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Wednesday 30 October 2013

Eggy Alphabet

Just in case you missed it on Facebook I let my followers know that Eggy Alphabet is being offered for free this week.  Eggy Alphabet is part of ABC Reading Eggs so if you are a fan of them and you have littles that need some practice with letters and sounds give this a go for  free!


I have to say I am excited to find out that Eggy Alphabet is available on Google Play as well as iTunes now. Most of my devices run on Android so I never really checked out these apps at home before, although I have used them at school, there are activities that cover upper and lower case and offers rewards for students when they complete a level.   The really great thing about using this app in Australia is that you have a choice of accents!  It really is important for children to hear sounds correctly, I know we often get students that will use a hard r sound if they have been watching and playing a lot of American games/shows.  No offence to my American friends but we do like our Aussie kids to sound like Aussie kids.

If you have never experienced Reading Eggs or Eggy Alphabet now is your chance to try it out for free!

This is not a paid endorsement of ABC Reading Eggs or Eggy Alphabet.

Tuesday 29 October 2013

My Truth Monday

This is the first time I am linking up with Denise at Sunny Days in Second Grade for My Truth Monday.  I loved the idea of this linky it is a great way to get to know a little bit about out fave bloggers.  So here goes



Ok, your turn to link up, click on the pic below to head over to the linky




Monday 28 October 2013

Crazy Koalas helping out!

I was so inspired by Mel @ From the Pond raising money for the injured wildlife, I thought I would jump in to give her a hand.  I have used Mel's adorable Koala clipart to create this fun doubling game, my kiddos played it today and just loved it!  It has 3 different levels of play so you are able to make a whole class set that is able to be differentiated.  The first level has doubling plus 1, the second level had doubling plus 1 and 2 and doubling take 1 and 2, the third level requires a 7-12 dice and has doubling plus 1 and 2 and doubling take 1 and 2.  I have included a spinner for each level of game as well.  Here are a few pics of the kiddos enjoying the game.





They loved having the challenge of using bigger numbers to double.


They used a pencil and paper clip for the spinner.  

The exciting part about this is that I have decided to donate 100% profits to help Mel with her fundraising efforts, so any purchases of this game will go toward helping injured wildlife from the recent devastating NSW fires.  Just click on the pic above to go to my store for your copy.


Sunday 27 October 2013

Five for Friday...late edition

I was going to link up with Doodlebugs for her Five for Friday linky but my week has been sooooo boring, really, nothing happening here folks, move along.  So get ready for the most boring 5 for Friday (even though it is Sunday here)

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I have been trying to make myself more accountable for exercise...I thought when I turned 40 the downhill run would start, turns out I am a late bloomer, it has started after I turned 41.  So I have been aiming to walk everyday for at least 40 minutes, to make sure it happens I have been taking photos on my walk, here are a couple from this week (notice I said a couple, I will do better next week!)



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I only did one day of teaching this week....well really it was a promotion, I had to fill in for the Assistant Principal for the day while she was at a conference.....yes I did give myself a raise and created a position for me next year at the school, heehee.  It was a good day and I did A LOT of walking (didn't take a pic though)

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I was so happy to purchase Mel's set of Koala clipart to help raise funds for the injured wildlife in the terrible fires that have engulfed parts of NSW.  She is donating 100% of the profits to a charity for a wildlife hospital  Just click on the badge to get your set.




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Thursday was a public holiday here for our Royal Hobart Show, we didn't go.....it was horrible weather, windy, driving rain and only 13 degrees (that is cold friends), there was also snow on the mountain...we stayed in.  Friday was a Pupil Free Day, so as a casual teacher I didn't have to go, woohoo!  Spent 2 days cuddled up at home, it was nice

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My cat got a fish hook stuck in his nose!  Yes a fish hook, we had to remove it, not pretty (sorry no pic, he was too squirmy)  anyway I think he was just trying to set a new trend with the neighbourhood cats.  It was terrible, not because he was hurt (he was fine after we took it out) but because we were laughing so much at him, he looked so funny!!  Well here is a couple of pics of him fish hookless.

                                                   


Enjoy your weekend folks!



Thursday 24 October 2013

Are you a no reply blogger?

Hi friends!  

I recently had a fabulous follower leave me a comment with a question about upcoming products, which just made my day, however when I replied to this lovely lady I noticed she was a no reply blogger.

What does that mean?  It means she will not get any notification that I replied.  

Are you a no reply blogger and how do you find out if you are?  

Well I thought these were very important questions that needed to be investigated so I found a link that will help you or just follow these directions.





First go to the drop down box with your profile name, when you click on it you will see this!

Click on the Blogger profile link


Then look to the far right side of your screen and click on the Edit profile box


When you get to this screen just make sure you have ticked show my email address and also check to see what email address it is currently set to.  Make sure you save any changes and you are done!

I hope this has helped some of you because I would love for my lovely followers to make sure they get my replies.

I am linking this post up with Erica at Erica's Ed-Ventures for more blogging tutorials with the bonus of a great tutorial on how to get started on TpT.  Just click on the pic below





Wednesday 23 October 2013

Clipart for Koalas

As some of you may know, parts of New South Wales are experiencing devastating bushfires, today they are expecting conditions to worsen.  There have been many people who have lost their homes and livliehoods but there are other victims in this tragedy that aren't always taken into account.  There are many native wildlife that get injured and killed during these fires.

To help with the cost of caring for these little critters our generous friend Mel of From the Pond has created this super cute koala clipart with 100% of the proceeds going to a charity called Wildlife in Need of Care

How can you help?  Just go to Mel's store or click on the koala badge and purchase these very cute koalas, you will not only be helping the koalas you will also be helping other native Australian wildlife that are caught in the fires.



Saturday 19 October 2013

Five for Friday!

I am linking up this week with Doodlebugs Five for Friday.

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1.Well this week started reallllllyyyy slow, I was at home for 3 days with no calls for subbing, boo!  So I took the opportunity to get out and about and went for some long walks, I am an intermittent exerciser at best. We have a nice beach near us so I headed into the crazy wind we are having here and powerwalked for what seemed like hours but was only 40 minutes, this was one of the little treasures I spied on my walk

2.I did manage to finish a file and upload, it was my Place Value Pumpkin Patch that I used in class this week


3.Well after I got through the boredom of no teaching days, it was my 2 days on my grade 2 class, and boy did we fit a mountain of learning in over those 2 days, here's what we covered,

Place Value of course!

Here are the number expanders, folding them was a little tricky but when I showed them how to match up the lines they had it going.

They just LOVED read the room!  They were so busy trying to find the matching cards, I will put this out as a matching centre next week.

The pumpkin flip book was also a huge hit!  When we had finished with place value they were begging for more of these FUN activities, huh who would have thought place value was fun?

4. This term we are looking at narratives, my teaching partner is going to be teaching them the structure of a narrative and I am going to be focussing on the features of narratives, authors purpose etc.  So we started with a whole class book sort on the IWB (not pretty I know but did the job!)  then they had to do their own investigations

We will be continuing with this next week as well.

5. Finally we finished the week with some Art.  This term we are going to focus on famous artists and their works.  We looked at Wassilly Kandinsky and of course his most famous painting Concentric Circles in Squares.  We used this as an inspiration to create our own circles but our circles had to represent 1 year of our lives and then the colours had to represent that age, so what colour would represent a baby, toddler, starting school etc.  I just loved how they turned out, we are putting them together as a class mural.  


Well that was my week!  I am off to write some job applications for next year now, oh the fun never ends!  
Have a great weekend!


Wednesday 16 October 2013

Place Value Pumpkin Patch

This is just a quick post before I go and do laundry...this is actually me procrastinating about doing the laundry..but it is important that I do this post so the laundry can wait!

I have had this file on my computer half finished for a couple of weeks now, so thought I would get it up and running while I have a couple of days off (yay for subbing!)  Anyway I plan on using this in my year 2 classroom this week but wanted to give you a sneak peek!



I plan on using the cards to put up around the room then having the kiddos wander around and record the matching cards




These 2 sheets are going to be an extension.  The first one is a fold and flip book where students can fold, then snip on the dotted line, write a number in the pumpkin, then record a different way to show that number.  I will leave this up to the students as to whether they will use expanded notation, base 10 or another way to show the number.   The last sheet is a number expander, all you need to do is snip on the black dotted line, then fold on the grey ones to hide the words after you have recorded your number as an expanded notation.  When you unfold it the number expands.

I will definitely have some photos of this pack in action next week, but for you I have put it in my store for only $2 for the next 24hrs!  Just click on any of the pics above to check it out in my store!

Monday 14 October 2013

Flash Sale and a Bundle

I'm sure that most of you are now aware that TpT is having a flash sale!  Just use the code FB100K at the checkout for an extra 10% off my store that is already on sale for 20%

Thanks Mel @ From the Pond for the button!

I finished a couple of files yesterday that I thought I would share with you today.


If you have already purchased my Adjective Category Sort  (you can see it in action here), you can now also get the Nouns and Verbs Category Sort!  All these files work on the same premise which is to not just identify what is a verb, noun, adjective but to show what type of noun, adjective, verb it is.  Students get a list of words that they sort into categories.  My students are able to use this to make their writing more interesting and to understand where they can use these words in their writing.  Plus we have LOTS of discussion on why a certain word fits into a category and what other words would fit there.

Just click on any of the pics below or the pic above to get the bundle at a reduced price!





Here's the great news, they are all part of my sale!  Yay!  
Hope you have a great week!