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25 January 2016

Back To School and New Beginings

I feel like I blinked and suddenly the holidays disappeared!!

One blink and I was in England with my uncle and sister.
One blink and I was travelling Europe.
One blink and I was home in Perth.
One blink and I moved to Bridgetown.
One blink and I start work in 1 day.

It has been a whirlwind to say in the slightest!!!

Below are some snaps of the amazing people I met (minus some other amazing people!), my favourite place BERLIN!!! an my sister and I doing Harry Potter stuff because let's face it when it comes to me Harry Potter things will rule my holiday a little!!!

 
But now it is back to reality - well a different version of reality as you may know I decided on a big change this year and have moved down south to Bridgetown to teach for a year!! (at this stage anyway!)
 
My amazing parents and adorable dog Molly made the trip down with me to unpack for my new adventure!!
 
Molly slept most of the 4hr drive to which I was most surprised!
 
 
Today my mum and I took Molly down to check out the Blackwood River - it was jut beautiful! Australia truly is an incredible place!!!
 
The river's water was a little high and had overflown some of the local park roads!!
 
It didn't bother Molly one bit, she just jumped straight on in ;)

 
Just in case you  didn't know which would be near damn impossible from all the advertising in the shops and TV it is back to school time!
 
I have been pretty busy trying to prep lots of exciting things for this new year!! :)
 
 
 
I have also been very lucky and was sent some materials from R.I.C. publications to look over and see how I may use them in my classroom!!
 
As I find Maths easier to plan I went straight to the Maths resources! :)
 
Going to a brand new school I feel I know very little about my new kids, I have met them and they are adorable but academically I feel a little like I am stumbling around in the dark which is where this GEM comes in!
 
It is called Starting Point Mathematics by Paul Swan and Linda Marshall (coincidently they were my uni lecturers and tutor - I am a big fan!)
 
It is a small booklet that you can give to your students to assess their general numeracy ability in a short test. PERFECT for diagnostic assessment! :)
 
The questions are short, clear and represented very well visually!
 

But my favourite would have to be this resource!!! I am not usually a workbook/worksheet type of teacher but I do love this resource!!!




The pages are so simple and clear! They are perfect for a 5 minute check on understanding of topics or homework review sheets!!! :)

I just love the visuals on the pages - not overpowering yet engaging!

Best of all it is short, sharp and clear. I feel I could give this to a year two student and NOT have 101 questions about what to do because the page is  to ambiguous


 
 
Speaking of new beginnings - the start of the year is such an exciting time!! There are so many possibilities!!! :)
 
My favourite thing to do is give students a pair of my sunnies and take a photo of them!!! IT makes a great display for your bulletin board!! :)
 



I then have students pick something they want to achieve in year 2 this year whether it be improve on something they do not feel confident in or learn something new some answers I have had before include:
 
-skip count by my 5's
-read a level 20 book
-learn my times tables
-solve a subtraction word problem
 
 
They write down their goals and then I collect them! At the end of the year I pull them back out ad we evaluate how that student has done and of course they have ALL accomplished their goals!!! :)
 
I love this activity so much I created a freebie you can use!!!
 
Grab it from my TPT store here :)
 
 
What is your favourite way to start off the new school year? I would love to hear about it! :)
 

08 January 2016

Holidays!!!!! :)

Hello All :)

I promise I am not hating on you all or disappeared in social oblivion!

 No not at all!!!

I have been traveling sine school finished ad I still have another week left but my fingers were itching to get some blogging done!! :)

Unfortunately being on holiday does make it hard to get school work down but I am slowly chipping away at my long ai/ay TPT packet - I just need to stop thinking of extra stuff to add!!!

I have been a very busy bee on my trip!!!

I spent Christmas in Sommerset with family which I loved! But I also got to check out Totnes and spent a week in London!!!

FYI - I stayed in the hotel with the HARRY POTTER ROOM!!!!

Then I started my topdeck tour and it has been a whirl wind trip so far!!!

Unfortunately I am so tired and I have another big day ahead tomorrow so I am gong to head to bed sorry for the short post!

BUT to make it up I thought I would leave you with some snaps!!!

Enjoy your holidays if it is that time of year for you!!! :)