Currently January 2015!

Oh my goodness! Another new year is upon us. And another Currently with Farley

Listening - There always seems to be noise in my house. My husband is watching a movie and my son has decided it is his mission to catch flies in old bubble wand containers (dont ask, I dont have the answers). 

Loving - Its summer down under and today the weather is just gorge!! We have been swimming in the pool, eating iceblocks and even have the air conditioner on. Lazy summer hols are what it is all about. Here is to another 4 weeks off :)

Thinking - Change is my word for 2015. Professionally, I am moving from K to 5/6 and will lead the team, which is a huge jump (I am excited!). Personally, we will be knocking our house down at the end of February and building again, so before that happens I need to pack to move out. Then *hopefully* before the year is out, we will be able to move back in!

Needing - I have to say I have felt every year of my age and would love a massage! Also sleep would be awesome - my poor Cam has been so unwell since Christmas.

Yes - Control is going to be a key factor in my life with all the changes. Maybe - I always seem to find reasons to not get moving. I wish - with all the change going on that there is no big issues and it just happens :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy New Year from me

I was going to try and link up with one of the top posts linkies but when I had a look through the posts, I didnt feel like it really reflected what my year has been like.

Professionally, it has to have been one of my BEST years ever! I had an AMAZING bunch of kids who I enjoyed teaching SOOOOO much as well as the most supportive, easy going teaching partner - Kim! We were able to achieve some amazing things and the way they all took off makes me feel so proud. On the last day of school (remember, in Australia, our school year is the calendar year) I actually held them all and cried. I am actually teary thinking about it. I cannot wait to see them grow up next year in Year 1 and I am so jealous of their new teachers. Here are some of our pics of the year.

On a TPT level, I feel like I got into a groove and want to thank you, the people who read this blog, follow on FB and TpT for supporting me on this wild journey. I managed to reach my first TPT milestone which was beyond my wildest dreams.  TPT and blogging has certainly reinvigorated me as an educator and has pushed me to find new and exciting ways to engage my students, differentiate for all abilities and teach my kids that learning IS fun!!! Some of my best TPT moments from the year.....

Finally, personally it was a challenging year. I returned to work full time this year for the first time since 2007 which was a lot different than I thought it would be. My son began Kindergarten and has had a tough year, which has effected me in so many ways. Without the support of my husband, family and wonderful friends, Im not sure what I would have done.

 I have 2 personal highlights - my family trip to Seaworld 

And having a bloggy meetup with some of the best girls I know. I am so happy to be able to count them as my friends.

If you made it through all of that, I hope 2015 is all that you want it to be! Take care of yourself, hug your family tight and

Big News!! I'm on the move.....

Thats right! Lots of moving for me in the new year! We will be knocking our house down and moving to my inlaws temporarily while we build our dream home.

And also in 2015.......

I'm moving from Kindergarten.............to Grades 5/6!!!!

Its a great leap....with great opportunities waiting for me :) I taught many of these students in Year 2 and never thought I would get the chance again. So I am feeling extremely lucky.

But the whole MOVING part......not so much. I spent the whole day at school yesterday cleaning out my storeroom so I am ready to move on Monday. I shared this pic on my Facebook page

Yeah I know! Huge mess right? Ill take another pic tomorrow of the mess in my new room :)

I will still be making K-2 resources (as I have loved doing these!) but will now expand my store to include resources for 3-6! My first one was Unlocking Word Puzzles 1 and Unlocking Word Puzzles 2 (or just grab the BUNDLE)

To celebrate the move, I will give one BUNDLE away! Leave a comment telling me which grade you will be on next year. I will select one random comment in around 30 hours.

Currently DECEMBER

Sorry I have been such a bad blogger :(
I even missed out on Currently last month! But I am linking up (a little late) with Farley this month.

Listening - We have tried to keep Saturdays pretty free in the morning this year. At the moment, the kids are playing Disney Infinity and having fun (which is better than the fighting they seem to do constantly)

Loving - 10 days left for school! We have 8 days with the kids and then 2 teacher days. But in the 8 days we have Picnic Day, Talent Quest, Christmas Concert, Gold Reward...... I am excited that we are so close to the end but I will REALLY miss my kids. They have been close too my fave class EVER

Thinking - Its time to pull all the craft down! I also have to pack up my storeroom because I am moving classrooms AGAIN! More about that.....

Wanting - Tomorrow is the day I aim to complete ALL of the Christmas shopping. Wish me luck?

Needing - Its that time of year where all the little things seem bigger, where everyone is a little more stressed and on edge. I feel I am usually a fairly positive person at work but its been a little harder this year. I need a big boost.......perhaps chocolate might help?

Giving - Our Elf Buddy arrived on Tuesday. The other K teacher and I are going for a bit more of a kindness angle with him this year and hopefully get our classes thinking about GIVING to others. And they must be starting to giving the bulging state of our Giving Tree in the classroom! Those boxes are full of food too!

Thank goodness it's Five for Friday!

What a long week! I have been such an inconsistent blogger. I have been trying to link up with

for weeks and decided to just sit down after a long day at work and do it! Here we go...

I played Mum last week and went on my son's very first Kindergarten excursion to the farm. How cute is this little ducking?

This was a sad sad morning in KB. The cleaner *might* have knocked it off and *might* have forgotten to tell me. Lucky for me, my AWESOME Scentsy consultant Alison from Teaching Maths with Meaning was able to order me a new one and within 2 days it was sitting at the door (or it *might* have been thrown over the fence by the post man). My room was back to smelling gorgeous this morning.

 

I made this fun freebie and posted about it yesterday, If you didn't snag it, click HERE.

On the right were the cute chickens I shared on my FB page from Mel @ From the Pond. Last week to go with our chicken theme, we made these super cute lifecycle chicks from Bilingual Scrapbook.

Today we said farewell to our chick babies. We had 4 families who adopted 2 chicks each and I made them promise to keep us updated with photos. It is always such a great experience having this happen in our classroom. The company we use is Living Eggs.

Shake Rattle Drop and Friends of Ten

We have been practicing our addition and friends of ten this week. I came up with a quick way to play shake rattle drop all on the one page.

If you have never played Shake Rattle Drop, you need a ten frame (or this sheet) and ten double sided counters. You also need something to record with.

Shake the counters in your hands, and drop onto the page.

We always place the red counters first and yellow sides sencond.

Write down the Friends of Ten!

Go and fill the recording sheet up! It is great practice and the kids start to notice the number patterns for Friends of Ten quite quickly.

Click on this picture to go and grab this freebie from GoogleDocs.

Enjoy!