Snowmen

Check out these snowmen my Kindergarten students made last year. It is a basic yet very effective activity for either Christmas or lessons on seasons.

I made the backgrounds on Word, printing off a variety of colours for students to choose from. The kids cut out snowmen (strengthening fine motor and scissor skills), coloured them and pasted on cotton wool balls.

Garden of Good Manners

'Please', 'thank you', 'I'm sorry', 'may I?' 'excuse me' and 'you're welcome' .... all good manners we want reinforced in the clasroom. So here's a little display I purchased from Dominie: it's the Garden of Good Manners!

Procedure: Fairy Bread

 

.... a great Procedure writing task!

What you need:

...... bread ........

...... sprinkles ........

...... margarine and plates ........

The result:

 

 DELICIOUS!

Application - writing focus:

Grammar focus: 

Display: Motivational Poster

 

Motivational Poster: REACH for success! 

Useful for classroom display or as a handout for parents at Meet and Greet night at the beginning of the year!

Kindifarm

 

Kindifarm came to visit when when we were learning about ‘living things’.

This incursion was very hands-on; these inner city children enjoyed touching and feeding the animals.

Lots of fun, and best of all, they came to us!

 

Area and Perimetre

 

This is a fun way to reinforce the concepts of area and perimetre. 

Students can calculate the area and perimetre of their names on a grid on the IWB, and then they apply on paper using their friend's names. 

It's always fun to see who has the greatest area or perimetre and this activity is so much fun that it helps kids to retain knowledge for future reference.

Star Student

 

Student of the Week: a great incentive for younger children.

I bought this wall display at Dominie and have it displayed year-round.

One student is chosen weekly (based on good behaviour or focus on academic work) to have their name displayed. They are also given a Star Student sticker and a small merit award to keep.


(Hint: laminate the stars! I also use sticky-back velcro dots instead of blu-tak on the poster)

Celebrations Booklet

 

The following are some sample worksheets I have made for a Celebrations unit. At my school, we complete this HSIE unit over the whole year, completing activities on special days as they arise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shhhh Spray

Mix a little water and glitter glue together to make this bottle of "Shhh Spray".

"Spray" on students who are rowdy/noisy, or on all students as they enter the classroom.

(Hint: Remove the tubing from nozzle so nothing actually squirts out).

Autumn Leaves

To make these beautiful overlapping autumn leaves, have the students trace the following template (squidoo.com) using black marker onto yellow, red, orange and green tissue paper. Then, carefully cut out leaves and paste them overlapping onto A3 paper.

Teach This

 

My favourite, favourite, favourite teacher resource site!

The Teach This site provides games and activities, maps, organisers and other resources available in a range of fonts. It is the absolute BEST teacher’s resource site I have discovered, and worth every one of its $50 membership fees.

It has literacy, numeracy, and topic unit resources and games. Print til your heart's content!

Australian Animals Clay Models

A fun Blooms activity on Australian animals; students made clay models on their animal and wrote a procedure on how to make it.

 

 

 

Reading Corner Floor Mat

 

Alphabet Mat

I love this mat ($20-ish from KMart/Big W). I use it in my reading corner. 

Not only does it provide soft cushioning for the students, but it also creates a splash of colour to my classroom!

Class Expectations

So absolutely true! The following poster is designed to encourage my little year 2 students to 'do the right thing'. 

We use the Bounce Back resilience program at school, and I have incorporated this as part of it.  

Thinking Skills: De Bono's Thinking Hats

 

We use De Bono’s Six Thinking Hats in our integrated units of work, and literacy lessons.

• White Hat - facts
• Yellow Hat - positives
• Red Hat - feelings and emotions
• Black Hat - negatives
• Blue Hat - thinking processes
• Green Hat - creativity

Students have to put on their 'Thinking Hats' during group discussions or during question time.

I select a different hat each week for Show and Tell, and the students have to ask questions based on that week’s hat colour.