The Sunday Scoop

Today I'm trying a new link up from The Teaching Trio called The Sunday Scoop.

So without further ado, here is mine for today!

Each week I tell myself to get sorted and plan during the week, so I can prep resources for the next week on a Friday, but I'm still not into the routine yet, so I'll be at school at the crack of dawn tomorrow to prep. We also have data due very soon, so I need to finish getting the spreadsheets ready this week. And despite tomorrow being the beginning of Week 5 and all my beginning of year baseline assessments being completed... I have a new child starting tomorrow so she will need to be very quickly assessed to see where she fits in!

I hope to actually manage a mid-week blog post this week, I have a few bloggy ideas running through my head and I'd like to find the time to sit down and write one of them!! It's also been ages since I've made a freebie so I'd like to have a go at one of those. 

And I'm very happy to be making a new display for my classroom as its one of my favourite things to do. I haven't decided what yet, but again I have a few ideas! I'll post a photo once its done.

Anyway, what is the scoop with you this week? 

A little book talk

Am slowly catching up with my regular link ups, and today its the turn of Mrs Jump's Book Talk.

The book I'm going to talk about today is 'Shark in the Park' by Nick Sharratt.

This fun, brightly illustrated and rhyming book is a great read-aloud, but I've used it specifically as part of one of my Phonics lessons for the phoneme /ar/. It's the story of a boy Timothy and what he sees through his new telescope that he mistakes for a shark. Every time the children spotted the /ar/ sound they had to read the word. They became very enthusiastic about the refrain by the end of the book!

Inside there are cut-outs to mimic Timothy who is looking through his telescope, but each time is revealed not to be a shark by turning the page. Although the last page also got my class very excited! 

Additional ideas for this book include making your own telescopes, rhyming pairs games, predicting what else Timothy might mistake for the shark and of course, a soft toy shark being hidden around the classroom/playground! 

There is also a sequel Shark in the Dark, which I'm on the look out for! 

What books do you recommend for Phonics teaching?

Back on the blogging bandwagon

Ok its been a week, but at least that's better than a month!!

Here is another fav link up with Doodlebugs' Five for Friday. Although admittedly the photos are a mixture from the last fortnight.

1

Last week we worked on the book 'How to Fill a Bucket' for most of our first few days. My wonderful TA made some of their work into a display for me!

2

My new baby! This beauty was waiting for me in my classroom when I returned after the summer break. Already both the kids and my favourite thing about my classroom!

3

Week 2 and I've managed to get food into the curriculum! A Science lesson on the sense of taste, seemed like an excellent excuse to get the different flavoured crisps out. 

4

I had this display up in my windows when the kidlets started last week, it was made up of work they did on their transition morning. Unfortunately I can't show you close up or I would have to blur out too much of the display! But it was a photo, a drawing of themselves and some writing saying their name and what they like. Gave them something to look at even on their first day here!

5

Cute welcome sign from Little Lovely Leaders that I used on my first day, but now have along a bookshelf as it was too cute to get rid of straight away!

Ahhh its September!

Oh my word! It's been a month since I've managed to post and even longer since I've posted regularly! But... I'M BACK!!!

Now the main reason for my absence certainly in the last 3 weeks was the lack of internet in my new flat, but as of an hour ago I'm reconnected with the world, whoop whoop! And of course after the obligatory Facebook check, the first thing I'm doing is checking in with the blogging world.

Without further ado, here is my (slightly late) September Currently link up with Oh' Boy 4th Grade!

Listening - to the new series of Doctor Who (as along with internet I now have cable tv!)

Loving - the internet!!

Thinking - Gutted that I broke my run of Currently's and missed last month's link up :(

Wanting - More sleep! First week back with the kidlets and I'm knackered!

Needing - To clean my flat as the workmen made rather a mess

3 Trips - I'm unbelievably privileged in how much I've travelled over my life, but still on my to-do list are Egypt, Cambodia (maybe this year if I can manage it!) and Ireland (so many Irish friends, surely this one is possible!)

Let's talk about a book!

As I sit on the sofa babysitting my godchildren, I'm wondering how I can get a class full of children to follow instructions as a teacher and yet these two are pretty much running rings around me as an aunt! Still I obviously can't stay away from children even during my summer holidays (and I'm loving it!)

Anyway pre-7:00am this morning a not at all sleepy little girl brought me a book to read to her and despite thinking fondly of my lie-in I obliged as the ingrained teacher in me can't help but encourage this love of reading! One of the many books read over the last few days was one by a classic author, Julia Donaldson although one I'm less familiar with - Jack and the Flumflum tree.

Click on the image above to get your own copy. The book description is:

Jack's Granny is sick with a bad case of the moozles! And the only cure is the fruit of the fantastic flumflum tree which grows on the faraway Isle of Blowyernose. It's a perilous journey, but Jack bravely sets sail, with a motley crew of only three -- and a large patchwork sack that Granny has filled with an odd assortment of items from chewing-gum to tent pegs. But what use will they be against hungry sharks, a leaky boat and a thieving monkey? Follow Jack across the ocean in this irresistible story from the creators of TYRANNOSAURUS DRIP and THE TROLL.

Along with the familiar rhyming verses common to all Julia Donaldson stories, the vivid illustrations from David Roberts and comedy refrains make this an especially enjoyable read. Whilst I enjoyed sharing this book with my goddaughter, teaching ideas include:

• Rewriting the story from Jack or Granny's point of view
• Listing the items in the backpack and their uses in the story
• What else could they have encountered and what might have solved it?
• Finding rhyming words
• Draw a map of the journey to the Flumflum tree
• Sewing your own patchwork sacks
• Making Jack's boat 

Head over to Mrs Jump's Book Talk Tuesday to find more great reading suggestions.