Teacher Tuesday...Bubble Germs

I know I know, it has been forever since I have posted a teacher Tuesday. In my defence I had to complete my final prac placement which was full on, then Summer came which meant Christmas and job hunting and now I finally have a job (albeit one day a week) I spend most of my time devoted to finding super fun ways to teach science to kinders (pre-k for all you Americans out there). 

We have started off the year learning about living and non-living things. To complement this (and continue to drum in that washing our hands is important) we are spending a day learning that living things need care, which includes washing to prevent us getting sick. 

I believe in a lot of fun, play and crafts in the kindy classroom and always try to allow children to express their knowledge, thoughts and ideas though art in every lesson we do. To complement our hygiene lesson we are making fun bubble germs to display for our parents. I love this craft because not only do we get to use bubbles (which help to clean) but we also create germs where no two will be the same. Read on below to find out how to make these adorable 'germs'.

Materials
Dishwashing liquid/bubble solution
Paint
Glitter
Paper 
Scissors
Feathers/pom poms/goggly eyes/pipe cleaners (whatever you want to use to decorate your germs)
Glue

Method
I do this in two parts to allow the paint to dry before decorating.

Part One - Making the bubble print

• Have children cut out a squiggly shape from a piece of paper (Since my classes are still very new to school I pre-drew and copies lots of different squiggly shapes for them to cut out, but if your class is older they can draw their own shapes.)
• Using the crayola method (found here) press paper into the tray of bubbles and lift up to reveal print. Make sure that children remember to blow through the straw and not suck up the paint and detergent 
• While paper is still wet sprinkle glitter over the print for extra shimmer (obviously this is optional, I just love glitter).
• Set aside to dry

Part Two - Decorating!

• Lay out items for decoration in containers along with glue.
• Have children come up in small groups to decorate their germs however they like. During this stage it is important to allow the child freedom to do whatever they wish with their germ, remember diversity is what makes this world such a wonderful place.
• Set aside to allow glue to dry. 

That's it! A super easy and super cute craft. 

If you do this with your class I'd love to hear how it turns out.

x Stacey

Teacher Tuesday

Oh my gosh it's a miracle, I'm actually posting a Teacher Tuesday on a Tuesday!

Unfortunately no freebies today, however I do have some good news (well for me at least). Today I received my final prac placement allocation which is cause for celebration for two reasons:

1. The uni was able to find me a placement so I don't have to go hunting for one like last time

2. My placement is in a kindergarten which I was hoping for since it gives me a chance to experience using the EYLF.


So please excuse me while I leave you to go scrub up on my EYLF reading. To make up for the lack of freebie today I leave you with an outfit set that you could wear for teaching during the coming Spring (for those in the southern hemisphere) or for Autumn/Fall (for my readers in the northern hemisphere).

yay for mustard

x Stacey

Teacher Tuesday (on a Friday)

OK so I officially suck at sticking to something when I say I will. I have missed TWO Teacher Tuesdays, so to make up for one of them I come bearing another freebie as a peace offering.

Enter 2D Shape Art:

click image for link

2D Shape Art is a fun activity for students to consolidate and review their knowledge of 2D shapes, perfect to cap off an introductory lesson on shapes or as a follow up lesson. This activity allows students to unleash their creativity and use common 2D shapes to make a picture, what they create is only limited by their imagination.

The pack includes an introduction on how to use the sheets, a shape art worksheet for students to create their picture on, and two sheets of shapes. The shapes used in this activity include squares, rectangles, circles, ovals, triangles, hexagons, and rhombuses.

I created this pack for my prac students and they loved it, I ended up with pictures of everything from flowers to dinosaurs! If you do use this pack in your classroom I'd love to hear what your students create so please leave me a comment below :)

x Stacey

Teacher Tuesday: Plurals BANG

As you may or may not have noticed my little bio up the top says 'teacher in training'. I'm currently in my final semester of my Graduate Diploma of Education (Early Childhood Studies) and have enjoyed every minute of my teaching journey so far. One of my favourite teacher related things to do is read all the amazing blogs that teachers all over the world have written. These bloggers offer advice, generously provide free resources, and form a wonderful tight knit community online. As I have gained so much from the online teaching community I have decided I would love to give a little back through 'Teacher Tuesday'. Now I can't promise this will be a weekly thing, however I will do my best to share any resources I have created, ideas I have or anything else teacher related. Check back here weekly or follow my teaching pinterest board for updates. So without further ado lets get the ball rolling on the inaugural Teacher Tuesday...

CLICK HERE to get the game at my TPT store

First up I'm sharing a game you can use for your literacy centres/rotations while teaching plurals. I created Plurals BANG for my prac students (year one) while I was teaching them plurals last term. We played it during their literacy rotations and they loved it! If you've never played bang before the basic idea is this: the students sit in a circle and in turn pick up the top card on the deck. They read the word on the card and then tell the group what the plural would be, then they keep the card. If a student picks up the purple bang card all the students put their cards at the bottom of the deck and they start again. My prac kiddos loved the anticipation of not knowing when a bang card was going to be picked up, and as they made their way further and further down the pile their excitement grew. 

The game offers 23 's' plurals and 4 'es' plurals. There is also a variety of CVC words as well as longer words to allow differentiation for your students. If you do decide to download the game please let me know what you thought and how I could improve it in the comments below as I'm always looking out for ways to make better resources. 

x Stacey