We had a lot of fun today! The jumping Castle was soooo much fun (sorry no pics) and our kite making was fantastic!

We started with a plastic shopping bag ( and since we have been discussing "RECYCLING"... this was just perfect) and we simply stapled some crepe paper streamers on the bottom of the bag and 

tied some string around the handles. We decorated with a permanent marker and "Presto". 

Flying them was FUN!!

Addition Games - Loads of Fun & Lots of Learning!

We have just introduced Addition in my classroom and some of us get it and some of us don't ...yet ... but through the use of these great little Addition Games, we'll ALL be getting it soon!!
You'll need the Boards to begin with.
This is the Cave Board for the Bears (I've printed it on A3 size paper for whole class use).




 AND

this is the Tree Board for the Owls.

You then need two dice. I use different colours so it is easier for little minds to distinguish between the 2 addition components.



These little guys need to, then, be laminated and cut for use.
You'll have a BLUE group and a YELLOW group of bears to add together.

                                                                                OR

a PURPLE  or GREEN set of owls.

 

 

 

Now, I like to have every-one connected to the task when we play a game in my classroom. I believe it makes for best practice and optimal learning ... so ...

I give every-one a whiteboard, marker & eraser (you could use blackboards and chalk) and the 'non-players' (every-one not rolling the dice) has a task.

Player 1 rolls the 'yellow' die and the class writes the amount

e.g.    4  +

 

 on their whiteboards

while Player 1 places 4 blue bears (or purple owls) on the board.

Then Player 1 rolls the 'red' die and the class writes the amount

e.g     4   +   6   =

on their whiteboards

while Player 1 places 6 yellow bears (or green owls) on the board.

The class then works out the answer

while Player 1 confirms the amount.

The whole process is then repeated with Player 2.

 

These great Addition Games are available in my TpT Store for just $2.00 each.
For your chance to use these Addition Games with your little bunnies,  
CLICK HERE FOR THE BEARS





and CLICK HERE FOR THE OWLS

I hope you have as much fun as we do!!

Play Time in Prep - Play Based Learning

It is becoming more an more difficult in our Queensland Prep Classrooms to promote the avenue of 'Play' as a valuable and useful tool for learning. With the implementation of the National Curriculum, it seems that "Structured Learning" has become the overall component and skill building has been forgotten. I believe little people need to interact with their world in order to fully comprehend and understand it. They need to interact with each other to better build their communication skills. They need to imagine it, to feel it and to connect with it. This is why I am holding on to it with sheer grit and determination as it is my strong belief that children learn 'best' through appropriate "Play Opportunities".

 

Last week little 'Stella' broke her arm, Lil had her needles and Sophie's mum was rushed to hospital.

No prizes for guessing what our 'Play Area' is this week!!! YEP! Kalkie Hospital is alive and well!

(nice pun, Mrs Ward) ;)

 

 

The children have been playing so well in the Hospital. They have been learning about the appropriate clothing for workers in hospitals.

How Hospital Staff communicate with Patients.

 

How to give needles, compassionately!! OUCH!

 

 

 

The safe ways to handle and keep medicines.

Gender equity - power to Female doctors and Male nurses !!

 

 

 

They have been responsible for cleaning up after themselves ... well, with a little prompting ... but they have been exceptionally good with it!

 

Time management ... I hear you say ....

How? How? HOW? With 24 children?? They all want to be in there at once!!

 

Well, this is how I do it....

 

The class is divided into 3 groups.

 Group 1 - plays in hospital.

 

 

 

 

 

 

      Group 2 - plays with blocks and builds Hospitals and car parks etc.

 

 

 

      Group 3 - writes up Patient Lists and organizes Patients in the waiting area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I ring a bell after 10 -15 minutes and they rotate to the next activity.

 

Long Live PLAY BASED LEARNING!!

 

To download a Free Patient List

CLICK HERE

 

 

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

Happy Mother's Day to all our Mum's!

We hope you enjoyed the gifts we made for you and

hope you have an enjoyable day.

Thanks so much for your support, so far, this year.

 

As well as our 'usual'  writing paper set, we made great

little sun catchers this year.

We started with the laminated pouches cut in half. We traced a heart shape onto the laminate using a permanent marker.

 

 

I had some signs ready that said, "Mum, I love you." So we opened the pouches (carefully)  and placed them on, writing side down, so as not to get sprinkles covering the words. Also, making sure to get the message up the right way!!

 

Next,  we sprinkled on the cellophane sprinkles and some glitter.

 

 

Next we closed the pouches, making sure to get the correct sides together!! Yikes!!

Next, we ran them through the Laminator and cut around the outline.We put a hole punch in the top or the side and added some ribbon.

 

 

We love how they turned out!!

 

Introducing CVC Words

We've been looking at sounds and how they come together to make words. CVC words are a great place to start. We started with 2 different coloured hoops on the carpet. 
The left had the Vowels A E I O U in it. The second hoop had all the Consonants.

Then, on 2 different coloured mats (the same as the hoops) I had the titles CVC.

The children had to choose a letter from the Consonant hoop, then one from the Vowel hoop, then a final sound that made sense, from the Consonant hoop.

We then wrote a list of all the words we made as we made them. We will add to the list as we stubble across more CVC words in our classroom.

NOW, CHECK THIS LITTLE TIKE NOT CROSSING THE MID-LINE ... but being very clever to test his ambidexterity.

He was making patterns using 2 different colours.

We are going to be doing some more Brain Gym this week.  :)

ALSO...

For all who have contributed or bought the 

Flood Fundraising Pack for Bundy...

We have raised $1083 for East Bundaberg State School!!!

My wildest thank you to you all!!

I will present them with a cheque as soon as the money comes through. :)