DIY whisper phones

I have seen these at lot on Pinterest and other clever bloggers pages. I really wanted my own so I thought I would have a go. All I used was 2 things and I was surprised how easy it was!

I bought 2 small PVC elbow from the plumbing section at the hardware store and grabbed some fun patterned duct tape. The elbows DID NOT fit into each other at all!

I lined up the seams on the PVC so that the corners turned like a 'phone' shape. Then I wrapped it with duct ape until it felt very firm.

And there it was - a neat little whisper phone.

Could it be built a little better? Sure if I was willing to spend more money on special glue or another piece of pipe to join it together. But for my purpose (and for the awesome cost of $2.72 per whisper phone) I have something that is functional and easy for me to make.

Why not try it yourself?

Do you use whisper phones in your classroom?

Currently March

Well it has been almost a month since I posted last. I have just not been able to sit and write - too exhausted! I promise to make a bigger effort for March! Yes I said it - MARCH!!!


That means it is Currently time!!! Go link up with Farley.

Listening - It is a rainy old Saturday, the first day of Autumn here! My kids and husband are taking it in turns to play the Xbox. If I let him, my son (4) would play alllllll day!

Loving - My class has only been at school for 4 weeks now (and only 3 as a class group with me as we keep them all together the first week) and they are just smashing it. I will have to take some pics of some writing and show you - fabulous!

Thinking - my main issue at the moment is one little boy who is a new arrival from Egypt and speaks mainly Arabic to me - which would be great if I could understand him! We are trying to do basic vocab stuff - he can ask to go to the toilet with one word and is very good at following instructions but to me, he seems like an awesome survivor. in saying that I mean, he is good at picking up what is going on around him even though he may not understand. Besides vocab stuff, I would love any suggestions what to do next!

Wanting - well the weather has changed here this week! I am hoping that March will still be warm so I can wear my new gorgeous dresses - one still has tags and I really want to wear it!

????? Can you guess my question?

Bright Ideas Blog Hop

Thanks for hopping by!

DOLLAR STORE ITEMS IN THE CLASSROOM

Teachers have the ability to go into a dollar store, pick out random items and turn them into a fantastic learning activity which is engaging and relevant. I just wanted to share a couple of these ideas that I have used in my classroom.

PEGS

You can use pegs for lots of things. Clip charts, hanging artwork...but you can also use them for learning. In the pics below, we are using them to choose the medial vowel sound.

MAGNIFYING GLASSES AND FINGER LIGHTS

You can turn dollar store items into reading aids! I used these with my struggling readers during guided reading time and it was certainly more engaging!

PIPE CLEANERS AND BEADS

A fantastic tool for fine motor which links perfectly to Mathematics. You could use it for patterning, use two different colours to work on addition, or what we did in the pic below, use a tag on each pipe cleaner and students added that many beads.

PLASTIC SHOT GLASSES AND MINI POP STICKS

Another great fun activity. In these pics, I labelled each cup with a number, then students had to place that many sticks into the cup. To extend it for some, I had them order the cups. You could also do it as a colour sort, or even sight words!

I hope you have grabbed some bright ideas from this post. Please leave some of your own in the comments.

Hop on over to 

For her Bright Ideas on sharing Visual spelling strategies with parents.

Or cruise the linky for more

Currently Feb!

I love Currently! Last month I didnt get it together...so I knew I had to this time!

Listening - HIMYM (or How I Met Your Mother for the uninitiated). In the past month I have worked my way through 8 seasons. It is my favourite show! I am so sad that it is the last season

Thinking - Next week is our first week with our new Kinders. We are going to do a bee craft, school bus and an 'a' inspired craft. And it is all prepped and cut! Except for the googly eyes - why cant they sell packs with ALL THE SAME SIZED EYES?????

Wanting - After seeing a fantastic video on Deanna Jump's Facebook about using magnetic wands to blend CVC words, I knew I had to get my own. And they are on the way according to my emails ;)

Which is the fib? If you comment with the correct answer, I will send you an item of your choice up to a $5 value. Dont forget your email.

Five For Friday!

I havent linked up for such a long time but being back in the classroom makes me excited and I want to share with you what I got up to this week. 

On Tuesday we returned to work after a 5 week break....bleh!

In my state (NSW) all Kindergarten students are to be assessed using the Best Start Assessment within the first 5 weeks of school. We choose to do it in the first few days so we can sit one on one and then students start the week after. So I think after a total of 20 assessments...I was pretty over the story "The Long Walk" (I can hear other NSW teachers nodding)

My little girl went back to school too - into Year 1! I cant believe Kinder is behind her. My son starts Kinder on Monday so expect another pic next week. After her second day, she told me Year 1 was very hard. Love that kid.

I know you have seen these on pinterest and maybe even made your own. This is my first attempt at the 1st day of school frame (sorry about the glare in this pic)

First week we look at 'a' so this is my test run of our craft for 'a'. Another Pinterest inspired creation with a Brooke twist :) Click the pic to grab the 'a' and the leaves (thanks to Mel @Graphics from the Pond for the leaf clip art)

How was your week??

Patch-Up Post....

I'm sorry! So sorry!

Well I have been on holidays for 5 weeks. In the words of Barney Stinson it has been

 legen----wait for it-----dary.

Unfortunately, my blog seems to have been enjoying a similar holiday.

A group of my bloggy buddies and I were talking about it and decided a fun way to get back to it would be a linky. So here it is!

Your post can be about anything! Back to school, snow days, a new freebie. You pick! Its just a way to show your blog you care.

Just grab the image, stick it in your post and link back here. It would be great if you could visit another blog and comment!

I am getting ready for BTS here in Sydney Australia! My first week back will look a little sonething like this:

*Monday - Day off for Australia Day

*Tuesday - Staff only professional development day

*Wednesday - Friday - meet new Kindergartens one on one for their Best Start Assessment. This is a sit down one on one assessment which takes about 30minutes per child. It goes through basic literacy and math skills and gives teachers an indication of where they need to begin with each child. More info can be found HERE. I'll also tidy my classroom up a bit.

My second week is when the fun will begin! The kids start on Monday and we try to keep them as a big group at least for a week (at this stage we have 48 enrolled). This way we can get a better look at which personalities should be separated, who is ESL, evenly spread boys and girls etc. Although this isn't an exact science, we try to make it even across the classes. We will be having 2 Kinder classes and a K/1 class with 8-10 kinders.

A few of my first week back activities will be making bees to go with our school rules (Be Kind Be Safe Be Fair) and buses (because we are on the road to learning). I definitely share these with you when we are there! We will also start with our first alphabet letter focus (a) and introduce our first 3 sounds (a m t), as well as our number focus (0). 

I have uploaded the 'a' pages to google drive for you to use. 

Happy Back To School!

10 Top Teacher Tips Linky

 As Aussie teachers get ready to go back for a new year, its always good to share what things get us through the good times and the bad as teachers.

Thanks Lauren for hosting this fun linky.

1. Top Tip for Classroom Organisation FILE! I got this tip from my friend Mel From the Pond. When ever you get a paper at a staff meeting....decide what to do with it! I bought an expanding file and made some labels. If it was minutes, they were filed there. PD was filed in a different tab, Literacy in another one (you get the idea). 
2. Top Tip for Behaviour Management Focus on the positive! I know this is easier said than done but it is important to remind ourselves of this occasionally.  3. Top Tip for being a Team Player This one is hard! I think often it is a bit about letting the control go...You dont HAVE to do everything yourself. If someone offers a hand, take it! Likewise,offer your hand too.
4. Top Tip for Time Management Set yourself working hours. Make sure you leave by x o'clock. It can be easy to say..lll just do one more thing. But make sure that your job doesnt become your everything! Make time for yourself, your partner and your family
5. Top Tip for Engaging Students Make things NEW! Hands on activities, fresh ideas, speaking in a funny voice! You need to look for the thing to catch students attention. Make it interesting and new and the students are yours.
6. Top Tips for getting along with Parents Professionalism. Most parents just want to know that their children and happy and looked after. Conduct your interactions with parents in a way that is professional while communicating the importance of their child.
7. Top Tip for Teacher Fashion. FLATS!
8. Top Tip for Bargain hunting Dollar stores, hardware shops, op shops. Make your money go further by being resourceful and turning unusual things into class resources. For example, you know those super cute animal/transport/fruit math manipulatives that you get from teacher stores? I went to Kmart and bought some packs of insects - perfect for counting, sorting, sharing!
9.Top Tip for Eating well at School Last year I lost nearly 20kg by doing Weight Watchers. To keep on track at school, I drank lots of water, made sure I had my apple for Crunch and Sip every day and took frozen WW meals for lunch each day.
10. Top Tip for Staying Sane Sometimes, it is very easy for things to become a lot bigger than they really are or more emotional. Sometimes we need to remind ourselves to just let things go. We cant fix the world in a day, we cant control everyone and everything. Just control what you can and do the best that you can on that given day.
Go and read some more tips on Laurens blog :)