Place Value for Journals & Homework Drama

Hello!! 

Hope everyone is doing well! I am counting down the seconds until my fall break/half term holiday starts because I'm exhausted!!

Quick question:  What are your thoughts on homework in upper-grades? At the school I'm at, the Head Teacher (Principal) has set certain days for homework (lots of subjects here remember), and generally they have a week to do it........anyway, I prefer (as well as the other teachers here) to incorporate writing and multiple intelligences and basically just stay away from worksheets. However, the parents have other ideas.

I will leave it at that for now.

I'm so sleepy. Last thing.

I've updated my Place Value for K-2 Journals. I've never updated a document before on TPT, so will the people that already bought it get the updated version for free? This is what I want, so does that happen automatically? If you've bought it in the past, can you let me know if you got the new version please?

Here are some of the pages I added:

   

Have a great day,

Kelli

Journal ideas and kilts!

Hello!! I hope you're all well. I'm still fighting some illness, but after awhile I guess you just get used to it as the norm and hope it goes away before Christmas : )

I went to my friend's wedding in Inverness, Scotland a couple weeks ago. Inverness was s-t-u-n-n-i-n-g! It was a great weekend away for my husband and I. I didn't realize how deep into work I was. It was a well-needed break and time away.

There's also a few journal ideas from my classroom-hope you enjoy! this is about all I have the energy for........I'm off to bed!!!

Kelli xx

Does acupuncture really work??!!

I have not blogged in awhile. I would like to, but these chronic sinus infections make me sooooooo tired. 

I seem to have one every fall (and spring) for about 6-7 weeks. Last year at this time I had sinus infection after sinus infection............and here it is, fall again. Sick again.

Someone suggested I try acupuncture. Has anyone tried this? I think the needles would hurt. But the netti-pot, nasal spray, decongestants, avoiding dairy, etc is not working! I really should see an ear, nose and throat dr, but the health system here is a bit different and I have found it hard to get a referral.

Any tips?

Hope you're having a great week and have avoided any sinus/cold/flu stuff! 

Kelli

Measurement and Color in Posters FREEBIE

Hello!! 
First I will start off by saying that I love my class soooo much! I am teaching many classes, but my Form class (as they say in England private schools) is Year 5. Year 5 is the equivalent to fourth grade in the States (roughly). 

I am covering a teacher until April that is the English Coordinator, so that is the main focus (I teach English to Year 5 & 6)......as I've said in another post, I teach a variety of subjects to multiple year levels (including gymnastics?!)....but English is the main one and I am LOVING their Writer's Workshop here!! More on that later. 

I wanted to share some posters I did with my class on the first day of school. After discussing rules and expectations, students worked in pairs to color in our posters that I mounted and laminated afterwards. 

here's one of the posters 'WORK HARD'

Students gave compliments about the artwork to the groups as part of our 'encourage others and remember that we are community' campaign that is a big focus at this age! The children love looking at their 'aims'!

Anyway, here they are, and they're FREE! I have a small class, so you might have to make more.....it's just letters in outline, and a border!

Here's a few of them:

 

 

 
Here's my latest Journal/Notebook printables pack: Measure it!!!

 Have a great weekend!

Today in pictures......

{{History}}

Anyone else like mind maps?!

Music in the Classroom/First Week of School!

First week at my new school completed!

I am so exhausted.

I am at a private school for the first time.
I am teaching in England again, which I have not done on a regular basis since 2007.
I am back to full time which I have not done for several months.

Yep, it will take some time to get back in the swing of things.

I am never very patient as I get into the swing of things. 

My class is lovely, although the timetable is like nothing I've seen before. It's a bit to get used to. There is a lot of curriculum to get to know.

love these letters....think I may spread them out a bit more

this school does VCOP (Vocab, Connectives, Openers, Punctuation)

students add to the board with sticky notes during lessons

I thought it was going to be on the easy side because I'm not teaching Science, Math, Music or PE.

However, I'm teaching:
-English, Big Writing, History, Geography, DT (Design & Technology) and Gymnastics to my Year 5 class. 
When they are in other lessons, I teach:
-English, Big Writing and History to Year 6
-Guided Reading to Year 1 one day a week
-Geography to Year 4 one day a week
-RE (overview of religions) to Year 3 one day a week
-Gymnastics for Year 3-Year 6 all afternoon on Fridays!

I'm sure everything will fall into place, but I foresee my weekends to be filled with learning about World War 2, the Tudors, Rainforests, Judaism, Slipper-making (DT), and grading English papers.

What have I got myself into??!!  The headteacher and Governors did take me and the other new teacher down to the pub Friday after school which was a nice end to the week though.

On a brighter note, I added a Music in the Classroom tab (with a few links) to keep track of music I like to play in K-1 classrooms.......please click on the tab and have a look. I was inspired by several blogs that have done posts about music recently.

What music do you like to play in your classroom? 

Follow-up FREEBIE after my FeebBurner problem

Well, since my Geometry Freebie came and went while I had a problem I didn't know about (my posts weren't feeding through your reader), I think I should try it again!

Please have a look at my TPT store and leave a comment on my blog telling me 1 item you would like for free! Leave me your email address, or email me (info {at} portfolioadvantagesystem {dot} com. Can you tell I have a crazy obsession  love for K-2 journals?!!

I am so excited about my latest job, can't wait to post some pictures and tell you about my first day next week!! This is a very different position for me! 

Have a great weekend!

This offer ends Sunday night at midnight!

Kelli xx