Classroom Inspiration

Tuesday, 24 March 2015

Special Delivery from the US!!

I could not wait to get home today to tell you about my very special delivery that came all the way from the United States!

When I got to school this morning I noticed a parcel in my tub. Being an avid online shopper I had to think hard as to wether or not I was expecting anything. When I checked who the sender was I recognised the name right away...it was Deborah Diesen, the author of one of my favourite book series The Pout Pout Fish. 

I opened the package to find a signed copy of 'The Pout Put Fish Goes to School' and a handwritten letter. As I read the letter I began to tear up! Deborah wrote that she had seen my blog post about learning to learn, and how I used the Pout Pout Fish story to get students ready for the school year. 
I honestly cannot explain how amazing it felt to know that she had read my post, and had been so kind to send me my very own copy of this gorgeous book. 
 Inside the book was a beautiful message to me and my students. 
I shared it with them this morning and they were just about as blown away as I was!
 It's nice to finally have a book for our little Pout Pout Fish to sit by :)
 Today was most definitely the highlight of my blogging career.
 Thank you so much Deborah for reading my blog and taking the time to send me this amazing gift, it means so much to me.

Saturday, 28 February 2015

Five for Friday!

Holy moly it's been a while since I've linked up with Doodle Bugs for Five for Friday, and I must say I've missed it! Here is a look at our hectic, fun, creative and colourful week (well a mix of this week and last). 
This activity was all about identifying our talents, and the things that make us special. We brainstormed lots of different words we could use to describe ourselves and they chose one to write on their mirror. They then finished the sentence 'Mirror, mirror on the wall, I am special because...'. 
We stuck the mirror and writing piece onto black paper and hung them up outside our classroom. 
Last week we celebrated Shrove (or pancake) Tuesday. To mark the beginning of Lent we made these super cute pancake headbands. Each child was given four pancakes and on them they had to write a word that related to or described Lent. I was quite impressed with some of the words they came up with (not to mention their spelling choices); prayer, hope, Jesus, Easter, fasting, kindness and sharing, to name a few. They wore them for the day and had a great tim
Last week our art focus was warm and cool colours. I asked the children to think of the warm colours that remind them of summer, fire, the sun etc. Most of them were on the right track with red, orange, yellow and pink, some suggested blue and green, perhaps they were thinking of the water they swim in when its hot...I then did the same for cool colours. After we distinguished the different colours the little wonders divided their paper in half, they filled the top half with curved, wavy lines and the bottom with straight pointed lines. They coloured the top half with warm coloured oil pastels, and the bottom with cool colours. I loooove how bright and vibrant they are! They look fantastic on our wall in between our number line from Kinder Craze, and our months of the year. 
 For show and tell this week one of my little wonders brought in some perfume he'd made at home. He explained that he wants to be a scientist when he's older so thought he'd experiment with making perfume. He soaked the flowers in water, then crushed them up  and removed them from the liquid. You would not believe how amazing this stuff smelt! I was actually blown away. It smelt like Calvin Klein CK One..no joke. Clever little thing!
This week's art focus was on painting techniques. I'd seen this done on Pinterest so decided to give it a go. The little wonders used blown up water balloons to blob paint from their paint tray onto lone side of their paper (which I had pre-folded down the middle). I can't get enough of the super bright colours they used, they look amazing! Once they were happy with the amount of blobs they'd done, they folded their paper over and gently pressed to transfer the paint to the other side of the paper. Once they dry I plan to cut them out and turn them into Blob Monsters similar to the ones on Kindergarten Smiles and Love, Laughter and Learning in Prep.   
I hope you've enjoyed your glimpse into my classroom :)
Happy blogging!