. She has been home with 2 students for a sleepover. They have both returned Sheera (unharmed) and presented their talks about what they did with Sheera.

Reading, hula-hoops and tennis fun!

Going home for a sleepover.

The next sleepover

Once again it is great to have a class pet. The students have fallen in love with Sheera and want to spend any time they can holding her in class. It has been great to help with behaviour management, oral language, confidence, writing and hopefully more responsibility looking after her at home!

I’ll be trying to share more Sheera adventures throughout the rest of the year.

Does anyone else have a class pet? Have you thought about donating to WWF. Click here to head over to their website. I’d love to hear your class pet stories.

 
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