Learning to Learn in 2015

We're four weeks into our 2015 school year and I'm exhausted! The first two weeks I felt great, but this week I've hit a wall. I'm sure this happens to most teachers, the sheer shock of going back to work after 5 weeks of absolutely nothing. But enough about that, heres a look at a few of the things we've done during our first weeks back!

One of the first things we do is talk about the things that make a good student. A book that I always read at the beginning of the year is 'The Interrupting Chicken' by David Ezra Stein. 

It's a gorgeous picture book about a little red chicken who asks her papa to read her a bedtime story, but she can't help interrupting and spoiling the ending. It's a fantastic story to reinforce the importance of waiting patiently and not interrupting when people are talking. As a response to the book the children coloured in a picture of a chicken and stuck it in their book. Around it they wrote qualities of a good student, e.g. listening, taking turns, sitting quietly, raising their hand etc. 

One of the first things we do when we start a new year is write our holiday recounts. I found this super cute 'Here Come the Sun' summer craftivity pack from The Teacher's Wife and thought it would be the perfect way to present our holiday writing. I photocopied all the different templates onto coloured card and had it all organised for the first day to save rushing around (after seeing the time it took to do the photocopying, I'm very glad I did it in advance!) I love how bright they are, and think they look great strung up across our room.

Last year I discovered the 'Pout Pout Fish' series by Deborah Diesen and fell in love with the hopeful little protagonist. One of the books is called 'Pout Pout Fish Goes to School' which is a beautiful book about the first day of school, and the struggle to find the place where you belong. Unfortunately I don't have the book, so we watched the song version on YouTube by Gordon True, which, I'll embarrassingly admit, made me a bit teary the first time I watched it. 

As a response to the story my little wonders used water colours to paint a portrait of the brave little Pout Pout Fish. I love how each painting is completely individual, I have some very talented little artists in my class this year. 

Oops, I only took one photo :/ 

I'll take more this week and add them so you can see the extreme cuteness.

I got the idea for the next activity from Pinterest, but for the life of me cannot find the original pin...ugh! If you find it please let me know so I can link back to it.

We used a Venn diagram to explore the similarities and differences between ourselves and a new buddy we made in our class. The little wonders decorated each side of the Venn diagram to look like themselves and their buddy. I was loving how they turned out!

Hope you enjoyed reading, happy blogging :)

P.s. room tour is coming!

October - Currently I am...

Another month done and dusted! Can you believe September is over already??
Well October is here, so I say bring on the pumpkins, costumes and candy! Living in Australia, Halloween isn't as big of a deal as it is in America and other countries. But I still like to teach my little ones about the history of the holiday, so I'm looking forward to that :)

A new month equals a new currently! I'm linking up with Farley from 'Oh Boy 4th Grade' to share what I'm upto, so here it is!

Listening - My parents are off to the Gold Coast tomorrow for ten days and have only been allocated 20kg of luggage between then. Cue the awkward struggle to condense two adults luggage into one suitcase with a weight of under 20kg. It won't happen....I predict a call will be made to the airline to increase the luggage allowance. 

Loving - School holidays are essential! It's a much needed break for teacher and students from each other. We all love our kids, and are extremely lucky to be able to spend so much time with them, watching them grow and sharing in their stories and experiences. But toward the end of the term, it is clear that both parties are ready for a break. 

If you're anything like me a chunk of your holidays are spent making all those little improvements to your classroom that you don't get time for during the term. It's also spent thinking up new lessons, better ways to run your day, and trolling teaching blogs for new ideas. This doesn't feel like work to me though, so it's still relaxing and enjoyable :)

Thinking - Uuuuugh term 4....reports. Enough said. I know we all feel the same about this time of the year. Yay for Christmas, Boo for reports. 

Wanting - My friend just posted on Facebook about her recent laser eye surgery. She has worn contacts and glasses her whole life, and now has better than 20:20 vision. Definitely something I want to do. Just need to save for a house first, unless I win the lotto, then I'll be booked in the next day! I don't personally mind the look of glasses, or mind wearing them...at school. But when I want to go shopping or spend the day/night with friends, having rubbish vision is a bit of a bugger. I can still see by all means, but it's definitely not great. 

Needing - I think I've mentioned before that this year (and next) I am studying to gain my Catholic Accreditation. This course is by far the WORST I have EVER undergone. It has zero relevance to actual teaching and is sooo full of theological jargon that it confuses me just to read the assignment titles. I am so lucky that I have other teachers doing it as well or I would be well and truly doomed. 

Trick or Treat - Treat!! I have just uploaded my 'Holiday Themed Writing Templates' and they are currently in my shop for....FREEEEEE! (for a week!) Head on over and grab them now. 

Head over to 'Oh Boy 4th Grade' for more blogger insights :)