2015 Goals

2015 is just around the corner and resolutions and goals are on the mind.

More blogging is definitely one of my goals however you will not find it on my resolutions list. I have deliberately left it off the list to save room for other more achievable goals and so I won’t face the blog guilt when/if I don’t achieve it!

To start the year off on the right track (with a blog post) I’m joining Second Grade Nest with a 2015 Resolutions Linky.

 Here are 5 of my 2015 goals!

And a couple of extra goals. 

For my teaching professional goal I want to continue learning in my favourite area, literacy and teaching reading and writing. A long-term goal of mine is to become a literacy coach or specialist and I have loved studying Reading and Writing Difficulties for my masters this year.

Another professional goal is for my Teachers Pay Teachers store. It is more of a general or widespread goal to become more active by creating more products for my class and to share, linking up with other stores and bloggers and learning more about both the business and classroom practice. Broad I know but there are lots of little goals in there!

A personal goal of mine is to stop shopping! GASP! Yes a tough one I know. I have managed to live for 2 years on a remote island with only minimal online shopping. On visits to Brisbane however, I have hit the shops and bought myself all sorts of goodies from clothes to shoes to jewellery. My fear now is that having the stores just a short drive a way is very dangerous. 

I want 2015 to be more about the experiences not the material things. Yes I know I want those shiny new shoes but do I really NEED them? Probably not. So 2015 will be the year of wearing things until they fall apart. Clothing, shoes, jewellery and underwear (holes are acceptable in my opinion)! By working towards this goal I am also helping myself achieve goals 1, 2 and 4 from above, winning!

Check out Sarah Wilson’s blog posts for her take on material things and some inspiration; Why Iwore the same pair of green shorts for 8 years and Buy experiences not things.

Get active! Notice I didn’t use the word exercise? I think getting active sounds better don’t you? That means walking my chocolate labby Dexter, escaping to the beach, finding some bush walks outside of Brisbane and generally getting out of the house. I think it can be done.

 

So there are my goals. What are yours? Leave a comment below to share….

 

Thanks to Second Grade Nest for the Linky!

Free Product on Teachers Like Freebies

I'm very excited to be featured on the Teachers Like Freebies blog this week.

My Guided Reading Comprehension Graphic Organisers are on show! 

Here is a short sample of what is in the product.

You can find these on my TPT store as my featured freebie or through the Teachers Like Freebies blog page.

If you haven't already head on over to the Teachers Like Freebies blog and subscribe to receive wonderful freebies from many talented teachers.

My Motivational Monday Freebies will start back up again soon (I've been a bit slack on my Easter Holidays). If anyone has any suggestions about what they would like to see free please leave a comment below.

Happy Easter Sale and New Products

So I’ve been absent from the blog world for quite some time! Easter school holidays are almost over (Nooooooo!) and it is back to school next week. I’ve already had 2 dreams (nightmares?) about naughty children and hiding in my office!

I’ve been extremely busy creating new products for my class and have uploaded them in my store this week. Last month I completed my Phonics Pack 1. I’ve now finished Packs 2 and 3 and also created a bundle in my store. I’m very happy to say my Phonics folders are now all organised and my lessons and activities are ready for the next term or 2! No planning, creating and printing necessary. I’ll be having a laminating party tonight with myself and a movie or two.

 

So to celebrate Easter and my new products I’m having a sale in my Teachers Pay Teachers store!

For 2 days you can save 20% off everything! New products and old. The sale dates are April 20th and 21st.  There are many other sellers with sales as well. What could be a better way to spend your Easter Sunday than with a TPT shopathon?!

Here are some pics of my newest products that I am oh so proud of.  And of course these will be included in the sale. Click on the links to find them in my store. Leave a comment below and tell me what you think?

Phonics Pack 2

Part 1: Letter Work

Part 2: Word Work

Part 3: Sentence Work

Phonics Pack 3

Part 1: Letter Work

Part 2: Word Work

Part 3: Sentence Work

Phonics Bundle: Packs 1, 2 and 3 Save $6.00

Pack 1: Letters smtcgpao

Pack 2: Letters rldbfhiu

Pack 3: Letters vxyzjnke

Monster Number Boards for Number and Place Value Work

Monster Number Boards

1 digit number board

2 digit Number Board

I’ll be posting some more details about my Phonics lessons in the near future so stay tuned. In the meantime have a Happy Easter!

Phonics Work Pack 1 Complete!

After working on this pack for the last month I have finally finished my first Phonics Work bundle! Yay!

My class this year has a lot of little grade 1 students who have not yet learned to read and do not recognise most letters or sounds. At first I panicked a little (just a little) as in my previous year of teaching I my grade one students knew the basics so I wasn’t quite sure where I was going to start. Memories of university courses and teaching prep (kindergarten) students were a bit fuzzy so I did what most of us would do… hit the internet, pinterest and teaching textbooks to come up with a plan of attack.

I have used a phonics programs before but was not entirely happy with the structure and lack of resources to use. After a lot of reading I decided to structure my phonics lessons around another program although lacked the funds to purchase all of the resources and materials.

My first phonics pack has three parts to it:

1    * Phoneme/Letter work

2    * Word work

3    * Sentence work

Part 1: Phoneme/Letter Work

Preview: Part 1

Part 2: Word Work

Preview: Part 2

Part 3: Sentence Work

Preview: Part 3

Each part builds upon the previous part. First the students learn 8 phonemes and the corresponding letters. Once they know these first 8 sounds they can start to blend CVC words (using only those 8 letters) and move on to the word work. After this they move on to the sentence work with CVC words and basic sight words.

The first letters are s, m, c, g, t, p, a and o.

I have used this pack for my grade 1 students in Term 1 and plan to move on to the next 8 phonemes next term. 

Activities include flashcards, writing pages, tracing pages, reading pages and mini books, worksheets, cutting and pasting activities, dice games, four in a row and bingo games.

The pack is mostly in black and white with a few colour pages.

Print, laminate and reuse! I keep paper copies in my folder but I also have multiple laminated copies to reuse and save ink and paper.

I’ll keep you posted about my next pack that will use the next 8 sounds I’m hoping to get that done over Easter break. I’m very excited about sharing this with you. I’d love to post more about it but time is running out before Monday hits! You can purchase this pack from my TpT Store here. Please feel free to leave a comment. What do you think?