Winners! and it's sale time!!!

Firstly, thanks so everyone who entered the

Jump over to Mrs Poultney's Ponderings to see if you were one of our grand prize winners.

The winner of my $20 store credit is

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Congrats Stephanie! And thanks again for being such great supporters of my blog and store :)

Now onto that s-word.

No!! Not that one!

Everything will be 20% off in my store - don't forget to add the code BTS13 at the checkout to get a further discount!!!

Here are some of my most wishlisted items at the moment

Go and grab some bargains! The sale is on 18-19th August.

Five for Friday!

It is 7.30am Saturday here in Sydney - perfect time to link up for Five for Friday ;)

1. My poor pup has had to wear the cone of shame this week. She has some skin allergies and wont stop biting herself! She is missing bits of fur all over her butt

2. This week, classroom wise, we were focusing on addition/subtraction skills. In this game, the kids had to choose a domino, add the sides together and then 'park' it in the correct spot for the answer. You can grab this freebie from HERE.

 3. Together with a few of my Aussie friends, we are having a BTS blog hop. At each stop you can win credit from that persona TPT store PLUS pick up a free file. All of our free files can be pieced together to make a very fun Welcome bulletin board for BTS. At our last stop, you can win a $50 TPT voucher or a $50 Amazon voucher. But it ends today! Click HERE to go to the first stop!

4. My boy! Using Mel @From the Pond new puzzle pastes activity, he did this all by himself. He even did his name (I know its a bit hard to see but it is the best attempt I have seen him so EVER!!). These puzzles pastes are great. Click HERE to go and see them.

5. More addition action in KB this week. This was a sorting game where they had to match the number sentence to the answer. The number sentences were a freebie from Greg @Kindergarten Smorgasboard. I made the title shop and donut answers with clipart from Beth@Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah.

Back to School is better with FRIENDS - Blog Hop

When I first started on this journey, I thought I would be able to find some new ideas, make some cute resources and basically develop some new, easier ways of teaching in the classroom.

Never did I imagine what else would come out of it!

I have made some wonderful friends! People I chat with nearly every day, even though we live in different parts of the country. One I have even met and the others I hope to meet very soon!

So when the idea of a blog hop came up - the theme BTS is better with Friends just summed it up so well for us.

What do you need to do? 
Visit all the blogs on the hop (there are only 7!)

What do you get?
At each stop there will be a Rafflecopter for you to enter and win a value of between $10-$20 to spend at that persons store.

Is that it?
Well no!

Then what else?
The bonus of visiting each blog is that you will be able to collect a free file. Once you have collected all the files, you will be able to piece them together and create an awesome BTS Welcome Poster/Wall Display for you and your kiddies to colour!

Click here to see how to assemble and what it will look like! (Thanks so much to our girl Mel at Graphics from the Pond)

Anything else?
You are a bit demanding aren't you? Well there is one more thing.

What?
At the final stop of the hop, there will be a special rafflecopter to enter. We will have 2 winners - one will win a  $50 TPT voucher and one will win a $50 Amazon voucher to help get their school year off to an awesome start!

So what are you waiting for? Enter my Rafflecopter below. Make sure you click the picture to grab your free file and hop on to the next blog to collect the rest!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Click above to grab a part of this awesome welcome wall display.

And enjoy BTS with your Friends, just like we are :)

PS. If you get lost along the way, the people you need to visit are......

Domino Parking Lot Freebie

Just a quick one as I get myself prepared for school tomorrow. I have had this week planned for a while, but the weekend is where I prep any small things I need to make the week work.

I am sure you have seen this idea on the internet somewhere...such as this one here on Pinterest.

This will be one of our activities this week, for both addition and subtraction.

If you have never played it you need:

*dominoes (small size is probably better)

*parking lot sheet

Students can work together or in pairs to 'park' their dominoes in the correct spot.

Use for addition - students add the two sides of the domino together and park in the total.

Use for subtraction - Students subtract the smaller side from the larger side and park in the remainder.

Warning : the car theme may cause some 'brooming' noises.

I have included two versions - with a domino representation and without.

Click the pic to go and download your freebie. It also has a second sheet with numbers 13-24 (thanks to a request).

New Blog Design!

Well welcome to my new home!

When I first started out with this blogging journey, I bought a blog layout pretty quick. I wanted to look the part with a cute blog. And I did love the look....I just didnt like that there were a few blogs that were the same look as mine.

I have been thinking about a change for a while and when some of my blogging buddies started getting a do-over, I knew it was my time too.

Enter Christi Fultz.

I know know how this lady does it! She has a store, she designs blogs.....Do you ever sleep Christi?

But here is the new blog and I love it!

If you are thinking of a change, I highly recommend Christi! Go and visit her by clicking on her button below.



And while you are at it, grab my new button too :)

Making CVC words

When your students have the basics of sounds of letters, the next step is making those CVCs. Some kids click....some kids don't. To help out my kids I made these activity cards. I haven't blogged about them yet but when I made an update for a friend today, I thought it was time!

This is what I started with. A magnetic white board, my cards, and a set of letters I bought at the $2 shop (and a horse! But please don't ask). I like them because the vowel is a different colour to help the kids find it. I know some sets have blue consonants and red vowels too. But you could do this with any magnetic letters or with a white board marker.

Choose a card. The boxes tell the students which kind of letters they are looking for, tall, short or long. They build the word in the bottom boxes and then push it up, letter by letter. The sounding out of the letters helps the students build the word.

Another example. I have just updated the file to include cards that have the vowel already written in the middle to help support those students still learning the concept of building a CVC. Both sets of cards come in black and white as well as colour.

Click any pic to find these activity cards in my TPT store.

You can support this activity with the CVC stamping pack (also in my store). Write the word, stamp the word, colour the picture! Lots of hands on, engaging learning fun!

Click on either picture to go and grab this in my store. I will soon be making the same update to this pack (hopefully over the next week).

I love you comments so let me know how you teach CVC's and don't forget your email. I will pick one comment to receive my CVC cards and one to receive my CVC stamping pack. I'll give you just over 24 hours....

Currently August!

Wow, it is just coming around faster and faster! We are closer to the end of the year than the beginning! And that means...I am closer to finishing my first year of Kindergarten than I am to beginning!

Currently time. Go link up!

Listening - I have every Friday off and we just take it easy before taking my daughter to school and my son to swimming lessons. But the prob with taking it easy is the whinging that goes along with it....

Loving - I handed my program in to my principal yesterday. I have put a lot of effort in to this one and I actually felt a bit like it was an assignment! But now I can relax a little get some prep done (and go back to creating for TPT too)

Thinking - Yep. Make ninja turtle costumes for 13 boys in my class! I have plans (and will definitely be blogging about it!) And also about my baby going to school next year. I filled out his enrollment form to take in today but do you think I can find his birth certificate anywhere??

Wanting - Chocolate! 'Nuff said

Needing - Cleaning is definitely at the bottom of my list priority wise....

B2S - We are in the middle of the year...but for a brand new year I love Post its in lots of colours, coloured pens in lots of colours and lots of cold diet coke!