Getting Ready for the A to Z Challenge

I'm getting really excited about the A to Z Challenge as well as a little nervous.  I know how much time can fly by when you are hopping all over other people's blogs and I also want to write blog posts that others will want to read and get something from - so I know challenge is the operative word.

At the same time, I also know that there are a whole host of supportive people out there and some of them will become special friends during and after the challenge as happened last year.  It's finding those links to others (who before the advent of the internet you would never have had the chance to make contact with) that is so wonderful about blogging.

Unfortunately, I forgot to find out when the A to Z Reveal was due to take place and it appears it was last week so I missed signing up for that.  However, this year I have decided to combine special needs education with a craft twist as I am doing more of these types of activities now in my everyday life.

Hoping everyone else who has signed up is looking forward to the challenge and can't wait to find new blogs out there who will inspire me in my life :-)

Ideas are a buzzin'

My head seems ready to explode at the moment with a whole batch of new ideas for children to build on their learning.  So this week I have been as busy as a little buzzing bee.

Unfortunately, not everything I do for the classroom can be published (copyright infringement etc) but I am going to post a little freebie I've made this week for use in phonics.

I am going to get the children to copy over the dotted letters (we could all do with a little handwriting practice from time to time) and the spare beehive on each page will be for them to either repeat copy their words or find other words with the same spelling pattern.

Clicking on the picture above will take you to the file.  I'd love feedback if you use it and any further suggestions on what teachers are looking for in products and teaching tools are always gratefully received :-)

I seem to have experienced some technical difficulties when trying to post this week - some posts have disappeared completely and some have arrived a day later!!!  Fingers crossed all goes according to plan with this Saturday one!

Wordless Wednesday: Socktastic!!

As you can see, I am now really getting into knitting large, chunky socks!

Unfortunately, for me what I thought was enough for a pair of fake Fair Isle socks might not be -

 so the third ball of wool has to be divided between the two socks hence why one of the socks has stitch holders on it.  I will have to start knitting now from the other end of the third ball and see how it goes - they might have to end up with pink toes from the same wool as I knitted the other pair of socks from (on display in the photo).  Fingers crossed there will be enough of the Crofter wool though!

Things I know this week that I didn't know then

It's amazing what you learn as you go through life and from whom.  I think as human beings we have a craving for new knowledge.  We want to discover more, go new places, think new thoughts, learn new things and so I've decided I'd share three things I've learnt this week.

Firstly, I have learnt how to knit socks successfully and quickly.  A brilliant knitting blog post
http://www.downsizer.net/Articles/Make_your_own/Quick_and_Chunky_Sock_Pattern/
and a useful video showing how to do the finishing off using kitchener stitch and I'm now all done.
When I've taken a photo I'll upload it here too.

Someone told me about the saying, "It looks a bit black over Bill's mother's" and where it is supposed to have derived from: a reference to William Shakespeare and Warwickshire - makes perfect sense.

I've now been introduced to the Online Faculty Service of the Church of England due to work we are having done on our house which abuts the churchyard and therefore need to gain permission from.  I now know all about statements of significance and need!

So now it's your turn - share three things you've learnt about this week and let's learn even more together - making this a week of learning opportunity!

Saturday At Sixes & Sevens?

You know how it is - you know exactly what you should be concentrating on and getting on with and then suddenly out of nowhere something catches your attention and you're off doing something completely different!!  No wonder the children we teach sometimes have a big problem staying on task when the same can happen to us teachers!!

So there I was all set to get on with finishing and posting onto TpT when I thought I'd just check out what new free clipart has been posted recently and suddenly there I was away with the fairies (or leprechauns I suppose at this time of year) downloading some wonderful FREE images contributed by loads of talented and very generous artists from around the world and of course then I got inspired to be making all sorts of new resources with it.  Which is why I have NOT posted what I should but I have posted something else instead.

You can check my newest freebie out in my store here:

Now I'm going back to see what else I can create with the new stuff - yippee!

Five For Friday: Spring Sale Snail Freebie

Big thumbs up to Kacey at the above :)  Join in with the fun!!  Go on - you know you want to!!

First as always this week's number creations: introducing my little Spring Sale Snails that have been helping me bring a little light relief into working out percentages with my gifted and talented youngsters.  They will be making another appearance later on in this Friday Five.

This week I have been suffering from a really bad cold and other things so my exercise regime flew out of the window - I am hoping I will kick off next week with a long dog walk on Monday & be back up to speed by the end of the week.  I have missed having a waggy tail by my side and the forecast is that the weather should be picking up so fingers crossed.

We have finally got our heating back today - the part was really difficult to get so our plumber was tearing his hair out and my husband has been sitting at home in the evenings wrapped in a woolly blanket and complaining for the past three weeks!!  Hopefully, he will be able to get by tonight in only two jumpers?

I have managed to get some more things ready to be posted on to TpT and my time game "Time to Save Grandma" actually on there this week so this weekend will be getting the other ones on.

I have a special freebie for you - if you would like a set of Spring Sale Snails in a host of colours as well as in B & W then press on Snail 5 above to download a zip file of clipart for you to use in your own resources or products.  These cheery chappies will herald in the spring for your students and brighten up homework sheets, notices, handouts etc.  I'd love some feedback if you choose to download.  

Here's to a happy weekend for all of us :-)

Throwback Thursday To The Future!!

How come it's Thursday already?  What happened to all those preceding days?  Thank goodness for Angela over at The Teacher's Desk 6 to keep me on track for Throwback time!!

You can join in by clicking the button above :)

In her Throwback post this week, Angela is thinking about teaching resources she used almost 20 years ago and that are still excellent resources today.  When you think about how much the world has changed over the past 20 years with all of the information technology now at teachers' and our students' fingertips this is no mean feat.  So it got me thinking and leading me back to a quick post I wrote last year on the importance of our profession to those students of ours in the future so press here:

to be transported Back to the Future!!

Wordless Wednesday: Lovin' The Sun

Well the sun came out much to the cats' enjoyment.  Needless to say no-one else was allowed on the bench once Prima was there!

Time to Save Grandma!

Well I've succeeded in getting another paid product ready for TpT and this time it's all about TIME!!
When the children were learning about Fairy Tales in their literacy, I thought I would tie in their unit on time with Little Red Riding Hood and so I invented a new game for the children to practise their ability to tell the time to o'clock and half past.  I was so pleased when my talented SEN assistant told me the game played perfectly the first time she trialed it with the special maths group (normally we have to tweak things to make it better and more suitable for the children) so I am hoping it will help other children around the world achieve their learning goals in a fun way too :-)

Click on the button below to take you to it in my TpT store - where you can read more about it!

Currently March

Linking up with Farley for her wonderful Currently - head on over and remember to follow the rules!

It's been snowing again here so listening to the gentle slushy sound outside whilst I'm safe at home all cosy is actually really pleasant :)

I'm loving that this week I've really started to notice the difference that it's getting so much lighter in the morning - I've not been having to put the lights on to go through to feed the cats at 6:30 - the dark days of winter are drawing to a close - yippee!!

I'm thinking that although we've just had a wonderful weekend with lots of our university friends visiting there's now a whole lot of clearing up and tidying away to do to get the house back to normal!!

I want to finish off the DIY projects I started in Feb - I'm close but I need to keep going - that final little bit seems to stay around for ages so I really should knuckle down and tick them completely off my list!!

Once again I need to get on with sorting out all of the worksheets, games, books, resources I have made for use in class to get them ready for sale on TpT - I always seem to find it hard to get the instructions of how to use and the presentation done for someone to actually want to buy it especially when I see the professional quality of other contributors :-(

This Easter, my husband and I will be going off on our canal boat to visit another canal we haven't yet been on - not sure which yet - but we're really looking forward to it.

Have a wonderful March and let me know what you're up to!!