Swap, Share, Give: A blog linky from Down Under!

I am so excited to share this with you today! I have been super fortunate to be part of a Product Swap, Share & a Giveaway with some very talented Australian bloggers & TpT sellers, so we bring you.....

This has been organised by Lauren over at Love, Laughter & Learning in Prep, go there to see the other great peeps, products & links.

~ SWAP ~

I was paired up with the very talented Brooke from Teachable Moments to try out one of her amazing products. I choose her Find it & Clip it: Initial & Final Sounds Pack.

This was perfect for my Preps who recognise most letters & are exploring sounds. We worked on initial sounds only & this was a great product to be used in a focus group.

The kidlets LOVED pegging & had great discussions with others in the group to work out the sound. Also their stretching out and use of cued articulation to figure out the beginning sound made my heart soar. We have only been at school for 9 weeks & they are just superstars.

We worked on the cards for two sessions before we used the worksheet to record the sound/letter. They loved copying the letter & were concentrating so hard to get it right.

This little dude was so thrilled to work out that moon started with "m". The smile was huge!

I am planning to pick this up again after the holidays as a review and then focus more on final sounds. This is a great pack for Kindergarten & the clipart is perfect- colourful, clear & had the kidlets hooked. Thanks to Brooke for sharing this with me, we will definitely be using it again.

~ SHARE ~

This is one of my favourite attention getters. This poster is perfect when first introducing it to your class or as a reminder throughout the year. Click on the pic or go here to download it.

~ GIVE ~

Enter our Giveaway to win one copy of each of the products swapped! Simply follow each of our stores :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

To check out the other posts visit Lauren over at Love, Laughter & Learning in Prep.

Five for Friday

How has week 9 finished already?! It has been a very busy last couple of weeks so I'm linking up to share all about it :)

~ One ~
We had a fantastic Prep Parents Dinner last night where parents from both of our Prep classes went out together. It was organised by some of our Mum's & we had a pretty good turn out of over 30 parents. This was such a lovely idea, so great that I didn't get home until after 11pm when I was only planning to stay for a couple of drinks. Being wide awake now at 4am however is not so great {all I do after these functions is dream silly dreams about stuff I didn't even say}. My New Years Resolution to 'Stress Less' still needs some work. Arvo nap in store here!

~ Two ~
On Thursday our whole school had a fantastic BluEarth Fitness 'Day' {9-11am was plenty for our Junior Burgers}. We had 20 minute slots of BluEarth Games x 2, Yoga, Aerobics with a parent who was amazing & making fruit kebabs. We had so much fun! 

~ Three ~
We have almost completed Term 1, I can't believe it! Things are starting to click! Isn't that the best feeling?! We have been reviewing our class rules & responsibilities this week by practising our Self-Control Bubbles with help from Lauren's cute packet. Find more info at Teacher Tipster. We start in a whole circle then practise in pairs. 

~ Four ~
We have been crazy busy the last 2 weeks with the tip of it being our School Celebration day at the pool. Our entire school {340+} went to the pool for most of the day. Let's just say I was having a nervous breakdown before we went with thinking of all the things that could go wrong but.... IT. WAS. BRILLIANT! My buddy teacher and I stayed in the pool with the kidlets the whole time & it was a blast.

~ Five ~
Brag time. I've retested my poppets on their Letter Id {upper & lowercase} this week and I have a poppet who has gone from knowing 1 letter to 9 (this is amazing for him!) & a poppet who has moved from 5 to 37!!! I can't wait to finish the testing this week. I love it when they start 'getting it'.

Hope you are having a lovely week & that no-one else is silly enough to be awake at 5am on a Saturday. 

Love & milkstaches,

Sunshine Award

Oh my goodness it has been 3 weeks since I have written a post. How'd that happen?! Plus I started writing this post on Saturday & I am only finishing it now :( Bring on holidays, I say!

The lovely Lola from Preschool Wonders & Paula from Paula's Place have both nominated me for a Sunshine Blogger Award. This is a super sweet idea! 

The rules of the Sunshine Blogger Award are:

{1} Post 11 random facts about yourself.

{2}  Answer the 11 questions asked by the blogger who nominated you.

{3} Nominate 11 bloggers you think bring sunshine to the world.

{4} Make up 11 questions for your nominations to answer.

As I am very slack and am also about to head out to a Prep Teddy Bear Mass tonight I will only answer Lola's questions as she nominated me first.

11 Random Facts

1. I painted my nails today while watching Thor, they are blue with sparkles.

2. I turned 29 two weeks ago & am already thinking that I am 30, less worry for next year :)

3. I love to collect vintage Pyrex dishes & tea towels.

4. I hate camping, my husband loves it.

5. I love teaching straight Prep {kinders}.

6. I have a Pinterest addiction.

7. I love boy bands because of all the dorky dance moves.

8. I love to travel and have been to Thailand, Japan, the UK, Irleand & a fair bit of Europe but am dying to go back.

9. I read for fun everyday.

10. I love to bake.

11. My perfect weekend would involve a beer with my hubby, listening to some live tunes, a wander around an art gallery & being able to walk along a beach.

Questions from Lola

{1}What's your favorite subject/theme to teach?  Maths!

{2}If you could travel anywhere where would you go? Spain or New York, both are  still on my wish list.

{3}What's your favorite snack? Crackers & Beetroot dip.

{4}What do you like to do in your free time? Wander around art galleries or spend a weekend with my friend's in Melbourne, hanging out at a bar & listening to live music.

{5}What person has been most influential to you? Work wise, my DP from my first school. She is amazing and I was really fortunate to learn so much from her. Life wise, my Mum, she has not had the easiest life but she has been an awesome Mum.

{6}Where is your favorite vacation spot? In Australia, Lorne. The beach is amazing there, it's where my husband proposed and it's our favourite place to go for a weekend away. If overseas, Paris is pretty spectacular.

{7}How long have you been teaching and what grades/subjects have you taught? This is my 8th year as a teacher. I have taught grade 4 down to Prep {Kindergarten} which I teach now. I think eventually I will move back up, hope fully getting to teach grade 6.

{8}What is the most frustrating thing to you about teaching? The lack of appreciation or understanding sometimes of exactly what we do and how much we care about our kids.

{9}What's the most rewarding thing to you about teaching? Seeing my amazing poppets learn something new & develop into fantastic people.

{10} If you won the lottery what would you do with the money? Pay off our house, buy a house in Italy or France, buy my house and a house near the river and take 6 months off work to travel around the US and South America. 

{11}If you had unlimited time what would you do more of? Sleep, chill with the hubs & be more organised.

11 Bloggers Who Put Sunshine Into My World
I in no way expect these bloggers to fill out questions {and because otherwise this post will never get finished I'm not going to write any} but here are some great blogs to check out:

1. Love, Laughter & Learning in Prep
2. Teachable Moments
3. Paula's Place
4. Miss Gavin Learns
5. Art Projects for Kids
6. The Army Wife Teacher
7. Sticky Notes & Glitter
8. The Rolly Chair

And non-teacher blogs that make my heart sing 

9. Enjoying the Small Things 
10. 100 Layer Cake
11. House of Humble

Happy almost Friday :)

Currently March!

Oh, thank goodness March has rolled around! February did not finish on a good note & I am ready for March a.k.a. Birthday Month. Bring it on! Linking up with the gorgeous Farley for this month's currently.

Listening
Our fat kitty cat Axel wanting to get back inside the house, I should really get up & let him in!

Loving
It's officially Birthday Week! Yes, we celebrate for a whole week in our house. Yes, it's awesome. Yes, it's the best freakin' idea ever (mine). This is year 6 of Birthday week in the Perry household & mine started on Friday! My birthday is on the 7th & it's exactly what I needed this week. We started off on Friday by listening to the (delicious) Josh Pyke at the Zoo Twilights & a weekend enjoying Melbourne.


Thinking & Wanting
This week has just been one of those horrible ones that completely takes your breathe away. It gave me a good kick up the back side {again} in remembering to appreciate my incredible life because I am lucky enough to live it. 
The story isn't really one to share here at this time but I can say that it has been a huge shock for my ex-school community (where I taught up until the start of this year). The strength of the family involved is just incredible & incredibly unfair all at the same time. Deep breaths for the week ahead. 
Good thoughts & Prayers for strength and encouragement for this school community, teachers & families would be greatly appreciated.
On a good note- I have a incredible friend who rang me this week, who just knew I need the 2 hour and 13 minute chat about random things like what to do with a 25kg bag of carrots. I heart you big time Mr G!

Needing
I'm going to be out of my room a bit this week due to events mentioned above & a PD day so I need to plan a ton tonight so I can focus on the important people, happy memories & relationships this week.

And on that note, with my incredible knack of ending with the depressing, can you guess the question for my answer?

Love & jelly tots,