Five for Friday Freebie

Hello Friday!

Unlike normal Fridays, I am not so happy to see this one as it means the week has flown by and my week off school is coming to an end... However, it does mean I am not exhausted and am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday on this Halloween Friday!

Washing Machine!

If you have seen some of my Sunday Scoop posts over the last month, you will have seen that 'order a new washing machine' has been on my HAVE to list for quite some time. I am ashamed to say I have been running over to my Mum to do my washing for about a month now... However, I finally ordered my new machine and have been a crazy washerwoman this week with laundry hanging everywhere! Not the most exciting thing to do during half term but definitely satisfying after so long!

Pumpkins

Halloween is not such a big thing over here in the UK as it is across the pond. However, it is growing in popularity and there have been pumpkins galore in the supermarkets! I saw this post about what to do with pumpkins after halloween and hope people to recycle rather than throw away pumpkins once they have served their spooky purpose!

Click  to take you to the article from blog.nwf.org

Freebie and a Sale!

We're starting new topics in Science and History on Monday and we always like to start with a good old KWL grid to think about what we know and what to know which we revisit at the end to record what we learned and enjoyed. I have updated the one I usually use with a couple more choices and some of my class struggled to write in the smaller spaces on the A4 sheet. I now have lined and unlined versions and have separate sheets for the 2 questions at the start of the topic and the 2 at the end.

I have put them in my TpT store as a freebie in case you would like them. 

Please consider following my store and leaving feedback!

My TpT store is on sale this weekend until November 2nd. 

Don't forget to stop by for some lovely treats!

Gorgeous weather

The weather for most of this half term has been gorgeous! I went out on Tuesday to enjoy it - a picnic in the UK in late October is practically unheard of!

Thank you!

Wow - nearly 300 followers on IG! Thank you so much to all my bloglovin' and instagram followers so far! 

I will have to sort out another great freebie to celebrate the milestone!

If you are not following me and would like to - then feel free to click on the icons below so that you are (and leave a comment so I can follow you too)!

Have a great Halloween weekend!

Wordless Wednesday: How do you organise homework?

Hello!

Wednesday means it is time to link up with Miss DeCarbo at Sugar and Spice for Wordless Wednesday!

I'm thinking of how we organise and send home homework this half term. I plan on writing a post soon about the home learning projects every child in our school completes each half term and have just finished this ready for next week:

My question for you is: how do you organise homework in your class (how often, what type etc.). Any thought would be useful as I am hoping to have a bit of an overhaul of how we do things!

Thanks and don't forget to link up for Wordless Wednesday yourself!

George and Martha

Hello!

It's Tuesday so it's time to link up with Deanna for Book Talk Tuesday. You should definitely link up over on Mrs Jump's Class Blog to share a great book or at least head on over to read about some!

I was clearing the kitchen table this week (I had visitors arriving and you couldn't see the table for piles of mail) and I found an unopened amazon package. When I opened it, I found this!

I'd never really heard of George and Martha before but must have read about, ordered and promptly forgotten this book when doing some work on friendship!

There are 5 very short stories inside which are all lovely. My favourite is this:

It is very short...

A wonderful story in 5 sentences with 3 illustrations teaching us that friends respect privacy! It made me laugh. I also loved the flying machine and the idea that it was the hot air balloon basket that was too heavy when it wouldn't take off with George in it...

I can definitely see myself getting my class to write George and Martha stories to teach others about friendship after reading some of these. I'm also definitely going to order more!

What books would you recommend when teaching about friendship?

Sunday Scoop 26-10-14

Hello!

It's Sunday (not quite sure what happened to Saturday) and, as you can see from my 'have to' list, I should be cleaning my house from top to bottom as I have visitors arriving either tonight or tomorrow morning! 

However instead, I am procrastinating and doing something I would much prefer to do which is link up with the Teaching trio for the Sunday Scoop! Luckily, it is a quick, easy and fabulous linky that does not take too much time at all!

I don't suppose I can put that cleaning off any longer so wish me luck (my house reflects the long and tiring 7.5 first weeks back at school that have just been!).

Have a great Sunday and week ahead everyone!

Liebster Award

Hello!

Abbie at Stepping up to First Grade and Colleen at Literacy Loving Gals have nominated me for the Liebster Award. It's a way for newer bloggers (with less than 200 followers) who have great content to link up, meet other bloggers and share a little about themselves!

1. Why and how long ago did you start blogging? 

 I started reading so many great blogs to get inspiration and ideas for my classroom about 6 months ago and started my own blog not long after when I realised I wanted to be part of what seemed such a friendly, helpful and passionate community of teachers! I've not looked back and am amazed at the positivity and creativity of the teachers I link up with!

                         2. What one word sums up the heart of your blog and why? 

Positivity. It can be easy to become negative at school sometimes. We work hard and can easily be influenced by negativity and the moods of others we are around all day long. What I love about the blogs I read it that it is a place people share classroom successes and where I can share mine. I have yet to stumble across a blog where someone is moaning or grumbling about their job and I love that! It is very refreshing.        

 3. Is there something you learned late in your blogging journey you wished you knew before? 

I think I'm ok so far but love all the tips I find from people everyday. Just today I followed a great tutorial from Crayonbox Learning to add a TpT widget to my blog!

4. What is your favorite past time other than blogging?  

Playing with my gorgeous cats, reading, finding great ideas on pinterest and watching box sets of great TV shows.

5. How many hours per week do you dedicate to your blog?  

Probably a couple of hours but I spend a lot more reading other great blogs!

6. What category of blog posts do you enjoy the most? 

I love hearing tips on keeping organised. My classroom is tiny so I love to see great storage ideas and anything that will keep me neat and tidy! I also love all the great crafts people show and can't wait to see what everyone is planning for christmas!   

7. Where does your blog inspiration come from? 

At the moment I have found myself jusy joining linky parties - Five for Friday, Wordless Wednesday, Sunday Scoop, Monday Made it, Book Talk Tuesday... I love seeing what everyone else is linking up.

8. Which post that you've written are you most proud of? Over the Summer I loved the weekly Monday Made It linky and joined in each week. It really made me get crafting and some of the things I achieved over the summer I am really proud of!

9. Is there any post you have been planning to do, but have postponing it for a while now?

Yes!  We do home learning projects at school and I want to do a post about why and how we do them at our school. Watch this space!

10. What is your favorite aspect of blogging?  The positivity.

11. Which recipe, project, or idea on my blog would you be most likely to try yourself? Literacy Loving Gals have some great freebies - I plan to use the story spinner in guided reading lessons next half term! Abbie at Stepping up to First Grade has a great classroom organisation board on Pinterest!

Blogs I am nominating:

 

Snazzy in Second

'FRAN'tastic Second Grade

Miss Lynch's Class

Kidpeople Classroom

Now its your turn (nominated bloggers) to participate - here are the official "rules" for accepting:

1. In your post link back to the blogger who nominated you as a thank you and "shout out".

2. Answer the 11 questions given to you (the ones I answered above)

3. Nominate 11 blogs that have less than 200 followers each. Provide them with 11 questions (listed above) to have them answer.

4. Let your nominees know they've been nominated and provide them with a link back to your post so they can accept.

5. Send your nominator a link to your post so s/he can learn more about you as well. (you can just put your post link in the comments below) 

Five for Friday!

It's Friday! Half term has begun!

That means one week off school which is very much needed! It also means I am able to link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday on a Friday!

We finally got round to doing some activities for Black History Month this week! I found a great product on TpT by KTeacherTiff and my kids did some great learning and great work!

Also in the pack was the template and idea for children to draw themselves. I especially love these little self portrait people they produced! The first attempts were not so good but after a little lecture on taking pride in our work, using some mirrors to look at our features and with enough time, they did some lovely work! They'll look great on display!

I also downloaded this great freebie from MsOReadsBooks. A super freebie which will really add to my final display to celebrate Black History Month!

We've been researching animals in literacy for the last 2 weeks and I put together some of their favourite books to display outside the classroom. We are having a big push on promoting reading at the moment and I have no space for a decent book corner or book displays in my classroom (it is tiny!) so I hope it encourages some of them to pick up a book and read!

Our working wall never made it to the final stages in our information book topic but what they did do was great! I love using the working wall in literacy lessons!

Our Geography topic this half term was the continents and oceans of the world. During the topic, the children have to complete 5 pieces of home learning based on this topic. Lots of work in done in their home learning books but some make models to bring in and share. I love some of these! Obviously there was a lot of help from the parents but collaborating at home is what it is all about!

We Heart First is having a giveaway to celebrate 1500 IG Followers! Head on over to their blog to enter!

Have a wonderful weekend whatever you have planned! I'm hoping to find at least some time to relax this week (although there is so much work to do...) and catch up with my blog reading! Leave me a comment so I can stop by and visit you!