Fun Flip Flaps


I have just listed a new resource in my store that has taken some time to create. It started with a request to add a blank flower  to my "Word Family Fold'ems" resource. A buyer wanted to be able to make her own interactive foldables from a blank flower template. But as usual, I got carried away! 19 templates later, I have a whole collection of 'foldables' that you can use in Interactive Notebooks, as 'Craftivities' or in your own creative way!


There is a beetle - students can write content on the wing flaps and underneath.


A caterpillar....


Gumball Machine.... 



A House..... 

Train.... 




and lots more! Students can color, cut and glue them together easily to create motivating visual reminders of content for any learning area! Super fun! 

You can find them in my TpT store HERE 

Sweet Notes Folder


I need a folder to house all the 'sweet notes' I receive as a teacher from my students. 


All you need to make you own is a folder, the printable cover pages (free at the end of this post) and some sheet protectors.


Type your name on the front and print the cover and spine label. Slide them in and its ready! 

Pop some sheet protectors in and now you're ready to display all the 'sweet notes' you get from your students!



I used the font KG Beneath Your Beautiful for this file!



You can grab your FREE copy from google drive, by clicking on the links below. I have made an A4 and US Letter version!



I know I saw this idea somewhere, and I think it was on my friend Brooke's blog, but for the life of me I cannot find her post! Forgive me Brooke for making my own version!
Thanks so much for visiting friends!

Five for Friday + Free Writing Book for Kindergarten

friday fun day


I have been wanting to link up for 'Five for Friday' for a long time and I have finally made it!! I had a week full of random - so finding five random highlights was super easy!

1. Cupcakes

Pretty miniature cupcakes. 4 friends chatting. Delish conversation, laughter and afternoon tea. Does it get any better?! My FAVE was the choc-mint!

2. Scrappy Sketches

Lots of scrappy doodling this week! Meet 'Scrappy Jack'!

3. Piano

My daughter is learning the piano at school. She has been practicing at home this week and I think I might just be learning a few things as well!

4. Writing in Kindergarten

A new addition to my Kindergarten Writing Books. This one is PERFECT for the first weeks of Kinder and features scrappy little back-to-school supplies! I have revised the files so they no longer say Kindergarten Writing Book and now say My Writing Book. If you have the bundle, you may want to re-download!

5. Free Writing Activity Book 

And if you have never seen these before, hurry this one if FREE for a while so you can try it out! You can also read about how to use them HERE

Head over to Doodle Bugs Teaching to find more great 5 for Friday posts!

Organizing Your Counters / Chips


I have always had little plastic tubs of counters (you might call them 'chips') in my classroom, in ready-to-go sets of ten and twenty. It makes small group learning a breeze and allows for more fluid activities and learning targets. You can set up an activity quickly as you respond to daily growth in counting and arithmetic strategies. You can quickly hand out exact sets of counters and implement a hands-on activity in minutes. This year I was introduced to a great idea for storing containers of counters. I normally use up a few of my precious tote-trays (tubs) with my sets. This idea will save you so much space as you can screw them to the wall! 

They are sewing/craft organizers. For my Australian friends, I found these ones at Big W - and they are on sale this week for $10 (normally $15). 


Each section has three round clear plastic tubs that screw together. I added a sticker for my sets of ten and twenty. If you have older students,  you could make sets of 50 or 100!


Simply untwist them to hand them out to your students. 

Then each set of 3 sits nicely in the bracket. TOO easy! Is it sad that I am looking forward to full time work again so I can gets these babies screwed up on the wall!! I am thinking in a nice little spot that cannot be filled with cute posters or shelving! I am ALL about making every space in the classroom useful, functional (and cute if possible)!


Speaking of counters, as well as having sets like these, I also like to have numbered sets. Just write numbers on with a marker and use them for number sequencing and counting activities - like my new 'Piggy in the Middle'.


This game/center can be used as a write'n'wipe activity OR use numbered counters - students work out the number that comes in the middle of the sequence. 


Have you dropped by my Facebook page yet to become a 'fan'. In the 'Fans Only' tab you will find a new freebie - a simple subtraction worksheet - inspired by my daughter's sudden fascination with subtraction!

Speedy Work and A Sale!


I thought I might take a moment to explain how my "Speedy Work Desk Motivator" works.

I made it with the student-that-has-difficulty-staying-on-task-at-his-desk in mind! So it is primarily for desk work. 

The idea is that your target students receive a desk mat to place on their desk. There are 4 spaces to secure (with velcro dots or blu-tac) a picture of the tasks you would like them to complete. Put them in task order. 

As the student completes each task, he/she may remove the picture card - and an affirming 'tick' will be revealed!




Once the last task is completed, the student will find the checkered flag or 'finish line' revealed! 


On display, in your classroom each day is the finish posetr reward chart. Switch out the reward to keep things fresh and motivating. Just attach a little sample of the reward so your student can visually see what is up for grabs. In the example I have put a sheet of stickers to represent that the student would receive a sticker for getting to the finish line. 


Two desk mat sizes are included.


And USA and English/Aussie spellings. 


It also features large teacher cards - these are great for putting at the front of the class and using to motivate the whole class. A student can come out and replace the picture with a check (tick) as each task is completed by the entire class.



You can find it in my store HERE - and its on sale! 

In fact, EVERYTHING in my store is on sale until 19th August (USA time). It is time to empty that wishlist!


Congratulations to Amy F who won a $25 voucher to my store in our recent blog hop! Also to Susan and Katy who each won a $50 gift voucher!













Lego / Legos Storage


My daughter has been LOVING Lego (do you say Legos in the US?) for the last 3 years. We have accumulated quite a bit. It makes an excellent gift, and when people ask me what to buy her - I say 'Lego'! She is VERY good at building things. I pass all credit over to my hubby - he got her started and had the patience to sit and teach her the basics.

We have been looking for a good storage solution for a while. We have tried just about everything. At lest we have found something that I think will be perfect. Drawers! On wheels! Portable. Easy to hide when guests come over. And best yet, you can slide the drawers out and carry them to a work space. 




I think we covered just about all the options to sort her Lego. You can download the labels I used from google drive HERE if you would like to make your own Lego drawers!

Blends Train!


I love revising some of my first products. I have been itching to do this one for a while. Blends Train was one of the first games I made when I found a graphic designer to make custom graphics for me.  They certainly were fun, but it was time for a freshen up and EXTRA value!

This set now includes 2 posters to help you teach the CONCEPT of blends, a WHOLE new game, 2 cover pages (to help you organise your stuff!) and a tracing worksheet! If you have purchased Blends Train from me at my TpT store, just re-download the revisions for FREE! This is one of the reasons I LOVE TpT! The ability to access your previously purchased files means teacher-authors can treat you to bonus upgrades and FREE add-ons! 

How do you teach the concept of consonant blends? The reason I invest some time in teaching the actual idea of a blend, is that in can replace a LOT of time spent on other activities and worksheets. If your students understand how blends work, they really do not have to spend too long completing too many activities on learning to recognise the actual blends, in the same way they would spend time learning letters of the alphabet. A few activities, yes, but you will find after a solid teaching of the concept, they can apply their knowledge of a few blends over to other blends they see in words, or need to spell. 

I am happy to share with you the ideas behind the posters that are now included in this file. 

I use a poster like this to tell students that we are going to learn blends. 

Use this poster to introduce students to ‘The Blends Train’. Tell them that the train is carrying the ‘b’ and ‘l’ combination today (use letter names) and point to the front window.


Tell the students that this combination is made of a ‘b’ sound and a ‘l’ sound. Point to the two carriages. Tell the students that when the train wakes up in the morning, it is cold, he is slow to move and he needs to move his wheels very slowly to warm them up. Tell them to listen as you show them.
Move your arms like a train and very slowly say ‘b’......’l’.......’b’.......’l’..... and slowly get faster. 

Pause, to tell them that because the train is carrying both letters, you can hear BOTH sounds. As the train speeds up, the letter get closer together. Show your students and have them listen to you get faster. Now pause to tell them that the train gets so fast and smooth that eventually the sounds get so close together that it sounds like almost one sound!! 

Your students will love it, I promise. It will help the understand that a blend is almost like a sound in itself, but both letters are still 'heard' - unlike other tricky letter combinations like 'er' and 'ai'.

In the file, I have also included a blank train so you can write, with a dry-erase marker, new blends to show your students a few examples. 

I hope you are having a wonderful start to your week!

Ultimate Pack #2 Listed


This is a very short post tonight to let you know that I have listed the 2nd of our Ultimate Packs of 'Print and Play' games/centers for numbers to ten. I had a few people waiting on this release - and I apologise it took a while to get listed. I wanted to revise each and every game with fresh images, additional game cards and boards and a worksheet and cover page for EVERY file! I normally sell these games for $3 each, so $15 for 20 of them is a significant saving. 

You can check them out HERE at TpT. All included files have been made to suit both US and Australian students.

It has to be a fast post as I have been in quite a lot of pain over the weekend. I have back pain issues from time to time. It seems embarking on 4 exercise sessions in a week, after a 2 year spell may well have stirred things up! Not to worry, I have been flat on my back in bed, sketching my little heart out. So prepare for some scrappy clipart freebies very soon. 

Take care friends and I will leave you with some valuable advice. NEVER. LET. YOUR. FITNESS. SLIDE! He he he! 

Thanks for stopping by!