Dreaming of a white Christmas...

Today I was inspired to make some gorgeous snowmen with my little class after I saw photos of family in Minnesota making snowmen and playing in the snow... 

I drew the template of the snowmans body on white card. 

I then drew a triangle shape on orange card for the carrot nose. 

The children cut both of these out and stuck them onto black cardboard. 

Using two strips of red and green paper we created a scarf.

The children then snipped the end of the scarf to create a frayed look.

I gave the children a marker pen and they created their snowmans mouth. 

Finally, we used white paint and cotton buds (cue tips) to make the snow. 

The result... a super cute snowman looking into the sky at the falling snow! 

Let it snow, let it snow, let is snow globe!

Today my gorgeous class KS created the most wonderful snow globes. 

We used our imaginations to think about what our lives would be like if we lived  inside a snow globe. 

They children came up with many interesting ideas! 

As we have been learning about the senses I was able to incorporate this into the lesson. 

On the base of the snow globe the children were asked to think about what they would see, hear, smell and feel living in the snow globe. 

The base of the snow globe was from http://firstgradeblueskies.blogspot.com.au/2011/12/label-it-space-and-snowglobe-writing.html?m=1

I then cut out the centre of plastic plates and stapled them on to black card paper.

The children then pasted the bases underneath the plastic plates.

I took photos of the children and they stuck them inside the bowl (globe). 

Using a cotton bud (cue tip) the children dipped one end into white paint and dotted the 'snow' on to the middle of the globe around their photo. 

I was very pleased with how they turned out!

Vincent Van Gogh

My little ones have been learning about Vincent Van Gogh this term. 

They are now able to share many interesting facts about him! 

We decided to create one of his well known art works. 

We created "Sunflowers" over a couple of lessons and I was really pleased with the way they all turned out. 

I found a simple vase template online which the children coloured in crayon. 

Next, they were given a piece of white paper and they drew and coloured the table with crayon. 

After, they pasted the vases on the white paper.

The next step was the flowers, which we was done by demonstrating with directed drawing. 

The final step was to put a wash of yellow dye over the top and then once dry I framed them all with black cardboard.

Spring has sprung...

I'm typing this post today from the back of a car as I road trip through the state of Minnesota in the USA! 

It's school holidays now and right before school ended my little class made some 'Spring' craft.

I used a word document and inserted the 'cloud shape'. I then used wordart to write Spring inside the cloud.

I then cut up several strips of coloured  paper for the 'rainbow'. 

The children then wrote words used to describe Spring on the strips of paper.

They cut the cloud out, added the paper strips and coloured in the word Spring. 

I think it was very successful!

Also, prior to the school holidays I took my little class on our annual Zoo excursion. 

The children had a wonderful time and so did I!

I even managed to get chosen out of the audience to star in the seal show!

The children were very excited to see 'Mrs Steffenson' in the show...

On the Zoo excursion, I had 3 parent helpers assist me with looking after the children in my class.

As a way to say 'thank you' for their assistance I gave them a photo of our class at the zoo and also this little thank you note and gift:

Signing off now, it's time to get out of the car and stretch the legs :)

Fathers Day In KS

It's that time of the year again where we celebrate 'Dad'.

Today the children in KS were busy creating Father's Day gifts for their dads.

I kept it very simple this year and the children were very proud of their work.

I am sure the dads of KS will be happy with their gifts on Father's Day. 

I managed to find a great Acrostic Poem template online at Teachers Pay Teachers. The best thing about it was that it was FREE....teachers love FREE stuff! 

Here is the link:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/My-Dad-Acrostic-Poem-Template-1387422%23

Here's how they turned out: 

One of my gorgeous colleagues Mrs Robinson came up with the template for a Fathers Day tie... 

The children cut out the tie template and decorated it with stickers and created their own patterns with coloured pencils.

They cut two ties out and I stapled them

back to back with the children's choice of ribbon. (I had saved up a variety of ribbon of all shapes and sizes prior to

this activity).

I think they turned out 'tie-riffic' and I am sure the KS dads will wear them with pride on Father's  Day!

Education Week

This week at school we had an open classroom day for Education Week. 

The children enjoyed seeing their families in the room and I was happy to see the children's proud smiling faces when they were showing off their work.

We are learning about 'Animals' this Term. 

While the parents were in the room we did a cut and paste comprehension activity which was linked to an interactive pana-board activity. 

The children then made cute tigers for a little craft activity to finish off the lesson.

I gave all of our KS visitors a little card and treat to show my appreciation.

I found this little card on the Teachers Pay Teachers website and stuck a Mintie onto it. Here is the link: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Open-House-Parent-Involve-MINT-Poster-1391926%23

The room was looking very bright and happy for Education Week! 

Hello it's been a while...

It has been a little while since my last blog... but a lot has been going on!

My husband and I sold our first home and have now since bought a new house!

 

Our weekends and week-nights were so consumed with house hunting that I haven't had much spare time to wrote on my blog.

The Sydney housing market is crazy! We calculated that we went to over 75 open houses before we found THE ONE.

We are now in the final stages of packing and will be moving this week... it is a very exciting and busy time!

Here are a couple of snapshots of the work that has been going on in KS:

The children are getting very clever with Digraphs. 

Recently they were learning all about the 'Wh' digraph. 

I decided to find a cat template online and wrote the 'wh' sound  on it's body. 

The children then wrote words with the 'wh' sound on strips of paper. 

The strips of paper then became the whiskers of the cat.

This was an easy and enjoyable activity for the children. 

Earlier in the year I used the concept of  2D shapes to make "Shape Pizzas" with the children. 

The children really enjoyed that activity so I thought I would do something similar again. 

I decided because it was Winter and they needed to revise their knowledge of 2D shapes that we could make "Winter Gloves". 

I copied a template of a winter glove onto coloured card and then copied shape templates onto coloured paper.

The children then picked the glove colour that they wanted and the shape colour they wanted to use to decorate their glove. 

I created a worksheet to go with the activity where they had to count the amount of shapes used on their glove.

I told them they were not allowed to use the same number of shapes twice. This made it a little harder for them and allowed them to practice their number formation too!

I think they turned out great! 

The children were so proud of their work:

Happy Mothers Day

Happy Mothers Day from KS!

This week in KS we have been very busy making some cute presents for the KS mummies for Mothers Day.

We made flowers in vases, cards and a hand print poem. 

The children were very proud of their work and I am sure their mums will love their special Mothers Day gifts!

We also discussed and wrote about what makes our mummies special. I love using my personal photos to inspire the children in writing tasks. They love seeing photos and hearing about stories of my life. 

After the children had written their stories about their own mums, I laminated them and sent them home for an extra Mothers Day treat! 

Happy Mothers Day to all of the mummies out there!

ANZAC Day

My gorgeous kiddies learnt all about the meaning of ANZAC Day at school yesterday. 

We read a beautiful story called 'My Grandad Marches On ANZAC Day' written by Catriona Hoy and Benjamin Johnson. 

We looked at, smelt and took home 'rosemary' from a colleagues garden and made our own wreaths with poppies. 

We also watched a great, age appropriate YouTube video from Sqwirk about ANZAC Day.

Students coloured the wreaths in green pastels. I copied the poppies onto red card paper and the students cut them out and added them to their wreaths. 

On Monday we will complete an ANZAC Day writing task to go with their completed wreaths. 

Some'bunny' loves you KS...

This weekend I have been busy making Easter treats for my gorgeous little class.

I can't wait to surprise them tomorrow with my little 'bunny tails'.

If you wish to make these they are really simple. 

What you will need:

Zip lock bags 

Marshmallows

Name tag/envelope address stickers

I created a template on the computer to print onto the name tag stickers:

Unfortunately my colour ink ran out and it was too late to go to the store to replace the ink cartridge. I'm sure the children won't mind the black and white version!

I then put the marshmallows into the zip lock bags and stuck the name tag labels on.

Here is the finished product:

St Patricks Day!

Firstly, Happy St Patricks Day to you all!

I am not Irish, but sure do feel blessed to teach 21 gorgeous little lucky charms!

We celebrated St Patricks Day in KS today by making Leprechauns! They turned out great! The children giggled at their little orange beards and big green hats! They were proud to take them home today.

It's amazing what you can do with a paper plate! 

Firstly paint half the plate with orange paint. This will be your beard.

Secondly, make a hat. I found mine online by doing a google search for 'Leprechaun Hats' and copied it onto card stock.

Children then coloured the hat with light and dark green pastels

The students then cut the hat out and added some eyes to their Leprechauns. I assisted with drawing the faces and stapled the hats to the plates.

This is the result:

'To be sure, to be sure' they sure look great! 

Vistaprint Obsession!

I am obsessed with Vistaprint! 

I am constantly on the hunt for a new deal or special on their website (www.vistaprint.com).

Any teacher will understand the thrill of the chase for a useful classroom resource at a bargain price.

I must admit I have an addiction to stationary and personalised stationary is the BEST cure! 

I thought I would share some of my recent purchases and designs.

Classroom banner displayed in my front window:

Get well soon postcard note, great for clipping onto any important notes a student may have missed when they were absent:

Thank you postcard for parents who assist or contribute to the classroom:

Happy birthday postcard for students celebrating their special day at school:

My personalised notebooks for notes to parents. I was lucky enough to have these made for me and sent as a surprise from my incredible husband Matt:

I found the wording on the business cards and postcards below on Pinterest (after reading some other teachers blogs), but personalised them to suit my needs: