Grade ONEderful

7 Jul 2014

Happy Summer!

Hi Everyone!

I'm taking a summer break from Grade ONEderful.

My plan is to return in September (when school starts up again) and post a weekly book review with related activities. I already have a LOT of those and they're my favourite posts to do:)

You can still find me at Ruby Slippers where I'll be working away at new blog designs and clipart. I'm now booking blog designs for August!

Have a fabulous summer!

27 Jun 2014

It's been a little while :) That's what happens when all the districts in our province go on strike. It's been two weeks now ... and it kind of dampens your enthusiasm for, umm, school-related activities!

But never mind that, it WILL all get sorted out in good time:)

The real reason I'm here today is because I'm very excited to introduce a fabulous new app chock-full of digital books for your kids.

Here's the company description:

Before I go any further ....

Disclosure: Zach, from FarFaria, contacted me awhile ago and asked if I'd like to review FarFaria in exchange for a 6-month subscription. Well, yeah! Of course I want to do that. And I'm VERY happy I did!

'Cause this a beautiful app (which also happened to win a Best Apple Mobile Award) and I can hardly wait to use it in my class in September (yes, the strike WILL be over by then, right??).

When you fire it up you come to this fetching page called "See The World". It's here that you make your book choices.

You can choose from Animal Kingdom, Adventure Island, BedTime Bluffs, GoodLand, Looney Lagoon, Preschool Playground, Fairy Tale Falls, Classics Grove, Genius Jungle, Sing-Along City and Mt. Make Believe.

Here's a selection of books to peek at:

The books range from primer to level 4, which seems to be about a J or L level.

You have the choice of listening to the book or reading it yourself. I really like this option. Once you've read the story to your child or student they can listen to it over and over until they're ready to try it on their own.

You can "favourite" books, too. This is especially cool because the personal library you build up can be accessed off-line.

I think my favourite area, though, is Sing Along City. There are tons of cute stories set to song. I can see using these with my pre-school aged grandchild as well as my early Grade 1 students.

You can visit their site at FarFaria.com. You have the option of grabbing the free version, where you can read one book a day OR unlimited access for $3.99 a month. From what I've seen so far it's totally worth it!

Okay, time for the good stuff. Zach has offered a membership GIVEAWAY!

Thanks for stopping by:)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

5 Jun 2014

Super Dad Freebie!

I have some Father's Day freebies for you. And I'm actually posting these in good time because I thought Father's Day was THIS weekend. I had my kids madly making their books yesterday, then got home and realized I was a week early. Silly me ~ lucky you!

Click the image above to grab this package.

You'll get the version below, plus the same one for Grandpas.

The pages are purposely plain because I like it best when the kids do all the decorating themselves. Here are a few samples with an older template I had:

I also found this card from an old issue of Mailbox Magazine. We're going to make this next week to go along with our Super Dad booklets!

Click the image to grab.

Thanks for stopping in!

3 Jun 2014

Currently in June

So happy to join this month's Currently with Farley from Oh' Boy 4th Grade!

1. This run was especially sweet 'cause two days ago I ran a HOT HILLY 10k race and yet today's run was relatively easy with no lingering aches and pains. Yay!

2. Okay, I know this one is kind of braggy 'cause I designed my new look myself, but I absolutely LOVE my new colours. Do you recognize the colour palette? It's from David's Tea.

This amazing tea store has been in town for awhile but I only just went there a couple of weeks ago. Colours aside, I'm LOVIN' their teas.

If you've been following my blog for a while then you know that I've had a tree in my header forever. I loved that tree and got lots of positive comments on it. But I've had this blog for about three years, and I just needed to do something different.

Shameless plug now: If YOU need a change then come visit me at Ruby Slippers. I have a June opening left and next to teaching, designing blogs is my favourite thing to do!

3. I just purchased the coolest little Gratitude app for my iPad. The last thing I do at night, and the first thing I do in the morning, is check my emails etc. so this is perfect. Nothing better than starting your day with a little gratitude.

4. BC teachers are in the middle of contract negotiations and it's not going well. We're in phase 2 of our job action (rotating strikes) but at the same time the government has "locked us out". We're not allowed to work with students or even be in our classrooms at recess and lunch!! It's crazy, stressful and just not fun. But we'll fight the good fight and keep our fingers crossed for some compromise and a quick settlement.

5. Summer holidays ... this one speaks for itself:)

6. We're in the middle of a big kitchen reno (a complete gut). It's going to be finished at the end of June so I'm really looking forward to having lots of friends over for dinner.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out Farley's blog for some more Currently's!

22 May 2014

Our Butterflies!

Three weeks ago we received five Painted Lady caterpillars. They lived in little cups with special food inside a small plastic aquarium. We watched them very carefully for days, waiting to see when they'd turn into chrysalises.

Yay! The one above has just started to change.

While we waited for the butterflies to emerge we made tie-dyed butterflies from coffee filters and created life cycle posters.

We also kept track of our observations in these life cycle journals.

On the long weekend the butterflies finally emerged from their chrysalises. They really liked drinking the sweet juice from the oranges we gave them.

First thing this morning, we walked down to Lake Ida Anne and released our little friends.

Inspired from a Deep Space art lesson, the kids drew designs on butterfly templates (with oil pastels) then painted them with water colours.

Happy almost Friday!!

17 May 2014

Geometry Freebies

We spent our entire Thursday morning doing some fun geometry activities!

The kids started off by exploring a variety of solids. They counted faces and corners and then tested to see whether they rolled or slid.

While they worked they recorded their information.

Next on the agenda: building a variety of solids with mini marshmallows and toothpicks.

Afterwards, they made these little cut-and-paste booklets to reinforce their learning.

You can grab the attributes sheet HERE and the solids booklet with instructions HERE.

Happy May weekend!

11 May 2014

Mother's Day Craft

My friend, Michelle, gave me this fabulous idea for a Mother's Day gift: Shrinky Dink pendants!

I gave each child a piece of paper with 4 circles. They made 4 practice designs and then picked their favourite.

I pre-cut a Shrinky Dink circle for everyone. We used the "Frosted Ruff n' Ready". This is VERY important if you'd like the kids to colour their designs using pencil crayons. They colour up beautifully on the rough side of the Shrinky Dink.

We heated ours in a toaster oven. I put two pendants in at a time (they were placed on tinfoil). It took about 20 seconds and was truly magical!

The Shrinky Dinks puffed up, curled then shrank quickly into a flat, round shape. They end up being 1/3 smaller and 9 nines thicker.

If you're making pendants, make sure you punch a hole in the top before heating. I just used a regular hole punch.

After they cooled I just popped in a silver necklace clip and voila! A super sweet and easy gift for mom. Thanks, Michelle!