Homework Week 8

Lots of fun was had by all at the Book Week Parade last week.  3/4G used their imaginations and creativity to dress as really unique characters.  I must say Mr and Mrs Twit were a highlight!

Attached is this week's homework.  We are starting our unit on National Parks so there is a research component to the homework and I will be allowing 2 weeks for completion.  Students may present their results in any way they wish or can use the template provided.

Mufti day for us

We have had a really busy week as usual and lots of great learning has gone on.  We used a link to wikihowto to help us draw grasshoppers. They turned out brilliantly as you can see.  We are hoping to draw lots more insects as we continue to read James and The Giant Peach by Roald Dahl.  We are getting to know the characters and really took time to draw steadily.

Kieran, Heidi, Skye

Lily, Daniel, Ella

Emma, Tess, Keri

You will be able to see many of our other great artworks at our Artshow on Wednesday 27th from 8:30am til 6pm.

Next Thursday 28th, 3/4G will be allowed to wear mufti to school as we brought the most number of items of any class in for the fete.  Please note that this is on the homework sheet and no other note will be going out.

We will be working with 4 and 5 digit numbers and place value next week.

Homework Term 3 Week 6

Please find attached Week 6 homework.  Students have been learning about direction with the emphasis now about North, South, East and West.  It might be helpful for you to point these directions out as you travel to visit family and friends.

I found this really great website which is a dictionary and thesaurus together. You type in a word and it gives the meaning and alternate words. You may find it useful to build vocabulary and help with writing sentences.  The site is wordsense.me

Next week is our book week parade and art show.

Homework Term 3 Week 5

Here is this week's homework.

The NED show was fantastic last week.  The simple message of Never Give Up, Encourage Others and Do Your Best was well received by all.  The show was very entertaining and informative.  thenedshow.com is a great website if you'd like to find out more.  Yoyos are for sale from today.  NED square will be open from tomorrow for 2 weeks.  Students can bring their NED yoyo and play with them at lunch time.  They can learn tricks online and from each other.  No 'Around the World' though!

Homework Week 4

Here is week 4 homework.  Remember, although homework is not compulsory it is important that you establish good work habits in your home from an early age.

You know your child best and you know whether they are best with a break straight from school or whether they need to get half an hour work done before going out to play.

Do they have a desk in a quiet room to complete homework?  Do they have all the right tools to complete it?  Is someone available to help them, even if it is just to set things out?  Children gain a lot from your feedback when checking their homework before it is handed in.  Homework should be a calm, enjoyable experience for all concerned.

There are still a few students who have not brought their note for the athletics carnival.  Please return ASAP.

Back in the swing of things

I had to do work for the Department of Education interviewing student teachers who were seeking employment with the Department, so my apologies for not attending Open Day yesterday.  It was booked in February so I didn't know the dates would clash.  I have a few more later in the term as well.

The standard of the Science projects brought in on Monday was outstanding.  Each students was allowed to speak about what they'd made, how they made it and what they enjoyed about the process or challenges they faced.  Thank you for supporting your child to do this.  All students spoke of enjoying the time they spent with you helping and supporting them, it was really nice to see.

A note went home today or yesterday (some other classes won't get theirs til Monday so don't worry if siblings didn't get it) about the NED show.  This is a fun and energetic performance put on by "The NED Show"  that combines a positive message with humour, storytelling and audience participation with the emphasis for us being on our core values, bullying and optimism.  There is no cost for the show and you only need to return a permission note if you DO NOT want your child to attend.  It will be a great show and Im sure everyone will attend.

The way they fund the show is by selling yo-yos (remember those?).  They do a few tricks with yo-yos as part of the show.  Starting Monday 11 August Mrs Graham will sell the yo-yos that you order via the order form on the note and the students will be allowed to play with them at lunchtime in the area outside the hall for the 2 weeks she will be selling them (if we have too many students we will look at another area!).  There are 3 different ones and cost $9, $15 or $20. I already told 3/4G they will have to do extra jobs around the house to earn some money if they would like to buy one...hope that helps!  IT IS NOT COMPULSORY TO BUY A YOYO!

We have been doing a lot of work on decimals at the moment, particularly the link between tenths and hundredths.  Soon we will be adding and subtracting them so you may like to quiz your child to check they can convert from tenths to hundredths quickly!

A note went home on Monday (in a BIG white envelope) seeking your permission for our students to participate in an online survey to help gather data which will be used as base line data for 2 different social skills programs.  We are very fortunate to be offered these programs, FREE of charge, but need to get at least 90% response to be eligible, so please send the forms back ASAP.  Mrs Bryan is offering Freddo Frogs as incentive ;-)

Remember to come see me or give me a ring if your child is having any difficulties with any aspect of school life.  It is my job, with you, to help them navigate the complex world of having to work with and next to 27 very different people, let alone all the other adults and changes that go on here all the time.  Some of them are looking a bit sleepy at the moment so if there is an opportunity for an early night, that may help them focus a bit more during the day.  Some are getting teary because they are having problems with friends or are finding the work hard.  This is the time to build their resilience and reassure them they are wonderful and can do things and that help is not too far away.

Term 3

It has been a long time between posts.  Taking leave and being sick has meant I haven't kept up with photographing class happenings and sharing information.

Here is the Week 3 homework

A great day was had by all at our excursion last week.  It was very warming to hear the children's disappointment at the graffiti on Lennox Bridge.  The beauty and history of this bridge is obvious and the fact that it is spoilt by some selfish people was a hot topic of discussion.

The children enjoyed drawing Victoria bridge and discussing what the bridge was made of and how important it was to the development of NSW.

Penrith Lakes Education Centre is always a fun place to visit.  The teachers there make sure we have fun and find lots of interesting things.  The mini beast that were found in the water were fascinating.  Everyone liked seeing them on the big screen microscope/ camera.  We learned that the lake is in good condition and our little creatures are doing a good job feeding our bigger creatures.

Keep an eye out for Science Fair projects.

Term 2

Welcome back after what was a lovely holiday.  I read a few books, caught up with some friends and attended the TEDx Sydney event on the last Saturday of the holidays.  There were many interesting speakers and entertainers.  The author of The Book Thief spoke about how that story came about and about being an international best seller.  A friend has now loaned me the book which I am really looking forward to.

The only speakers to get a standing ovation on the day were a mother and son called Tim and Judy Sharp.  Judy shared her family's story of discovering Tim had autism.  He did not communicate and she was told to put him in a home and forget about him. She did not!  One day she decided to draw the things her and her son were to do that day.  By her own admission she was not a very good drawer but the drawings did what she wanted them to.  When she put the pencil down her son, for the first time ever, grabbed her hand and indicated for her to keep drawing.  His first communication came through drawing.

Tim developed his own unique artistic flare and is now a well sort after artist with pieces around the world.  I shared Tim's story with 3/4G last week and we drew our own superheroes (Tim's was Laserbeak Man!) and our own funny pics.  One really stood out and that was Keri's.  She drew Laserbeak Girl.  It was beautiful so I sent Tim an email and this is what I got.

Hi Tim

I met you and your mum after your fabulous speech @ TEDx Sydney last Saturday.  The artwork you showed was brilliant and I was so honoured to meet you and your mum.

I am a teacher of 29 Year 3 and 4 students.  On Tuesday I showed them your website and we discussed all sorts of things like autism, colourful art, humour in art and taking words literally.  They loved “Laserbeak man tells the Wiggles to shut up” and “Red hot mumma”  the best.

Inspired by your art the students either copied Laserbeak Man or came up with their own superheroes.  One student whose parents are both deaf came up with “Deafman”- he could speak but not hear.  Another drew Laserbeak man in a meteor shower and drew a bath with a shower head and a meteor inside.

One girl, Keri Muhlmann, who is a fabulous artist loved your artwork so much and was so inspired by your story that she wanted to make Laserbeak Girl.  I have attached a copy of Laserbeak girl.

Thank you for sharing your story at TEDx.  I have taught many autistic kids and just hope I can continue to do a good job at seeing their amazing strengths while supporting them in a system that sometimes doesn’t have room for ‘different’

Hello Jo,

 thank you for your very kind words and for sharing Tim's story with your students. Tim is really happy that they enjoyed his artwork and that they are making their own super heroes, their ideas sound really great.

It is wonderful to hear that Tim's TEDx talk has inspired someone to try some art, it really is a very special thing and we are very happy to hear that you as a teacher are introducing your students to new ideas like super hero art.

Thank you for sharing this with us.  We wish you and all the students in your Year 3/4 class super hero days and hope that they keep on drawing. They are lucky to have a teacher like you.

Best wishes

Judy and Tim

To keri from tim, i really like your drawing of Laserbeak girl, I think her shoes are very beautiful and i like her flying cape.  You are a very good artist don't stop drawing from Tim. 

Happy Easter

Thanks to those who gave me Easter presents :-)

Have a very happy Easter and fun filled holiday.  See you on the 29th April.

Enjoy this lovely Easter artwork by 3/4G

Last Week of term

The cheers rang out as the children read that there was no homework in the last week of term!  I think we are all ready for a break as many children are tired, a bit cranky and quite sensitive to things that would not normally bother them.  Friendships are being tested as children grow and change and renegotiate the very complex world they find themselves in with people they spend most of their days.  Mostly though there are still lots of smiles and lots of hard work going on.

We have been working very hard on complex letter blends (digraphs) that make up our bigger words. We started with 'ai, ay and a_e' that make the long a sound.  Also 'ee and ea' for the long e sound. This week the focus has been on 'ie, y, igh and i_e' for the long i sound.  The fun thing about learning the rules of our english language is of course learning that we can almost always break them so sometimes we just have to learn how to spell a word.  3/4G are becoming very familiar with verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs, conjunctions and prepositions.  Here is a brief rundown of what they are in case mums or dads have forgotten.

COMMON NOUNS- naming words: chair, table, computer
PROPER NOUNS - names of people and places: Mrs Glazebrook, Opera House
PRONOUNS- replace proper nouns: he, she, they
VERBS- doing words: run, walk, play
ADVERBS- add meaning to the verb: quickly, happily
ADJECTIVES- add meaning to nouns: red, beautiful, big
CONJUNCTIONS-joins parts of sentences: but, and, or, yet
PREPOSITIONS- relates other words in sentences: before, beneath, beside

By knowing these parts of speech it is hoped students will become better communicators and more creative and persuasive writers.

As well as reviewing basic number work we have been learning about area, perimeter and time.  Students are encouraged to wear a watch everyday so they pay attention to what is going on and at what time of day.  This is a very new concept to many students so it is important to keep drawing their attention to time and what it means.

Year 3 have been reading Charlie and The Chocolate Factory.  We are up to the part where Charlie finds the 50 pence and has just bought himself a chocolate bar and eaten the whole thing.  A very interesting discussion took place as I put to the students that Charlie is very selfish!  We all love Charlie so the idea that he could be anything but wonderful was a foreign concept but once I pointed out how bad his family's situation was and how no one else in the family benefited from the money he wasted on chocolate they did take time to think and discuss.  We all know he gets the golden ticket but don't you wonder......what if he didn't?

A local Blue Mountains theatre group are showing the musical of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  Here is a link to find out more information

http://brooktheatre.net/whats-on/charlie-and-the-chocolate-factory/

Looks like it could be a bit of fun.

Year 4 are reading a book called I Hate Fridays.  This is a fun and interesting collection of diary entries by a group of Year 4 students at Koala Bay Public School.  The students in this class are certainly and interesting bunch.

Well this wonderful term has been a lot of fun.  Next term Year 3 head into NAPLAN and we have another fun filled time ahead.

Happy Easter to all.

Week 8 Homework

Well the weeks are flying by and things are humming in 3/4G.  They did a test on 2D shapes today and the results are mixed.  I was surprised so few of them remembered a 5 sided shape is called a pentagon! I guess it's just one of those things you have to do over and over again so it sticks in.

Here is Week 8 homework.  I forgot to put my email address at the bottom so here it is

jo.glazebrook@det.nsw.edu.au

Week 7 Homework

Something I hope will make you think for homework in Week 7

another 3

The Piglet

A story by Ella and Jonah

Once there was a dragon that loved eating giant castles.  His best friend snow leopard loved playing ipad and eating princes.

One day prince Jonathan had a baby named Simon who was a pig that would always throw food. His sister Amanda would always clean up after the boys and she was only 4.

One day the snow leopard stole baby Simon. Amanda was shocked so she called her Daddy and said, “Daddy, a snowlepard took Simon and he was really hungry.”

Dad said, “Don’t worry he is my friend and he just likes baby boys to play ipad with him and he loves kids and his dad works with me.”

So once they finished playing he was returned to his village and lived happily ever after.

The Piggy Bag Pigs

A story by Lily, Keri and Amy

Once in a shiny castle there lived two little boys called Justin and Beiber and an older sister called Katy. Their last name was Perry. Katy had a beautiful boyfriend called Bob, his last name was Builder.

One day Justin and Beiber went to play out side. Just then a dragon came and smashed the beautiful, clean castle.  The dragon took Beiber and Bob.  Katy started to cry.  She hates to cry because when she cries it is like a pig and because it is VERY LOUD. Justin was brave and looked after Katy and he said to Katy, “Stay here and I will go after the dragon.”

“NO! I am coming,” said Katy.

“NO it’s too dangerous because you have to be careful your baby might come out.”

Katy was going to cry but she bit her lip and held back the tears. So Justin went to find his younger brother and his sister’s boyfriend.

Justin went of to find the mystery dragon no body knew if it was a dragon or a bull people allwas thought it was a half bull and half dragon. Justin easily found the way because the mystery dragon left footprints so Justin walked on.

Finally Justin got to the lair where he saw Bob an7d Beiber but he also saw the mystery dragon. Just then Justin had an idea!

“Hey, mystery dragon I bet you can’t fit into a paper bag and look like a pig.”

“Can to,” shouted the dragon in an evil voice.

So the dragon did.

“Ok now get out of it” said Justin in a happy voice.

The dragon did manage to get out of the paper bag and he did look like a pig. So Justin had another idea.  “Can you dig until you see lava?”

“Yes!” said the mystery dragon. so he did.

Just then Justin pushed the dragon into the lava and he died. Justin quickly ran into the lair and got Bob and Beiber.

So they got to the castle and built a new castle and Katy and Bob got married and all was well and lived happy ever after.

The Paper bag Pig

A story by Emma and Sampson

Elizabeth was a beautiful pig. She lived in a clean pigsty and she was going to marry a pig prince called Ronald. The dragon destroyed their house, the princess was not happy, in fact she was very angry. The more she looked at the mess the worst she felt. She got madder and madder as she felt her stomach get tighter and tighter.

Then she saw the footsteps of the dragon. Then OINK! She was eaten by the dragon. The prince ran down stairs “Oh oink” he said. “The princess is trapped.”

Prince Ronald got his sword blade and stabbed the dragon, “ HIYA” he said. “Princess are you ok?” he said.

“Yes I am,” said the princess.

Then Ronald said something he never said before, “Will you marry me Elizabeth”?  

“Yes I will” said Elizabeth.

They lived happily ever after.  

The Piggy Dragon

A story by Daniel and Quintin

Once upon a time there was a messy dragon called Pigget. He liked to eat beautiful princesses. One day he decided to eat a massive castle and carry away a handsome prince. He thought that this would lure in a princess. But instead he saw the princess and carried her away too.

When Pigget got back to the cave he chucked the prince into a cage.

Pigget said to the princess, “If you do not work for me I will eat your prince.”

“Ok” said the princess.

But one night while the dragon was sleeping the princess unlocked the cage door and ran away with the prince. She left a note saying, You are a pig!

“NO!” exclaimed Pigget .

When the princess got back to a cottage, she felt sorry for Pigget so she ordered a dragon maid for Pigget. The next day Pigget came to the cottage and said to the princess,

“Thank you, for the maid”.

“Its ok,” said the princess.

The next day the princess and the prince got married and lived happily ever after.       

3 more stories

The piggy bag princess

A story by Ned and Dylan

Once upon a time, in a golden castle, there lived a king and a princess.  One day a mutant dragon came and turned the king’s flock of sheep into pigs .The king got mad and went to slay the mutant dragon. He was easy to follow because he left a trail of pork.

Soon the king came to the dragon’s lair. He knocked on the door but there was no one there. He opened the door and he went inside to kill the dragon. The dragon was mad and turned him into a pig.

The mutant dragon went back to the castle to attack the princess. He shot a fireball at her but she deflected it back at the dragon and the dragon was killed.

The princess got an antidote for her father and she turned him back into the king. She also turned the sheep back to normal.

They lived happily ever after but……the dragon had laid eggs that were silently hatching in his lair.

The Evil Mud Pig

A story by Heidi and Tess

Once upon a time there was a mother called Elizabeth who had two sons named Jorge and William. One night they were having a dance in their fancy ballroom. All of a sudden a huge, big, fat, evil pig came smashing into their castle

and captured the two sons.

Elizabeth cried and cried. She was so sad she had to go and find where the evil pig was keeping her sons hostage. The pig was quite easy to follow because he left big huge pig droppings. The trail lead her by two straight lines made out of pig shaped stones. On the way through there was a dead end.  At the dead end there was a pig shaped mud pile. The mud pig was kneeling down.

Elizabeth searched all over the kneeling pig.  After minutes of searching for the entrance she finally found the secret passageway to where the pig was keeping her sons hostage.  

The passageway went through the pig’s snout.  Elizabeth climbed up the hoofs and crawled into the slimy, muddy snout.

Elizabeth found her two sons in a pigpen eating beef and pork. Elizabeth said “YOU TRAITORS! “I thought you loved me. I iron your suits, make you breakfast, I clean up after you and I make your king sized beds. You can stay here if you want but I’m not coming back!”

The boys loved the pork and beef so much that they decided to stay and never returned home again.  Mum was sad she didn’t have her boys but glad that she didn’t have to do so much work!

Evil Pigasaurus

A story by Melody, Jessie and Lucas

Once upon a time three pigs, mamma, dada and baby prince piggy lived in a castle shaped as a pig head.  One horrible day a pigasouras came and destroyed the castle and took baby prince piggy.

Mamma and dada got out their pig plane to look for baby prince piggy.  When they got to the pigousouras’s castle they looked down into it and saw boiled pigs for the pigousouras’s dinner. They saw baby piggy, that precious thing.

DARN darn darn !!!

They broke in and dared the pigousouras to eat a thousand sheep in ten seconds. That’s what the pigousouras did.

“Amazing!” said dada pig. The pigousouras got up and ate one hundred sheep in twenty seconds.

“Wonderful!” said mamma pig. The pigousouras got up once again and ate fifty sheep in fifty seconds.

“Superb! Jinx,“ they said together. The pigousouras didn’t hear a thing. They stepped over the pigousouras and rescued all the pigs.

The pigousouras was dead and every piggy lived a happy pig life. 

Some Piggy little princess stories!

Well what a creative week we've had.  Half the class have been reading and studying the book "The Paper bag Princess" by Robert Munsch and the other half have been reading "Piggybook" by Anthony Browne.  These two fabulous stories have stimulated a lot of discussion and lead to interesting interpretations when we changed scenarios.

Yesterday students were paired with one person from each book and they read their stories to each other and then had to write a story together that combined the themes of both books.  The results are very clever and quite funny.

Enjoy

The Piggy Princess by Lachlan and Felix

The pig was captured by a snake and taken to the snake’s lair.

“Save the pig,” said the princess.

“I will save the pig,” said the mystery voice.

Then the mystery voice came out from hiding he was wearing a cape and chain armour

“Help me,” said the pig.

“I’m trying and where are you,” said the mystery voice.

When he came out of the bush he was a knight from another castle, unfortunately the pig was stuck in the snakes lair.

“No,” yelled the knight.

The pig was going to be cooked for the snake’s dinner, suddenly a whole group of knights came and broke in the snake’s lair to save the pig. Suddenly the snake appeared out of nowhere with her babies. The snakes were venomous so they had to be careful. Later they beat the snake in a hard battle, but they saved the pig and the pig was safe.

The Paper Bag Piglets

A story by Isabella and Luke

Once there were four piglets. The dad pig’s name was Ronald and the mum pig’s name was Elizabeth. The children were Simon and Patrick .

The children were so greedy that their mum could not stand it. She rang a dragon and asked it to adopt them. One hour later the dragon knocked on the door and said, “GIVE ME THE CHILDREN NOW OR I WILL BLOW FIRE ON YOU.”

The dragon flew away with the children.  Then the parents cried, “Why did we give the dragon our children?”

Dad came up with a plan. The plan was to get dressed up in a piggy costume and sneak past the dragon to get the children back.  So mum distracted the dragon while dad climbed up the tower. The tower was very high and Dad nearly slipped off the edge.

Then dad went in the tower and sent the children, one by one, down the rope to safety.

Before he left the tower he put a big bomb in the dragon’s bed. Then he ran home with the children. That night the bomb exploded and the dragon was never seen again.

The Paper bag Pigs

By Isaac and Andrew 

Once upon a time there was a family of pigs with two slack children who liked to play with paper bags all day and they used it for clothing while their parents played tennis. They lived in a wonderful house with a spa and a beach chair.

One day a dragon stole the whole family and pulled them by the hair. The dragon took the children and the parents to his evil lair at McDonalds. The dragon put the family in a massive burning fryer.

Meanwhile, the dragon went to an auction and bought a granny flat that cost $34,500.  It had a Ferrari, a Hot tub, a throne and a personal butler but at the dragons evil lair the family had an escape plan.

The family used spare paper bags to get out of the evil lair. The dragon went back to his evil lair. He was laughing with a dirty smile.  When he got there he said, “WHAT? Where are they?”

He looked to his left.

“Those dirty children used paper bags to escape! No!”

“Yes! We escaped,” said the family and they lived happily as pigs ever after.

A little visitor

Not long after I uploaded the last post I thought I saw a rat coming into the classroom.  We had eaten inside, then invited primary in for a movie if they didn't want to stay outside, so there were lots of crumbs on the floor.  Thankfully it was not a rat (although it scared me half to death!!) but this lovely little bird. The trouble was, he didn't want to leave!!

I opened all the windows and tried to shooo him out but he either kept flying in circles or banging into the fixed windows.  I went find the cleaner to let her know that I was going to leave the windows open in the hope that he would find his own way out eventually.  He left a little 'present' on my chair :-( while I was gone but still hadn't found his way out by the time I left!  

Hopefully there will be no little surprises on Monday!  And thankfully it was NOT a rat!!!

Public Speaking and Homework

What a lovely rainy day we had today.  We still did sport but it consisted of a variety of activities in the hall.  Then we practiced 'friends to 14' and played Around the World.  ZS equalled AR record.  The great thing of course is the recall of number facts and attention to number combinations.

After recess and scripture it was time to knuckle down to some very quiet handwriting.  Many of the year 3s are still not forming their letters in the right way and I am spending most of that time with them. The year 4s are heading to pen licences with KM asking for the year 4 teachers to look at her work and decide if she's ready.

This afternoon we watched the first in the "Life in the Undergrowth" DVD's.  Mrs Hughes has the whole collection and a lot of great conversations were had, especially with the giant earth worm that is several metres long!! (Yes metres!!!)

I have just finished next week's homework and all the information for the Multicultural Perspectives Public Speaking Competition.  I hope this helps and that the students do a good job.  I can't believe we are already half way through the term.

Met the parents & addition chart

Last night was a great night to meet some of the parents of students in my class.  Many were surprised when they found out I had told the students that they didn't have to do their homework, especially if they spend their time being kids and climbing trees.  It is an individual decision for families to make if they are able to support their child with homework.  Some families don't have space for a desk or the environment is too noisy or simply too busy.

Sharing a great book with a child is one of the most powerful ways to instil in them a love of learning.  My 15 year old daughter and I still enjoy reading together and have read great books like The DaVinci Code and Mao's Last Dancer as well as The Power of One.  These great books stimulate a lot of grown up discussion about our world and our role within it.

Today we started our focus on "Friends to 18".  This is one way to help students quickly recall number facts up to 9+9.  When they can do this then their knowledge of place value can take them to the bigger numbers.  Students at this age should be using a variety of mental and written methods to add 2 digit numbers and begin to do the same with 3 digit.

We started an 'Around the World' game where students are sitting in a circle and one student stands behind another.  These 2 students are in a race together to match the number I give them with the 'answer'.  Today the 'answer' was 12 and then we had another game where the answer was '11'.  I say a number and they have to say, as fast as possible the number that matches it to get the answer.  If I say '4', the first person to say '8' moves onto the next person.  The aim is to see how many people you could be faster than to hold the class record. AR is our record holder at the moment with 10.  I don't know that she will hold it for long as there are some very competitive people in our class ;-)

Here is a copy of the addition chart I gave the students today to help them practice the number combinations.

life in the undergrowth

I just saw on Gem on Tuesday night @7 they are showing Life In The Undergrowth with David Attenborough.  This is a perfect show to tie in with our unit on mini beasts and micro environments.  I will be watching.

Heading into Week 5

It is a nice feeling being busy and active.  When I got to the end of last week I thought, 'wow, the weeks feel like they are flying by!"  I guess that's because we are doing so much, having fun along the way and the beautiful weather keeps everyone cheery.

Our swimming carnival last Thursday was a great success.  Year 3 were very keen for their novelty events and learned a lesson in patience as they were the last group to have a turn!  The weather was outstanding (we were a bit worried after Wednesday's rain!) and a great day was had by all.  I am hoping a lot of Year 3, and possibly Year 4 students, will sign up for swim school at the end of the year and we can get even more students involved in this really important skill.

There was a good response from Week 4's homework with about half the students managing to get some things done.  There didn't seem to be anyone too stressed by what they had to do and most students who completed the tasks found them enjoyable.  Here is week 5 homework.  I always read through the tasks with students on Monday and check if there are any questions.  If there are any problems during the week I hope parents will email me.

For students who want a challenge and who have internet access, I like the www.jigsawdoku.com site.  It is a free sudoku game site where students can change the levels to suit their abilities.  Sudoku is a fantastic logic game that improves maths skills.

Addition and bigger numbers

I love starting work with young student when we get to discover the wonders of bigger numbers.  With almost certainty once students think past the one thousands they go straight to millions.  Explaining we need to go through tens of thousands and then hundreds of thousands is quite mind blowing for some.

It is important for students to make connections with the place value of numbers before starting addition and subtraction.  When they only see numbers as single entities and not as holding a greater value based on its position in a number then they have difficulty adding and subtracting.  The great thing this year is that I have some students who are quite confident reading, writing and ordering up to five digit numbers.  Their challenge now is to see how well they can add them.

My own teenage kids still enjoy board games like Ticket To Ride, RISK and Monopoly, where skills in fast addition are still needed.  They started playing them at a young age and I am reminded of how helpful these games are to teach children basic number facts and how to work with them quickly (especially if they're competitive and want to win!).  I wish there was more time in class to get kids to play these games.  If you have kids at home, play board games! They're fun for the whole family.

We're also keeping with the mini beast theme and exploring the components of an information report and applying this knowledge to new knowledge.  We are learning all the gory facts about blood sucking insects and cow dung living critters.

The Sochi Olympic Games medal standings always spark our early morning conversations as students share what they've see of these fun but often unusual sports.  Most students haven't even seen ice.  We were glad to see Australia get off the bottom of the table and hold its 21st spot.   We know just one gold would push us up the ladder by several spots.

Swimming carnival tomorrow is sure to be loads of fun :-)

Time For Homework

Coming into week 4 it is probably time to send home some homework.  I have really mixed feelings about homework.  It is compulsory for me to give it out so I make sure it is well thought out but the stress it causes some families can be horrific.

There are some studies which state homework is of little value to primary school students but it does refer to the drill type nature of homework.  If homework is collaborative and compliments the learning in the classroom then it can be beneficial.  I think crucially….

Where parents are over-controlling or interfering in their student's homework activities, then that's been shown pretty clearly to not be beneficial," he said.
"But where parents support their children's autonomy and essentially try to provide guidance and assistance rather than being interfering and controlling, that's beneficial for students."

I think this is really good advice to parents. I try and set homework that is open ended, relevant and fun.  I have attached a copy here

Hopefully all families will find this homework suitable for their child. 

3/4G were learning how to round numbers to the nearest 10, writing numbers in words and expanded form and using the greater than and less than symbol.  A quick test on Friday showed very pleasing results.  Some students are ready to do the above with 4 and 5 digit numbers.  

After students did such a great job drawing insects in their book, I gave them an A4 piece of paper and challenged them to replicate!  and they did not disappoint :-) I'm going to put them in for the school newsletter but thought I'd put them here first.  They are awesome.

Well done 3/4G :-)

Found something cool

I was searching for resources and found this

http://www.fishpond.com.au/Games/Clever-Kids-Creepy-Crawlies-Wii-DVD/5036675012531

It is a Wii game based around mini beasts and it is on an incredible special, on $15!  It wouldn't be appropriate at school (we don't have a Wii here!) but could make a good present for someone who loves creepy crawlies!

Circletime & Mini beasts

Today was an interesting day.  I decided to start the day with Circletime.  Circletime is a structured sharing time designed to help students feel happy and safe to share their thoughts and feelings about what is going on in their life.  A few students have found the transition to Year 3 or Year 4 difficult with some parents reporting they're upset in the mornings or not sleeping well.  Good learning cannot happen unless children are feeling happy and safe so we talked a lot about change today.

We discussed how good change can be for us and that when we take a step by step approach to our learning then things can be so much easier.  We also talked about how we can help each other and work together to achieve our goals.  I challenged the students with a really fun activity where they make a circle and all face the same way and when I say 'go' they sit on each other's knees.  There was lots of squeals of delight and of course rolling on the floor as they 'fell'.  It was great hearing them laugh so hard with each other.  I videoed the event so I can share it with parents on Meet The Teacher night which is on Wednesday 26th February.

We talked more about our Core Values, read more of Rowan of Rin and did 2 more pages in the handwriting book.  The class went to computers just before lunch and came in for more reading before starting on their mini beast drawings.

Yesterday students explored posters which had a variety of information about 12 different mini beasts.  With a partner they had to read the information, look at the photos and illustrations and then report 3 pieces of information to the class.  Using these posters was a good reminder to me that, although technology is so important in our modern way of teaching and learning, students still appreciate learning from a variety of sources, especially when they are in charge of looking at them and presenting from them.

Today they could choose their favourite and, using the illustrations on the posters, draw their own mini beasts in their book.

Here are some

I love the detail they captured and the perspective.  From this we will look more closely at the different parts of insects as well as life cycles.  I know I am starting early but we will be going on an excursion next term and with NAPLAN just before it, we won't have a lot of time so I wanted to do some work each week.

A happy, smiley day was had by all.

Paint and glitter in first week

Well this is definitely a first for me!  I am no artist and find setting up for paint lessons rather messy and time consuming!  But I was inspired by the upcoming Winter Olympics to do something different, so I thought I'd get us as close to the snow and ice as I could.

I got some great outlines from activity village website and blew them up to A3 and then got the kids to use watercolours to paint them.  We discussed how bright and colourful most Winter Olympic uniforms were so they could stand out against the white.  Then we set them out in the various disciplines like on the slopes, in the rink and down the luge!

Then came the snowflakes!  I used a Youtube video that showed how quick and easy it was to do a 6 pointed snowflake (apparently that's how they are in nature!).  The students picked it up really quickly and made about 3 or 4 snowflakes each. They look fabulous….as you can see

Some kids did the free drawing of the mascots.  They turned out so well. They have real character.

First week back

Saturday February 1st

Last Tuesday the school year started for thousands of teachers across NSW with School Development Days.  Schools in our local area arranged for an occupational therapist to present current research and latest ideas for teaching students who have some sort of learning delay that is impacting on their learning.  It was a very long presentation and a bit of death by powerpoint (I hate it when they read the information on the slide to you and slides that are full of text grrrrr) but there were some very practical ideas I hadn't tried yet.  I made a commitment to give them a go with my class this year and I have already noticed some interesting things!

The first 3 days with my class have been delightful.  I have 17 Year 3 and 11 Year 4 students.  I love having 28 in my class :-)  You can divide it evenly so many ways, so I am happy.  With the space I created with the desks at the wall, I got them moving, a lot!  I never had them sitting for more than 10 minutes and got them stimulating their large muscles, hugging themselves tight and letting go and shaking for 1 minute.  I read somewhere that shaking stimulates our bodies and minds and is great for getting ready for writing.  Gee I was impressed with the results.  The kids wrote something each day and I noticed an improvement- I love that.

I'd have to say writing is my favourite subject to teach.  I love how creative and imaginative kids can be with the spoken word.  I love using Circletime to get to know my kids.  They really open up when they feel happy and safe within the class.

I am really looking forward to this year :-)

The way I set up my classroom

This year I am going to use this space to share, with anyone who wants to listen, my experiences with teaching at Blaxland East Public School.  I have been teaching for over 20 years and I have learned a few things in that time.

The most important thing to me when I meet my new class is finding the one thing about each kid that makes them tick.  Once I figure that out I am well and truly on my way to making a difference in their life.

Last year I tried something new and innovative to try and create an atmosphere where creative is valued and embraced and where students felt they could explore things that were important to them.  I started by completely changing the face of my classroom!  I reflected that I know students learn best when they can share their ideas and listen to others.  I feel the best way to achieve this is in a circle.  I our current classrooms the time it takes to move furniture to create a circle large enough to accommodate the entire class is prohibitive.  So I have permanently moved the desks to the walls!  I got rid of the tote tray holders as they take up so much space and now every student has wall space to put up what they want to put up.

When you think about it, we put our kid's desks against a wall in their room. When it is time to work and concentrate on a specific task then the few distractions help.  When our kids think or take a break they will sometimes write notes and post them on a noticeboard above where they are working.

With this in mind I took the step of moving desks to the wall and creating a large space for circles, group work and general ease of getting around to all students and last year it worked a treat :-)

I will post photos with this year's effort!

I am really looking forward to the challenges that lay ahead this year :-)