If you are looking for activities to keep the children occupied during the holidays, check out the readilearn Christmas collection. Many are suitable for use at home as well as in the classroom.
Three free resources provide additional suggestions for keeping the children engaged in mathematical thinking, and reading and writing activities while they are having fun. Don’t let the year’s learning slide away during the holidays.
Continue reading: readilearn: Wishing you happy holidays – Readilearn
Did you enter Contest #7 of the Carrot Ranch #FFRodeo? The winner is announced. It wasn’t me. Could it have been you? Read the fabulous entries. Who would have thought a murder story could be told in so few words?
This week at the Carrot Ranch, Charli Mills challenges writers to In 99 words (no more, no less) write a story using the phrase “only in…” It can be used to tell a story about a profession, a place or situation. Go were the prompt leads you.
This is my response. I hope you enjoy it. (Composed in the pool this morning.)
Only in Australia
The carollers woke her Christmas morning. After the preparation whirlwind, she’d collapsed into bed, only to continuously toss and turn, re-making each list and checking it twice. She groaned – please, just a few minutes more. The carollers insisted. She tumbled out of bed and stumbled to the door. They eagerly accepted her gifts. Breathing in the day’s freshness, she had to decide – bed? Nah – the pool! As each stroke soothed and each lap refreshed, she welcomed the day’s events. When a cockatoo’s shriek punctuated the chorus, the kookaburras laughed. “Only in Australia,” she thought. “It’s good to be home.”
And now for a little more, if you so choose:
Note: I’ve been kindly shown that some of my ‘only in Australia‘ statements are not quite correct. As I am not one for spreading falsehoods, I have added, in pink, corrections of which I have become aware. Thanks especially to Pauline King and Debby Gies for getting the ball rolling.
Only in Australia do you see people wearing thongs and singlets in winter (“thongs” are flip-flops worn on feet, singlets are sleeveless shirts). (I now know Canadians also refer to flip-flops as thongs.)
Only in Australia are there mammals that lay eggs (the monotremes – echidna and platypus. One species of echidna is found in New Guinea).
Only in Australia are the emblem animals eaten (the meat of kangaroo and emu – both on the Australian Coat of Arms – is available in supermarkets and from restaurant menus). The animals were chosen for the coat of arms as neither can walk backwards – a symbol of a forward-moving nation.
Only in Australia can you see these biggest things:
The world’s largest living organism The Great Barrier Reef. Hopefully it will remain that way for generations to come.
The world’s largest monolith – Uluru.
The world’s longest fence – the dingo fence, built to keep dingoes out of the fertile farming areas on the eastern coast, over 5 500 km.
Only in Australia will you find the world’s oldest living culture.
Only in Australia could you visit a different beach every day of the year and still have more to see.
Only in Australia could you attend a cockroach race, a cane toad race and a boat race on a dry river bed.
Only in Australia would you not see an active volcano. (Australia, the world’s largest island or smallest continent, is the only continent without an active volcano, though there are many dormant and extinct volcanoes.)
Only in Australia do you have to travel overseas to travel internationally. (This is definitely not true – of course overseas and international travel are synonymous for any island nation, of which there are many, including New Zealand.)
Only in Australia will you hear “Fair dinkum” and “True Blue”.
Only in Australia, do we abbreviate everything, including names (is that why our years pass so fast – we abbreviate them too?) (Apparently, this habit is also prevalent across the ditch in New Zealand.)
And if you still want more, check out these 88 Crazy Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Australia.
And watch this video:
Or come for a visit!
Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed finding out a little more about Australia. I appreciate your feedback. Please share your thoughts.
I loved the addition of the interactive whiteboard to my classroom about ten years ago. I embraced the use of computer technology from when I bought my first home computer in 1985 and first used computers in my classroom in 1986. The interactive whiteboard was a way of making use of the technology inclusive. Instead of one or two children taking a turn on the computer while the rest of the class were engaged in other things, we could all be involved at the same time, if desired.
I used the interactive whiteboard with the whole class for introducing topics, brainstorming ideas and explaining concepts. It was great for modelled writing lessons and collaborative reading. I found it particularly useful for demonstrating the processes to follow in the computer lab.
I used some purchased software, but also spent a lot of time creating activities to teach or practice particular concepts or skills. Versions of many of these lessons are now available here on readilearn.
Continue reading: readilearn Lessons for the interactive whiteboard – Christmas – Readilearn
What fabulous stories in the Carrot Ranch #Contest 6 Bucking Bull go round, lead by the winner Kerry E.B. Black. Congratulations, Kerry, and to all the runners up, and entrants alike. Judge D. Avery says the judging was difficult. Reading these stories, that seems obvious. Well done, everyone!
This week at the Carrot Ranch Charli Mills talks about her years as a ballet-Mum, working behind the scenes to ensure the performers were ready to take to the stage.
She talks about the pleasure of watching from theatre stalls, a recent performance of dancers taught by the daughter she’d taken to lessons all those years before.
She sees connections between her role as stage-Mom and her role as Lead Buckaroo at the Carrot Ranch; and similarities between ballet performances and performing with flash fiction.
This, of course led to the week’s flash fiction prompt in which Charli challenged writers to In 99 words (no more, no less) write that features a performance. You can interpret what is a performance any way the prompt leads you.
There is little in which Charli is unable to find an analogy to writing. Likewise, I am always keen to find the connections, similarities and analogies to teaching. I have long considered teaching to have elements consistent with entertaining and performing, with our classroom the stage, and the students the interactive audience, the participants for whom and by whom the daily enactment evolves. Regardless of how we feel, each day we enter our classrooms ready to perform, determined to give our students the best educational experience possible.
But I am also familiar with other performances. I performed in many plays as part of studying Speech and Drama throughout school. Both children had a big interest in drama at school also, and I spent many hours ferrying them to classes around the city, making costumes, and watching rehearsals as well as final performances.
As a teacher, I would provide opportunities for children to role play, improvise impromptu scenarios, create puppet plays, and perform songs or plays for parents throughout the year.
Then there are the other impromptu performances that toddlers are great at turning on when the inappropriate moment takes them.
Tonight, I had the pleasure of viewing a presentation, rather than performance, of a story written by local author Yvonne Mes. The story A Starry Christmas was animated and displayed in a spectacular light show on Brisbane City Hall. What an amazing way to have one’s work shared. Congratulations must go to Yvonne for writing the story, and the teams who animated it and produced it. You can watch a video of the story and read some additional information about the event on Yvonne’s website here.
I thought I’d combine a few of these ideas into my response to Charli’s flash fiction prompt this week. I hope you enjoy it.
Christmas lights
A two-day city visit is never enough, but they were determined – trekking the city, visiting in-store Santas, viewing Christmas-dressed windows, watching street performers, even attending a pantomime, with just a brief playground stop for lunch. The light show was the day’s finale. The tired parents and niggly children collapsed onto the lawn in anticipation. Suddenly the littlest began to perform – crying, screaming, stamping, flailing. Nothing would soothe. The eldest observed, zombie-like. Soon the light-show distracted, occasionally interrupting the performance. Only when the fireworks began, drowning out his cries, did he give in to sleep, sprawled indecorously on the grass.
Thank you for reading, I appreciate your feedback. Please share your thoughts.
I’m honoured to once again be featured among Sally Cronin’s Smorgasbord Archive Posts. This time it’s about including Christmas in the classroom. Thank you, Sally. 🙂
In this post, I welcome early childhood educator Johanna Clark to the blog with ideas for developing fine motor skills in fun Christmas activities that are suitable for both the classroom and home.
These activities supplement existing readilearn Christmas activities and suggestions that can be provided to parents to keep children engaged in reading, writing and mathematical thinking over the holidays.
Johanna Clark is an early childhood educator, with a background in early primary teaching. She is passionate about developing children’s early literacy and fine-motor skills in the years before formal schooling begins to build a solid foundation for learning. She believes in creating a classroom that children love coming to every day, and that helps all children to succeed.
In her spare time, she can be found reading or crocheting (or both!). She also combines her teaching and creativity by designing handmade, educational toys for her small business and Etsy shop, ‘Jo and Co. Design’. She specialises in crochet dolls and felt travel games.
She has two small children who love testing out her new toy designs and raiding her picture book collection!
Over to you Johanna.
Whether December in your classroom means the end of the school year or the end of the calendar year, it’s always fun to work some Christmas-themed activities into the schedule. It’s a great way to discuss students’ own experiences and expose them to different ways of celebrating, both around the world or in their own community.
Fine motor skills are so important to develop, in pre-school settings, the first 3 years of schooling and beyond! They allow children to build their hand-eye coordination, concentration and finger/hand/arm muscles. All of these skills are needed for pencil grip, using scissors and other general life skills such as buttoning, zipping and using cutlery.
So why not combine fine-motor skills and Christmas?
Following are some ideas for Christmas themed fine motor activities that can be used both in the early years classroom and at home. Most are suitable for small groups or independent work and some can even be used to decorate your classroom and share the festive spirit!
Continue reading: readilearn – 6 Fine motor Christmas activities for the classroom and home – Readilearn
Congratulations to everyone who entered Contest #5 Twitter Flash Fiction, but huge congratulations to D. Avery winner! What a challenge! Check out her entry and others over at the Carrot Ranch.
This week, Charli Mills challenged the Carrot Ranch Literary Community to In 99 words (no more, no less) write a story that includes self-care. Does the character need it? What does the character do? Think about how you can use this action to deepen a character or move a story. Go where the prompt leads. She talks about being easy on ourselves and taking time to celebrate our progress and avoid being shackled by the imposter syndrome that masquerades as our harshest critic.
Dr. Andrea Dinardo is also talking about self-care this week on her blog Thriving Under Pressure. Her post urges us to Work hard. Rest. Repeat, and recommends
“If you get tired, learn to rest not quit.”
Resting can be difficult when there is much we want to do and achieve, both personally and professionally; but sometimes, if we don’t rest by choice, we have it thrust upon us.
This week, when I’m already masquerading as an overposter, as a mini-rest, an exercise in self-care, and care for you too, I’m presenting my flash response without the padding of a post. Here it is. I hope you like it.
Rest. In. Peace.
“You really should take a break,” they suggested.
“I can’t. Too much to do.”
“You need time off,” they said.
“I know. Soon.”
…
Eventually, “I’m taking a break,” she said.
The afternoon sun warmed as the sand caressed her aching body. Her eyes closed. Only an occasional seagull’s squawk interrupted the repetitive swoo-oosh of the waves that jumbled with the office cacophony looping incessantly.
…
“What? What happened?” they asked.
He scrolled quickly, searching for details.
“Sleeping. On beach. Seagull – ha!– dropped a baby turtle – landed on her head – died instantly.”
“And we thought work would kill her!”
Thank you for reading. I appreciate your feedback. Please share your thoughts.
Norah Colvin 