Tactile Sight Word Learning!


This old book is a treasure. I learnt to read with books like this and I still have vivid memories of tracing the soft felt letters with my fingertip. 

Incorporating multiple senses (including touch) into letter and word learning can help deepen understanding and development and also create some very rich, engaging lessons! 

Sitting still and being told to listen and watch can be hard for our little learners - being given permission to explore with their hands can make a huge difference.

Just as I loved tracing the felt letters in these books, my little Mr 4 has been thrilled to explore these sight words with me recently.  

After printing the word cards we used a giant push pin to pierce a hole through each dot. You could also use toothpicks. I told Sam that these were funny letters that were back-to-front and we needed to help get them fixed!

If I was to make a set for my classroom, as a teacher I would perhaps laminate them for durability and multiple use and 'pin' them myself. 


We then 'flipped' the card - magic! We fixed the word.

The true magic however, is in the raised surface created by the pin pricks. 


I taught Sam how to run his finger over the letters and 'trace' each word. He LOVES it! We say each letter as we go. He is learning the letter names while feeling the shape with his finger. 

We then read the whole word!


I am currently making a single sound and cvc word set, but this Sight Word version fits nicely in with my 100 Sight Words program and bundle!


I've just added it to the bundle listing, so if you already have it, re-download for the new inclusion! This bundle is only at 150MB with 50MB of value still to be added in the future! 


I hope your students love these cards as much as Sam has enjoyed them.

Have a great Tuesday! And in case you have been hiding under a rock - remember the sale  is on for one more day!



- Mel x

Penguin Fine Motor Activity

Pinning Pages are a great way to motivate students to engage in a focused fine motor activity. After helping them understand safety rules with pins, distribute a page to each student along with a push pin.
Find all our pinning page packets here

Students can find a comfortable and safe place on the classroom carpet to pin the design on their page. It makes for a nice calming-down activity after a busy lunch - especially on a hot day in the playground. 

penguin pinning page

Once finished, the pages look great displayed on the window, with sunlight streaming through all the holes. 

I would love to share this penguin page with you today. Find it over in our free Coloring Club library!

If you need more creative ideas for a penguin theme - find our collection to browse over on the website

Have a wonderful day teacher friends!
penguin pinning page


Classroom Order

classroom management

Recently I had a chat with a new teacher, about classroom management. 

And by 'chat' I mean we went round and round in circles for a very long time, in confusing long-winded hypothetical scenarios as I thought of every wonderful little management snippet that has been passed onto me by a long line of terrific teachers with wonderful tips, techniques and tidbits. 

And there may have been some yawns. 

And then I summarised. As all pretty-good-average teachers like myself, do.

Just be 100%. 

Whatever you do, or however you decide to manage..... own it. 100%. It is the consistency that will achieve the results, not any sort of magic trick.

Do what you say you will do. Follow through on promises and manage things so that your students can anticipate their day and you as their teacher with 100% certainty. 

And I promise, after a few months of 100%, your class will begin to accept 99 and you can breathe again. 

My 5 Top Tips for Classroom Management

  1. Build relationships with your students. Making time to let them be heard is priceless. 
  2. Talk to your colleagues about what works for them in the context of your school. Listen to the ideas of teachers who have the experience. Bloggers love sharing their ideas, but how many of them abandoned the classroom? Honestly, I am going to poke my eyes out if I have to read one more judgmental tidbit from someone who sits behind a desk after giving up after 8 months of teaching. Our best resource is each other. Chat with someone who has walked the walk and stuck with it.
  3. Keep your expectations and/or rules as simple as possible. Let your students help you make them if you have the time.
  4. Explain and reinforce your expectations with visuals to assist understanding. Explain them several different ways, with role play to 'act them out'.
  5. Consistency. As close to 100% if you manage it. 



If like me however, and you want to supplement your basic management philosophy with fun and engaging strategies for your students, consider following my Classroom Management Pinterest board! I love finding new ideas and saving them here for you.

Thank you so much for following my blog, have a terrific weekend!

Teddy Bear Number Games


This Teddy Bear Pack of number games in my collection has been updated and refreshed! 
Students will love having a fun teddy theme to help practice essential early counting and numeral identification skills. Teddy Roll is great for reinforcing number order. Play it for forwards or backwards counting! 


Bear will help students become familiar with numerals, patterns and number words!


Bear Hop will help with numeral identification. 



And 'Teddies' with matching quantities to numerals. If you have the license already, download your new goodies by heading to your 'My Purchases' tab on TpT or direct from the listing HERE

And in even better news - we are half way through the week, friends! You deserve to be excited!


Thank you so much for checking in, I appreciate you so much. 



Sunny Monday + Craft

live in the sunshine meme


It was warm today and we spent a few hours in the sunshine. The light and warmth seems to make me happier and energised. Perhaps it's a consequence of having been put out in my bassinet for a half hour or so each day as a baby, by my mum. 

Apparently it was the thing to do. Whatever the reason, I tend to seek out a sunny corner somewhere whenever I need an energiser.

To be guided by the light, warmth and goodness in the universe - it's a good rule of thumb for all things I guess...


Have a brilliant Monday friends!

Free Sunshine Craft
Ona related note, if you are a member of our free coloring club, you will find this adorable free sunshine craft ready and waiting for you! Your sweet learners can paint or color the pieces and cut and glue it together! Find out more about the club here.

free sunshine craft

Fun Christmas Math Games


This bundle of 4 fun math games will help your students remember the combinations that make 10"
10+0, 9+1, 8+2, 7+3, 6+4 and 5+5. 

And let me tell you, even by 3rd grade, they often require continued practice. Sigh

Santa Makes 10 will help your student naturally explore the process of making or building a collection of 10, and help them visualise how many more they need to add onto an existing count. 


In Make 10 Tree students will make a Christmas tree by finding 2 numbers that add to make 10. Choose between numerals of dots or use both!


Make 10 Sowman is always a favourite and your students will achieve fluency with this fast paced game of covering combinations.


Let it Snow will see students spin a number and cover the snowballs. Like the Santa game they will benefit from seeing the number visually with counters and the leftover quantity that remains. 


Find this mini bundle in my TpT store by clicking on any of the images in this post!



Have a great day! 

- Mel x


Label Love Graphics

I added a 3rd set in the 'Label Love' series to our graphics store. These are great for heading a worksheet or resource page.

Teach (and learn) like a Dragonfly



We had a dragonfly in the classroom today. 

So pretty! A few treasures were scared, so we did some research. 

We found out that they have incredible vision that encompasses almost every angle except directly behind them.

We decided as a class that we would all try to learn (and teach) like dragonflies - taking in as much as we could from around us to learn. 

Wonderful Wednesday

wonder wednesdays


Happy Wednesday friends! You're almost there. I don't know about you, but I get to Wednesday and really start to wonder. Where has half the week gone? What have I accomplished. Ihavesomuchmoretodo!
Here are 5 wonderful things I have found online recently. Because when I wonder too much. I procrastinate.

Welcome to my 'thought' posts where anything and possibly nothing, is possible.

Thank you Deborah - as much as I am in denial about the end of my school year, at least I can look semi-organised for 2017!

THIS is awesome. Even 3rd graders need it!

With only a few weeks left of my school year and so many planned events, I want to squeeze in a few Christmas arty activities in the next week or two or we just won't get to them. I am pinning my inspiration HERE

4. We just discovered Harriet Clare.
My daughter and I are a little obsessed. Lots of fun reading and sketching in these books!

Yes please!

Wednesday Wondering Coloring Page

On a more serious note, help your learners make wondering (or being curious) a habit by structuring a post-reading discussion to surface questions or musings about what has been read in your shared reading session. The students who are comfortable and natural with this style of thinking will be able to model for your class. With consistency, over time all your little learners will be more conformable to pose questions and extend their thinking while reading.

wonder coloring page worksheet
If you're in our premium coloring club you will find this page for your little ones to decorate or cover with questions. Perhaps you can project it onto your electronic board and collaborate as a class - using this scaffold each Wednesday. Remeber, Wednesdays are for wondering. 

wonder clouds worksheet


Learn more about our premium coloring club here.

Free Directed Drawing - OW




Head over to TPT to find this FREE owl directed drawing. We had a 'super moon' here in Australia last night and a lovely artwork is the perfect way to celebrate and introduce a discussion about the moon.

Find more directed drawing projects in my TpT store HERE





Have a great day!

SaveSave

Hello Santa


We saw Santa at the shops on the weekend. And by 'see' I mean we peered at him through spaces between the fingers that covered our faces.

"We" being my two children. Santa was on his big old soft chair ready for annual 'Santa photos' to be taken.

As we sat and enjoyed our delicious morning tea we listened to the panicked cries of squirmy children being pried from the safety of their parents arms. 

I did not judge. There are plenty of things I "make" my children do simply because I think they need to do them. Eating vegetables and picking up their toys being two pull-my-hair-out daily struggles examples.

But I did think. 

I was thinking about how and why kids enjoy the things they do, and how happily and willingly they engage in what they do - especially in the classroom. What motivates our kiddos and how they learn more deeply when they are doing something they understand and want to do. 

I also thought about how much I have NOT thought about Christmas and how there are only 42 days till the big guy pays us a visit. Eek!

Guess there may be some panicked squeals from me soon too. 

Have a wonderful Monday, friends!

- Mel x

Fraction Review Pages



Your students can review their early understanding of fractions with these 5 review pages.



My '5 Page Review' series gives you no-prep pages to review key concepts with your students.

The pages can be made into a work booklet with a decorative cover (see above) for students to work on as a pre-assessment, consolidation, homework, review or post-assessment.

The pages have been designed to give lots of practice on each page.

The activities are presented clearly and are a good balance between being appealing to students and of a high enough quality to send home.

The pages in this fraction packet cover the following skills:
  • Page 1: recording fractions shown in a picture of a shape (fraction of 1)
  • Page 2: creating a picture (color shape) to show the value of a given fraction (fraction of 1)
  • Page 3: identifying the fraction of a group

  • Page 4: equivalent fractions (fraction of 1)

  • Page 5: ordering fractions on a number line (fractions less than 1)

You can staple the pages into a work booklet, or just use a single page as appropriate.


Keep an eye out for more '5 Page Review' packets by following my store on TpT.



If you are looking for a fun way to leap from fractions to an understanding of decimals - check out this newly listed mathtivity in my store as well!

Friday


friday made to stand out

Five things that you can say on a Friday.
  1. Yes
  2. Yes
  3. Yes
  4. Yes
  5. Yes
Friday is for fun. Enjoy it!

Multiplication Cookie Trays {A Throwback Thursday Post}

I have a fun and free math center that will help your students with arrays for multiplication  It is simple to prep and loads of fun for students to use in math centers, rotations and workshops to learn about the strategy of arrays to determine the total of equal groups. Students will find the number of cookies in total on each card.

free multiplication activity arrays



Originally made for a blog post in 2011 I have freshened up this activity and listed it on TpT for you!

Students can play in a small group. There is no winner, just lots of practice and fun! 

The arrays total no more than 20 and can be recorded on their worksheet as well, if desired.


I've included:

detailed instructions
21 activity cards 
a worksheet (either a recording worksheet or a fun-follow-up)
a cover page to help you organize your resources for future reference

This activity can be used in a structured game rotation program, as math centers or in guided math. Once taught, it also makes a fantastic 'fast-finisher' activities for revision of key concepts



Thanks so much for stopping by - I appreciate you so much!