RIC Publications: Geography and History Resources

I can’t believe it is already Week 5 of Term One!!

This year is already flying by!!!

As we are well and truly on our way in Term One I thought I would share some helpful materials to help you with your Geography and History units! J

RIC Publications have produced these resources that are linked the Australian Curriculum.

With the switch to the Australian Curriculum it can be hard to find resources for the Geography and History learning areas that connect to the curriculum.

These books are great because they are directly linked to the Australian Curriculum.

At the beginning of the books is a clear breakdown of the curriculum links and an explanation of what each of these curriculum points’ asses.

It also has a pre-made checklist with the assessment criteria! – why reinvent the wheel when it has already been done for you! J

 

 

 

To add to this each activity has an accompanying page of teacher information about the activity.

It has teacher notes, background information, additional activities and even a list of other resources you can use with this activity to enhance your lesson.

 

Although teaching shouldn't be centred around textbooks and worksheets these resources are great to add to your current program or give you a good place to start from if you are completely lost!

 

Speak soon!

 

Creating a 'rock pool' for your beach themed classroom/dramatic play!

Blogging.
Art and Craft.

Two of my favourite things and tonight they get be combined because I am going to share with you how to make your very own fake rock pool!! :)

I absolutely loved making this and I cant wait to finish it off this weekend with animals and have it in the classroom ready for next week!!! :)

To get started you will need:
Brown Paper lunch bags (I used about 30 - 40 bags)
Brown wrapping paper (I used 2 x 3m)
Sticky tape
A bucket/ bowl or whatever you can find to the the base!
I used an old seashell sandpit base that I found on the side of the road!!! (always on the look for a bargain!!! ;) hee hee)

First wrap the brown paper around your base. I did this multiple times until I was happy with it all being covered.

DO NOT STRESS if it doesn't look 'pretty' - its a rock it should be rough!

THE MESSIER THE BETTER!!!!!!

To be honest you could leave the rock pool as it is still looks awesome! I am just a perfectionist!

As you can see Molly approves!!!! ;)

Once you are happy with the base it is times to move onto the rocks!!!
Using the paper bags scrunch, stuff and layer to create your ideal rocks.

Using sticky tape, tape down the paper to the base.

Once you get to this point it is time for the water!

I used two different blue fabrics together.

I used a bright blue fabric as the water base and then added a shimmery darker blue to create that mixed ocean blue colour.

And there you have it - a rock pool!

 Tune in later this week to see how to add the animals and plants!! :)

Measurement!

Life.

It has this uncanny way of sweeping you off your feet from time to time.
Life has flown by this past month - LITERALLY MONTH!!! 

I have felt quite lost without this blog so to make up for 4 weeks of not blogging (it truly is a crime to not blog for so long I am going to share a new blog post for the next few days!!!

Today's topic . . . .Measurement!!! :)

We have been talking all about measurement in our year two classroom!!!

We discussed how we can measure the length of items using informal units like paperclips, cubes or even gummy bears if we really wanted to! We also talked about why we can’t measure items using things like our hands or feet – because we all have different size feet and hands!!!

We measured different items around the classroom using cubes!

Later in the week we began to look at using formal units to measure objects.

We examined how we can measure objects using a standard measurement! We discussed when to use a M ruler to measure items and when to use a CM ruler! We went outside to explore this idea!!

Well that is it for now! :) Speak soon! :)

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! :)