One Word for 2016



A fun activity for your students to try is to have them think of 

just one word 

that will define their 2016! 

Brainstorm some examples and talk about how one word can encompass a goal. 


Students can use the letters on this page and the bonus letters page to create their word. Copy some in bright colours for a different effect. We pasted ours to bright paper for a nice background. 


This printable is FREE in my TpT store as a little thank you for all your support through 2015. I am super excited about what 2016 will bring and cannot wait to share some of my adventures with you. 

If you need some more New Year fun, check out the newly refreshed photo booth props I have made in collaboration with my sweet friend Deanna Jump. Click on the picture below to find her store. 




And you will love all the gorgeous ideas for learning over at my friend Erica's blog! She has enough to keep you going in the classroom for a whole week at least, and its all prepped ready for you! 



Have a wonderful day my friends, and once again - thank you for stopping by! 


Win a Snowman Freebie


Place Value Games

I have a fun worksheet game for you to download today!

Win a Snowman is a trading game that will help your students with place value and building numbers in sets of ten.

I am so passionate about students having ample play opportunities with 'tens blocks' (also called MAB blocks) - especially in the early years. They help lay a strong, solid understanding of our number system and how numbers are formed and represented. This then makes learning addition, subtraction, multiplication and division a LOT easier.

How to play win a snowman

In this game, the shorts (or 'ones') are snowflakes. 
  • Students can roll one or two dice (find total of 2 to make it harder for your more-able students) and gather the same number of snowflakes. 
  • Put them in the ones column. Aim to build ten.
  • Trade ten shorts for a long (or, a 'ten') - which in this game, is called a snowball!
  • Once you have ten snowballs, you can trade for a snowman (a flat, or 'hundred'). 
Find the free printable in Google Drive HERE.




I have also added a tens game to my TpT store. Students will work on instantly recognizing arrangements of 'longs' or 'tens' and finding two digit numbers on their game board to match.



Thanks so much for stopping by today!

New Craftivities

I have added two new paper crafts to my Paper Craft Bundle!

If you have the bundle, simply go to your purchases tab in your TpT account and grab the new files!


The first is a penguin craft with three writing prompt options. 


The second is a pencil case, perfect for back to school (eek! sorry to mention that fellow Aussie teachers). Students will fill out some 'getting to know you' facts on their pencils and slide them into their pocket pouch pencil case. 



Both of these crafts are available individually as well. 

  



Have a wonderful day friends!

Subtraction

Here are a few simple 'low prep' activity for subtraction in the K-3 classroom!


1. Two Dice

Roll a thirty or twenty sided number die and a standard six sided die. Students write a subtraction problem using the numbers thrown. They can 'touch count' backwards using the dots on the standard die if they need to. Roll again if the numeral die number is smaller than the dot die. 



2. Towers

Students take one tower of ten connecting cubes. They break the tower into two pieces and write down a number sentence to explain what they have done - e.g. 10-5 = 5.



3. 100 Club

Each student has 100 cubes, a standard die and a small tub. They simply 'roll and take' to move the cubes from their pile to the tub. This is great for students new to subtraction that simply need an abundance of practice 'acting out' the process of 'taking away' to make changes to a group. It will also reinforce counting and subitizing. 


I have added a low-prep worksheet activity packet to my resource collection. 

Number Snake Worksheets will help your students model the process of subtraction and record their answers on the one page. I have included cut-and-glue numbers, but if this is not suitable for your students, simply ask them to write the answer instead.

The snake becomes a count-back number line to give your students support. They can finger-point to count back, or you can ask them to make each number with cubes and place them over the numbered dots on the snake. 

For example, with 9-2, students would place nine cubes on the snake to begin. 


They then model subtraction by removing two of the cubes and taking them away from the snake. 


Students can count up how many cubes remain and check the number line to see their answer. This will also reinforce the concept that the last number covered is the answer - and it represents the number of objects left. With subtraction on a number line, initially students may find it confusing to know if it is the last number pointed to or the next number. With actual objects, they can see the connection clearly. 

Students then record their answer (either cut and glue, or simply write). 



My subtraction snake worksheet packet is in my TpT store today!




I also have this little freebie for you today which works very well as an assessment or speed check! Find it in google drive HERE


subtraction activities worksheet

Want more like this? Check out this value pack in my TpT store for addition AND subtraction!




Have a wonderful day friends!

Thought for the Day - change in the classroom

When you can't go right, go left

Just a little thought for today my friends - when something is not going right in the classroom - go left!

If something is not working for you - flip it and try something totally new! With experience you will learn that you need to give routines and management techniques time to work in the classroom and you get better and knowing when you need a fast change. 

Here are 3 tips for helping to determine when you need to switch course in a strategy or teaching strategy in the classroom

  1.  Ask a more experienced colleague - find someone more experienced than you, who you trust, and ask their professional opinion. Do you need to suddenly change or can you give it another week or so. All good classroom culture takes time to develop. 
  2. Observe - is it just your gut reaction or have you had time to pay close attention to the impact your strategy or decision is having on student learning. Learning is often less than tidy and quiet. If your children are learning and engaged you may not need to change a thing - only your expectation for classroom noise or student movement for example. 
  3. Change gradually - if you do decide to make a change in direction - do so gradually. Change one small part with sufficient explanation and support to your class and monitor how things are going. It will be here that you may notice the same issues you had initially and you may be able to narrow down the root cause, fixing that before too much needs to change.
Good luck in the classroom today - and as always, if we can help, let us know!

I love quotes and sayings that help guide me to new ways of thinking or that challenge me to change the way I feel. If you love quotes, you may want to follow my Pinterest board! I create and share inspirational pieces that resonate with me, or that I know will resonate with my followers. 

If you were looking for ideas on teaching left and right direction - you can pop over to our other post for some fun teaching tips

Word Family Snowmen

Building cvc Word Families

Get your students building snowmen AND word families with this collection of 22 no-prep activity pages!

First they can read and identify words that belong in the focus family. After carefully tracing the words on each snowball, students can cut and paste them into position to create their snowman.
Building cvc Word Families

Hop over to our TpT store to find this new resource in our store.
Building cvc Word Families

Classroom Posters to Inspire



Hi friends!

Two more teaching days for me and I am on summer break! 

I am HAPPY! 
And grateful! 
And excited! 
And feeling creative! 
I love bright colours. 
I love motivational quotes. 
I love making things pretty. 
I love 'visual learning' and sticking-things-up-on-the-wall-that-you-want-them-to-know!

Put that all together and I present to you a fun packet of classroom posters to inspire!
I chose some fun quotes from Pinterest that I think are simple enough for children to understand and that they can relate to.

Head over to my TpT store to find this packet if you would like to add some cheery inspiration to your classroom, or home office!

Have a gorgeous day friends and wish me luck for these last 2 days!

Winter Tree Visual Discrimination


Visual discrimination activities will help support your students reading development. 

I just added a winter themed activity to my TpT store 

Your students can use dry erase markers to circle a tree that is different in each line. Encourage them to look carefully at each tree across the line from left to right. Tell the to start at the 'starting star'.



You could also use counters, tokens or pegs (clothespins) with these cards. 


This printable file has a accompanying students worksheet and cover page (for organization of resources). 




I have more fun visual discrimination activities in my TpT store HERE

Have a great day and happy teaching.

- Mel x

End of Year + Christmas Student Gift

Here in Australia the end of the school year is almost upon us. We are busy finalising school reports and assessments, sending work home and hosting closing programs and events. 

We are also saying some goodbyes. 

I have to say goodbye soon, to some of the most amazing teachers and students you could ever meet. I have been beyond blessed to be overwhelmingly embraced and supported at a school full of positive, professional, honest and inspiring colleagues for the last three years. I have learnt so much about teaching first grade and helped implement dynamic and emerging curriculum. 

I have simply loved being in a team surrounded by fellow teacher-marigolds. I am beyond certain that what I have been a very small part of at this school will stay with me forever. 

It will also be sad to say goodbye to our students. 

Today I made a fun printable to help you make super-easy student gifts for the end of the Australian teaching year. These little Christmas Owls can be easily printed and wrapped around Cadbury Furry Friends



A pack of 5 cost me around three dollars. 



I printed the wrappers and cut them out. 


And put a little sticky tape on the back. Voila. Student gifts done! 





You can find the FREE printable to make yours, HERE on Google Drive.


I wish you all the very best in saying goodbye!


FREE Christmas Coloring Pages



I am SO ready for Christmas this year! Not ready, as in I-have-all-my-shopping-done-ready 

but ready as in: let-me-at-the-decorations-gift giving-and-yummy-food-ready!

If you have missed my FREE coloring pages over the last few years - here are the links for you!





And if you have my Scrappy Christmas Coloring packet from TpT - I recently added five new pages for you, so head over and re-download for the new projects!



I hope you have had a great week my friends, enjoy the weekend!


If you love coloring pages - especially free ones - head over to our website and read all about joining the free club - Pond Coloring Club

Phonics and Fluency - Zoom Cards

Help your students work on fluency at home with Zoom Cards!

I sequence my phonics program carefully. It is structured, and students build 'brick by brick' on what they already know (free printable on sequence HERE).

If you are looking for a phonics system that is:
  • comprehensive; 
  • fast to prep ; 
  • easy to implement and maintain; 
  • engaging and independent; and 
  • sequenced and challenging - 
well, you've just found it!

These zoom cards, numbered from 1 to 34 will step learners through a sequenced set of letter sound patterns and words.

They include cards for 
  • single sounds 
  • word families 
  • cvc words 
  • consonant blends 
  • ccvc words 
  • cvcc words 
  • consonant digraphs 
  • nasals
    


The cards are backline so you can copy them onto brightly coloured paper to add some interest. 

   

Give each student a small plastic pouch to keep their cards in. You can assess the students quickly on a Friday to determine if they are ready to move onto the next card. It is personal choice, but I would recommend aiming for 100% accuracy. 

Students have a card for the whole week and time themselves reading the sounds/words each night. They can record their best times and try to get faster as the week progresses. With 34 cards, there is enough to cover the whole year. 


    

My printable Zoom Cards file can be found on our TpT store!



Thank you so much for stopping by my blog, be sure to follow our ELA Pinterest board for ongoing ideas and activities.

Make Ten - Christmas

      

My Make Ten Christmas bundle has four easy-prep activities to motivate and encourage your students to learn the addition combinations to ten.

They can play Santa Makes Ten, Make Ten Snowman, Let it Snow and Make Ten Tree to add some festive fun to their learning. 


      

Your students will get lots of practice discovering numbers that combine to make a total of ten. 

The bundle is on sale for today and you can find it in my TpT store by clicking on the image below:



While you are in my TpT store, grab the fun and FREE subtraction game Santa Sleigh Drop to print and play with your students!

Thank you so much for stopping by today friends, have a wonderful weekend!