Guided Reading Goodies!

Hello again lovely teacher friends!

If you are anything like me, you are probably always on the look out for fun and engaging phonics and letter recognition games for your little cherubs at this time of year. Right now I am putting together my own collection of games to use with my guided reading groups - made up of my own creations as well as some fabulous FREEBIES I have hunted down over time. 

I have put together this post full of my own FREEBIES, as well as links to some great FREEBIES out there on the web. I hope you enjoy these...

These items are all FREEBIES I have made myself, which you can download by clicking on the images.

And here are some links to some fabulous products I have found very useful over my teaching time. Click on any of the images below to go to the host site.

(Hint: any links leading to 'the Reading Mama' have the download link RIGHT AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE. Just keep scrolling and you will find it :)

I hope you find these bits and pieces as helpful as I have!

Hop and Stop! - Easter Math FREEBIE!

Hello friends!!

Here in sunny Queensland we have just 1 week left until the Easter holidays!! (and I don't know about you but they couldn't come soon enough for me - I am EXHAUSTED!)

Although this week is going to be jam-packed with our Easter Hat Parade, rewards day, cross country and our break up day, we will be continuing with our number work this week and I would like to share my resources with you TODAY, before the last week of school.

Our rhyme this week is an adorable little poem I found called 'Hop and Stop' about rabbits - perfect for Easter! You can click on any of the images throughout this post to download the packet...FREE.

Inside this packet you will find the rhyme ready to be printed and bound or placed into a display folder. Personally I like placing my rhymes into folders and in the back of each, placing the whole group resources to go with each rhyme in clippy bags. Works a treat for me!

Along with the rhyme you will find two whole group math activities - Counting Carrots and Hidden Carrot. I have also included instruction pages for each activity. 

Finally there are two follow up activities to match - Bunny Tens Frames - Roll and Fill (instruction included) and a Counting Bunnies worksheet.

I hope that you and your students enjoy learning numbers with this adorable number rhyme!

Looking for more number rhyme resources? Click on the thumbnails below to download more FREEBIE resources!

    

Until next time...

Using Our Manners - a FREE Social Story and Sort

Well school has been back in full swing for 5 weeks here in Oz and I now have a pretty good idea of what my kiddies have and what we need to work on. 

In this case, we need to learn social skills! Manners, sharing, working together, listening, keeping our hands to ourselves - you name it, we will be working on it! (Anyone else feeling the same way???) Last week we learned about how to share. 

This week, we are on to manners, and I would like to share some of my new resources with you.

This week we will begin every day in Circle Time by reading our 'Using my Manners' social story. I printed it out and added it into a display folder after our Sharing social story. We will choose a different part of the story to talk about each day - listening skills, asking politely, treating our friends kindly. We act out different skills and complete our picture sort, and give examples of mow we can use our manners.

If you would like to grab your own copy of this Manners Social Story and Manners Picture Sort just click on the image above to access it.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this or other activities which we teachers could use to support the teaching of manners and other social skills. As I create more social skills resources for my classroom I will happily share them with you all!

Colour Sort Freebie!

Beginning of Prep teacher moment...

Over the holidays I planned for this term, taking everything I had learned from my very first year in Prep. This year however, I found that my little Cubs need a little more work on their foundation skills like, colours and shapes. 

So I got busy!

This week I created, printed and laminated these cute little cards (after spending a decent amount of time Google-ing different pictures...BEFORE remembering that there is an amazing lady who sells photos on tpt!) On Friday we completed this colour sort together as a class. I handed out one card to each child and they had to state the colour they had and then match it up to the correct colour title. It was a great lesson, and one which I will be adding to my small group time.

Would you like to grab a set for yourself? Just click the image below and it will take you to the file! (Which has different photos which are suitable for commercial sharing, thanks to Strawberry Shake).

Hope you enjoy this little FREEBIE!

I am looking at making a similar activity for recognising basic 2D shapes as well so keep an eye out!

Back to School - Prep C Style!

A big hello out there to all my fellow teachers, and congratulations to those Aussie teachers who have survived their first and second week back at school for 2016! Today I would love to share with you what the Cubs have been up to in Prep C!

Last Wednesday I finally got to meet my brand new cubs! I feel like this year I will be in for a good few challenges but I am looking forward to it. Besides, even if it is a tough term, if the days fly by as quickly as the last 8 days have, it will be Easter holidays in no time at all!

I started the term by snapping a photo of each of my little ones holding our 1st day of Prep C sign (and I couldn't resist snapping one of myself!)

The first few weeks of Prep are most certainly all about setting up expectations and building social skills. Over the last 2 weeks I took some time to sit down with my cubs and discuss classroom rules, and what they would look like in our classroom. I then went home and put our ideas together into some posters and we refer to them every morning during Circle Time. I also have a set posted up on the wall.

In our first week we read the book 'The Kissing Hand' which the Cubs really enjoyed. It was a bit of an effort to build our 'sitting on the carpet' expectation but we are making progress. After we read our story for the first time we talked about how Chester felt on his first day of school, and compared how we all felt on our first day. We drew faces on a piece of paper to make a chart and I then printed of pictures to create a display version. This is an activity we will do each week for our book of the week with a different theme.

We also started working on letter knowledge. Having started some mini checklists with my Cubs over the last week and a half we will definitely be doing everything we can to add in more time for letter recognition and sound knowledge!

So far we have started work on the letters b, m and s. These are a few activities we have been working on over the last few weeks. We have been building words with matching beginning letters with Wikki Stix, building letters with play dough, handwriting letters in our mini books, and working on letter matching and recognition.

The picture in the top left corner was of an activity we played in our Circle Time one day this week. As I stated a letter name, three of my Cubs threw beanbags into the matching hoop. The remainder of the activities here were done during Literacy Rotations. We circulated around the room whilst the Cubs worked and had them tell us the letters they were working on.

This week we moved onto reading 'The Rainbow Fish' - one of my all time favourite books! Again we build up our poster for out theme of sharing. We brainstormed all different things we can share with our friends (funnily enough the things kids seem to share most didn't make the list - head lice and bugs! haha!)

Later on in the week we worked together to create a display of rainbow fish in our room. I cut up coloured patty pans into thirds and we stuck them over a fish template which I printed onto white card. As they worked I wandered around and handed out one silver scale (aluminium patty pan cut up) to each child. They looked fabulous when they were all finished!

During our math block the last few weeks I introduced my Cubs to number sense warm ups, which worked a treat! I have thrown a few photos together below of all the different games we played. Some days we even wrapped up math rotations a little early and had a second game before lunch which nobody objected to. You may notice that I have used my animal number posters in every game so far! These are working posters and I use them in just about every math lesson! They are especially great fr practising number formation because I can hold one up in the air facing my kids and trace over the numbers with my finger. 

We had a go at Apple Picking where we raced to collect as many apples (scrunched up red paper) as we could to place them on our trees, counted them up and placed the matching numbers beside them (missed this shot!). We built collections of frogs in our pond. This was made from A3 card cut into a pond shape and stuck to green card. 

We went fishing for numbers twice! One day we used snap cubes to show the numbers pulled out in front of us, and on another day we wrote the number on our whiteboards. One day our doggy hid his bone under cones and we have to find it by guessing the number it was behind. Once we found the bone we had to write the number on our whiteboards.

On Friday we practised subitising to 3 by turning over cards and identifying how many animals we could see. We then had to find the numeral and write to on our whiteboards. After our warm up on the carpet, we then went to our desks and practised rainbow writing our numbers to 5 in coloured pencils - We need lots of work on number and letter formation!

  

Our Math rotations we full of back to school themed games (which will be swapped out at the end of next week). We build towers, matched number representations, counted collections and identified matching numerals, and built numbers in ten frames. We also tried out a few finger gym activities to build our little finger muscles.

This term in Prep we are learning about plants and animals. Over the term we will be looking at all different kids of Aussie animals and how they live in their habitats. So far we have begun by talking about our 5 senses, living and non-living things, plant parts, needs and how plants grow. We even made our own people and plants which look amazing in our room! As we learn about a new concept I add new displays to our Science Wall. All these displays I have made with adorable clip art from Krista Wallden.

Well that about covers the bulk of what we got up to in our first few weeks :)

How were your first weeks back?

Tips for a Fabulous First Day - Linky Party

Hi all! Today I am linking up with Juile over at OzCurriculum HQ for a very special Linky Party. We are sharing tips and tricks to having a fabulous first day!

Setting the Scene

Before your kiddies walk in your front door there is so much to do! Aside from decorating, it is really all about organisation. Having somewhere for your kiddies to put their belongings when they arrive. A few things to think about might be:

- lunch boxes

- drink bottles

- books and stationary

If you are in Prep/Foundation like me and have communal resources, sometimes some large buckets or tubs can work well. Just add a label to each bucket so parents know where to place each item and viola!

Having a set place for little ones to put their lunch boxes (unless they stay in their bags) and drink bottles is also a must :) A spare table or a bookshelf is perfect!

It is also a good idea to have name tags ready for day 1 to help you with learning names and faces -Sticky labels, laminated cards with pins - anything that works.

When They Arrive

Be prepared - Have AT LEAST 2 water bottles ready because trust me, you will need them. The first 20 minutes of the day when you have parents and caregivers in the room along with your new cherubs can be very overwhelming the first time. Your room will be full and you will probably have some anxious parents asking lots of questions (especially first-timers). Remember, they are entrusting their baby to your care - someone they have only just met. That is a pretty scary thought!

Having something set up for your kiddies to work on when they walk in while Mum and Dad sort their belongings is a good idea. Jigsaw puzzles and colouring in pages are great  for this :)

In Prep I strongly recommend to have a poster outside the room for parents to read with your instructions laid out clearly. Don't be afraid to speak up after the bell goes and let parents know that it is time to start the day and for them to leave. Be prepared for tears!

Equipment

After your parents have sorted all the kiddies equipment into your buckets or tubs, quite honestly I highly recommend to just leave it be! Move the tubs to the side of the room so they are out of the way and deal with it later (or you can enlist the help of your wonderful, fabulous, amazing aide!) Believe me - you will be way too busy during the day settling your kiddies to deal with it.

Activity Ideas

On the first day I would be suggesting to start off setting the expectations for your classroom for the year to come. Talk about what is acceptable and unacceptable behaviour, and give reasons for both. E.g. We walk inside the classroom. If we run, we might trip over something and hurt ourselves.

Reading a picture book is a good way to settle your new kiddies into the day. This year I will be starting with 'The Kissing Hand'. We will talk about first day jitters, what makes us feel better, how we can make friends and map out our feelings. After we read the story the children will do a craft to go with the book. In my case, we will colour and make a crown with 'Chester' the baby raccoon and main character, to wear for the day and take home.

Another favourite text for me is 'The Rainbow Fish'. In week 2 we will read this story, discuss friendship, and complete a collage fish.

I like to get straight into work as usual on the first day, but opinions on this will vary from teacher to teacher. When I say 'work', my day will consist of:

Phonics - Look at a letter of the week. Brainstorm words starting with the letter 's'. Do a picture sort altogether on the carpet.

Reading Rotations x3 - Letter formation of the letter s, basic sight words (here, is, I), sound activities for the letter s, handwriting the letter s and Entrance checklist.

Fruit Break

English - Read 'The Kissing Hand', discuss first day feelings, complete Chester hat.

First Break

Maths - Work on numbers 1-3. Place Value warm up, Guided lesson looking at numbers 1-3, follow up pair activity - showing numbers 1-3

Maths Rotations - Fine motor (geoboards, threading etc.), visual (patterns, pattern block puzzles etc.), Number - building, reading, counting number 1-5, Entrance checklist.

Second Break

Gross Motor - Playground - discuss safe/unsafe behaviour. (Short session)

School Tour - Tuckshop, playground, office

Class Pet - Delivery, Predict, Story 'The Fearsome, Frightening, Ferocious Box'. Naming the pets.

Name Craft - Students paste small coloured squares to an A3 (cut lengthways) black card to form their name (written in white pencil).

Play Break

Dismissal

Obviously everyone's days will look different, but this is what mine looks like :) Throughout the day I also like to take a photo of each child for their Memory folder. This year it will be each child holding a photo frame with a first day message.

I hope this has given you a few ideas ready for your first day of Prep! Don't forget to click on the link below to check out more posts with tips and tricks for your first day :)

First days of Prep

This time three years ago I was in complete freak out mode. I was stressed out over moving to Prep and had absolutely no idea where to begin. After spending a gazillion hours searching Pinterest and several conversations with my new mentor teacher, I had my first week all planned out. Did it all go to plan? ABSOLUTELY NOT! You know the phrase 'The best laid plans..."? well that pretty much sums up my first week experience.

BUT, I learned from it! And the first week of my second year teaching went a little smoother ^happy dance!^

And then this time last year I was in the same boat again, freaking out over my move to Prep. Anyone else in this kinda position? Anyway, again I spent another million hours on Pinterest and chatting with my new mentor teacher and was finally ready. Still things didn't go exactly to plan, but I was so much more confident!

I know that a lot of new teachers are in this same exact boat so I would like to share my own tried and tested ways of beginning your year in Prep :)

Firstly, I should explain that at my school, the first time I meet my kids, see their faces, get an idea of where their are academically is the first day of term. We don't have a 'Meet the Teacher' day until about Week 3 once the kiddies are settled in and teachers are officially finalised (the whole Day 8 thing can cause havoc). So my first day is hectic. Kids bringing in all their books and belongings, 2 or 3 adults for each child in the room - day 1 is very overwhelming! I swear I drank a whole water bottle in the first 10 minutes from sheer nerves!

I will break this post down into the key things I try to prepare for and if you have any questions about anything else, please feel free to comment below and I will try my best to answer :)

P.S. I do apologise for the ton of words as I do not have photos of my first day (things were way too hectic! I will do my best to take some this year and add them in for next year)

Classroom Environment

One core belief I have is that if you create a warm and welcoming classroom environment, your students will feel much happier to be there. I love to make my classroom bright and colourful (Last year I had a Disney theme and they loved it! This year I am going for a 'Jungle' theme and can't wait to share photos once it is complete :) I have searched and searched and searched online for different classroom images and you would be amazed at the creativity of some teachers! Really simple things like an inviting pinboard, colourful posters, bright buckets - and books on display! I have also seen some amazing uses of coloured paper pompoms and streamers.

These are some images I used as inspiration when I started prepping my first classroom :) All the images are hyperlinked. I know these are American sites and I swear their classroom are about 10 times as big as Aussie rooms, but there are so many cute little things you can get ideas for.

 

Get organised! If you have hexagon tables then you will need a place to store your kiddies books. Same goes for supplies. If you are having shared supplies then you will need an organisation strategy.

Personally last year I used buckets, baskets and plastic drawers, which I will be using again this year, but there are so many different options out there! Bookshelves, drawers, pigeon holes for books, and buckets, caddies, trays, bins for supplies.

Again, I have put together some images for inspiration with links to their host site :)

Ok. So it is 7am, day 1, and your classroom is all set-up ready for your new little cherubs to come in...with all their books and pencils and library bags and hats and folders... What next?

Last year I set up a little table and as the kiddies brought in their things we just piled them up on top. Throughout the afternoon I checked off the materials they had brought in and put everything away where it belonged. Honestly, it took me forever, and some parents DID NOT LABEL! I was left to sort it all out.

This year I am making a change. I will instead be buying 30 large paper bags - 1 per child and sheets of white labels and textas for parents to stick to all their child's books, folders, pencils etc. This way I can keep everything together, know exactly who's is who's and it will look much neater!

Wen my kids come in I like to have a colouring page and baskets of pencils set out ready for them. Keeps them happy and busy while you run around answering the million and one questions parents will throw at you, plus it is something easy they can keep as a memento of their first day.

Once all your kids have arrived, and their materials have been sorted take a moment and STOP, BREATHE, and have a DRINK. Your first day will fly - trust me. You will forget all about drinking water because you will be so run off your feet and worrying but it is so important to keep yourself hydrated - especially if you are a Queensland teacher like me and your first day is 30+ degrees outside! Remember, your kiddies will feel it too so remind them to drink from their water bottles, and add in little toilet breaks and brain breaks for them.

After you stop and take a breath, start your morning routine. I highly recommend spending the very first 20 minutes or so of your day reading a book about school and creating or introducing your classroom rules. Below are a few of my favourites - I am still waiting to receive my new copy of 'The Kissing Hand' which I will use this year but it is also a beautiful story to begin the day with.

This year we started every day with Circle Time. We sang songs, did the calendar, counted, played games and recited nursery rhymes and I thrived on it! Crazy right? If I was sick for a day I really missed my morning dose of 'The Wiggles.'

Oh yeah, and the kids enjoyed it too! Haha!

Honestly, over the first week I try to add in heaps of hands of activities for English and Maths groups and supervise. Remember, you will need to very clearly explain and model every activity, every movement, every action you wish your students to do - including how to move from the carpet to their tables! If in doubt, model! They catch on pretty quick if you are consistent :)

I do like to get straight into work after the rules are set. We read our English text, do literacy rotations, learn a letter, and by that time it is lunch! Told you - the days fly!

Same goes for maths. We play a number sense warm-up which my kids still at the end of the year did not consider maths!! We have a number lesson. We do our Maths rotations...and it is lunch again!

After lunch we go out to play..ahem...sorry...complete gross motor and social skill development activities. When we come back in we do a teeny bit of Science. When I say Science, we are learning about Australian animals in Term 1 so it is super fun! Animal crafts, looking at pictures, hypothesising (Ha! Snuck in a big word!!) and just exploring in any way we can.

On day 1 I do not expect my kiddies to do book work - mainly because their books are still in bags on the floor where they were left that morning! - but also because this is their first day in a classroom. I want it to be fun! I want them to be excited to come back!

Now, over the first few days my job is to OBSERVE. Yep! OBSERVE. Obviously I teach as well, but when the kiddies are doing their thing working together, playing together, it is my job to observe them and make mental notes about their social skills. What are they lacking? What are they great at?

Also - CHECKLISTS! Over the first few weeks I try to do a letter-sound checklist for all my kiddies, and a maths checklist (recognising numerals, 1:1 correspondence, building numbers etc). This will help to guide my teaching. The earlier you do it, the earlier you can start targeting exactly what your kiddies need.

Woah this is a long post! Still with me? Good on ya!

Basically the best piece of advice I could share with a beginning teacher is have fun. Honestly, if you are having fun, your kids will too. If you get to the first day and realise you forgot something, don't stress over it. There is nothing you can do. Just make a note and sort it out after school or another day. You have 40 weeks of teaching these little minds ahead of you. If something is missing for a day it will not hurt them. Trust me, I have done it every year! It is not the end of the world.

And use the resources available to you! You will most likely have a kick-ass aid to work with who will be there for you when you are lost and have no idea what to do. Ask questions of other teachers. If you are unsure of something don't be afraid to ask. Someone will help you.

Finally, even if you have a terrible day every now and then, remember, tomorrow is always a new day with new opportunities.

Teaching is such a special profession. Enjoy it. Smile. Have fun. And treasure every minute of it :)

Until next time my friends...