Five for Friday

Happy Friday Everyone!

That's one more week down and just 6 1/2 to go now!

We made our thaumatropes as the first lesson in our unit of work on animation. Annoyingly, I left the example I made to show them at home so I had to make a very rough example to show them at the last minute! Some of my class were very slapdash about making theirs and didn't take a lot of care over the drawing or cutting out (despite many reminders and lots of encouragement) which was a shame but others really tried hard (focus on the positives!).

My first 4 Five for Friday items are what we created:

We started with a ready drawn example so I could make sure they understood the basics about how to construct thaumatropes - I found a great PDF on Victorian toys and games which had Eric!
He smiles and waves when spun!

Once we had all had a go at making him, I let them design their own. I encouraged them to link it to our travel and transport unit but let them choose something different if they wanted to. We had a tooth fairy appearing by a child's bed, passengers in cars, a boy on a bike, bee in a tree and here are a few of my favourites:

This one looked amazing and I thought it was such a great idea!

A boxer throwing a punch!

This girl worked so hard on her flower - she really took pride in what she was doing!

A butterfly on a flower

Another sweet idea. I loved how creative so many of them were!

A girl jumping up and down

I sent them home with their creations and got lots more back at school the next day which they had made that night!

Next week we'll be making flick books! Any tips?

My number 5 is something different - we had Bumble the Clown in from Bubbly Maths to do some workshops with each year group on Tuesday and Wednesday. The kids were really excited and enjoyed learning about different shapes (I have to say, I was so pleased with how much they already knew!).

How many teachers can you fit into a cube?

The best thing about Bumble the Maths Clown was how he continually praised all the mistakes the children made when they were suggesting things - each time he said:

 'THAT is a BRILLIANT mistake and we have all LEARNED from it!' 

Lots of the kids were saying that back in the classroom and it really got the point across that it's ok to have a go and not get something right. Of course, we say that to them all the time, but hearing it from a clown is obviously more memorable and exciting!

That's all for this week. 

Have a great weekend!  

Five for Friday!

Hello! 

It's Friday again and that means Five for Friday with Doodle Bugs Teaching!

Jam Jar Gifts!

I gathered some bits together today to make back to school gifts for the 6 teachers on my team this year.  4 of them have just finished training and this is their first post, one is starting her second year of teaching but is new to our school and one is an experienced member of staff who was already at our school. It's going to be an interesting year!

Here is what I found to include:

And I managed to squash everything in to my jam jar except for the mini glue stick and the Haribo (so I was forced to eat them all!)

Printing and Mod Podge

I was very excited to get my printer working after years of it taking up space in my house doing absolutely nothing! It meant I was able to print the pretty labels I had made for the jars!

I planned to use Mod Podge (believe it or not my first time) to stick them to the jars. However, all did not turn out well...

The ink ran and I have blurry labels! 

I've printed another set and am ready for my second attempt - any advice on how to stop this happening again?

Word Wall

I've seen so many great word wall displays and searched for something with the letters in the handwriting style we use at school but had no luck. I've been working on this and am nearly finished!

I plan to print, cut, laminate and then write the letters on using a permanent pen myself - that way the style will be the cursive script we teach the children!

I found some great fabric when I was out at a craft village with my Mum this week. I plan to use some of it to make a cover for my teacher diary/planner. Now I need to make decisions about the combinations - any recommendations? 

My Giveaway

It's the last full day of my giveaway today so don't forget to enter to have a chance of winning a set of these 5 products! You can find out a bit more about them if you click here.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

That's all for this week! I'm off to Cardiff for the weekend (and Ikea on Monday - it's sad that I am so excited about that - any advice on what I should buy for my classroom?!)

Have a great weekend!

Five for Friday - Summer is here!

Friday has finally arrived!

I'm linking up with with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday to share some random things from my week.

The summer holidays finally started for me on Wednesday afternoon! I am very excited about a lazy 6 weeks at home (and hopefully a holiday!). I will undoubtedly be doing a fair amount of school work but it feels so different when you don't have to and there is no time pressure - I'm looking forward to it!

To celebrate the end of school we all went out on the riverboat shuffle. Here is a picture of us boarding the boat ready for a slow cruise on the Thames with plenty of celebratory drinks and dancing!

I made these sweet little magnets as a gift for the parents at the end of the year. I think they turned out really well - they were a very lively class but I will miss them all!

I saw this fact file against the wall background on lots of blogs a while ago - I can't remember where so please let me know if it was you and thank you for the idea! I also used them as a slide show before and after our poetry recital a couple of weeks ago and got lots of compliments!

School may have finished on Wednesday but I went in on Thursday and today to do some sorting. I thought I was in pretty good shape as I only moved into the classroom last year and have worked hard to be super tidy all year. However, by the end of Thursday, my sorting left the classroom looking like this...

And despite, 7 hours of work on it today, it still only looks like this!

You'll have have to trust me when I say I threw a whole load of stuff out and am more organised. 

I'll head in on Tuesday for another couple of hours and to print up all the labels and other goodies I'm going to make over the weekend and have a final spruce!

I couldn't resist sharing this gorgeous picture as number 5. My very lazy cat is not making the most of the beautiful weather we have been having recently and is snoozing away as usual. I need to get her up, out and chasing butterflies to help her lose some weight this summer!

That's all for today - have a great weekend wherever you are. I'm off to see Les Miserables in London with my family tomorrow - can't wait!

Five for Friday: Scarecrows

Oh No! It's the first time I missed Friday and am having to post on Saturday! I think I fell asleep immediately after dinner yesterday after the last full week of school - only 2 and a half days left now! Over Thursday and Friday we were making the bodies of our vehicles which I will post about on Monday. What I will share with you now is how my skirt looked by lunchtime yesterday...

My poor old classroom carpet suffered similarly and I was on my hand and knees scrubbing for a fair amount of time. This is my first year working with this age group (6-7years) and I've definitely learned a thing or two for next year!

Anyway, here is my link up for Five for Friday with Doodle Bugs Teaching!

Last Sunday, I went to Hampton Court Flower Show with my Mum. We go every year and love seeing all the amazing gardens, shopping for plants and other bits and bobs for the garden. 

One of my favourite parts of the show is the scarecrow competition. These are scarecrows made by children from different primary schools based on the theme of the show that year. I promise myself that I will make one and enter with my school every year but never seem to get around to it - next year I will!

Over 20 schools entered and the theme this year was WW1 - the service men, women and animals who were so brave. I've picked my top 5 scarecrows to share with you this Friday (Saturday).

Tom and Flo

Pilot Pete Perrin

Cher Ami - Dear Friend

 

War horse and war horse foal (very sweet!)

Albert - young and old

There were some other amazing efforts which I have not shown here - people are so creative!

Which one is your favourite?

Have a great weekend!