Currently September!

It's time to link up with Farley at Oh Boy 4th Grade to celebrate everything September!

Listening to the News, my hubs' favourite, I'm too brain dead to change the channel!

Loving that our Spring break is soon. I've hit a mood at the minute and am actually counting down until our end of the year/Christmas holidays which is terrible but I am really looking forward to this year finishing. *Deep breaths*

Thinking that I want our school concert to be done and dusted. We are spending a LOT of time rehearsing and my kids just aren't getting it. Stressing out.

Wanting a minion to help with journals and this concert stuff.

Needing to finish our term 3 take home journals!

3 trips I would love to make-
New York, Madrid, Moscow. One day! I have been really lucky and have travelled loads but haven't made it to the US yet when I do it will be a HUGE trip. New York and San Fran are at the top of the list. Been to Europe a couple of times but haven't managed Spain or Russia yet.

Hope you are having a happy week!

Swap, Share & Give: A Back to School Blog Linky from Down Under

Welcome to the Swap, Share & Give Linky!

I am so excited to be part of this awesome product swap, linky and giveaway with my very talented Aussie blogger friends. We have lots of great products, freebies and a GIVEAWAY to share with you to help as you get back into the swing of a new school year, or for any Aussie teachers, to help you finish the year off well.

The Low-Down

We will each link-up to:

SWAP a product with a partner from the same year level;

SHARE a great Freebie; and

GIVE you a chance to win one of each product from the swap, just enter the giveaway on any of our posts.

Without further ado...

~ SWAP ~

I was very lucky to be partnered up with Alison from Teaching Maths with Meaning. 

I had the chance to use her Write & Wipe Alphabet Cards. These are AWESOME!

My kiddos were so excited about these as they LOVE any excuse to use whiteboard markers. It's become a bit of weird obsession this year.

I love how clear these are and the size of the font. They were really easy to use and the packet is super cheap at $2. I still have a few kiddos who are confusing their letters so the visual cue was really important for them.

My favourite part of the Write & Wipe Alphabet Cards is the whole abc chart. I have sent extra copies of these home with my poppets who are still writing their letters from the bottom and not the top. 

Inside the pack there are versions of different fonts to suit different states/grade levels. I only took a pic of the kids using the Victorian font but the standard writing font is included too.

~ SHARE ~

My Back to School Bookmarks are a great first week back gift. 

My kidlets absolutely loved them this year. We sent them home in their Welcome to Prep Letters. Download them for free here.

~ GIVE ~

Enter the Rafflecopter below to win a copy of each of the fantastic products that have been included in our linky. Make sure you check out all the other link-ups below to find some more great products & freebies.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks for stopping by, I'm now off to spend a busy afternoon checking out all the other link-ups! Mmm, maybe with a cup of tea.... and a TimTam,

An InLinkz Link-up

Currently August... How did that happen?

I cannot believe it is August already! Freaky, freaky. Linking up with Farley from Oh Boy 4th Grade to share the August love. Warning- we are in the grips of winter here so I'm hoping my cold body has not impacted too much on my sunny attitude!

Listening
It has been so cold here lately. Our poor heater needs a break! The sun is out today after a big frost and I plan to head outside soon & enjoy it.

Loving
I am finally starting to feel as if I am making some friends at my new job which is really, really nice. We had two days of PD this week and a couple of us went out for drinks afterwards last night, it was great. Moving schools has not been the easiest transition staff & routine wise, I'm really hoping this second half of the year can be better.
I think I say 'life' a lot in these posts for what I am loving but August is especially a hard month. It is a time that I especially remember one of my gorgeous students and her family. I miss her so much, especially this week as we approach the 3rd anniversary of her death. 
Things personally for us lately have been a bit tougher than normal too but I just need to keep putting it into the perspective of I am lucky to be alive, I am so, so lucky to have the beautiful friends and family that I do and life is so freaking precious that there is no point complaining about the small things. I am positive that there is better stuff around the corner, the universe has a plan for us but I'm getting a little impatient!

Thinking
I need sun! And sun with warmth. Bring on summer, or at least Spring. One month to go. At least it's not snowing here like it is in other parts of Victoria.

Wanting
The hubs & I are trying to plan a trip for our end of year holidays after Christmas. Fingers crossed something works out.

Needing
Journals are looming over my head this term & I keep forgetting about the sale so I need to get a moving.

First Day
Is it sad if I am counting down to December already? I love my kiddos, I don't want to let them go just yet but I am really looking forward to having a fresh start at the end of the year.

Looking forward to reading all of your summer currently's,

A 100th Day at School 5 for Friday

Is it really Friday?? What a wonderful week we have had, one of those ones where we completely worked our butts off and enjoyed every minute.

Today was our 100th Day at school & the first ever time I have celebrated it thanks to all the great ideas that I had pinned. We had a blast! Earlier in the week we made these awesome 100 pictures inspired from here. 

 An elephant.

A Candy Bulldozer/Digger

We also aged ourselves with the Oldify app (it's free) and used them in this freebie writing template. An awesome activity but one which has left me scarred for life. I won't post mine for the terrifying factor but I did put it on instagram if you want to check it out. My niece got in on the action on the weekend too.

Today the kidlets walked in to this sign from Seusstastic Classroom up on the SmartBoard.

Their desks were all layed out with their 100th Day 'folders' (I bought A4 envelopes instead of folders, they worked great), supplies for their hats, glasses, a certificate (also from Seusstastic) and a 100's chart.

We then spent the morning making our hats & glasses. We looked dapper.

Then we had the cake one of our Mum's made us, weren't we lucky?!

Then after recess we made our Cheerios necklaces using the template from here to lay them out first.

The same Mum also made us these awesome gifts to take home.

So this has been a one topic 5 for Friday.

I hope you have had an awesome week!

Two for Tuesday

I'm linking up with The Teaching Tribune to share 2 items that are 50% off in my store today! Both are on sale for $1.50 (a bit more than 50%.. shh..).

My Humpty Dumpty Word Walls. Go here to find out more about them.

And these Alphabet Posters, which have two versions in either pink or yellow.

Hope you find some great bargains,

Humpty Dumpty Word Walls

I'm giving myself a 'Self High-5' today as I have finally put a new product in my store. And I love it which is also super great!

My Humpty Dumpty Words Walls: Pre-Primer & Primer Dolch words are a great way for K-1 students to practise sight words both at school and at home. My poppets take home one of these cards as soon as they know about 35-40 letters and it's time to focus on sight words. The kiddos are encouraged to practise these words at home and they keep their cards in a plastic pocket in their take home Reader Bag.

Each card has 10-12 words to learn at a time. There are 4 Pre-Primer cards and 5 Primer word cards which come in both colour and a black and white versions.

The packet also contains 3 blank word card templates for you to write in words of your choice and two word walls that show all of the pre-primer and primer words.

I test my students about every 4 weeks on their sight words (I used to aim for every 3 but I've worked out 4 is more realistic) and once they know about 80% of the words I give them the next card. An assessment sheet for both the pre-primer and primer words is included.

My poppets love getting a new card and seeing what they have achieved. 

I will have this on sale for the next 24 hours. Check it out here.

Goal Setting- Worksheet Wednesday

Happy Wednesday! I have a cute little worksheet to share with you that I use with my poppets for Goal Setting each term.

To download just click on any of the pics above or go here.

Planning our future learning is really important and I love hearing what the kidlets write. We do LOTS of prior brainstorming and modelling of 'good' goals.  As you can see all my hinting at "reading, writing, numbers" doesn't always pay off and that's why I added the bottom box this year so I can add in an extra 'teacher goal'.

Their goals fit in with things that are important to them and that's what makes them valid and important. 

My favourite part about goal setting with Prep {kindergarten} is that sometimes I get goals like this...

Incase you can't read it-

"I am a super star at gluing venom with superman glue. I would like to get better at making straight arms". This kid thinks he's Spiderman. Weirdest goal ever. Love him!

So really, the best bit is that they are SUPER hilarious! And I love my kidlets to bits.

Hope you find this activity useful,