Toby the Teddy by Catherine Buckley and Amelia Harrison (Review)

At the beginning of this term I was lucky enough to receive a copy of Toby the Teddy by Catherine Buckley and Amelia Harrison. 

The aim of Toby the Teddy is to inform children about when and how to call for an ambulance in an emergency. This tied in perfectly with our current PDHPE focus on people who help us. 

As a lead up to reading the story we had brainstormed people in our community who help us. The most common people mentioned were policemen and ambulance drivers.

Following this I used the 'People Who Help Us' powerpoint from Twinkl to guide deeper discussion. Find it here.

I then asked my students when they thought they should ring an ambulance. It was during this activity that I realised how important this book was! Some of their responses were:

• When they fall over and cut their knees
• When a bug bites them
• When their teeth fall out on the playground (I think this came from an incident where a student fell of the monkey bars, knocked out a tooth and broke their arm. An ambulance was called that day!)
• If they feel sick in the stomach
• If they break their leg

Following this we read the story. As each scenario arose I prompted my students to tell me if they thought Toby needed to call an ambulance. I asked them to justify why they thought he should or shouldn't call an ambulance. The book provided the perfect foundation for quality discussions about when and how to call an ambulance.

Following reading the story we went back and looked at the list we had made about when to ring an ambulance. We crossed off the instances when we should not call an ambulance and added a few new scenarios about when we should call an ambulance.

The focus of the next lesson was to practise calling 000. To go with the book the authors have create a handy fridge magnet that you can record your personal details on for children to use if they do have to call an ambulance. This is a great reminder for all children. The awesome SLSO in my classroom and I then worked with each student to write down and memorise their address.

At first we used an old cordless phone in from our toy box to practise calling 000. Then I realised that most of the students in my class don't actually have home phones so we got extra tricky and practised with my iPhone. 

The follow up activities that we completed included writing about different real life experiences that my students had had and whether or not they needed to call an ambulance. They published their work using the ambulance writing frames from Twinkl (here).

While my SLSO and I worked one on one with each student to practise reciting their address my students also completed the ambulance colouring in pages below.

Overall I would definitely recommend Toby the Teddy to any parent or teacher who wants to ensure their child has a clear understanding of both when to call and ambulance and how to call an ambulance. 

Twinkl now offers an ever growing range of resources developed specifically for use within Australia. I was able to find a number of resources that related to this text and were relevant to Australian students.

Toby the Teddy is endorsed by the organisations below:

To purchase your own copy of Toby the Teddy click here. 

To see what Twinkl is all about click here. 

Disclosure: I received a free copy of Toby the Teddy and an upgraded membership from Twinkl in return for a review. All views and opinions are my own. 

How to Catch a Star by Oliver Jeffers {Space Theme}

Todays post is the first in a series detailing the ways in which classroom has grown and changed over the last few months.  As my students have grown and developed so have I. My classroom environment and teaching practices are constantly evolving in response to my students needs. It has taken me a few years of full time teaching to let go of the idea that I cannot 'divert from the program'. I've since realised that the opposite is necessary- I have to divert from the program if I am going to meet my students learning needs, keep them engaged and keep myself from getting stale in the classroom. Anyhow, enough with the waffle and on with the show!

For the majority of this year I have had a fortnightly themes, such as the zoo, magical creatures, dinosaurs (just to name a few).  With each theme I have selected different texts to use as our L3 Procedure Three texts, as well as supplementary texts for students to read independently or to be read as Procedure One texts. Our literacy centres have been loosely based on theses theme and where possible I incorporate the weekly theme into other KLAs. I have absolutely loved using this structure in my classroom. Following a theme has allowed my students to really immerse themselves in a topic. The whole class focus on a particular theme has also seen a deeper understanding when it comes to topic specific vocabulary, which is particularly noticeable in their writing.

I have had (and continue to have) many struggles with implementing L3 in my classroom. It's a teething process with endless ways of doing things, however I can without a doubt see the value of the P3 reading process.  This term I have slightly diverted from my theme focus to a text focus. Instead of focussing on an overarching theme and selecting texts in response to that theme I am now selecting a text and basing our literacy centres and supplementary texts on our main focus text.

As this week was the first week back I decided to use quite a simple text from a much loved author in our classroom, Oliver Jeffers. How to Catch a Star is the story of a little boy who would like to catch a star so that he can befriend it. There is little detail as to why the boy would like to be friends with a star and this became quite the unintentional topic of conversation between my students.

I have included my read aloud plan for the text below, with a brief writing focus following each read. In the Procedure Two section I often go back and add additional words and phrases that I explained whilst reading.  Once I have a brief overview of a writing task I use a very basic 'fill in as you go' planner for individual writing goals, whole group goals and targeted students who work with me at the jellybean table.

One of my main goals this term is to allow my students more time to develop a piece of writing and see their work through to the publishing stage. With this in mind I complete a Procedure One read on Monday, Procedure Two read on Tuesday and a procedure three read on Wednesday- following which my students complete their first draft of text related writing. Thursday and Friday are for editing and publishing. I used a great resource by Kickin' It In Kindergarten for the first two writing tasks (Find it here on TPT).

Along with our P3 read I based our literacy centres for the week loosely around the text. Each 'can do' activity included in our morning centres related to either the text or space. These activities are  allocated to groups based on learning preferences and skill levels. My planning template below gives a brief overview of the activities that are placed in each groups tub along with their 'must do's'.

Some of our activities included:

1. Design your own spaceship (this was a favourite by far)

2. Space Syllables from Fairy Poppins (here)

3. Space Invaders digraphs from Fun in First (here)

4. Researching moon facts using the iPads

My little people have written some fantastic stories about the little boy from the story going on a trip to the moon. They are currently in the editing phase and I am hoping we will reach the publishing stage on Monday. So far I am loving the new rich text focus and I can definitely see it reflected in the quality of my students work, particularly considering it's the first week back after the holidays.

Oh, and don't forget to check out my 'How to Catch a Star by Oliver Jeffers' pin-board on  Pinterest (here).

Happy Friday!
Beck xx

Twinkl & My Classroom (Review)

Wow… Term Three really kicked me in the rear end. To go along with all the normal teaching fun and games I had two ruptured ear drums, a throat infection and a good old common cold! But, I am very happy to say I survived. 

Something that has really been keeping me motivated and inspired this year is the teaching community on Instagram. This community is where I first discovered Twinkl. I've subscribed to a few different teaching resource websites over the last few years however this was the first I'd heard of Twinkl. After some quick research and a few texts to teaching friends I decided to give it a go. This brings me to this term when I was asked to write a review of Twinkl resources from an Aussie teachers perspective… My excitement was a little ridiculous! Having already been singing the praises of Twinkl to my teaching friends I jumped at the opportunity to share how I'm using it in my classroom. All comments and opinions are my own.

Displays

The first resource that I used from Twinkl was the editable floating door display. I loved how simple and easy this was to print and put together. The whole door display took me half the time as usual. If I wasn't so keen to get it up on the door I would have put it through the laminator first. Next time I'll pace myself. 

Other bits and pieces like birthday charts, that usually take a lot of preparation time at the beginning of the year, are all quick and easy to download and print. 

Developing ICT skills has been a key focus in my classroom this term. Unfortunately for most of this year my classroom has had limited access to Wifi which meant that our laptops had been packed away. I was finally able to dig them out this term and I went straight to Twinkl to find some displays to create an ICT area within my room. 

Vocabulary is so important when teaching computer literacy so I printed and laminated these posters. Velcro dots on the back make them quick and versatile to arrange. I also plan to add these ICT Area Challenge Cards to the area as a fast finisher activity.

One of our focus topics this term was Australia. We read the book Are We There Yet? by Alison Lester and followed their journey around Australia. I used the Create tool on Twinkl to make my own banner. I kept it pretty simple because I knew the display would be quite busy. It was awesome to be able to quickly and easily put together a display that was exactly what I wanted. I've been branching out into more detailed displays using Create ready for Term 4. 

As apart of this unit we also pinned up a big map of Australia which we used to find and locate the different towns and cities that we received postcards from. I used the printable Australian flag patterned letters to make this. I love it when visitors come to my room and ask how I made all these awesome displays… I almost don't want to share my secret!

Learning Centres

One of the first resources that I created this year was these sight word wands. My students use them to search for their focus sight words in our L3 texts. I downloaded the Editable Star Labels, added our sight words, printed, laminated and hot glued them onto large paddle pop sticks. 

There are also heaps (seriously, look for yourself!) of worksheets that are easy to search for and ready to print. I'm working towards paperless learning centres so I simply print my activities and slip them into write and wipe sleeves. 

Other Features

As I mentioned, the Create tool allows you to create your own resources based on your specific needs. Create is so so simple to use. I recently used it to make a banner for our Are We There Yet? display. My next project will be labelling the hot mess that that is my literacy storage room. 

Being able to save and organise resources is a huge timesaver for me. I do a lot of programming at home however I like to print at work (much better quality) something which this feature allows me to do quickly and easily. 

Being able to go straight to Australian resources is another timesaver. Twinkl are adding more and more resources that are directly linked to the Australian curriculum. 

Overall, I have been very pleased with my Twinkl subscription. Despite quickly becoming a go to website when planning and programming I still feel as though I am only scratching the surface of what Twinkl has to offer. For any teachers out there that are facing the toss up between teaching resource websites I urge you to check Twinkl out. I was knee deep in enthusiasm for this website long before being asked to review it and I will continue to pester teaching friends to check it out long after this review has been sent off into cyber space.

Check it out:

http://www.twinkl.co.uk

Beck xx

Using Spiral Dictionaries in the Classroom

Last year I ordered these awesome spiral dictionaries from Butterflies. I thought that they would be a perfect addition to our writers tool box. Unfortunately I put them in a safe place and only found them again at the beginning of this year. 

I like these spiral dictionaries because of their simplicity. The letters are easy to see and the pages are easy to flip through. Each page only includes common sight words and high frequency words so it's a great start for students who have difficulty scanning. 

To familiarise my Year One students with the dictionaries I set up a few different activities which they completed during reading groups.

Firstly I gave my students a template of a word similar to an acrostic poem and my students simply had to find a word in the dictionary that began with the given letter.

The next activity involved students searching for incorrectly spelt words that I had written on the board.  Once they had found the word they re wrote it correctly.

Once they had a handle on searching and finding I had them find words that they had circled in their writing books.  Circled words are words that they think may be spelt wrong. They then used the dictionary to correct their words.

This has become an activity to be completed once a week during reading groups, however I am finding now that they are editing their writing as during guided writing time and this extra time is become increasingly unnecessary, which makes me one very happy teacher!

Beck xx

Dinosaur Egg Observations

Last term I did a mini unit on dinosaurs and to say my students loved it would be an understatement! Dinosaurs is such an easy theme to introduce. One the best activities that we did during this unit was growing, hatching and observing our own dinosaur eggs.

I found the eggs online (eBay) and bought about 60 for less than $20 and they came like this.

I gave each student an egg and a plastic cup of water with their name on it. We made predictions about what they thought would happen to their egg (I didn't tell them there were dinosaurs inside) and then they put them in the water.

Each day they observed their egg using their five senses. I set up the table below so that they could observe their eggs easily.

They absolutely loved filling in their observation books. This was a great writing task for some of my more reluctant writers. 

 When our dinosaur eggs were finally finished growing we used our dinosaur books to attempt to work out what sort of dinosaurs we had. This was probably their favourite part! I wish I had recorded the conversations that were going on while they did their research. 

This was such a fun little experiment that filtered into lots of reading and writing activities. I'm so glad that I had a pack of 60 eggs, I'm ready to go again next year! Although I did send a few extras home for younger siblings. 

Beck xx

Staying Bright and Shiny

I love the beginning of the year- everyone is fresh, shiny and full of motivation! At this moment in time I'm full of optimism and excitement for the year ahead. 

Not so long ago I was dragging my feet through the last few weeks of term four, mentally counting the days until school holidays. My tolerance level was out the window and I was just a tad grouchy. I was ready for school holidays and so were my students. But school wasn't over yet! So onward we ploughed. 

Sometimes I think we teachers get so bogged down with ticking the boxes and getting things done that we forget to pay attention to the here and now... Celebrate the little things! So as a way of arming myself against the end of term tension I'm doing some of the following things: 

1. Positive Reminders. This gem came from my Aunt who has years of classroom experience and, to me, is the epitome of professionalism. She recognised the importance of positive communication within the classroom and how it can suffer when teachers find themselves in a rut. Sometimes for me the positive vibes definitely feel the strain towards the end of the year! So what she did to combat this was place small laminated smiley faces around her room. Everytime she noticed one of the smiley faces during a lesson she would make a point of identifying something positive happening within the classroom. According to her this had a huge impact upon not only her mood but also her interactions with her students. I'm going to use these grow mindset posters by Tales From Miss D as my positive reminders. Click here to check them out. 

2. Something personal/ from home in your room. This one is pretty obvious but I thinks it's an important inclusion. One of my favourite classroom items is a huge rainbow dream catcher that my mum bought me when I started my first permanent job. I've had some tough days and having it there to remind me that people have faith in me kept me going. And my kids love it! It's one of those classroom features that they make a point of showing to all our visitors.

3. Class photos. I take a million photos of my students to include in their yearly portfolios. Every dress up day or school event we take a class photo and celebrate just how awesome K/1 is. So this year I purchased some bright frames to display our class photos in. The idea of this is to remind myself and my students that we are a team and that we are awesome! Even when we're battling our way through a 40 plus degree day and a brown snake has just wriggled its way up the hall (this seems to upset me way more than it does them!). 

4. If all else fails put on Taylor Swift and Shake it Off. Never has my class danced it's way though this song and still felt tired or crabby. 

I'd love to hear what others do to get through those weeks or days where it's feels like your wading through concert just to get to Saturday! Feel free to share your ideas in the comments below.

Back to School #2

As I organise my welcome to school gifts for students and introduction letters to parents there's one other person on my list who needs some attention- my wonderful teachers aide! I am fortunate enough to work in a school where I have a teachers aide in my room for most of the day. She is amazing and I can honestly say that my days would be duller without her. She sharpens the pencils, supports our students, provides an extra pair of hands to tie the never ending flood of shoe laces with… the list goes on! Whether they be new to my room or not, I like to set the tone and welcome volunteers and teachers aides with a small gesture to show my appreciation for all their hard work and commitment. Last year I made up a pencil case with  some classroom essentials inside. This is especially handy for teachers aides who move between classes as they can keep their supplies with them and save time searching in unfamiliar rooms. Since I will be working with the same teachers aide again this year I wanted to make something a little different.

This jar looks small in the photograph but it's actually an old coconut oil jar. It's about as tall as a pen. Inside I have: sticky notes, a mini stapler and refills, pens, sharpies, a pencil sharpener, hand sanitizer, a highlighter and lollies (of course!). In total this cost me less that $10 (thanks to Kmart & the reject shop). 

It's always nice for everyone to start the year on a positive note.

Beck xx

P.S If you'd like a copy of this label its available to download for free via my TPT store. Click here. 

Back to School Gifts

As I begin to prepare for that mammoth week known as 'first week back' I got to thinking about my own first days in a new class with a new teacher… I remember feeling overwhelmed and a little daunted by the prospect of a new year. Some kids come bouncing in on the first day ready and rearing whilst others take their time to warm up and participate. And that's okay! 
One of the ways that I want to help my new Kindergarten students settle into my classroom is to finish their first day with a little gift to let them know how excited we are to have them in our class and to let them know that we're going to have a whole lot of fun along the way!

Pinterest is full of great ideas for some such gifts. I love these lollipop tags by Miss Vericker (although I'm not quite brave enough to hand out lollies on the first day). She has a range of different themed start and end of year gift tags. Click here to have a look. 

I also loved her 'bubbling with excitement' gift tag.

So I think this is the direction that I'll be heading in! I've spotted bubble bottle in cheap bulk buy packs at Kmart (aka the motherland for teachers), so this is a nice affordable little way to say 'welcome to our class'.

Oh, and my lovely Year Ones will get one each too!

I'm off to print, cut and ribbon some goodies!

Beck xx

Communication Book

I have a returning student this year who I arrived in my class in term three last year. He is high needs and requires a lot of one on one support, motivating and structure. I'm fortunate that his parents are super supportive and work with me to achieve the best learning outcomes for their child. We communicate regularly, often after school when they come to collect him. We had discussed the possibility of establishing a communication book for the days where contact and communication between us is not possible. A communication book would allow his parents to inform me of any at-home issues he may be having, whilst enabling me to provide them with a quick overview  This will better prepare me for the day and thus making him more comfortable and settled within the room. 

In the past I have noticed that communication books are one of those funny things that can turn a chance to establish positive rapport with a parent or carer into a tedious daily tasks. With this in mind I wanted something simple that was was quick and easy to use. I would also like him to participate in filling in the book so as to develop his autonomy over his learning and behaviour. So I created the layout below. I have printed and bound this in an A5 size that that it fits easily into his home reading folder.

If you'd like to download a free copy please visit my Teachers Pay Teacher store here. 

Oh, and one last thing- 

Don't forget to take the time to sit down and explain the purpose and structure of your communication book to the parents. Such an obvious step but I've been guilty of overlooking it in the past.  :)

Beck xx

Plain and Simple Desk Strips (NSW Foundation Font)

At the beginning of 2015 I planned my classroom decor meticulously. It was my first time teaching Kindergarten and Year One from the start of the year and I was determined to fill my room with beautiful things. I loved my classroom (and I still do) however as the year progressed I began to realise the significant impact that the decor that I used had on my students learning. I had a number of male students in Year One who were very easily distracted and had some difficulty scanning. This made it hard for them to use some anchor charts and their desk strips as there was simply too much happening on them. For this reason I have created my own (very simple, very plain desk strip).

I've included the four things that my students need prompting for the most: letters (capital and lower case), consonant digraphs, word endings and numbers.  If you would like to download your own copy for free click here. 

Beck xx

2016 Classroom Planning

I've been thinking about how easy it is to get out of control when it comes to making purchases for your classroom (out of your own pocket) and since we have recently purchased a house I am spending more time than ever thinking about how I can provide my students with tools for their learning…. whilst not breaking the bank (or stressing out my other half!).

As I began my L3 training last year one of the first things that I noticed at the core of all planning and programming was the setting of learning intentions & goals. I was constantly asking myself what do I want my students to learn and how am I going to get them there.

This got me thinking that although cute labels and pretty manila folders make me ridiculously happy, do they really help or motivate my students to learn? In some instances, they do! But not always. So this year, as I've wandered around Officeworks, K-Mart, Aldi and Ikea I've constantly asked myself…. is this necessary? Will this help my students achieve their goals? If the answer is no, nine times out of ten I will put it back.

I am fortunate enough to teach a composite K/1 class in a small school, meaning that I have already taught my year one students for a whole year. I know them, their learning preferences and their strengths and weaknesses. I know what motivates them and what engages them. This gives me a big advantage when I am planning and organising my classroom for the new year ahead. And because these students have had me for a year already I really like to change the classroom around, give them something new and exciting to return to in their second year with me.

So there's my two cents worth on classroom purchases. Now on to the more exciting part- my classroom wish list for 2016. Some of these things I have already purchased (or my school has) and some of them I hope to pick up along the way. I've don't my best to include links in the titles to each item.

1. Ikea Childrens Tent ($19.99)

I have a few kids in my class who need their own 'space' to sit quietly away from noise and distractions. I had considered buying a tee pee last year however I don't have a very big classroom and I didn't want anything too imposing. This tent is perfect for little people as it doesn't take up to much space, whilst still providing students with somewhere to be on their own. K-mart also have cheap children's tents if you don't have access to an Ikea. 

2.  Kmart Woven Storage Container (small $5, large $8)

These storage container are available in small and large. I recently removed my desk from the classroom (more on that in another post) and transferred all my desk items to a large storage cupboard in my classroom. To keep things in the cupboard organised I purchased a range of these containers in small and large. I chose grey as they'll be tucked away in the cupboard. They're available in grey, orange, aqua and white.

3. Kmart Stool (available online for $12)

I actually got mine on sale for $8 each. I have set up a listening post in my classroom for 2016 and I needed a smaller seating option than our usual chairs. Originally I had planned to use milk crates and sew cushions for them, however they are surprisingly hard to get a hold of these days! When I went to buy these I wanted aqua but they only had two left. My OCD need to have four the same colour outweighed my love of aqua so I went with yellow. These fit perfectly around one desk, which suits my space poor classroom. 

4. Kmart ABC Self Ink Stamps ($5)

Are you sensing a theme here with Kmart? I'm sure any L3 teacher that has seen these at Kmart threw them in their trolley (I say trolley, because really, who can fit their Kmart goodies in a basket?) straight away! There are a million and one independent activities that these could be used for and for only $5 a set they are an awesome investment. I've already considered that when they run out I'll just throw some ink pads into the set and off we go again. 

5. Kmart 3-Tier Bathroom Trolley ($19) or Ikea Raskog Utility Cart ($29.99)

I have both of these. The Raskog I bought when they originally came out for my office at home and I love it. I considered using it at school but I just didn't want to part with it. So it was happy days for me when I came across something very similar at Kmart. The Kmart bathroom trolley is listed in the online store for $19 however I purchased mine for $12 in store. I am going to use it to store classroom materials that are used on a daily basis (glue, pencils, scissors etc). This is something that I desperately needed. Last year I found myself wasting too much time searching for materials in different places. Not to mention the time my students and I wasted packing up and tidying work areas. So this will hopefully jump start a more organised, less time wasting system!

6. Fluffy/ Novelty Pens (various prices)

I've been slowly collecting different fluffy and novelty pens to go along with Fun Friday L3 activities. On Fridays my students can select a novelty pen to complete their writing with. This is in response the general lag that I noticed every Friday, where everyone (including myself!) was just a bit weary and a little less motivated. I'm hoping these pens will excite my students enough to engage them in independent writing on Fridays and hold of the Friday slow down. 

These are just a few of the bits and pieces that I have collected for my 2016 classroom. I've also been fortunate enough to have received a large number of toys and books from friends and family who answered a Facebook callout for unwanted bits and pieces. This not only saves my school and myself money, it also gives my returning students some new bits and pieces to engage with.

(Oh and I did fall of the frugal wagon once or twice, a few fluro manila folders could possibly have found their way into my trolley).

Happy shopping and planning!

Beck xx

L3 Guided Reading Planner (beginning of the year).

It's been a long time between posts! As I slowly begin getting organised (who am I kidding, my classroom is more than half way set up) I thought I would share what my guided reading pro forma looks like at the beginning of the year. I'll be using the pro forma below for my kindergarten students who are reading Magenta and Red level texts. Click here to access a free download of this pro forma via Teachers Pay Teachers.

Familiar Read: This is the text that students have read in their previous guided reading lesson. Once they have read this text with me a second time it goes into their Familiar Reading box (more on this later!).

Learning Intention: I usually draw this from the literacy continuum and the English syllabus. My first learning intention for kindergarten students is 'crisp finger pointing'. The prompting that I use is  'when I see a word, I can say a word'. I always refer to the learning intention in my feedback to students e.g. 'I can see your crisp finger pointing under each word, well done'.

New Read and Level: This is their new text. Depending on previous guided reading lesson this may be a new level or the same level as their familiar text. I follow the L3 guided reading structure to introduce this text. This text then becomes their familiar text in the next lesson.

Word to Find: This is a high frequency word from the text. I identify the word to my students prior to reading e.g. this says 'at'. They then repeat the word. I ask them to find the word on another page. Students work their way through the text finding, pointing to and saying the word as they go. This is very quick!

Post Read: This is where I ask questions to clarify meaning. The depth of questioning develops as students move from Red to Magenta and beyond.

Word Work: Here I select a word from the text for students to manipulate using magnetic letters. I use the Phonics and Phonemic Awareness aspects of the literacy continuum to guide my planning. Red level text word work is the simple reformation of a high frequency word from the text using magnetic letters. Beyond red level students begin substituting initial, medial and final sounds to make a new word.

At the bottom of each lesson plan I keep any notes about what words or skills may need to be revisited in follow lessons. I also keep a separate sheet of paper with student names on it to record observations, new learning intentions and any other important information relating to guided reading groups.

This is a very basic overview of how I use this pro forma. The L3 program support folder will give you much more in-depth information about the structure of an L3 guided reading lesson.
I am only in my first year on L3 training and am definitely not an expert, however if you have any questions please leave them in the comments below and I will do my best to answer them.

Thanks,

Beck