People Who Help Us–project style

God’s People in Community – People Who Help Us
 

This is the theme for one of our major units this term.  It’s a fun topic and the Little Learners usually love the visits from community helpers who come into our rooms to share information about their jobs with us.
 

This year I am having the Little Learner’s be responsible for presenting their information

 project style. 

Today I showed them many different possibilities just so they understand that they can choose how the information is presented.  They were so excited with the idea that they have choices.

I instantly followed this session up by having them prepare their template and titles…

you know I couldn’t give them total choice…

guess I am a control freak after all. (surprise, surprise I hear you shout)
 

How???

A sheet of cardboard was folded in half, then in  half again so there were 4 equal sections 

Next the card was opened and the outer left and right sections were folded inward ensuring that the opening was at the centre.
 

I printed a title identification sheet and the Little Learner’s wrote their names, coloured the letters and cut off excess paper.  The two sections of the title were then pasted on either side of the centre opening. 
 

Yes… I did have to adjust a couple so that they met up precisely. {How do you think I’ll fare over the next few weeks as they will be totally responsible for their layout?}
 

A closer look…

Looks a little dry now but…
 

fast forward a few weeks and it will be covered inside and out with tid bits of factual information and illustrations.  It should be grand indeed.
 

Happy Thursday!
Mrs Stowe

it was just like coming home…

Term 3 began today and it was a blast!

Fellow Kindergarten Teachers, TERM 3, you know what I mean. 

Term 3 is soooo much easier because our Little Learners are well on their way to…dare I say…. independence. 

Kindergarten

We celebrate the basics…

making two lines in the right place each morning

raising hands to speak

listening to others…well most of the time.

sitting on chairs correctly

holding pencils correctly

no scribble colouring

decipherable written communication…YAY!

letter formation, real letter formation

genuine help in handing out objects and collecting books

a repertoire of known words, letters, sounds and numbers

routines established

lunch packets, boxes and bottles easily opened

finishing the day with energy to spare

We read stories without interruptions.  And this one was just gorgeous, 
Muddy Paws by  Moira Butterfield and Simon Mendez.

If you haven’t read it I suggest you grab a copy and let it melt you heart.  We shared the story before lunch.  Then during lunch break I used cocoa powder and a paw print cut out stencil (I made this really quickly)  and I made paw prints all over the classroom.  The kids were thrilled as they came back into the room.  We then created an oral story of Muddy Paws at school.  Tomorrow we will write and illustrate the stories using our brainstormed word  and idea lists.  Fun!!

OH the joys are endless in Kindergarten.  I am sure that you agree!

All in all a SUPER start to term 3

Happy Wednesday
Mrs Stowe

Winter Holidays…What to do!

One more day then back to school.

Winter holidays means late sleep ins…mmm…snuggly!

{Decided to spare you the pain of seeing me in P.J.’s}

Winter holidays means a compulsory game of Monopoly!

Winter holidays means hot chocolate whenever the urge hits you!

Winter holidays means stretching out in the sun!

Winter holidays means time to read a good book!

When winter holidays end…
time to get ready for the
Little Learners.

I’m ready so let the journey continue…

Mrs Stowe

My Revealing Shelf

Have you got one of those shelves at home that really look like you need to clean it up but each time you attempt it you end up spending too much time reminiscing over the memories associated with each item and in the end just leave it alone with the promise that next time you’ll fix it? 

Well I do and this is it.

It really doesn't look quite as bad in this photo as it looks in reality.

Have a close look. 

It’s all junk but special too. 

I mean who keeps their old, very old glasses, just sitting on a crockery cookie jar.. and that cookie jar, useless as it doesn’t seal but very precious as it belonged to my nanny.  So precious in fact that one of her old friends gave me her matching jar from the same series and I just had to keep it too.  Did you notice the small red blob at the front?  Its a gumnut that has been painted and made into a bobbing head turtle – my colleague gave it to me and I simply cherish it. My Royal Family photo postcard sent from England by a friend who teases me for liking the Royal Family and the list goes on.

Hodge podge and random describe my shelf perfectly. 
Let’s take a closer look…

come on…

                                                                                                                                                                       

The ‘Toy box’ plays music and some of the toys move or at least use to at some stage.  I love it and have had it for about 25years.

The African doll is a fertility figure given to me by a friend and thank goodness there is no truth in its role because at 46years a baby in not on the menu!

A pencil sharpener, I thought was cute, from my husbands office a lifetime ago.

A photo of my beautiful baby girl, not framed, just leaning against the bookcase.  Maybe one day I’ll frame it…maybe not…

The little bunny ears form part of a little Bunnikins figurine given to me when my first child was born. Very precious indeed.

Now I know you are thinking ‘thank goodness she only captured a small section up close or we’d be here forever’

I agree but
just wanted to offer a glimpse of me…outside the classroom!

Please tell me that you have special things that you keep too!

Happy Holidays!
Mrs Stowe 

almost back to blogging…

Liebster Award: Discovering New Blogs

THANK YOU TESS from The Teacher and the Frog.

After another day of professional development during winter holidays, I was thrilled to discover that Tess had nominated me for the Liebster Award. It's an award in recognition of new bloggers with under 200 followers. 200 seems like a dream away to me at this point and I would be happy to make 20. (Currently I have 12 followers)
So…
thanks for your encouragement Tess.
I greatly appreciate the sentiment and it has given my day a boost.

Here are the "rules" for accepting this nomination:

1. Link back to the blog that nominated me

2. Nominate 5-11 blogs with fewer than 200 followers

3. Answer the questions posted for you by your nominator

4. Share 11 random facts about yourself

5. Create 11 questions for your nominees

6. Contact your nominees and let them know you nominated them

Here are the blogs that I nominated:

1. Michelle at Mrs Whary the Teaching Fairy

2. Maria at First Grade Carousel

3. Nancy at For Love and Laughter

4. Erin at The short and Sassy Teacher

5. Terri at Soul Wishes

 

11 Facts About Myself:

1. I have 100’s of Winnie the Pooh items in my classroom.

2. I LOVE chocolate but not white chocolate.

3. I LOVE being the mother of teenagers.

4. I am a Christian.

5. I really like red things…boxes, pens, bags, hats, shoes!

6. I live in Australia!

7. I have a new car after 16years.  YAY!

8. I am the neglected middle child. I have a big brother and a little sister.

9. Steve Martin is one of my all time favourite actors.

10. I LOVE to laugh…a lot!!!

11. I’m really scared of snakes and lizards…real or fake…yes pictures too!

 

Here are the questions that Tess asked me:

1. What advice would you give a first year teacher? Stay teachable! Learn as much as you can from your colleagues and have a go at everything.

2. What is your favourite book to read aloud to your class? Press Here by Herve Tullet

3. Tell me about a memorable student that you taught.  I taught my daughter for 6 months in Kindergarten.

4. Tell me about your pets.  I have a 10 year old goldfish…but I'd rather have a dog!

5. What is the one thing in your classroom you can't live without? Colour

6. What movie title would you pick as your life story? Somewhere in Time

7. What is the last thing you purchased? A block of chocolate…oh dear!

8. What is your favourite music? Anything my son plays on the piano…corny but true!

9. If you had to eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be? cheese

10. Why did you decide to start a blog? Looked like fun and was a challenge…a big challenge!

11. What are some of your favourite blogs you follow? Oh my…I find new one’s everyday!…Mrs Whary the Teaching Fairy and Mel from Frog Spot , are just 2 favourites.

Questions For My Nominees:

1. What is the first thing you do at school each day?

2. What can’t you live without?

3. Who is your inspiration?

4. When did you last shop for classroom items?

5. Where did you get your last bargain from?

6. Name the movie that made you laugh most?

7. What makes you smile?

8. How many kids have you taught?

9. What are you afraid of?

10. What book would you buy for a new teacher?

 

Don’t forget to follow me…my target is 20 followers
by the time school goes back!

Yes…i know it’s only a matter of days. 

What can I say, I’m an optimist.

Happy Wednesday!
Mrs Stowe

WBT–Class yes

Still on holidays, still attending my Dyslexia Training Course…and loving it.

Thought I’d move my Whole Brain Teaching Posts over here to my new blog address.  I have linked in a few others at the end too.

Please visit my TpT Store to download a WBT freebie.  Don’t forget to
follow me at my store and please, please, please leave me a comment/rating.  28 downloads and nothing yet….Go on be the first!

now…

WBT- Class Yes

What it looks like in Kindergarten…

The Whole Brain Teaching approach is really fun and extremely successful too. It just makes sense to teach this way. Common, give it a go. It’s FREE. I read about it, watched several You Tube clips and videos about how to implement it but to be honest I completely underestimated its value until I tried it.

More hours in a day!

I decided to try the ‘Class…Yes’ attention gaining strategy last November and really have not looked back. It is an attention gaining strategy and I was certain that I didn’t need it. I have great classroom management and thought this was for someone who needed help in this area.

How wrong was I…It is brilliant!!!!!!

Yes, it is an attention gaining strategy but more importantly it gets rid of your waffle. Your kind well intended words or in my case, fun nonsense and useless words, that probably only served to teach the children to tune out to what I was really wanting them to hear.

Have you ever thought that in having fun this way you might actually be teaching the Little Learners that sometimes the things that you say are not really important. Now if they think that what your saying might not necessarily be really important then this is like teaching them to give you some of their attention while they decide if it is important or not. We don’t want the kids to decide this. We want them to hear and learn from all we say and we want everyone's full attention – using words if we have to.

How it works?

First you say, “Class” and the Little Learner’s respond, “Yes”. Plain and simple. You will need to explain to them that when you say ‘class’ you want them to respond ‘yes’ then it’s a good idea to practise it a few times and praise them for their efforts. Tell them that they must also look to you as they say ‘yes’. Have a play with this response as a practise time. You are now ready to implement it.

Raising the bar a little…

Tell the Little Learners that they are so clever that they can now try the advanced level of “Class Yes”. This motivates them even further.

Now you can vary your class delivery. Try a high voice/low voice variation.

Next try saying “Classity class” and they should copy you responding “Yessity Yes” You can try absolutely anything you can think of.

Have a go at these,

“Class” “ Yes”

“Classity Class” “Yessity Yes”

“Class, class, class” “Yes, yes yes”

“Oh class” “Oh Yes”

Now I realise that this sounds fine and dandy but you want to know why you should do this instead of the usual approaches such as clapping rhythm patterns, good old chants, “1,2,3, eyes on me” Or “Boys and girls”or lots of positive talk etc.

Well…

I promise that when you introduce this in the fun way outlined briefly above the Little Learners will all, and I mean every single one of them, have their eyes on you ready for your next words - even little Jonny who usually has to be singled out to everyone that you are waiting for him. Suddenly you have absolute silence in the shortest time, full attention and icing on the cake…expectation that the next words you utter are going to be really important for them. It’s all up to you at this point. Don't waste the moment, or weaken the opportunity by filling it with waffle, here’s where you launch straight into your lesson content with LOTS of gestures.

Warning!!

The absolute attention will shock you. You will realise that you do waffle. You will gain time in the day and your Little Learners will be super focused.

Give it a go…you have absolutely nothing to lose!

Want to know more? For more information or perhaps a video example of this approach head to wholebrainteaching.com And have a look at some of my other WBT posts.

Super Improvers Wall

More Super Improvers Wall

The Scoreboard

WBT – The Scoreboard

WBT – Rule Posters

Whole Brain Teaching - 5 class Rules

 

They work amazingly well together.

Happy Tuesday!
Mrs Stowe

A Little bit of Holiday Learning…

Orton-Gillingham Australia Institute for Multisensory Language education

What better way to spend one week of a two week winter break than attending a course!

Seriously

I stumbled over the end of term finish line all but exhausted but now I am totally pumped with learning a new skill and increased awareness of dyslexia. Go figure!!  I have been waiting almost a year to participate in this course.  It’s only held once a year in Sydney and
I am thrilled to be attending.

Today I was privileged to sit under the expert guidance of Jodi Clements, the president of the Australian Dyslexic Association.  She is an excellent presenter and her knowledge of linguistics is to be admired greatly.

We covered much in a day packed with theory.
One area covered was…

The Task of Reading

We examined  and discussed the steps involved in reading and how each sequential step is vital for automaticity in reading success.

1. recognition of the letters of the alphabet.  if you don’t recognise the system it makes no sense!

2. understanding of the speech sounds that the letters represent that can be blended to make words.

3. vitality of meaning.  Merely pronunciation words is not an indication of success in reading.

4. finally decoding words accurately, fluently and automatically

Naturally we started with the basics to ensure everyone’s understanding of terms was full and correct and then moved on to bigger and better things.

Looking forward to a great day again tomorrow.

Nite, nite!
Mrs Stowe