There are some very cool linky parties these days - so much to see, so much to do, and LOTS of interesting blogs to go and visit.

At first I was thinking that I wouldn't have enough to write about, but then I realised, sure I do, I have a couple of obsessions passions in life, and besides, this will make for a nice little post.  I might even make some new friends.

Hi, my names Deborah, and I have an obsession......

1.  My first and obvious obsession is with school stuff.  I really have a lot of fun doing school.  If I had never had my own children I probably would of become a teacher in real life.

2.  Paper.  And lots of it.  I like to buy bulk even though I'm just a mummy ( I'm in Australia so I'm spelling it right ) and using it for a handful of children.  I love patterned paper, printed paper, and stationery. 

3.  Office tools.  I MUST have tools.  A printer, computer, guillotine, laminator, binder, staplers, craft punches, actually ALL sorts of craft tools.


4.  Blogging.  I used to blog a lot over the years but then I decided to stop - and deleted my account.  I was gone for over 3 months - so then my blog got permanently deleted and I had to start again.

5.  Pinterest.  I'm a visual girl.  I just have to SEE things.  I learn a lot that way.

6.  Facebook.  I visit every day. 

7.  Last, but not least.   Having babies.  I currently have 8 children.


If you've stopped by for a visit - thank you for doing so.  If you'd like to become friends I could add you to my blog list if you'd like.  Just leave me a comment and I'll add you to my side bar.  :o)


Thanks so much for visiting.

Normally we do ART on Wednesdays.  Can you guess what the girls wanted to do today?  Yep, more Elephant stuff.  Go figure.   

This is what Phebe did.  It's an elephant card.  They LOVED doing that dot stamping sooooo much that they were super happy to continue with a bit more.

 This is what Chloe did.  It was actually her idea that we use these little elephants and make a card.

Thanks for visiting.  :o)

The Elephant - Part 2

We started part 2 with another book.  A previously read book, but a favorite.  A living book as we follow the life of a female elephant.

 Then we did our - can, have, are charts.

This one is Chloe's.

 This one is Phebe's.  It was afternoon and the girls were getting tired so Phebe stopped here.

This is what Chloe ended up with in the writing department.  She probably could of done a bit better if she hadn't been a bit tired, or if I got her to work on it a bit more at another time.   Technically this is a first draft - so from that point of view she did pretty good.

Thanks for visiting~!!

The Elephant - Part 1

Today I made the most cutest little elephant labeling worksheet and was soooo desperate, excited to use it.

But first we had to pay the obligatory stroll through a book.  Beautiful, beautiful illustrations.

And very much in a similar format as to our Penguin unit - I thought that we should start with a paper craft.

This one is Chloes ( 7 ).  I just used some clipart ( from KPM ).   Then I gave the girls some colored ink pads and 4 little dot stamps ( they were all different sizes).  The girls also used a black marker to highlight the outline.

This one is Phebes ( 5 ).  Even though it is such a simple project - they really had heaps of fun enjoying themselves while stamping away with their little dots.

Then we did a labeling worksheet.  Now darlings....as an educator.....and a lover of paper.....this is what I made this afternoon, and was in sooooo much hurry to try it out.  If you'd like to try it out ( a can, have, are chart ) you can find it for FREE --- HERE. 

This one was done by Chloe.

This one was done by Phebe.

I do hope that you can come back to see part 2 soon.  :o)  That's where I'll be doing show and tell for the - can, have, are chart and a writing journal page.

Thanks for visiting.  :o)

Here's another night time project that the girls did.  These night time projects are an awesome way to fill in the time instead of television/computer games.  We don't let our children watch TV.  They still get the occasional movie, but no TV.

I just printed up the top/bottoms and left the girls to do their thing.

Chloe added a nice little letter to her brother Phillip.

 Phebe focused more on the coloring and cutting.  :o)

Thanks for visiting.

  Little Miss 5 currently uses Learning to Read by Christian Light Education.  

I am seriously in love with their teachers manuals.  They make my life so much easier.   Truth be told, I am seriously in love with the whole course.  It really has made teaching reading so much easier.   I reckon it has also made learning reading heaps easier too.  :o)

 This is 104.  Which means that it is the 4th book in the course.  There are 10 workbooks for the course.   Phebe who is 5 years and 2 months old just finished this module last Friday.

  A lot of what happens in this course early on is the beginning sounds.  Well, actually there are quite a few different components, but that is a large part to BEGIN with.

They also have 'star' words.  These are sight words.

 They also give good practice for phrase and sentence reading too.  You can buy the phrase / flash cards from them, or make your own.  All the words / phrases are in the back of the teachers manual.

 By the end of 104 she was writing cvc words.

 And then at the end she had a test.  She scored 92% for this workbook.  This tells me that she has a firm grasp of the material and is ready for the next workbook.

 I did notice that she lost the most marks for NOT remembering which c / k to choose.  Basically you'll know what c / k to pick by what vowel comes next.  If it's an a, o, or u then it's c.  If it's i or e, then it's k.  A neat little rule to learn.  :o)

Now, just in case she totally bottomed out and got less than 80% in the test, I could of photocopied her another alternative test from the teachers manual.   So I never have to stress about her using / wasting the original test.

So anyway, back to the actual test that she did.  Since I have their awesome teacher manual I also have their awesome little picture charts in the back that we can photocopy to help learn what we need.  :o)

Thanks for visiting~!!

Oh Madeline, Oh Madeline....inside I'm tall.

I read this book in my best french accent.  Yes, I did.  That's half the fun of it, didn't you know.  :o)

Now, I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to confess that I think that the illustrations in this book are lacking, poor, not worth looking at.  They certainly do NOT do justice to the buildings that they are sharing with the reader.  I might be a little spoilt these days.

Then we made an accordion book of all the places that are in the book.  You can get a copy of that HERE.  I LOVED that a book was a virtual look of real places.  That sort of makes up for the not so awesome illustrations.

Up close: Going on tour to the Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower, and the Opera.

 Notre Dame, The Place Vendome, Hotel Des Invalides.

 The Gardens at the Luxembourg, The Church of the Sacred Coeur, and The Louvre.

Then after that, we relaxed with a jigsaw.  It's only 35 pieces, so it was fun to do.  No stress, and that's important for a 7 year old.

Do you like Madeline?  Do you like the Madeline books?   Do you have any show and tell on Madeline?

Thanks for visiting.  :o)

 Earlier in the week I picked up a scholastic book on times tables for a dollar.  Yep, ONE dollar.  They were having one of their SALES on ebooks - so I thought, hay, I like that, so I'll get me one.  

It's actually a book of time table wheels.  You just print them up, cut out where the time table is and the where the answer is.  Then you just put them together with a split pin, and your all set.  Coloring is optional.

 I figured they'd come handy with our little adventure into times tables.

Something novel.

I think the SALE is still on until May 31st - so if you think a book of time table wheels would be cool you can still pick it up for $ 1.  Bargain.

Thanks for visiting.  :o)

 A lot of the time it's a mad house here.  Children running riot, crying, demanding, trashing the place.  So .......

When you need some quiet just set up a little activity and leave them to it.  :o)  Admittedly I did only leave 2 of them to do this activity.  I figured that would make enough mess to deal with.

This one is Chloe's.  As it turns out she loves to cut and paste.  Not really keen on coloring, but we'll overlook that small detail for the peace and quiet that we get.  This little project kept her busy for about an hour 45 mins?  Enough time for me to notice that I wasn't being nagged.

 Great for practicing scissor skills, coloring, writing.

This one is Phebe's.  Phebe is my little sook, crier, whiny child.  So keeping her busy was also particularly noticable.

 At the end we put some glitter in her hair as well.  Just for fun, but the camera doesn't pick it up though.

You would not believe how much less work / noise there is when you just take 2 children out of the equation for 45 mins.  It's like resting in the Bahamas.

Thanks for visiting.  :o)

Today I thought you might like a FREE memory verse workbook.   :o)

Just click the book cover.

Memory Verse Workbook for Ages 5 to 10

This is a fun and easy workbook for children to learn memory verses.

Memory verses included:

1. Genesis 1:1
2. John 15:12
3. Psalms 33:6a
4. 1 Corinthians 16:14
5. Matthew 5:5
6. Philippians 4:13
7. Matthew 28:20
8. Romans 3:23
9. Ephesians 6:1
10. Galatians 6:9

Old King James Version is used.

Each memory verse has 6 worksheets.

Worksheet pages:
Follow the instructions on each worksheet page. Each verse gets progressively harder as you have to remember more.

Poster:
Decorate and color in. Find a place to hang your poster. You could also make it into a jigsaw puzzle by drawing a puzzle shape on the back and cutting it out.

Crossword pages:
These are not the usual type of crosswords. They are missing all clues. Just fill in the missing words in the boxes and write the verse out in proper order.

Puzzle by Code:
Work out what verse is hidden in the code.

My Bible Verse:
Make a very neat handwritten copy of the verse that you're working on and add a hand drawn picture or cut out a picture to glue in.

Multiple Choice Questions:
Follow the instructions on the top of the page. This worksheet is for finishing off memorization of the memory verse and includes a place for application.

Thanks for visiting.  :o)

At the beginning of the year ( January ) we started English with Miss Grade 2 using Rod and Staff.   But we recently switched back over to Christian Light Education.   There are several good reasons for this.  

.  it makes the child do less writing
.  it has quizzes
.  it has tests
.  it includes spelling
.  it presents better

just some of my reasons.

This is what each booklet looks like from the front:

 The contents page.  As you can see they cover quite a number of things in the course of 3 weeks.  There are 10 modules/workbooks for the course - each taking at least 3 weeks.

 In this module we looked at things like compound words.

 Plurals.

 Alphabetical Order.

In fact there were a LOT of areas covered in the last 3 weeks.

There are 2 quizzes for each module.  So that means on Fridays it's either a quiz from the weeks work, or an end of module TEST.  They are all graded - so you can clearly see if your child is grasping and keeping up with the lessons.  There is always a spelling test each Friday too.

This is a shot from one of the quizzes. 

Each module has the same basic structure.  It includes the main ( new ) lesson for the day.  Spelling exercises.  We remember exercises.  So once you've been through the first book, subsequent books become routine and easier to do.

 One of the amazing things about this curriculum is the TEACHER manual.  Yep, it is true~!!  It comes with all sorts of things.

There are lots of helps all the way through.  Like lesson objectives, hints, general lesson information.   It even has small versions of the student text with all the answers.  LOL  Awesome~!! 

In the back it even has alternative tests and other things - just in case you need to retest a child.  :o)

We have used CLE English before with several different grades.  I just thought I'd try something different since I had other resources here already but have come back to the CLE because it works well - especially at this grade level.  Higher up grade levels get a bit funny, but the lower grades work well.   The very high quality of the product is worth every dollar spent to get it.

Christian Light Education

Thanks for visiting~!!

 There once was an old lady who swallowed a fly, perhaps she'll die?

Children LOVE this type of book.  I don't know why.  Perhaps it is the ridiculousness of it?  Perhaps it is the rhythm of the story itself?   Either way, even my very own children LOVE it~!!

If your children love it as well, you might want to do this little craft to go with the story.

Simply jump over to kizclub and grab yourself their FREE printables for the story.  :o)

This page was done by Hannah - Miss 3.  I helped by doing the cutting, and then she glued the animals on in their right places.  After that she colored them in when the glue had dried a bit.

Thanks for visiting, and don't forget to pop over to the Preschool Corner and see what everyone else has been doing.  :o)

One of the exciting things that happen in grade 2 is that one gets to learn cursive handwriting~!!

We are currently using resources from education.com.  Just look under their worksheets tab.

 Now, Miss Grade 2 is a lefty - so neat handwriting is actually hard work, but she LOVES giving it a go.

I do sit with her - to watch for letter formation.  Some of those letters are proving to be very interesting.  LOL  The good thing is that I know that time and practice go a long way.

Do your students do cursive handwriting?  Got any suggestions or tips?

Thanks for visiting.  :o)

Yesterday I made up a little Multiplication Office for Miss 7 who is just beginning to learn multiplication.

 I took 2 file folders, opened them up and joined them together.  Then I added some blue background paper to cover the join and make it a little more pretty.  Then I added the 2x tables, a blank chart, and some fractions ( which I got off the net for free somewhere and when I remember where they came from I'll come back and put in a linky to them ).

Once we get over the initial hurdle of multiplication, I'll be adding division and fractions into the mix.  I am a firm believer that they go hand in hand and should be taught together.  More about that in future posts.

So anyway, back to the actual introduction of the 2 x tables.  Here's the lesson that we did.  Small stamps are HANDY to have for this type of thing.  As I was explaining how it was working, little Miss 7 got to stamp it out and then pop the answer in the box.  :o)

At the end of the lesson we put the information that we knew into her office chart.

Each time we have another lesson, we'll just add to the chart.  :o)  I figure that I have room for at least 4 more tables on the inside.  If I use the back of it as well, then we'll be able to finish them off completely.

I hope you'll join us again - and keep an eye out for further posts on multiplication - I've got some great little gems coming up for show and tell.  :o)

Thanks for visiting~!!