I’m really enjoying creating these monthly …when you only have a minute… posts. Student learning doesn’t have to happen only in our longer dedicated teaching blocks, there are plenty of opportunities to squeeze in reinforcement activities at other times – especially if they literally only take a minute. These make great hands-on activities for doing […]
Our Favourite Things Blog Hop
What are your favourite things about December? Today I’m linking up with 69 bloggers who have all donated one of their favourite things for a super giveaway. Many thanks to Laura from Where the Magic Happens for the inspiration and organisation! My Favourite Teaching Prop: Our puppet, ‘Skittles’ A few years back I took a road trip […]
10 Healthy Christmas Party Foods
Today I’m joining a new linky where we choose 3 of our favourite pins to share. The criteria is that they should be helpful and relevant to teachers (and others) planning for December with little ones. So here goes… Obviously, this is more than 1 pin, but it’s 1 theme and I couldn’t resist these […]
Can Young Children Help Create a Sustainable World?
We teach little ones to be kind to animals and to not throw rubbish, but can children REALLY help save our world? I’m talking here about our ability to create a long and sustainable future for both the planet and ourselves. Since this blog is focused on early learners it will be no surprise that […]
10 Activities and You Tube Songs to Explore Emotions
Helping little ones understand their own feelings and the emotions of others takes time and consistency. Effort spent in this area helps children learn tactics to control their own behaviours which is a great help to their social development. I have listed here over 10 activities and 10 You Tube songs you might like to […]
DIY Tools to Create the Alphabet
I love learning stations that get little ones playing around with letter formation. This activity combines play dough (yay) and letter shapes or symbols. Instead of providing the full alphabet only the trickier letters have been added along with the shapes necessary to create the rest of the alphabet in lower case. This way children […]
Battling for Sight Word Treasures
When young readers gain confidence with sight words it gives them a tremendous boost. The trick, of course, is getting them to practice without making them feel like they’re working. Making it FUN is the key here! Learning, and being able to remember the words later on, is all about being fully engaged in the […]
Learning Numbers when you only have a Minute
Last month I posted free spinner games for counting to 100 – the criteria being that the available learning time was 3 minutes or less! They have been popular so I thought I’d create another ‘3 minute’ activity, this time using Cootie Catchers (or Fortune Tellers) for learning numbers. You can download them for free […]
10 Ways to Combat Bullying in the Early Years
Boys will be boys. It’s just a squabble. They have to learn to deal with it themselves. How much truth do these axioms hold? Are they just an excuse not to intercede? Of course it’s true that children DO have to learn to deal with conflict and we SHOULDN’T always jump in. However, with […]
Halloween Spooky Sounds Poster
It’s October and that means…. HALLOWEEN! I will admit that being Australian meant I was quite oblivious to the enormity of Halloween until I moved overseas and was ‘enlightened’. After 20 years abroad working in international schools in Asia and watching the amazing lengths Americans (and others) went to in celebrating this event I admit […]