Teachers helping Teachers

Laurah at The ESOL Odyssey has reached out to try to help teachers affected by Hurricane Sandy...you can help too by pledging your assistance with the offer of a product (or two or three...or more)!

You can click on the image above to find out more about this wonderful outreach to teachers and to pledge your support. If you are a teacher in need of support you can leave your details by following the link from Laurah's site.

Supporting and helping others is what teachers do best!!
 

Beginning the alphabet at Z...and a freebie!!

Hello friends! This post marks the first in my series of 26 posts 'counting down' the alphabet...and so to begin...at Z!

Z is for zebras, zig zags and zero!

I defy you to think of zebra first off when you think of the letter 'Z'. I think we all do! :) I love zebras...and living in South Africa I get many opportunities to spend time in Game Reserves where these fascinating creatures live in abundance. One of my favourite places to visit over a long weekend is Mountain Zebra National Park near Cradock in the Eastern Cape. It is about a 3 and a half hour drive from my home and in the middle of the quiet openness of the semidesert Karoo. A peaceful, soul nourishing place where we get to spend time relaxing, recharging and taking game drives to see the animals. Zebras fascinate me...these Cape mountain zebras are quite different from Burchell's or plains zebra. Their stripes are narrower and darker and they do not have "shadow stripes" like the Burchell's. But what fascinates me the most is the uniqueness of each zebra's stripes. They are like a fingerprint to the zebra and baby zebra's recognise their parents by the pattern the stripes form on their belly.



Another 'Z' teachers rely on is 'zig zag'. From early writing patterns to practicing cutting skills...where would we be without the zig zag?! Today's freebie is a writing skills practice page for the letter 'Z'. It can be just as easily used with crayons or a Pokey Pin for some extra fine motor practice.




'Race to Zero' is a simple Math game that can be used as a filler or as a Math Center at any time and for any age or ability. It is one of those 'go to' activities that can be easily adapted to be as challenging, or as simple, as required. Each child needs a sheet of scrap paper, a pencil and a dice or two. A starting number must be decided on (this can be anything from 10 to 100 or more). The object of the game is to be the first to reach zero...counting down from the starting number. This can be done in a number of ways:
        * Young learners can use a die programmed with 1 and 2 or 1, 2 and 3. They roll the dice and subtract the number rolled from their total. The first player to reach 0 is the winner. (For the real littlies you can start them off with 10 counters or 10 circles drawn on a page form which they can deduct the number rolled each time.)
        * As the ability of the players increases you can choose to include a 1-6 die, later a 1-10 die or 2 dice where the numbers are first added together and then subtracted from the total.
        * For older students you could begin with a higher number, use 2 dice and first multiply the dice rolls and then subtract from the total.

        * In each game the player to reach zero first is the winner! 

If you have any 'Z' related activities to share please leave a comment below. Look forward to sharing some activities relating to 'Y' next! have a happy Friday and a well-deserved rest this weekend!

World Dictionary Day...and an Alphabet FREEBIE!

According to DaysoftheYear.com, today is World Dictionary Day:

'A day for lexicographers everywhere, Dictionary Day was founded to celebrate the achievements and contributions of Noah Webster – the father of the modern dictionary. Why not take the opportunity to learn some new words?'

In honour of World Dictionary Day

My next 26 posts will cover the alphabet from Z to A!

Each post will be about 'teacherly things'

And freebies and giveaways your way will bring.

Invite your friends for oodles of fun 

Until the entire alphabet is done!

For today here is an alphabet FREEBIE!

The next post will begin at Z...

With exciting things for you to read and see!

Friday FREEBIE...on a Saturday!

Hello friends! I had many late nights working this past week and just couldn't keep my eyes open long enough to write this post last night...so your Friday Freebie is coming to you on a Saturday! I mentioned in my last post that Halloween is not very big here in South Africa...but that certainly doesn't stop me from creating cute Halloween themed activities! The clipart available for this time of the year is so cute it just begs to be used!

I have a little munchkin that I take for math lessons one-on-one who is struggling with place value over a 100, so I created this activity using base 10 blocks, expanded notation and a 100-200 grid especially for her...and now I am sharing it with you! Hope you can use it!

Happy weekend all! I'll be back with a new series of posts (and plenty of freebies!) next week so be sure to visit again soon!

Friday Freebie: Spider Web Counting

Here in South Africa, Halloween is not really celebrated. In my neighbourhood, and amongst some of my friends, we get the kids dressed up and go trick-or-treating to the homes of neighbours who are willing participants and at the ready with candy! Despite the low key nature of the event here, my 4 year old daughter remembers it with high anticipation each year and has already planned this year's outfit - a fairy, the same as last year...and the year before!!! No surprises there! :)

It also amuses me that some of our supermarkets get in on the "low key" action and try to turn some trade by filling the check out aisles with Halloween themed candy!! With Halloween drawing nigh, and many teachers already planning their Halloween activities, it seems appropriate to offer up a little 'Spider-themed' freebie.

The first worksheet in this file has numbers entered into the webs for your students to find the patterns and continue counting. The second is blank so that you can programme it with your own numbers, thus making this worksheet adaptable for any age and ability of student! 

Wishing you lots of spidery fun!!

Back to School SALE and FREEBIE!

Sitting here in South Africa in the midst of a rather chilly winter and just a few weeks into a new school term it is hard to believe that Summer is at an end for those of you in warmer climes....and the end of Summer, of course, means that it is time to go BACK TO SCHOOL!! Oh no, you might cry, in astonishment (at time flying by so quickly) or bewilderment (at the thought of all the work yet to be done)!

Never fear TEACHERS PAY TEACHERS is coming to your rescue. We are going to help save you a little time for more summer fun and lessen your B2S workload. How will we achieve this wondrous feat??? With the Back to School SALE, of course!

Many of your favorite sellers on TPT will have sales running on 12 and 13 August....on top of the savings from these teachers TPT is offering an extra 10% off your total purchase. A total saving of up to 28%! To make the most of this wonderful offer use the promotion code BTS12 when you check out.

Please remember to pop over to my store and fill your cart to the brim...I am offering 20% off everything in my store for not just 2 days, but 4! Visit any time from 11-14 August to save yourself time, effort and money!!

...and just to whet your appetite, here a a B2S freebie just for you! Have your students practice their graphing skills using their own names!

Here's to a wonderful 2012/13 school year to all my terrific followers!

Lesson Cloud Dollar Days SALE!!

Here is a fantastic first from The Lesson Cloud authors....for two days only a number of teachers are selling products for just $1 and $2 on Teachers Pay Teachers. Visit The Lesson Cloud on Sunday, 29 July to see if your favorite teacher-authors are linked up to the Dollar Days Sale! You could also stand a chance of winning a $75 gift certificate to Really Good Stuff! 

Pop along to my Teachers Pay Teachers store and you can grab any of the products in my $3-5 category for just $1 or $2! That's 50% or more saving on each of these products!! Happy shopping!