Classroom Inspiration

Saturday, 2 August 2014

What a whirlwind week!

What a crazy week! Not only have we been super busy, but the weather has been insane, which means equally insane children! It hasn't only been raining this week, its been hailing and the wind has been strong enough to lift our little ones off the ground.

I am very happy to see the end of this week, I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday, so here goes! 

The Scholastic Book Fair arrived at our school this week. I love, love, LOVE picture books!! and there are so many amazing books this year with gorgeous illustrations. Needless to say I have a very looong wish list. I took the kids in on Wednesday and they were loving looking at all the new titles. The boys were especially excited by the Minecraft manuals. 
The picture books that I put on my wish list are
- There's a Lion in my Cornflakes by Michelle Robinson
-  Gigantosaurus by Johnny Duddle
- Oi Frog by Kes Gray and Jeff Field
- This Moose Belong to Me by Oliver Jeffers
- Nugget and Fang by Tommy Sauer
- The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt
This is our schools second year in our move toward personalised learning, and one of the first moves we made toward this change was to have personalised maths groups within each learning centre. In our 1/2 Inquiry Centre we have been learning about fractions this week my maths group has been focusing on quarters. We have looked at fraction symbols, written representations, and quarters of shapes. As a little treat for my group we used M&M's to practice dividing collections into quarters. We also looked at how to divide them into fractions according to colour. 
You wouldn't believe how their little faces lit up when, at the end of the lesson, I told them they could eat them!
On Wednesday we watched a performance called 'Circular Rhythm'. It was about Indigenous music and culture and the kids LOVED it! The presented was amazing, he used a lot of humour when speaking with the kids, so they were in stitches the whole time. This little wonder knows how to play the didgeridoo, and he got the chance to go out the front and show everyone. It was very impressive. 
At the end of the performance, as everyone was leaving, the presenter put on 'Happy' by Pharell, so as the other classes were walking out, my class and I decided we'd stick around for a little bit and have a dance together. 
HOLY MOLY! The weather this week has been absolutely INSANE! 
Now don't be fooled, that's not snow you see in the photo above...its hail! 
It was the loudest 30 seconds I've ever experienced in my classroom...and the louder the hail got..the louder the kids got lol They were loving the weather. It's probably the closest thing to snow we're going to get. 
This Friday (1st August) was Jeans for Genes day. Myself and my good friend and colleague Christine, have started a Student Representative Council (SRC) this year, and as part of that we help the children organise and implement fundraisers. To raise money for Jeans for Genes Day we held a special tuck shop day where we sold nachos. The first photo is of my class all wearing their jeans, and the second one is of the SRC children furiously making nachos. They did such an amazing job! We couldn't be more proud of how much effort they put into making this day a success. 
We raised $735 minus the cost of supplies, so we were very happy. 

Happy weekend everyone!


6 comments:

  1. That book fair looks amazing! I LOVE children's books! I haven't heard of any of the titles on your wish list so I am going to write them down and take a look at the book store the next time I'm there. Your school looks like such a fun place. Loved the personalized math centers.

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    1. Thanks! I love them too :) good illustrations suck me in!
      The maths groups are great, it makes it a lot easier to target specific needs on a bigger scale.

      Thanks for reading :)
      Zoe

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  2. This is an amazing collection of photos and stories. What a week you have had. I am also thinking you may be an aussie blogger like me
    Paula from Paula’s Place and iSURF Maths

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    1. Thanks so much Paula! I am indeed an aussie blogger :) I just had a look at your blog and saw you had crazy weather too! My kids would kill for it to snow here, we just get hail lol
      New follower!

      Zoe

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  3. I always love when the book fair comes around. I don't know if I am more excited or my kiddos...lol. I love that you started a student council and are teaching your students about giving back by having a fundraiser. Kudos to you and your students!

    ~Laura
    Luv My Kinders

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    1. Haha same! I get so excited when the truck arrives.
      The kids in the SRC take their role so seriously, it makes me super proud to see how much effort they put into making our school a better place.
      Thanks Laura :)

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