A Twist on Christmas Craft

This year I decided to try something a little different for Christmas craft. As my students have been learning how to write procedures, I thought I would give them a chance to find an appealing Christmas craft and write up the procedure for their classmates to follow. The instructions I gave, can be seen here.

Students used books, iPads and classroom computers to research Christmas crafts and find one that they wanted to make. Some worked independently, others in pairs. They then wrote up the procedure for their craft using Google Docs. This was their first time using Google Docs so I was really pleased with how well they took to it. The pairs shared the document so both could add to it at the same time.

At the end of the first session students worked out which materials they would need in order to make a sample. Some sourced these from home or the art room, others gave a list to me. The following lesson we brought together the resources and students made a sample, taking photos as they did so and adding these to their original document.

As always, the trick was then getting the file to a printer. So I set up a folder on our shared drive for students. They jumped on a desktop computer, opened their Google Drive and downloaded the document as a Word document which they saved to the shared drive. Moving to the computers also gave greater flexibility in terms of resizing images, and moving to word allowed for further wrap options with images. I was then able to send the contents of this folder to the printer for printing.

I shared this idea with the other Year 3 classes and we now have a great assortment of Christmas crafts to try. Next week we will set up rotations across all three Year 3 classes so that students can move around trying the different crafts and following the procedures.

Make an Easter Basket

Today Prue found some instructions for how to make an Easter Basket. We followed her instructions to make a basic basket and then added our own embellishments. Here is a video a student helped me create which demonstrates the steps.
 The finished products were very creative!

The Blogger Behind This Blog #5

Lately I've been feeling a bit disconnected from my readers. I feel like I've just been popping in with a quick spiel about what's going on in the classroom, without really sharing what's been going on for me as a real live person! So, for those of you who are interested, here's an update of my life outside of school:

New Investors
My husband and I are in the process of purchasing an investment property which is already tenanted. This is our first investment property, and it has been pretty exciting to see everything falling into place. We're looking forward to finalising the settlement in the week ahead.

Health and Fitness
My husband decided he wanted to get into a regular running routine to keep up his fitness. The carrot he began dangling was that he wanted to comfortably run the 10km loop in Central Park when we're there later this year. He suggested that the rest of our travel group jump on board too, and sure enough, I found myself adding yet another commitment to my list of to-dos. Whilst looking for an appropriate training program, I came across the Sydney City 2 Surf one, and decided to give the Intermediate program a go. Then my husband and I decided we might as well run the City 2 Surf this year. Hubby has paid the registration and also registered us for a 1-mile race in NYC. So... I'm back into the running again and actually enjoying it! I've also been trying to diet a little using Shape Up on my iPhone. I wouldn't mind losing just a few kilos and with all the running I'm doing, it's actually not TOO difficult!

Hobbies
In just the last week I started to dabble with crochet. I know... it's a granny hobby. They even call them "granny squares", but I'm enjoying learning something new using YouTube as my teacher. It's actually been really great because you can see the stitches modelled and then pause the video and watch it over and over and over without testing anyone's patience. This is personalised learning at its best! I'm actually keen to learn how to make amigurumi figures as I can see the potential for exploring my creativity with these. I wonder if I'll still be so keen once the new term starts and I'm back at uni again!

Birthday
I recently had my 31st birthday and my hubby went over-the-top-out-of-his-way to make it a special day for me. The night before he took me out to dinner AND a chick flick (where I even had a choc-top despite my attempts at dieting!). On my birthday night he cooked me THE MOST AMAZING steak complete with home-made jus (that took 2 days to prepare) and DELICIOUS home-made chocolate eclairs for dessert. He didn't mind that I put my pjs on at 4pm and he let me bludge and enjoy the day. It was very relaxing and enjoyable.

The Hot Seat
A few weeks ago I wrote a post about Dealing with Disappointment, when I applied for a temporary promotion role in my school and didn't get it. As it turns out, the person who did get it has now been offered a different temporary position outside of my school, so I'll get a chance in the hot seat after all. It will run for the first four weeks of next term. (To be completely honest, I'm kind of glad I didn't get it for the full length of time as the last couple of weeks were hard enough without the extra responsibility.)

Holidays ahead
I'm really looking forward to the holidays in just over a week. I'm not sure yet how I'll use the time - hopefully to get a little ahead of myself for next term, but also getting enough time in for rejuvenation as well!


Flickr Image: Light Blue Giraffe by amigurmi

3rd Teaching K-6 Carnival

Welcome to the March edition of the Teaching K-6 Carnival. This month we don't have as many articles, but the ones we do have will really challenge you to stretch and grow as a teacher and learner.

Innovate - Beyond the Slate

Kelly Hines shares Why I Have the Best Job in the World posted at Keeping Kids First. She reminds us of what children are capable of when asked the right questions. Kelly posed the question "What can you do to change the world?" andgot an amazing response from her students.

Kakie presents How do children see & learn about race, color and culture? posted at Bur Bur & Friends: Community Park, saying, "As educators in this diverse world, it is important for us to understand how ALL children come to learn about color, race and culture in a way that is developmentally appropriate. This post is an excerpt from a book that does just that. It was written based on extensive research and studies and is a book all parents and educators should read."

Christina shares Present Movies posted at Early Childhood Teacher. Here she outlines a great video project she did with her students around the holiday season. She encourages students to form clues around a mystery present and as a result students develop oral language skills and thinking skills.

Also on the theme of holidays, Vera Lang presents Free St Patricks Day Crafts Templates: Prancing Leprechauns posted at Fine Craft Guild .com, saying, "This great project just costs 2 sheets of paper. ...and you'll have a REALLY CUTE Leprechaun Marionette! FREE template & tutorial. Pull the strings to make him dance to the rainbow's pot of gold. Fun & Easy Project for K-6 kids."

Brain Strain

In this edition we have two posts that will stretch your mind and help you to consider the mental workout required by teachers as students in their various roles. Both point out the importance of stretching beyond the comfort zone in order to make progress with learning.

Scott Barry Kaufman shares Learning about Learning: an Interview with Joshua Waitzkin posted at SharpBrains. This is a fascinating interview revealing what one can achieve when fully committed to learning. Enjoy a human brain in full display.

Graysen Walles presents Teaching - A Tough Career that makes a Difference posted at The Teachers Movement, saying, "Teaching is the greatest career on the planet, and it is also the most challenging career on the planet. Why?"

Look No Further

Susan Greenwald presents her book Two Plus Two is not Five at Teaching Addition, Subtraction, and Multiplication Facts. This resource can be used for systematically teaching children number facts.

Meaghan Montrose presents Effective Learning Strategies and Study Skills- Part 1 posted at TutorFi.com. This post is a set of study tips for students to use for completing homework.

Why not submit your post for the next carnival?

At this stage, editions of The Teaching K-6 Carnival will be posted monthly on the 7th. I will be collecting submissions throughout the month, looking in particular for posts that discuss and exemplify innovative teaching and the integration of technology in the K-6 classroom. I also invite a few "brain strains" to keep our minds alert and challenged. Please submit only articles of which you are the author and refrain from using this merely as a sales pitch.

If you have a relevant post that you would like to submit to the next edition of teaching k-6 carnival use our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Support this Carnival

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