Happiness in its many forms

We have so much to celebrate and be grateful for all the time but sometimes it's a little harder to find it, appreciate it, acknowledge it... 

Source

You know what I mean :) I think I may be becoming an expert at finding happiness in the sorrow, and vice versa.

Source and Link to free printable

This week I am grateful for:

1. Awesome anti-histamines. Allergy's suck.

2. My friend is having a baby after a struggle similar to ours. I am so, so happy for them. Our time will come, some day.

3. Our amazing 'circle'. You know if you're in it and we could not go on without you. Everything from the long, random phone calls, coffee dates, texts and funny postcards. And your amazing, uncanny abilities to know when we need you most. Love ya guts peeps.

4. Feeling healthy. I'm almost at the 2 month mark of going dairy, sugar and wheat free and am feeling a lot better for it after being sick for a while. Except for the random allergies now surfacing but hopefully that will get sorted.

5. My class kiddos. These guys are awesome, caring, {sometimes trying}, successful, self-motivated kidlets who are amazing people. So glad to have gotten to know them this year and be part of their learning journey.... and craziness. 

6. Winter walks.

7. Early morning body balance classes.

8. Netflix.

9. A hubs that cooks and cleans. Bless him.

10. Being here, being healthy, being together. That's enough.

What are you grateful for?

Currently June

I'm not sure if I should be excited or very scared that it is now June.  This year is going so fast! Linking up with Farley at Oh Boy 4th Grade to share the currently love.

Thanks for stopping by. Leave some comment love,

Five for Friday- 22nd of May

Happy Friday! I'm linking up with Kasey from Doodle Bugs to share the hip-happeneings from this week.

~ One ~

Our Author Study this term has been Graeme Base. After reading Uno's Garden this week we used the site Build Your Wild Self to create magical creatures for Uno's Garden. Easy to use and heaps of fun.

~ Two ~

Our Inquiry topic this term is "How Can We Make a Change for the Better?". We have been investigating our impact on the Earth and the resources we use by calculating our Carbon footprint. We made this cute freebie craft from Teach with Me.

~Three~

Our Silhouette Zentangles turned out fantastically! My class are loving art at the minute, t's great to see how creative they are.

~ Four~

Our Wonderwall thinkings are starting to head in a new direction to finish up our Inquiry unit. It's great to see how my students all have different areas they are interested in from renewable resources, to volunteer organisations, to causes and effects of natural disasters. I'm really looking forward to the 'Going Further' stage!

~ Five ~

Our Bushfire Silhouettes from last week, they turned out better than expected.

Happy weekend,

Back to School Mini-Reader

I've been spending today updating some products in my store and creating some new ones. This one is a little early in the year but I have updated my At School Mini-Reader to include both a black and white and colour version.

This is a really easy book to print and use in the first week of school and is a favourite of mine to use as my students first take-home reader.

There are 6 pages in total, with cutie graphics from Graphics From the Pond. Simply print, cut & staple the colour version or have students colour in the black & white copy.

Download it for $1.50 here. Hopefully I will have some more mini-readers posted soon.

Five for Friday- 8th of May

What a week it's been! Yay for Friday. Linking up with Kasey from Doodle Bugs to share the Friday love.

~ One ~

We got busy this week making these adorable Mother's Day Candle holders. They were fairly easy and look adorable but, I'll admit when my teaching buddy said we were making these and we're arming the kids with spray paint I looked at her like she was insane! Turned out well, so all worth it.

~ Two ~

I was gifted these yesterday from a cutie and her brother. They were so sweet. Even loved the comment from the brother, said to his Mama, "I really think Mrs Perry's minion obsession has gone too far". Haha, and then they bought me these!

~Three~

My kiddos wrote the best Persuasive texts this week. Love them. 

~ Four~

Kiddos loved playing Land Grab this week using our dry erase pockets and new whiteboard markers. We are really starting to understand multiplication {whew}.

~ Five ~

If you are following me on Instagram, you'd know I had an amazing time at Groovin the Moo last weekend. Dirty Docs are always a good sign of a fun time!

Hope you had a great week!

Teacher survival kit

In my 9 years of teaching, I have managed to have a lot of student teachers, so many I've lost count. I'm not sure how the system works in the US but here in Australia, students are sent out from Universities from their 1st year, increasing their placement time until their final, 4th year of University. 

Sometimes it can be really hard to work out what to give them as a parting gift but I've made a few rules for myself that have worked. 

First year & Second Year- Card from the students.

Third Year- Card from students, A Picture story book or two, hard cover when possible.

Fourth Year- Card from the students, a class photo and a Picture story book or my "Teacher Survival Kit". 

The Survival Kit is really easy to make and I vary what I put in it depending on the student and what I can find at the cheap shops. 

Some of the more common items are:
-basket or bag that they can reuse for their classroom;
-a big bucket of chalk;
-coffee sachets, tea bags, mints, etc;
-stickers & stamps;
-pens, textas, crayons, etc;
-notebooks, planners, a diary;
-a big box of bubbles and a copy of Lauren's Self-Control Bubbles;
-award certificates, ribbons or bracelets.

Do you have any other great gift ideas? Leave your comments below.

Currently May!

So excited that it is May already! Mainly because in my head and with Bec-logic that means it's a tiny bit closer to December, like 7 whole months until we get Summer again. Sigh. But on a brighter note it's time to link up with Farley over at Oh Boy Fourth Grade for this month's Currently. 

I spent a massive day yesterday (11 hours massive) at Groovin the Moo which is a music festival here in Australia. As it's almost Winter, let's just say it was a chilly festival once the sun went down but it was lots of fun. We are so lucky that this visits my home town every year. I got to see Ball Park Music who were probably my highlight! And Meg Mac, Hilltop Hoods, Sticky Fingers to name a few. Awesomeness!

So that is why I am not elaborating any further on this and am instead heading back to bed.

Hope you have a fantastic May!