Best Website for Lower School Educators!

My favourite site for lower school resources is TeachThis.

This Australian website has some incredible resources on it, all downloadable for a simple yearly subscription fee (at the time of posting this it was 49.95, the same price it was when I first signed up 5 years ago). 

It has posters for display, games, word wall cards, book covers. worksheets and the list goes on and on. I love them because they are bright, colourful and motivating. Not to mention most resources are available in a variety of fonts.

Another thing I really like about this site is that you can view the preview of all their downloads before you sign up. I like to go through and make sure there are enough things on a site like this that I want to download before I sign up. A quick scroll through just one of their categories and I was signing up.

In a year three class I don't find myself using as many of their resources as I did when I was in a grade one class. But it is still worth it's value in the middle school. 

There is one huge downside to TeachThis....be prepared to go through reams of paper and stacks of ink!

My top 5 favourite resources on TeachThis are: 

+++++ CVC games 

Great for teaching students to sound out and identify initial, middle and final sounds. A variety of types of activities. Some are even self correcting.

+++++Rainbow Facts Poster

I use this poster to introduce rainbow facts and then have this available to students during consolidating activities.

+++++ Money Game

I don't often play this as its intended to be played. I use the shops with class money. I printed multiples of the shops and then cut them up so that students could 'buy' something and take something with them (they give them back at the end of the game). There are so many leveling options for this game and various challenges you can give students.

+++++ Descriptive Writing Cards

Absolutely fantastic for getting students to write descriptively about something. 

+++++ Story Wheels

I use these for interesting whole class story writing lessons and for students who just can't come up with ideas during other writing activities.

============ I truly love this site. I was not paid or asked to do this post :-) ==============

Angles

Today I want to share an idea with you for teaching angles. Towards the end of last year I needed to revise angles with my students. The year 3 outcome is about comparing angles sizes in everyday situations. 

To make it fun and motivating I got the students to make movie clapperboards. I gave them a strip of white paper (made from folding an A4 sheet in half three times). They coloured it in with diagonal black stripes and then punched a hole through the end of it and half of a black piece of card. 

I drew an example up on the board for each of the next steps. 

I got students to divide their sheet in half. On the top section they had to come up with a movie name that had angles in the title. My example was Angry Angles. Then they wrote their (director) name. We used this opportunity to revise the use of capital letters.  

They split the bottom section into three sections. We wrote the headings acute, right and obtuse in each of the boxes revising them as we went along. 

Students then went around measuring angles (using the clapper at the top) in the classroom and writing examples of each in the applicable boxes.

It was a very motivating activity and looked great displayed on the walls.

Simple Door Decoration

I see so many gorgeous door decorations on Pinterest, but unfortunately my door faces out into a very windy corridor. Anything I put up doesn't last very long.
Wanting to perk my door up a little I tried adding a border to the little window on my door. I think it makes my door stand out a little more and look inviting.
If you look on the window you can also see the mustache and glasses I have up. This looks funny when people are peaking in or out and the always makes people smile.

A fun way to teach place value!

I once heard a teacher talking to her students about how numbers are like cakes. They are made up of several ingredients. I really liked this comparison but I took it a step further. I started displaying numbers in a cake form on the board. The ingredients were shown as layers of the cake and the number they made was written in the icing. I explained that it didn't matter which ingredient was added first, you would still make the same cake. The students have a lot of fun making yummy numbers.

Then I invented the cake making place value game. 

Students are given the icing and must find the ingredients. The colour of the completed cake acts like an answer key but doesn't give the answer away. I display the ingredients in two ways, as numbers and as written ones, tens, hundreds and thousands. 

Whiles its quite easy to make your own set of cakes, I do have three version of this game available for purchase.

The original Thousands Place Value Cakes

Hundreds Place Value

and Tens and Ones Cupcake Place Value.

As each part of the cake is symmetrical you always purchase the thousands place value and remove pieces (thousands and hundreds) to simplify the set for younger students.

 Each set  has 24 cakes/cupcakes included. I strongly recommend laminating the set for longevity.

Outline of a lesson:

Expose students to the concept that numbers are made up of ingredients. The ingredients for the number 58 are 50 and 8 or could also be said as 5 tens and 8 ones. Get students to tell you the ingredients for a variety of numbers using the idea of making a cake.

Then use this set for a whole class game where students are given the ‘icing’ (whole number) and must find the ingredients which are spread out on the floor or a table. 

For a follow up lesson get students to make up their own cakes.
The cup cakes can also be used as a group or independent activity and makes for a quick and fun assessment strategy.

Back up

My laptop has spent the entire day trying to update. I have felt very unproductive today.
Fingers crossed my laptop will be okay and it is just a stupidly long update and not that something has gone wrong. Therefore today I would like to remind you to back up your hard drive regularly. It really sucks to lose all your stuff. Trust me, I know.

Word Walls

Word Walls are fantastic environmental print. They help teach spelling, reading and vocabulary. They can also look fantastic. The thing I love most about them is that you can refer students to them rather then spelling the same word over and over again.

When it comes to themed word walls I like to arrange them into fun formats that suit the theme.

Below is my Egyptian pyramid word wall. For older students I get them involved in creating the word wall. They suggest theme words, I write them in pencil and then the student adds a picture and goes over it all in pencil.

I have created a love heart word wall for Valentine's Day. You can download it for free at Teachers Pay Teachers. Click Here

If you like that one try an Easter basket. You can also download that at Teachers Pay Teachers. Click here!

Print, laminate and cut out the 29 pieces and then arrange into the basket on a bulletin board.

Both a coloured and black and white version are included in the downloads. Print on coloured card to save ink.

If printed on A4 paper both will measure approximately 80cm by 90cm.

I have a very special Christmas one coming up for the end of the year. Follow me on Teachers Pay Teacher and/or this blog to be notified when it goes up towards the end of the year.

Maximising Your Planning Time

Today I am going to share with you 10 tips for getting the most out of your planning time. Here in Western Australia we call that time DOTT- Duties Other Than Teaching.

Number 1: Plan for your planning time!

Sounds weird to plan for your planning time but you can get more out of your time if you know what you are going to do. Write a to do list in the build up to your planning time. Write things as you think of them. Try not to waste your planning time writing your to do list.

Number 2: Build a Routine 

Building a routine results in greater productivity. You get into the flow of things and can get into the right frame of mind for that DOTTs activities. I have 4 DOTTs a week. For the first one of the week I get all the resources ready. That includes photocopying, The second I use for preparing for the areas that need extra time. For me that is currently guided reading and Words Their Way prep. The third I dedicate to marking. The last DOTT of the week I use for the planning of the next week. If I get any of these tasks done early I do the other miscellaneous tasks teachers need to do. 

Number 3: Forget the coffee!

I don't personally drink coffee (or tea etc) but I frequently observe other teachers making a drink during their DOTT time. For some this can take up to 15 minutes. Try having water instead. Much quicker to fill up and good to get your creative juices flowing.

Number 4: Cut the chatter!

The funny thing I notice about the people who complain about not having enough time to get everything done is that they are the talkers. They're the ones not in their own classrooms during their DOTT. All teachers need to debrief, relax and socialise but chatting to people can half the amount of DOTT time you have. If you need to see others during you DOTT time plan for it in the last 15 minutes so you are minimising the amount of time it can consume! 

Number 5: Go Digital

It surprises me the amount of teachers that still prefer to hand write their daily work pads. Having a digital timetable  (printed when complete) where all the basic information is already there each week will save you hours in the long run. Copy and paste lesson steps from your advanced planners or plans from previous years.

Number 6: Minimise distractions!

Put your phone away and anything else that you could use to procrastinate. It easier to not jump on Facebook or Pinterest if your phone is not in reach. (Most schools don't allow this anyway but I know we are all guilty of this occasionally....)

Number 7: Reward yourself

It works with our students and it also works with us teachers. Decide the frequency and what the reward will be. On slow days I reward myself with a little break every time I cross something off my to do list. On more productive days the act of getting a lot of work done is enough. Perhaps its a mid session fruit break. Banana is great at helping you focus and think.

Number 8: Don't reinvent the wheel

If planning isn't your forte try purchasing complete units instead.

You can check out my complete units in English, Science, HASS and health here (shameless plug):
Teachers Pay Teachers

Designed By Teachers

Number 9: Be organised!

Have everything you need in easy to access locations. A badly organised desk can waste valuable time.

Number 10: Enjoy what your do!

If you enjoy your job you'll be more productive. Pick themes that interest you. Find activities that you will enjoy. Planning for things you enjoy makes the prep work quicker and easier!