I've got no real direction for this post, just random photos that I've taken over the past month or two at school! On the 100th Day we read One Hundred Hungry Ants and viewed the book on youtube. We paused the video and made the lines of ants with unifix cubes (1 line of 100, 2 lines of 50 etc). Would the ants have gotten to the picnic faster if they stayed in 1 line? My kids couldn't decide, they were very divided in their opinions! This is the rotation board I've been using for about 7 weeks (this term). I love it, so easy. I use photos of my kids to show what group they are in (covered wi ..read more

Looking for some fun ways to use all those dollar store Halloween props you've accumulated in your Math and Literacy blocks? Here's a few ways you can use your cheap finds at school.  Halloween Pencil Toppers I picked up these cute pencil toppers as a Halloween treat for my class but soon got other ideas for them! When working on direction in Math and HASS, we used the toppers as our 'person' to move along the grid. When learning 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 turns, I always find there are a few students who will try and move spaces when turning, instead of staying in the grid space they are in. Us ..read more

Do you  have a go-to back to school art activity that you love so much you do it year after year? Silhouettes is that activity for me! In fact, I actually start the silhouette on Step Up Day so that I already have work up on display in the hall on the first day of school! **On the inside of our classroom, these same pieces of colored paper show each students WOW work!  If you don't know what Step Up Day is, it's a day when you meet your next year's class. During the last week of the school year, we get to spend the day getting to know and having fun with our new class for the foll ..read more

My Grade 4s are now half-way through our Weathering and Erosion Science Unit and we are digging into many non-fiction books to help us learn the knowledge we'll need to apply to different scenarios in our assessment.  Here are some of the books we have been loving, both for teaching (short snippets) and own choice reading.  When choosing books, I always try to make sure that there are books for all students in my class:  reading level below, at and above the typical reading age for my class.  text size - some with a larger type and less words on each page  narrativ ..read more

It took me by surprise my first year of teaching Year 4 when I saw how engaged and into rocks my class was when learning about weathering and erosion. And year after year, it holds true that this is their favourite science unit! It's also my favourite to teach. I get excited every year when we do this unit. I've also been known to collect and carry rocks back from long and difficult hikes just because I thought the kids would love them! So here are a 10 quick and easy activities you can implement tomorrow during your rocks, weathering and erosion science unit.  1. Get Outside  Walk a ..read more

The first day of school can be full of emotions... nervousness, excitement, exhaustion.... a little disappointment that the holidays are over maybe?! And this is just our feelings as teachers... imagine what the kids in our care must be feeling if they are just starting school, moving to a new school or feel intimated by all the newness of their surroundings.  During these first few hours of our year together I try to put aside the laminator and pretty borders to focus on making my kids feel at home and start creating that all important classroom community.  Here's what I do ..read more

In the past I've had a love/hate relationship with student jobs. I've always loved the idea of jobs in promoting community and interdependence and ensuring that all students feel valued in the classroom. But come Monday morning, between notes, money, taking attendance, weekend stories, homework etc etc changing the jobs chart was always a huge inconvenience and hassle. I was tinkering with the idea of doing away with jobs and just randomly selecting students to do things. But in order to teach students to be responsible, we have to trust them with responsibilities. Classroom jobs create a sen ..read more

This post has been two years in the making! I started writing it back when I taught Grade 1 two years ago.... but it is finally done :) I was asked about my spelling drawers when I shared the photo below of the rainbow cart. When I taught Grade 1 it housed my spelling and HFW activities for Word Work.  I LOVED Word Work because it was an already prepared, don't have to think about it lesson. I only switched out the activities each term. Even though the kids did Word Work at least twice a week, they didn't seem to get bored with the choices having them out for that amount of time. I'm gue ..read more

Two weeks down, eight to go! Is anyone else counting down the weeks until Easter break? It seems to happen that every year, no matter how much of a relaxing summer holiday I have, the minute I'm back at school I feel like I never left.  This year I have a great bunch of Year 4s. It has been lovely coming from Year 1, these guys can get started on work right away and don't have to be taught every.single.little.thing! I do miss the enthusiasm and excitement that the firsties show though.  Anyway, with my new year level, I have a new classroom. I haven't taken many photos, but here ar ..read more

Last year I used my take on the whole brain teaching rules with my Grade 1 class. You can grab them here.  This year I am moving to Grade 4 and couldn't be happier. I know most of my readers are in the lower years, but if you know of any great 3-5th grade blogs please comment so I can follow them. This summer break is flying by way too fast, I feel like I've only just started to relax and now it's almost time to get ready to go back. Oi, teacher problems ..read more