Placement - Creating Environments Part 5

Hello!

Keeping with the children's interest in the home corner, imaginary play and the letter of the week theme, I began to look for some environment ideas during my full control week. After perusing Pinterest, I came up with the idea of creating a felt board pizza!

After a trip to my local Spotlight, a large chain craft store, where I purchased an A4 multi-coloured felt set, an A3 piece of stiff brown felt, I returned home and looked at what exactly goes into a pizza.

I found this pin, which also has some great ideas for other felt board designs, and decided to include the following toppings:

• cheese
• ham
• pepperoni
• mushroom
• capsicum
• chicken 
• olives 

It was painstakingly difficult to cut out some of the shapes on the felt and because I traced the shapes on the felt with permanent marker you can see the outline where my cutting was a little off but the end result was pretty good...

I thought the pizza box would add a nice touch so imagine the face of our local pizza hut guy when I asked if I could have a clean empty box alongside my thin and crispy super supreme! I added picture and word labels to the toppings box and besides the large mirror sign and sectioned container of toppings, I also added a small notepad and pen so the children could 'take orders'. During their play, one child suggested we add in a phone so people could call and tell us while another suggested we get a car so we could deliver!

From the pictures and observations, it looks like they had a lot of fun...

This set up encouraged the children to talk about what they wanted to have on their pizza, to consider others as they completed order and encouraged them to use letters and words to symbolise any orders on the note pad. They became very adept at sectioning and sorting the ingredients during pack up time and were quick to tell each other how to take care of their new toy.

It was so cheap and easy to make, minor my small embarrassment at Pizza Hut, and the quality of play that occurred as a result was amazing!

Felt and felt boards is definitely something I want to further play around with and experiment with in the future so stay tuned for any new developments!

Miss Tracy xx

Style File - Block Placement Series

Cardigan Target Essentials $10.00

Dress boohoo.com $Unknown

Necklace Louvisa $Unknown

Bracelet Louvisa $Unknown

Shoes Famous Footwear $19.95

Miss Tracy xx

Style File - Block Placement Series

Cardigan Target Essentials $10.00

Top Temt $10.00

Pants City Dressing Target $10.00

Shoes Famous Footwear $19.95

Miss Tracy xx 

Style File - Block Placement Series

Cardigan Target Essentials $10.00

Dress Babe Fashion $15.00

Necklace Dotti $12.95

Hosiery Target Essentials $4.00

Shoes Famous Footwear $19.95

Miss Tracy xx

Style File - Placement Day 8

Jacket Forever New $89.95

Top Forcast $7.50

Skirt Temt $15.00

Shoes Famous Footwear $19.95

Bag Forever New $89.95

Miss Tracy xx

Style File - Placement Day 7

Coat Target $19.00

Top Temt $10.00

Cardigan Target Essentials $10.00

Pants Target Essentials $10.00

Shoes Famous Footwear $19.95

Bag Equip $19.00

Miss Tracy xx

Style File - Placement Day 6

Shirt Cotton On $10.00

Cardigan Target Essentials $10.00

Pants Target Essential $10.00

Necklace Dotti $2.50

Shoes Novo Shoes $11.25 

Miss Tracy xx

Style File - Placement Day 5

Dress Valleygirl $19.95

Blazer Kmart $20.00

Necklace Colette by Colette Hayman $9.95 for 4

Shoes Famous Footwear $19.95

Miss Tracy xx 

Style File - First Aid Training

Top Valleygirl $14.95

Pullover Forcast $11.70

Jacket Forever New $89.95

Bag Equip $19.95

Miss Tracy xx

Professional Learning in South East Melbourne

Hi all,

As most of you know, last year I attended a professional learning workshop set up by my local council, Glen Eira. Following that event, I have kept my eye open on what events have been coming up and was surprised to see the following list for 2014:

This year includes a lot of interesting and relevant workshops for parents and guardians and I have already attended the Austism Spectrum Disorder seminar held in last week. These are primarily marketed to parents but do have value for those working in the early childhood sector.

These workshops have proven extremely informative for me as a student and are an invaluable. The way that content is delivered is so direct and straightforward that it leaves no room for misinterpretation or confusion. If you do have questions, the presenters has shown themselves as willing and approachable, including staying back far beyond the finishing time to take individual questions and concerns.

From those I have experienced, the presenters are qualified and knowledgeable in their fields and in this environment, bring a lot more context and quality to their words than if I had heard it in a lecture hall. If you do have the luck to be in a seminar with other professionals, the dynamic of the presentation completely changes. The questions asked are more insightful and relevant to the early childhood workplace and are often focused towards the application of theory rather than its origin.

As a student I cannot recommend these sessions enough and for $6-7 a session, it is much more affordable than attending say a conference or an exhibition. Since they don't usually last more than 2 hours and are later at night, they are also easy to schedule around work and study commitments.

When I do fill in the feedback forms, the only suggestions I have had is that Power Points and notes be provided in a take home pack and that there be a period where parents and/or educators get a chance to speak with other and network before and/or after the workshop.  

Glen Eira Town Hall - where majority of the sessions take place 

While those listed and discussed are only those featured in the Glen Eira and Stonnington Council areas, I am sure if you look a little a little deeper into your council website, you will be able to find something similiar.

Miss Tracy xx

Style File - Placement Day 4

Shirt Dotti $9.95

Leggings Cotton On Body Active $10.00

Gumboots Big W $25.00

Miss Tracy xx

Style File - Placement Day 3

Cardigan Target Essentials $10.00 

Dress Dotti $29.95

Handbag Colette by Colette Hayman $49.95

Necklace Diva $10for3items 

Miss Tracy xx

Style File - Placement Day 2

Cardigan Target Essentials $10.00

Shirt Target City Dressing $15.00

Handbag Forever New $39.95

Necklace Colette by Colette Hayman $9.00

Sunglasses Temt $10.00

Miss Tracy xx

Style File - Placement Day 1

Cardigan Target Essentials $10.00

Shirt Dotti $19.95

Skirt Temt $15.00

Shoes Famous Footwear $19.99

Miss Tracy xx

In Review - The Teacher's IpadoPedia

Hey readers,

Recently I decided to peruse the (free) shelves on the iTunes bookstore and was astounded by the number of free books available in the education section. I came across textbooks, guides and many other wonderful things and promptly downloaded all that I could see. The first book I decided to read was 'The Teacher's IpadoPedia, An A-Z of using iPads in the classroom' by Philip Johnston.

The Teacher's IpadoPedia

An A-Z of Using iPads in the Classroom

Philip Johnston

After my first placement and some of the material we have been covering in class, I have come to realise what an impact technology can have in the classroom, both good and bad, and how this comes into play when I eventually am in the classroom. For these reasons, I decided to go with this book first and was pleasantly surprised with what I had found.

This book blew my mind! Not only was it incredibly well written and set out, Johnston commented on a large range of topics including:

• attendance 
• managing homework
• archiving
• coaching
• photocopying
• quizzing
• creative writing
• taking notes

The book is divided into categories, with app listed which can either perform a task or help aid the process of the mentioned categories. Not only is there a wide range of apps, free and paid, to cover the categories but the book is cross references when apps have multiple functions. 

The actual layout of the book is clean with small chunks of information and plenty of pictures to accompany. The great thing about this being an eBook is that often the text is interactive! Beside the text, you will often find videos which demonstrate an app and how it works and text is often hyper-linked to show you exactly what app you should download and where to find them.

I have already downloaded some of the apps and can see their potential for use of them in the classroom. Other I have been able to integrate into my university life! Overall I enjoyed reading this book, it was not text heavy, it flowed well, you could jump chapters without feeling lost and the interactive nature made finding what Johnston what talking about incredibly easy.   

Philip Johnston has also step up a great website for the book which includes sample pages, links to download the book as well as a contact page if you would like to speak with the author. The website can be found here.

As Johnston said in the foreword, reading this book does not mean you have to apply everything that you read about but rather take what you like and make it work for your classroom. There are some great apps listed and the great thing is the discovery, while Johnston may list the app for one use, you could find a totally new use, either for the classroom or for your personal life!

For those of you who are still unsure, you have nothing to lose as this book is 100% free to download from the iBookstore!

Stay tuned as I discover more education eBooks from the iTunes bookstore!

Miss Tracy xx 

Style File - Introductory Visit

Blazer Dotti $29.95

Top Dotti $9.95
Leggings Cotton On Body Active $10.00

Shoes Famous Footwear $20.00

Bag Colette $49.95

Necklace Colette $4.00

Miss Tracy xx

Highschool Reunion!

Hey there!

So from what the movies have told me, when people hear 'high-school reunion', they usually scream and run for the hills! Being only a year out from the institution, I was looking forward to my first year reunion so when I received an invitation to help organise the event, I jumped at the opportunity.

While at school, I didn't have much contact with our Alumnae department; there never seems to be the perfect time to meet the people you won't see until after high-school! When I got the email from the wonderful S, a member of our Alumnae department, I didn't really know what I was getting myself into.

Plenty emails back and forth later, we had settled on a date and sent out a mass text message save the date to my year level. Educated in the age of technology, we used a Facebook poll to decide which date could have the most people attend and planned accordingly.

Next step was the invitation; to be simple, aesthetically pleasing and audience appropriate. I originally designed three proofs and had a personal favourite, featuring the official Pantone colours of my school's logo. This mock-up ended up being everyone's favourite and was the invitation sent out. I removed the details, but here's a good look at the final product...

Next was the decorations. With a budget of $50, I managed to score balloons, streamers, napkins, two table runners, balloon clips and pipes and hot glue sticks. The table runners were glued together and I fashioned hot balloon centre-pieces from various recyclable materials. The Alumnae department has a perpetual banner, featured below, and a banner is printed for the associated year level. The food was catered, from a nearby cafe and including hot food, sandwiches, fruit platter, dessert platters, drinks and a gluten free and vegetarian alternative, it came to around $10.50 a head. Have a look at the end result... 

The night went really well! Something around 35 people turned up, not including staff from the school. The girls all loved it and could not stop talking to each other. Some girls who left before year 12 were even in attendance. We all laughed over slideshows and photo videos and highly out of the ordinary for our year level...there was no drama!

This experience has been one in a million. It reminded me how much I enjoy event planning and budgeting and how much the little details matter.I even had a chance to let my creative juices flow. I managed to do all this during the peak of the semester so my time planning skills were out of this world!

Working collaboratively with S has been such a learning opportunity and I cannot thank here enough for allowing me this opportunity; I can't wait for the next big event I am part of. The following is a copy of the reunion report written (by me)  for the Class of 2012's first year reunion to be featured in the school newsletter and /or yearbook...

Looking ahead, I can't wait for the next reunion and hopefully, I will be able to assist again!

Have you helped organise an old school event? 

What's your experience with reunions?

What did you think of our handiwork?

Fill me in!

Miss Tracy xx

Resource Find - Free Education Books

Hi everyone,

Well recently I have really discovered how expensive uni books are. Each semester, I spend around $450 on textbooks alone, ones that are readily available at my library. BUT... they are on limited loans. Limited loans range from 2 hours, 1 day, 2 days, 3 days and 7 days. For someone studying for the whole semester, I cannot make do with these loans if my assignments focus on the set texts.

So you can understand my surprise when I saw a sign saying free books near a trolley out the front of the library! The first few times there were some good books but for other faculty's. But I persisted and recently found the best education haul yet!

Teacher Education in the English Speaking World; Past, Present and Future

Edited by Tom O'Donoghue and Clive Whitehead

500 Tips for Open and Online Learning

Phil Race

Critical Readings in Teacher Education; Provoking Absences

Anne Phelan and Jennifer Sumsion

Becoming a Teacher; Knowledge, Skills and Issues

Colin Marsh

Advances in Web Based Education; Personalized Learning Environments

George D. Magoulas and Sherry Y. Chen

The toal values of the books is something around $400 and I managed to snag them for absolutely nothing! From a quick look through, the books look great and my hope is that I can use them for assignments, further resourcing and during my actual time in the classroom.

Most are the second latest edition, so my guess for their removal from the library is that they have bought the latest edition. My only complaint so far is that I had to lug all of them home in my handbag!

Stay tuned to see reviews when I get a chance to really scour them, perhaps I'll even use my new bookmarks from Knock Knock stationery!

Does your university give out free books?

What have you been lucky enough to find?

Wish your university gave out free books?

Send me a line at any of the LMST sites!

Miss Tracy xx

Style File - Block Placement Series

Shirt ICE Clothing $ 10.00

Skirt Valleygirl $20.00

Shoes Novo $20.00

Miss Tracy xx

Style File - Block Placement Series

Cardigan Target Essentials $10.00

Dress Cotton On $10.00

Sandals Ghanda Australia $12.50

Miss Tracy xx