Library Corner

Hey everyone =) So as I was searching through my teaching practice picture I came to these two pictures. This was my library corner during my second teaching practice. I loved this class as it had a lot of space and I could build different corners in the classroom. So basically I divided the library in three parts... The books of the week part with books that have to do with the theme, normal books and Religious books. Now new books have been added to the collection and this year I also plan to divide the books in different containers, however it depends on what the available space in the classroom would be... Fingers crossed =D

Sea Life Theme

Thought I`d share with you some resources I`ve done for the 'Sea Life' theme.

This is a display I built with most of the sea creatures. I used both languages, Maltese and English and the flashcards can be attached by Velcro or removed. I used different materials to build this but I really like it =D Not sure if I`ll be using it again this year though... don`t know whether I`m doing this theme or not =S 

This is the classroom I had in my second year. I decorated it with net, which helped me to decorate better as things were hung easily. 

And finally... last but not least. I took to school these two  little fish =) and we named them Ruby and Nemo. Everyday I chose someone different to feed the fish and in this way we had two classroom pets. The kids really liked them and I wish to do this when I`ll be formally teaching next year =)

P.S - The fish were excellent students, really shy and never disturbed me :P

Big Book - Taking Care of Books

So now that I know that I am going to be teaching a new class... I thought I`d add this cool book to my classroom library. It`s a story I found online from a blogger which offered it free so I downloaded it and printed the story on A3 papers... The story is about forest friends who are sad cause past students did not take care of the books... infact I had to scribble and draw with markers, attach stickers and also had to tear a page. I felt guilty damaging the book. But this is what the story is about... After reading this book, the class can discuss different ways and means to take care of books in the library etc. I just love books. Reading and writing can be so much fun and therefore I`m always buying new childrens' books to add to my collection. However it`s important that children will know how to take care of books as these cost a lot of money. Hope this activity that I`m planning will work out great =) These are the pictures I took during the process.

Mathematics Number and Graph Charts

Hey everyone =) so now that I got my school placement I`m preparing to teach again =) And the first thing that I think about when going to a new class is 'how am I going to make it feel home for the kids?'... I always try to put up great charts and cool resources to make learning fun. This is the number chart I created last year... all the the numbers can be attached by velcro. In this way they can be used for different activities and lessons. 

The following picture shows the number chart and a graph chart. I made a graph chart with felt and normal laminated flashcards attached with velcro... in that way I can use it for different topics and different activities. Also for this activity different students were asked to come out and attach different coloured felt to the chart. It was fun =)

Letter Sounds - Teaching Phonics

These pictures are from my second year... I was teaching a grade 2 classroom and in Malta we teach phonics till grade 2. I just loved teaching phonics. Below are some pictures of the phonics area I made in class. Basically the Mistery Box was filled with pebbles and flashcards with the new letter sound and the old letter sounds. We sometimes made activities were I asked the students to find the letter sounds in the Mistery Box. They just loved it =)

Painting the 'ue' sound

Half Past - Teaching Time

This is the whiteboard before starting a 'half past' time lesson. I was preparing for a game and the flashcards at the bottom are facing downwards for a snap-like game, which took part later during the lesson. This picture is from last year`s class.

On the other side you can see the classroom rules chart and the race chart... a race which the groups in my classroom did as positive reinforcement. 

Weather Theme

So during my last year`s teaching practice I decided to choose the weather theme. It`s great for the Autumn season when all the weather is changing from very hot to cold.

When I choose a theme I always end up spending alot of time thinking of the best way to decorate the classroom with the suitable resources and decorations to make it even more fun at school =)

This is what I`ve done last year out of some felt and some type of foam. They really coloured the classroom and I loved them =) Thanks mum for helping me in these :P

This is the weather display that I put up with season large flashcards, clothes flashcards and childrens' work.