One of my favourite authors - Nick Bland

5 weeks of the school year are done and dusted and I'm already exhausted! My kids are starting to settle in and learn the routines which is great, but I can't wait until they are a little more independent!

Last week I introduced my kids to one of my absolute favourite aussie authors and illustrators - Nick Bland. Oh. My. Word. They are just as in love with him as I am! Here are some of the books we love:

The books featuring that adorable brown bear are firm favourites and are quickly tucked into book boxes as soon as I've read them and placed them on the shelves. This week we are going to use Donald Loves Drumming to work on retelling and making personal responses and connections to texts. 

The last book I will read by Nick Bland is The Magnificent Tree because it is illustrated by another one of my favourite aussie authors and illustrators - Stephen Michael King who I will introduce next. I love using his books to demonstrate 'voice' because his illustrations are so uniquely his and end up tying this in with our writing lessons.

We don't have time to do full-on author studies, but I do like to collect up books by authors and introduce them throughout the year. I then try to use them as mentor texts during reading and writing lessons. Throughout the year as new books are published by these authors the kids get super excited! They also love to borrow the books we've read from the school library. Yes, it can get a bit annoying when the 15th kid comes up and shows me a book by one of the authors EVERY library lesson, but hey, as least they are reading books by quality authors! 

Besides Nick and Stephen, I've also introduced David Shannon. I'm also looking at doing Jeannie Baker, Eric Carle, Mem Fox, Jackie French, Julia Donaldson, Margaret Wild, Colin Thompson, Kevin Henkes and Dr Seuss. 

Who else would you suggest??

Valentine's Day

Where has the last 3 months gone?? I'm such a terrible blogger! I'm only slightly better at FB and Instagram - I at least try to post once a week.

We have just finished week 3 of our new school year here in Queensland. I have been absolutely exhausted each and every night I come home. If I have not responded to your email, it's not that I'm ignoring you, it's just that I was too tired to respond when I saw it and then it got lost in the email abyss. If you need me to respond please try sending it again, I am hoping to get caught up with lost emails this week. 

This week was Valentine's and thanks to my wonderful teacher friend Amanda, I had these super cute gifts to give to my class on Friday. 

We also made these cutie patootie Splat the Cat crafts after reading Love, Splat! They come from the adorable pack by Cara at The First Grade Parade. Seriously, everything she does is GOLD and she (and her family) are just so stinkin cute!

I just had to include this one too - notice he didn't copy his sentence correctly, glued the legs up near the face and the paws down the bottom. Poor little guy is finding grade 1 very hard but he always tries his best!

I have been thinking this a LOT the past 3 weeks....

I kinda forget every year how young and dependent they are!

1st Grade Fall Addition and Subtraction Word Problems + Halloween Freebie

One of the skills I have to practice all year when I teach first grade is addition and subtraction facts (for automaticity) and solving word problems. Initially, my students need to act out and represent the problems in various ways so they can 'see' the problem and know whether to add or subtract.

I initially start with acting out and drawing pictures to represent the problem. But this is very time consuming! When students are ready, I show how 'mathematicians' use short cuts to become efficient at math, and we move onto using symbols to represent the objects in the word problem.

When modelling to the class, we always use 10-frames and different colors of cubes to represent the different parts of the problem. Finally, I move onto using number paths and recording in an equation. 

If you are looking for seasonal word problems for Fall, I have a pack in my TpT store. It has 3 types of addition and subtraction within 10 problems:

• result unknown (20 addition and 20 subtraction)
• change unknown (10 addition and 10 subtraction)
• start unknown (10 addition and 10 subtraction)

What are the benefits of using this pack for your class? 

CONSISTENCY

The pages in this pack all follow a consistent format to help in developing student independence. Each page has an addition or subtraction number story (or word problem). Students visualize the problem and draw a picture to represent it. This can help some students work out whether the problem requires them to add or subtract. In addition, students will complete a 10-frame (make it hands-on by using unifix cubes or counters), number line or track and number sentence (or equation) for each problem.

VERSATILITY

You can use the problems in different ways. For example, to start off the year you might project each page and complete whole class. Later, you might work with a small group before moving the pages to an independent work math tub.

LOOKING FOR A DIGITAL OPTION?

I've included JPEGS of each word problem for you to upload to SeeSaw (or other password protected online app). This gives you complete FLEXIBILITY in how you upload the problems - addition OR subtraction OR both, number line OR number track, problem type, how many etc. Use the word problems how YOU want to use them.

If representing and solving word problems in multiple ways is something your class needs, you can find the pack here. Winter, Spring, Summer and a Seasonal Bundle are also available. 

On another note, the other week we were looking at probability and events that will, might and won't happen. I made up this quick little activity which you can download in Google Drive. 

My kids had a lot of fun with it. I hope yours do too!

Five for Friday

What a week! I didn't take photos of most of what we did. I never seem to find time to pick up the camera!

I made these cute witches hats for a Halloween treat. Yum! They took way to long to make for such as simple recipe! They have chocolate crackles inside!

We used key details and inferred to work out  which witch was witch and whose things were whose using this cute unit from Abby at The Inspired Apple. I wish I'd taken more pics of this.... it was a lot of fun and the kids loved it.






We kept on learning about sound in science. And I know, the charts I make with the kids are not very cute! But to the kids I am the 'best illustrator in the whole world!'. Ahh kids, they can make you feel good about things you suck at!!

We finished our Halloween themed math centers. The kids had a hoot! We had grandparents day yesterday (and I took not 1.single.picture.!!). One of the activities we did was to share a favourite game with our grandparents. Many chose Witchy Brew to play. You can pick it up for free in google drive.



This pic was from a few weeks ago, but we are learning about procedures. We have made ice-cream sundaes and peanut butter and jam sandwiches this term using this pack from Natalie's Nook. 

I've linked up with Doodle Bugs for her Five for Friday linky. 

What have you been up to?

My Truth: Creepy Stuff

I loved reading all of the fitness My Truth posts last week so I've decided to join Denise this week with her new topic: Creepy Stuff. 

Food: Anything soggy I just can not eat. I hadn't eaten cereal since I was a kid until very recently when I started trying to eat breakfast as part of a health kick. I would dip a spoonful of cereal into the bowl of milk and put it straight in my mouth before it could get soggy! I can't have croutons in soup (or dip in bread rolls), tomato and pineapple have to be separate from other salad ingredients and bread and butter pudding would make me vomit. I think it has something to do with the texture.

Scary Movies: When it comes to scary movies, I don't mind watching them although I am the screamer at the cinemas! And yes, I do get laughed at when I scream (and jump out of my seat) during movies. But I like them anyway. 

Sick movies are another thing though. Movies like Saw I just don't get and really creep me out in a bad way. 

What creeps me out the most: creepy crawlies. Enough said.

Head on over and link up your My Truth with Denise here:

I started up a FB page last night, I'd love you to be among my very first followers! I've just bought my first smartphone EVER and think FB and Instagram will be much easier to update and post to now!

Halloween Addition and Subtraction Game Freebies

If you are like me, you love the Halloween season! Even though Halloween isn't a major holiday in Australia, it is getting more popular and it's just so much FUN! 

Here are some math rotations I've used with my class that have a Halloween theme. I use T.I.M.E. for my rotations - Teacher's Choice (usually this is working with the teacher, unless I have individual assessments to do), Independent Work, Math Facts and Easy Revision. You can read a blog post about T.I.M.E. Math here. 

For our T (Teacher's Choice) Tub, we are working on solving and representing addition and subtraction number stories. I am using my Fall Word Problems with my lower group. We are drawing a picture, using unfix cubes in a 10-Frame, number path and number sentences to represent each problem. 

You can pick up my pack of 80 Fall themed addition and subtraction problems for K-1st Grade in my TpT store. 

For our Math Facts rotation, I made some 'broomsticks' (addition and subtraction facts written on craft sticks) and wrote the totals 7-12 on Halloween themed tubs or 'cauldrons'. Students pull a 'broomstick', solve, and sort the sticks into the 'cauldrons'. 

Here's a recording sheet I made to go along with it if you want to make this activity for yourself. I added some Hundred Charts to work out the answers as differentiation for those who needed it and some flash cards for fast finishers - they love testing and timing each other!

Another game we've been playing to master addition math facts the last two weeks is Witchy Brew. You can download it here in google drive. 

Do you love Halloween as much as me?!

More Randomness

It's been almost 2 months since my last post - where does time fly?? Here's a little photo update of what I've been up to. 

We had a visit from our local fire department. The kids had a ball spraying the hose!

We made these cute trophies for Father's Day (celebrated in September here). I spray painted disposable coffee cups gold, used double sided tape to join them together and the kids used sticky foam letters to add a message. Totally ripped off of Pinterest.

I went on a cruise with Liz from Bayside Math Teacher for 10 days over our spring break (plus an overnight stay on the Gold Coast and in Sydney). We had a great time and are already planning a ski trip to New Zealand next Winter!

Before we left from Sydney, we did all the touristy things - visited the Opera House, walked the Harbour Bridge and visited Luna Park and the Botanical Gardens. 

While down in Sydney, I had my first Starbucks coffee! I don't think we have them in Brisbane...Once on board the Carnival Spirit, I loved relaxing with cocktails in the Serenity Bar. We ended up collecting all the fancy cups they can get served in. My boy down there was constantly annoying me by not wanting to smile (or pose for) any photos. Ggggrrrrrr. Liz and I dressed up for Mexican (and Caribbean) night and of course the sunsets were amazing as we sailed through Vanuatu and New Caledonia. My head kept getting in the way of this selfie... but the first selfie I've ever taken was on this cruise (believe it or not) and I did get a little bitty bit better at taking them! When I saw Cara's font titled "Oh Poop" I knew I had to use it because that's what I said after about 10 of these selfies all having the same result :)

We ended up having shore days at Isle of Pines and Mystery Island in Vanuatu and Lifou and Noumea in New Caledonia. I LOVED New Caledonia and will definitely go back again. By now I was a little better at taking selfies.... We ended up taking a path through the 'wilderness' at Lifou which was little more than a little dirt track. It paid off, it took us straight to Jinek Bay, which had some great snorkeling. The water was so clear and there were plenty of fish!

After our snorkel in Lifou, we followed this sign to the Cave. I'd read about it online and we'd planned to go there and it was so helpful that this sign was there to show us the way! We passed some traditional homes and Catholic Church and had another little trek down to the cave. The view from where we enter looking back up was beautiful! It is very dark when you enter the cave with just a little light shining in from a natural opening. There is a man there with a torch but it was still really dark. There is a natural pool that you can jump into, which we did! The water is about a metre from the surface and you just have to take the plunge into darkness! I took a photo when I got down in there to see what I was jumping into and you could see the water with the flash, but without it you couldn't really see anything. It was a lot of fun!

The snorkeling was fantastic. We took a tour through Aquanature because it was rated Number 1 activity on TripAdvisor. It was wonderful and Bernard (our guide) was so knowledgeable, that's him swimming down to pick some things up to show us. Most of the good stuff I videoed instead of taking photos, but we got to see a sea turtle, a shark, stingray, schools of fish and lots more! I want to go back and do it all again!

Anyway, we're back to real life now - 7 weeks to go for this school year. Can't wait for summer! We are learning out Sound at the moment in science and the kids had a blast making straw kazoos to explore pitch this week. Click the pic to take you to PBS to view it. I was happy to send the kazoos home in the afternoon for the kids to show their parents!

 

I'll try to be back more school related things soon!