Must Read Mentor Text - Captain Invincible and the Space Shapes

I actually found out about this book from a mention in a blog several weeks ago, although unfortunately I can't locate the post (if its you, comment and I'll give you credit!).

Captain Invincible and the Space Shapes is part of a series called Maths Start and although this is the only one I've used or read, I am impressed enough to try and locate some of the others for future use in my classroom.

Amazon blurb

Captain Invincible and his intrepid space-dog, Comet, are on a perilous journey back to Earth!

Throughout their mission, the fearless captain and his canine sidekick encounter asteroids, poisonous gas, and alien beings. But will their knowledge of three-dimensional shapes, including cubes, cones, and pyramids, help our heroes navigate past these obstacles -- and make it safely home?

Classroom uses

I used this as a hook-in to my unit on 3D shapes, the children had to look out for what shapes were mentioned and then we discussed them at the end. 

We made our own 3D space themed models (rockets anyone?!) and took photos. 

Having the space theme for the week also helped motivate my boys!

Head over to Collaboration Cuties for their weekly Must Read Mentor Texts link up (including some other Maths Start books!)

Bonding those numbers (Freebie Friday included!)

Number bonds are something that seems to come up each year as needing practise to get them really secure. I thought I would gather together some of the things I use to try and help the kiddies learn them. I would love to hear any other suggestions you all have for what you do!

Froggie number bonds flip flap

This was not an original idea, but given to me on my first ever teaching placement! You have 10 frog cards positioned amongst other blank cards in-between sticky-backed plastic. If you follow the arrangement correctly, the flip flap can then be folded in such a way that all combinations of number bonds to 10 can be made. I use it with a simple "You can see 3 frogs, so how many can I see?", after they answer, turning it around so they can check. I can't remember now where my frog graphic came from, but grab a (slightly different) freebie of the cards here. 

Loop cards

Still a freebie from my TpT store, I'm working on similar loop cards with other themes.

Numbers to 20 Bingo
I usually ask the children to pick 4 numbers on a quarter whiteboard, or you can download game boards from the website.

Alien pairs to 10

Children have to match the number bonds to 10 pairs. 

Ladybirds

I don't seem to have any photos of them, but I have A4 blank ladybirds which I give to the children with different amounts of counters (depending if doing 5, 10 or 20 number bonds), which they use to derive all the different number bonds, recording either in their books or on whiteboards.

I'm grateful... so here's a freebie!

Today I'm linking up with another new linky party, this time with Angela from Southern Fried Teaching for her Grateful party. There is always room for more gratitude in my life, so I thought I would take this opportunity to post about it!

• I am grateful for the supportive comments that I get on my blog.
• I am grateful for the people buying my products on TpT.
• I am grateful that my class are enjoying and learning from my experiences on here. 

To show how grateful I am, I am posting a little St.Patrick's Day freebie in my store for you all. It is some number bonds to 10 loop cards. Click on the image below to grab them!

Be sure to stop by my store on Thursday/Friday as I'm joining in with the TpT 3 million teachers sale! You can buy my products for up to 28% off! I know I'm prep-ing my wish list now!!

Fly-by freebie!

If you haven't guessed already, I'm a little bit obsessed with butterflies! I've used these extremely cute clipart butterflies on another set of products before, but I just couldn't resist using them in another one!

These come in different options either with butterflies to colour in to continue the pattern or with blank spaces where the child can place the correct butterfly. I've also provided black and white strips so the child can create their own repeating pattern. Go to my TpT store now to download for free!

Five For Friday (or Saturday!)

One day I'll actually manage to post this on a Friday...

1

Ordinal numbers for the Chinese zodiac race. We ordered the toys! Then a bit of cutting and sticking to ordinal up the animals.

2

Chinese New Year decorations - goldfish! This was something I adapted from several ideas I found on Pinterest and the internet as I had managed to use my entire red tissue paper supply up for Remembrance Day poppies back in November and so decided to use up all my orange and yellow instead!

3

We went outside to practice our phonics skills. Chalk writing to make it that little bit more exciting!

4

Using some my version of a freebie I found from Make Take and Teach r-controlled vowels. The children had to choose the correct sound and clip, turning over to check their answers with a coloured dot behind.

 5

I'm the Featured Freebie on Teaching Blog Addict! So so excited as it was only my second time linking up there! 

New products and a freebie!

I've been working on a few more products to share with you all (sorry its taken so long to get my TpT store up and running!).

First, I found some absolutely adorable clip art and couldn't resist using it to make a Count the Room. As its the second half of the year now, I've gone for numbers from 10-20. There are so many uses for this activity - as a whole class starter, in a Maths centre, for quick finishers.

I've also completed the Tricky Word Flashcards series with Phases 3, 4 and 5 (freebie of Phase 2 available here). These tricky words are non-decodable so the children have to learn them by sight. Frequent flashcard practice and games using the words are essential!

And for my freebie...

I have some cards I used for a speech and language intervention. They are simple he/she cards of verbs which I use for a variety of one-to-one games with an EAL child who struggles with this concept. Games I've used include: basic sorting into the correct group, using two sets and playing snap (but saying 'he/she' instead of 'snap') and oral describing of the picture, using the correct pronoun repeatedly. I have included a recording sheet as well which initially can be used for simply writing 'he' or 'she' as appropriate, but later I integrate some verb practice and ask them to write simple captions 'he is washing', 'she is cutting'.

Must Read Mentor Text - The Great Pet Sale

This link up with Collaboration Cuties has a different focus each week, this week's being Maths and I've chosen one of my most useful books for Maths teaching. 'The Great Pet Sale' by Mick Inkpen. 

Synopsis

The little boy goes to the Pet Shop and looks at all the different animals he could by for different prices (in English pence) all the while being distracted by a rat who desperately wants to be bought. Each page has a lift-the-flap, great for younger readers and ends with a pull-out page to reveal the twist!

Lesson Plan

I start by sharing the book as normal, predicting the content from the cover/title. Relating to their own lives (Have you ever been to a pet shop? What can you buy there? etc) and then read the story. I usually point to each pet as I read as some of the animals are quite unusual. After a brief response to the story (likes/dislikes, events, characters), I focus on various pages asking children to read the price tags in the pictures. 

This leads onto a discussion about money and paying for things in a shop.

I set up a class role play pet shop. I tie price tags (differentiated) around stuffed toys necks and split the class into groups to 'buy' different pets they like with their pennies. We practice one-to-one counting out of the pennies for the different amounts. For higher ability children I ask them to buy two pets and add together the price tags to calculate the amount they need to give the 'shopkeeper' (me initially, but I allow the children to swop into this role). 

Later in the week, I give them cards with pet pictures and varying prices on to use for addition where they record their number sentences in their books. Can also be extended to subtraction and taking away with to work out change. 

Go link up (admittedly I'm linking on the last day of this theme, but at least I made it there before the subject changed!)