Ten Frame Fun

I just posted a cute new math center game/activity called Tiny Ten Frames, to help students learn to represent two and three digit numbers with ten frames.


It is also listed on TeacherspayTeachers!

 Don't forget your email, if you don't want to post it here, go to my website and use the "contact me" form to get a message to me!

 Have a great weekend!


Black Cat Box Craft - FREE File


It is school holidays here in Australia, and my daughter and I are having a wonderful time being crafty and reading lots of stories. And by 'reading lots of stories' I mean, 'staying in our pyjamas till noon'. One of her favourites (and mine) is My Cat Likes To Hide in Boxes.


Together, my daughter and I made some very cute black cats last night from boxes we were about to put into the recycling bin. We painted them black and I quickly drew up some features for decoration. I have put them together in a free file, so you can make one too (see bottom of this post)! 



We hope you enjoy making one! We had to visit the craft store today to buy some orange paint, as now that we have a family of black cats, my daughter is determined that we must have an orange one!


The file includes step-by-step photos, so you can clearly show your little ones how to make one too! Find it at TpT, by clicking on the image below:

Starting to Read & Write



We are so excited to have finally finished our latest teaching resource - The Sounding Out Train

It is ta wonderful way to start teaching little learners to begin to read and write. After you have taught the single sounds (or a fair chunk of them),  start to teach them about the Sounding-Out Train! 

The train has 3 parts - the engine, the carriage and the caboose. All 3 parts help to read (or write) the word. Give them colours to also help with the process of learning to chunk a word up or down (encode/decode - write/read). The 3 colours also serve as a useful tool when you want to start to move your class on from the train...you can just use the colours before finally getting them to sound-out plain black words on a white background.

This new resource includes everything you need to get started with the Sounding-Out Train in your classroom. Anchor charts, letter cards, picture cards, poster pages, worksheets, literacy centers and heaps of teacher notes and suggestions. You can also use many of the ideas in the program and adapt them for your own classroom, for example you may not want to use the letter cards - magnetic letters work too.


Using the teacher cards to model how to read and write simple words



It is a great idea to sort your teacher cards in an Index Card Box
 or similar.

Students make their own words for an independent activity, after participating in whole class lessons and modelling.

A great way to sort the student cards




Reading word cards are sent home daily to tie in reading with writing. The sounds are segmented to help students with the 'sounding out' process.

More b & d revision


Click on the image above to download our 2nd page for FREE now!

Just created another page for b & d revision. My kinders are in their last 10 weeks of school for the year (after our upcoming 2 week vacation). I would not normally teach b & d together at the same time, however we have spent all year learning them, and some lovely little ones are still having trouble with them....hence the revision worksheets :)

reversing b & d ?


Click on the image above to download my first band d page for FREE

Do your little learners have trouble when writing b and d? Even my super clever learners often get them mixed up. I am preparing a pack of worksheets to help revise b & d.

Here is the first page in the series, download it for free and use it for revision and consolidation.

I have made a USA and Australian version in the same document.

Free Fly Guy Craft File


fly guy craft

Fly Guy Craft

Have you read the Fly Guy books? They are some of our favorites. My students always love them and my daughter is enjoying them too.

I have made a cute fly handprint carft for your little ones to complete as you learn about the long y sound.

To make 

  • trace your hands or print them with paint
  • cut out the hands - these become your fly's wings
  • cut out the body - or draw your own to cut
  • glue the wings behind the body
y as long i activity

Ideas:

  • attach to fishing line and dangle from the ceiling for a fun and floaty display
  • brainstorm y as long i words and record on a class chart
  • students record 8 words from the class collaboration to display under their fly guy

fly guy craft

You can find it in our TPT store for free!


Art and craft with handprints - either traced or printed make a great addition to a All About Me unit. It is important that students in kindergarten explore what makes them similar and different to their peers as they build their self identity, confidence and self awareness. 


Free File - Caterpillar Handprint Class Art Activity


There is some exciting news from our little pond. We are expecting a new addition in March 2012! I am around 13 weeks pregnant, and have been feeling quite unwell......so not so many posts recently :(

I am beginning to feel back to normal, and look forward to hopefully regaining some creativity...it seems the "baby brain" has kicked in very early.

I hope you like this cute new free file I just created. We are doing an "All About Me" unit in my classroom and hand print-art is a great activity to get my little ones talking about themselves, and how we are all different and similar.

Take care and have a great teaching day :)