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Tuesday 28 October 2014

Papier Mache bowls

I wanted to share some of the art work I have been doing with a Year 4 class.  I take them once a week for the last session of the day and we ALWAYS do art, so I then become their favorite teacher :)

This week we finished a project we have been working on for a little while.  We made these beautiful papier mache bowls, I love the colors and the patterns they have created!  



I haven't got any progressive pics as it was a very hands on, messy process and my hands were right in there with them, not camera friendly hands.

We used plastic bowls as our mould and layered the bowl with newspaper strips about 5 cm wide, that had been soaked in a mixture of PVA glue and water.  I don't have any exact measurements of what I used, I just put in glue and added water until I got a runny consistency.  (I kind of cook like that too :)  don't ask me for a recipe what you will get is I put some of this in there and about a handful of that in there, I stirred it for a while and then I put it in the oven until it looked cooked and smelt great.)



We had to make sure it had about 4 layers of papier mache on and let them dry.  Once dry we trimmed the edges and painted the outside and inside of the bowl with a layer of white paint, letting each side dry in between.  If you are using a lighter color like the orange pictured above you might need a couple of white paint layers to hide the newsprint if you want, (learn from my mistake).  
We then painted the colored paint over the top.  We used the plastic bowls to put the paper bowls in whilst painting to help it keep its shape while the paint was wet.  

The kiddos then used oil pastels to draw their patterns on, we were focussed on our patterns having a South American flavour to them.  Finally I gave the bowls a spray with a fixative to seal it.

I hope you love these and can take a few ideas for papier mache from this.  


Sunday 26 October 2014

Seasonal headbands


Do your students love to make crowns or headbands?  Who doesn't love headwear!  



I have finished up this fun and easy to use No Prep file.  These would be great for centers or just as a fun way to celebrate special days and seasons.

Each headband has a message on the back band for students to complete.




I will be adding more to this pack as the year goes on, so jump in now to get the updates for free!

Just click on any of the pics to get your copy and if you have a special request email me and I will be happy to help you out!

Happy, happy Snaps!


Yay!  Time for Happy Snaps with Shanyn @Classroom Chit Chat!

Here are a couple of things that made me smile this week.


Office Works!!  I love shopping at Office Works!  This is one of those places where you go in for printer ink and come out with a wireless mouse (because you need it!), chunky markers (I have just the kiddo who needs this!), craft scissors (I definitely need these for Christmas craft).....are you noticing a pattern here?


I posted this on my Instagram, it is a spinach and caramelised onion tart with filo pastry.  Lordy it was delicious!  Here is something you need to know, it is low, low calorie, seriously!  I was so happy that I could have some for lunch the next day.  Word of warning though......it has onions and eggs......the aftermath was somewhat.....gassy  interesting.  


Hairdresser hair!  I luuurve going to the hairdresser, there is something so lovely about someone washing your hair and making you feel like you are the center of attention for a couple of hours.  I got a new darker color as well, friends I have to tell you I got a little freaked out a couple of weeks ago when I found my FIRST grey hair!  I made the hairdresser have a really indepth look to see if there were anymore, there weren't.  Phew!  I am taking it as an anomaly and I am sure it will never happen again!

I hope you had something to smile about this week, if you did head over to link up with Shanyn!

Saturday 25 October 2014

Five for Friday!

I totally had this post started last night and then......then I didn't finish it because there was a couch,TV a blanket (yes it is still chilly here)  and wine.....post not finished :)  but I am back to link up with Doodlebugs!







I totally made my kiddos model my newest product Halloween headbands....they were so into it, can't you tell! Seriously they had a blast coloring them in and writing a halloween message on the back.  Halloween is not as much of a big deal here in Australia but these two have begged me to let them dress up and trick or treat this year.....so I said yes! That makes me Mother of the Year! 

PS. I love that cheeky smile :)  The other one is a teenager grin....cool ya know 


My Year 4's have been doing some word art and I am loving how they are turning out.  They were asked to choose a landscape that they love going to withing Tasmania, this one is Cradle Mountain in the background and Dove Lake in the foreground.  Hikers paradise!



My Year 2's have finally finishing their Spring trees!  Friends we started this BEFORE our Term 3 break, that was over 4 weeks ago.  Well, I said, enough dilly dallying around let's get these bad boys finished!  So we did.
We used pencils and crayons for the background and trunk then used white tissue paper to scrunch and paint with watercolor for the leaves, the kiddos loved watching the watercolor spread through the paper.  The blossoms were made by dipping cotton tips into paint and splodging (technical art term) onto the branches.  I love them!



We had a short week at school this week, with public holiday on Thursday and A Student Free Day on Friday that was full of PD.....oh the humanity!  Some of it was great, some of it was not, I'm sure you know those presenters that could possibly be a reanimated cadaver?  Yup, we had one of them. 




My last randomness for this week is this delicious spinach and caramelised onion tart.  OMG it was yumminess plus, I even got to have the leftovers for lunch the next day.  Just FYI, I served it with green beans and mushrooms kilpatrick.  There were no complaints...except for Mr Fussy pictured above but we try to ignore that.....tough love here people :)

Head over to Kasey's blog to check out some other fun randomness :)

Sunday 19 October 2014

Happy Snaps Sunday!

I am joining Shanyn over at Classroom ChitChat to link up with her Happy Snaps linky!


Here are a couple of pics that have made me smile this week.


Here I am getting my fit on!  I am trying, trying, trying to keep my fitness going and it was a beautiful day to be outside.  That was yesterday, today is rainy and cold so I had to do skipping in the hallway :)


This is our cat Jaspurr, but my hubs calls him Mr Meowgi.  He is only 2 years old and we love, love, love him.  He likes to sleep behind your legs and generally stays there all night.  He thinks he is a dog and has been trying to get into the backyard to play with our dogs.......they think he is an entree, he thinks he is one of them.  I think it is easy to say if he ever gets out there, it won't be pretty.

Well that is just a couple of snaps that made me feel happy this week!  Why not head over and link up with your happy snaps!




Thanksgiving on your head!

This is a quick post to show you what I have been working on during this rainy afternoon.

This one is made just for my friends who celebrate Thanksgiving!  






  


This is my lovely son modelling for me :)  The message on the back says I am thankful for having a beautiful Mum :)  

Just click on the pic above to get your copy.

Pssst, there is more to come so watch this space :)


Bright Ideas- Teaching fractions


It's that time again!  Time for another Bright Idea!
This month I want to share a couple of ideas on teaching fractions in the early years.

First thing I do is hunt up a few videos for the kiddos to watch


Then I give each child a piece of paper and ask them to fold it in half, we draw a line and then label one half.  We then fold it into quarters and label it again.  For higher grades we keep going up to 16ths.



I then asked the kidddos to write down what they now know about fractions, this is a great sharing activity.


The next activity I like to do is creating Pizza fractions.  I put my order on the board and give each child a 'pizza', a round piece of cardboard (this is a great alternative if you have students in your class who have intolerances and or allergies to many types of foods).  You can of course make real pizzas if time and money permits :)

 The students divide their pizza into the fractions, then add the topping to the correct fraction.



Each student then labelled their fraction pizza with the toppings they had included. 

I tell you there are some budding chefs in my class this year!  I hope you enjoyed this Bright Idea on our fractions activity.  

For more Bright Ideas make sure to follow me on Facebook  or Instagram 

You can find some other amazing Bright Ideas right now by clicking on the linky below!  Enjoy!





Sunday 12 October 2014

Happy Snaps!

I am linking up with my beautiful blogging buddy  Shanyn at Classroom Chit Chat.


She has started a weekly linky to share photos from your week that made you smile or makes you happy and I couldn't think of a person who makes me smile more than Shanyn.

I have already shared some pics today in my Five for Friday post but so glad I get to share some more with you!


           

These two gorgeous babies make me laugh every day.  My beautiful daughter is one of the most talented piano players I know and always has a kind word, she is a gentle soul and cares more for those around her than herself.
Mr cheeky monkey is bound to be a comedian.  He has us in stitches ALL the time!  He is such a curious boy and always asks questions, these are often pretty random.  His latest one was, "Mum do snails blink?"  If you ever need a cuddle, he is the one to go to.  
I puffy heart love these little terrors :)



This man is my rock and I am super duper proud of him!  He is my hero and serves his country everyday.  In just a couple of weeks we will have been married 17 years, whew that is a loooonng time.  During that time we have moved around the country and I guess because of that we have learned to rely pretty heavily on each other.  He is my best friend.


It has just been pass a year since we found our sister.  I love looking at these pics, they make me smile looking at our family altogether at last 






This pic right here is my blogging family, I love these gals like they were my sisters.  

Make sure you head over to Shanyn's blog by clicking on the button above to link up your happy snaps!

Five for Friday




I am late linking up for Doodlebugs Five for Friday linky, so this will be a Five for Frunday!  I have a good excuse, I have been away, far, far away where there is no internet or mobile phone connection, so really there was no way I could link up in time!

So let's do this!


We are on the last week of our school holidays and we spent a few days up at our block.  This is a long term project and includes lots of clearing, dam repair and setting up a caravan.


We have a creek that runs along the front of our dam and is eroding the dam face so we have started to divert the creek and then we will begin to repair the damaged face of the dam.  We are hoping to get this done in the next couple of weeks as their has been a lot of rain and the creek is flowing quite fast.  



These 2 light up my life everyday :)  They love getting out into the bush, climbing trees and playing in the mud.  







We have lots of old machinery that we have found hiding in the gorse when we have cleared it.  Gorse is an introduced species to Tasmania and was used as windbreaks and fencing.  It is a prickly, horrible bush that is taking over the land and native species are crowded out, we have many, many acres to clear and it is very hard to kill.  You can see the gorse in the background of this pic, it is covered in yellow flowers in the Spring.



I finished off this file this week


We will be using this one next week when I head back to school.


and this one!


Head over to catch up on some more Five for Friday  Frunday fun!