Halloween Fun

Hi ,

It has been really long time since my last post. I have been so busy lately. I was very fortunate to be able to attend a 3 days conference in Sydney about the Reggio Emilia . It was such an amazing inspiring experience. The Conference was run by the head of The Boulder Journey School which is based in Colorado, USA. 

In the next couple of weeks I will upload more information about the conference and all the subjects that were discussed..

 After that I got  back to work and got all busy celebrating Halloween. I have so many pictures of many activities that we have enjoyed lately which I cant not wait to share with you. 

Lets start with all the fun Halloween activities and games.

The Sensory Witch bag was very popular. In the picture below you will find a list with things you need to make the sensory bag.

How to make it:

1- Cut out the felt fabric in a shape of witch's pointy hat.

2- Cut out felt fabric in a shape of the witch's mouth.

3- Cut out some wool to make the hair.

4- Pour the hair gel inside the zip lock bag. It will be great if you can find a Halloween color like orange or  green. I found only red which was still cool as it 's the color of blood :)

5- Start putting all the little pieces inside the bag to create the witch's face.( its going to be very messy but still lots of fun, I enjoyed making it so much)

6- After you arrange everything. Zip lock the bag and seal it with thick wide sticky tape.

 This is our Halloween door. I know it's a bit blurry because of the reflection. I tried to get the best angel but these ones are actually the best ones. sorry :( 

 My children were so excited when they saw it in the morning when they arrive.  

My lovely assistant Hannah made those cute pumpkins out of the toilet paper rolls. She wrapped the toilet paper roll in orange crepe paper. She cut out the face features out of black paper and she sprinkled it with colored glitter.  

She also wrapped those little glass jars in colored cellophane, tie around the top with cute ribbon and put a little tea candle light inside which we turned on during our rest time. Children really loved it. 

In this activity Children will match each treat bag to the right card with the right number of treats on it. This activity is great to support number/ counting learning.

Halloween Numbers Matching Game

Another counting activity which they all enjoyed was matching the right peg with the right number to the right group of objects. 

I downloaded these templates from this website. Skeleton Templates 

All you need to do is to print the templates out. cut them out and then laminate them. I put this little card with the whole skeleton picture as a guide just in case they found it challenging. 

Parents loved this bulletin board. We did the easy famous spider hand print then we put them together to create this awesome bulletin board.

This is another game that we all enjoyed .We created this big spider web using masking tape. If you zoom in you will be able to see the numbers 10 to 50 written on the web. Children are to aim at the numbers using bean bag or flat small block and calling out the number that they aimed at. 

Friendship Theme

We started by reading this book called ( Oh, No Mo, Say no to bulling). The book is about a  new boy who has joined new school in Australia as he moved with his family from England.

The boy of course had a British accent and uncommon name which made other boys in school to make fun of him and did not want to be friends with him.

I had the same problem in my class as there was a new Korean boy who stayed with us for just 2 weeks (school holidays in Korea). I found this book very helpful to start group discussion about how to be a good friend. I was lucky enough to have this mail box which was donated by one of the parents to create The Friendship Mail Box.

I explained to my children that we are going to write letters to our friends in the class and tell them why do we like to be friends with them and every morning during our group time we will check the mail box and see who's got mail.

This is the book that we read during our group time.

Children enjoyed writing to their friends. 

 

Writing on the envelope.

They were so excited to put the letters in the mailbox to their friends.

 

  

If you would like a copy of these templates Click Here  

Learning Through Play

The Early Years Learning Framework is a play based program which enables the children to organize  and make sense of their social worlds as they engaged actively with people, objects and representation. 

In my class we play different games which provide the children with an opportunity to learn while having fun. Children enjoy all sort of games such as board games, group games, small group games, team building games and much more. 

I spy Letters Game 

My children actually helped in making this game and putting it together. I asked them if they can collect cartoon boxes of their favorite cereal, crackers or anything the like. They came next day with heaps of them. We all sat down and they cut the labels out and stuck them onto the board using the BluTak. 
During our group time the children are asked to find one word that is starts with cretin letter and  try to pronounce the word if they can.

In this game we play what is the missing number. I arrange the cards on table and hide a number and ask the children to tell the missing number ..

This is one of their favorites.
In the next post I will post more games.

Hope you find this helpful :)

Hugs  

The 3 Bs :)

All children experience learning that is engaging and builds success for life

Fundamental to the framework is a view of children's lives as characterized by Belonging, Being & Becoming .

I have been thinking about an easy activity that can help me to discuss this concept with my children. Just one easy activity that can help the children to identify their strengths and think about their future and would they like to do or be and finally I came across this fantastic puzzle piece activity on TPT which allows each child to write their names, decorate little person that represent the child,  think about things they are good at, things they would like to do this year  and think about what they like to be or do in the future. Unfortunately I have not saved the link to this puzzle piece but I'm looking for it and once I find it I will update the post by adding the link .

My children absolutely enjoyed this activity. After they had time to write their names and think about all these things and by assistance from myself and my wonderful assistant Hannah they were able to complete the puzzle piece. 

Then we laminated each piece and played a game at our morning group time. The game was each child had to put his puzzle piece next to one of his best friend's piece. Slowly we found out that we are all one big group  which is our class and  all belong to one big family which is our big center despite being from different backgrounds and different cultures. 

We put the puzzle pieces in big container on display on the shelf and the children were able to access it to use it as big floor puzzle then we decided to put it on display.

It was a great pleasure to see and watch the parents standing in front of the board and talking to their children about their  interests and see who are their child's best friends. 

Being, Belonging and Becoming 

If you would like more information about the EYLF Framework  and The Being, Belonging & Becoming Click Here

Cheers 

Azma :)

Access to more resources

Hi :)

It has been a couple of months since my last post. My center has been going through assessment and I was flooded with paper work & yeah finally I'm back. 

Also be a first time blogger is not an easy task as I thought. I believe I still have a lot to learn but I am sure I will get eventually  :) 

In my class I have all art and craft supplies displayed on the art trolley so children can choose what they need for their art project.Of course this is plus all the displayed activities on the shelves in the different centers. 

However I have many other stored activities which children can not access.

In order to make every thing accessible in my class I made this board called( Today I would like to play with...). I have photos of everything that is available in the store room displayed on this board. Children can easily point to a photo to request any piece of equipment they would like to play with.

I think this is a great way to make sure children have access to all the resources to maximize their learning. 

This idea will be great for all age groups, toddlers up to preschoolers. Being able to choose what they want to play with will develop confidence, efficacy and self-discipline. It gives their work meaning and they therefore become more engaged as the drive to complete the task has come from within. 

Today I would like to play with ....

Check my boards on Pinterest for more ideas :)

Follow me on Pinterest

 Hope you like this idea.

Azma :)

NAIDOC Week

Few weeks ago we celebrated NAIDOC week.

During our morning group time we watched some dream time stories. We watched (How the kangaroo got its pouch and How the tiger got its strips. My kiddos really loved the stories, then we had a long discussion about writing stories and how writers use their imagination skills to create stories and write books.

Then we decided to write our own story. So each of them sat down , drew what he wanted and made a story about it.

My children really loved this activity. They were very creative with their drawing and their stories. I enjoyed watching them telling their parents about their stories at the pick up time in the afternoon.
Here are some of their beautiful drawing along with some interesting stories :)

For information about NAIDOC week please  Click Here

Hi there :)

As we all know there are different types of learners in our classroom. Teachers should aim to appeal to all different types of learners during planning lessons.

For children at reading age , flash cards can be used with conjunction with words to make children familiar with simple words which helps them to become confident readers.

Free Alphabet Flash Cards

If you would like this FREE Alphabet Flash Cards you can find them on my TPT shop 

Click Here

Enjoy :)