End of the year already!
Well...another year has come and nearly gone! Only a week to go. These years just seem to fly. One moment, I'm getting to know my class. The next I making memory books for them to complete. I'll be sad to say goodbye to this class. It's been a marvellous year.
Also said sayonara to the best teaching assistant I've worked with. She's off to retire in her homeland of Thailand, with her husband and mother-in-law. Will meet up with her at Christmas when we go to Chiang Mai for Winter break.

Here's a spelling activity I've just made. It can be used with any spelling words.

Make a Sentence

I've just added this image of the document the easy way. I took a screenshot of my pdf document on my  mac using the command-shift-4 and selecting only the document. I then uploaded it as an image. Easy!

Well, it's been such a long time since I last did a blog entry, I don't know where to start! I won't bore you trying to fill in the gaps, though.
I've just finished the reports for this trimester and that's a load off the mind. These reports are great for informing parents about their child's learning but take quite a while to complete. Anyway...they're done now so no moaning.
Our present unit of inquiry seems to be enthusing the students. It's all about MATERIALS AND DESIGN. I've integrated literacy and numeracy with it and they are enjoying the new learning.
Some of the activities for literacy are:

• Adjectives - describing a material using adjectives and its properties, such as shiny, smooth metal. 

• They've chosen materials that would be suitable for a teddybear's house, window, shirt, boots and bowl, such as laminating film for a window because it's transparent and waterproof. 

• They've described their perfect item using these words, such as soft, woolly scarf. 

• They've completed a 'Guess My Object' using sentences that describe, such as, 'It's hard' or 'It's flexible'.

Some of the numeracy investigations have been:

• Finding the bounciest ball by measuring, in centimeters, how high four different balls bounce.
• Measuring, in centimeters, and comparing to find the length of the 'stretchiest' elastic band.
• Comparing paper to find the strongest paper by adding 10 g weights until it rips.

Pinterest is the place I always go to first to look for ideas. I recommend you start there rather than googling.

Growing carrots in a 2L bottle so the students can watch them grow.

I saw this on Teachers Marketplace facebook page and thought it was another great idea!!

What a great idea this is! I saw it on Teachers Marketplace today. How simple but effective using a CD case. I must remember it when I do living things or plants or any unit of inquiry that deals with growing and caring.

I made a document for my Grade 1 class to complete on the first day back at school after the Winter Break. The students have been reflecting on their learning all year so far and this will guide them and give themselves goals for the rest of the school year.

New Year's Resolution for 2013.

Wishing everyone a safe and happy holiday. I'm off to Vietnam. I've never been there before but have been told it's great. It'll be a nice change from the cold here in Japan. Here's to seeing you in the new year.

We're staying at the Nikko Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City. Hope it's as good as it looks.