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

Placement - Creating Environments Part 2

What's the Scoop?

Following the success of the play dough ice cream, I thought about adding something a little more permanent to the centre's home corner.  Following the find of this pin on Pinterest, I found a way to use the utensils I had bought for the play dough and further extend on the previous sensory experience. After collecting the materials, I set to work. You will need ping pong balls and some appropriately coloured wool or yarn.

They are so simple to make, simply sticky tape a piece of coloured wool to the ping pong balls and wind the string around until you have can't see any of the ping pong ball colour. I used a total of 24 balls but feel free to make more or less depending on numbers in your room. I would suggest wrapping the wool super tight and tying it off really well as some of the children managed to unravel the wool or break the knot I had used when trying to pull the ball out of the cones.

Besides these, you can find everything else in-store. I picked up the ice cream scoops from Kmart for only $2 and the porcelain cones from Typo, $3 for 4. If you can make it to the Southern Cross Station DFO, Melbourne, there are currently sitting on the sale shelf!

I set the environment up before the children could arrive, so they arrived to this scene...  

Plenty of play ensured...

This was one of the best environments I have had the pleasure of setting up. It was so easy and simple and yet the children found such joy and happiness when they were engaging with it. The staff were equally impressed, at the set up and the materials used to create this set up.

This is definitely one I will be saving to use again, in my own classroom!

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

Off the Shelf - A Call for a New Alphabet

Hello!

This week's book to be featured is 'A Call for a New Alphabet' by Jef Czekaj. I was originally expected a run of the mill alphabet book in which the letter 'X' plays some form of commentary but I was so thankfully surprised.

I bought the book at Booktopia's Moving Sale, for $1.95, a total steal! You can view the book trailer below...

The story focuses on a class vote to change the order of the alphabet after X expressed his disdain for his placement. Along the way we learn about grammatical rules and spelling patterns while listening to how other letters feel about their place in the alphabet. The resolution of the story explains why our alphabet looks the way it does.

The book begins as a traditional picture book however transforms to take the appearance of a comic book, or graphic novel. The 'blended narrative' style of the book asks the reader to use their multi-literacy skills to interpret the dialogue on which the story rests. 

 

I absolutely loved the book and the way it incorporated the standard rules and conventions of language in a funny and relative way for children. I'm so disappointing that this will just fly over the kindergartner's heads but this is definitely one to share with your class after they have grasped the concept of alphabetical order, grammar and spelling rules and patterns. 

Outside a read aloud, the book continues to have merit with creating your own alphabet character, reordering the alphabet yourself and descriptions of what you would like to be among some of them.  This is one book to hold onto for when I start my primary school placements and one to add to your growing collection!

Grab it from Booktopia, Book Depository or Amazon!

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

Style File - Placement Day 4

Shirt Dotti $9.95

Leggings Cotton On Body Active $10.00

Gumboots Big W $25.00

Miss Tracy xx

Off the Shelf - I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen

Hi all!

Due to one of my more recent assignments, I have had to peruse the shelves for good quality children's literature. After reading the good, the bad, and the never-to-be-shared, I decided that it was only fair to share my discoveries with you. So this new section was born: Off The Shelf!

The book I ended up choosing for the said assignment was 'I Want My Hat Back', by Jon Klassen. This book was first brought to my attention during a lecture in relation to picture book series', as it is the predecessor to the Caldecott winner by the same author, 'This Is Not My Hat'.

Above is the book trailer and summarises the book perfectly; a bear has lost his precious hat and resorts to asking his friends if they have seen it. Little does he know that one of his friends may have taken it to begin with!

The book has the overarching message of lying and theft but uses timing, suspense and inference to present its key messages. The text is structured like a conversation but who is speaking is differentiated using colours rather than quotation marks.

The illustrations are beautiful to look at and add to the meaning of the text; the last 4-5 pages of the text is wordless so it is through the images that we see how the bear's story ends.


I have used this book with kindergarten aged children but it can be utilized with older children as well. Be sure to ask the children for their end responses; if you had some like mine, they will really shock you!

No spoilers but the ending is great! I would definitely be hanging on to this book for years to come.

Check your local or school library to see if they have a copy or grab one off Book Depository or Amazon.

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

My Educational App Collection

Good morning all,

I have been posting a few app reviews lately and thought it was about time I showed you my app collection. It's taking a while to come up with this many educational apps and I have had some great sources; the Ipadopedia, a children's literature unit I took in first semester and a music education unit I just completed.

But lately I have found a new source, the Education section of the iTunes store. This section of the store caters for varying levels of education, from early childhood straight up to self education for adults. It is meticulously organised, much like my iPad, and has great sections:

• Reading
• Maths
• Physics 
• Chemistry
• Music
• Writing
• Life Science
• Geography
• Astronomy and Earth Science

And so we begin the journey through my iPad! I have provided a picture of each folder and the apps they contain and what section I find them useful to store under.

LMST BLOG

• Dropbox
• Pic Stitch
• Pinterest
• Tumblr
• Blogger
• Twitter
• Mailbox

COACHING

• Coach My Video
• Ubersense

DEMONSTRATIONS

• Educreations Interactive Whiteboard
• bContext
• Class Act Lite
• Show Me
• Brain Pop

DIAGRAMS

• Mind Meister
• Prezi
• Lovely Charts

DOCUMENTING

• iZip
• Jot Not
• Evernote

LITERACY

• Story Wheel
• Chain Story
• Outline
• Claro
• Rhyme Zone
• Character Prompts
• Writing Prompts
• A Novel Idea
• Poetry Creator

MANAGEMENT

• Teacher Kit
• iStudiez Lite
• Chore Pad HD
• Pocket Picture Planner

MATHS

• Algebra Touch
• CALC
• FluidMath
• Soulver
• Mathletics Student
• Calculator 
• iMathematics
• Triangle Solver

MEASUREMENT

• Multi Measures HD
• Tuner Lite
• Pano Tuner
• MultiMeasure 
• M Tools
• Timer+
• iSetSquare

MUSIC

• Baby Chords
• Sound Prism
• Electric Guitar!
• Magic Zither
• Core Synth HD
• Music Sparkles
• GarageBand

SCIENCE & GEOGRAPHY

• The Human Body
• iCell
• Planets
• Google Earth
• Memory of Colours

SOUND MANAGEMENT 

• Too Noisy
• Decibel 10th

And as usual, all apps I have posted today are available on the App Store however please note some are free and some are paid so please check before you press the little green button!

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

In Review - Blogger, the App

Good morning!

Now, I'm sure many of you readers also maintain a blog and perhaps even use Blogger as your preferred platform but how many of you knew that Blogger had an app?

I came across the app awhile ago, completely by accident, and since it cost me a total of zero cents I promptly downloaded it. After playing around with it for a bit and placing it in the 'LMST Blog' app folder on my iPhone, I finally got a feel for what I could this app for.

The app itself is quite easy to get the feel for, you log in and you will see the first screen on the photo set below. From this menu you can see your posts, both published and scheduled and your blog. The blog view is similar to that of the second picture in the photo set above, only it will be your blog! The post list view, shown in the second photo below, is quite similar to that of the web version of Blogger however less tags are shown. From this menu you can also edit or delete these posts by simply pressing the encircled arrow.

You can also change the app's settings and create new posts from here. And this is where my problem with the app begins. As you can see from the third photo featured above, there are similar inputs as the web version, post title, post content, labels and locations. There are also the options to add photos, either from your mobile library or by using the camera. However not similar to the web version is the easy ability to create text, move photo around, add links and format text; some of these features are not even present while others take time and plenty of patience to take form.

While these are deal breakers for me using the app solely for blogging, it doesn't stop me from using the app to make quick fixes and check up on scheduling dates. Check out the app for yourself and let me know what you will do with the app! 

DOWNLOAD THE BLOGGER APP 

Perhaps my next review will be on the web version of Blogger? You never know!

Miss Tracy xx

Assignment File - The Grammar Booklet

Hi all,

I completed a lot of assignments last year but this one was one of my favourites, which is saying a lot! The task was to complete a set of concept maps for a list of grammatical items we were given.

We were given the list at the beginning of the semester and the due date was set sometime during Week 10, after our vacation week. Each week during our tutorials, a group of 2-3 people would present a short PowerPoint on the grammatical item of the week and we were expected to take notes, ask questions and prepare the appropriate mind-map in our own time.

For our presentation, My partner K and I chose 'Type of Nouns' and rather then a PowerPoint, prepared a Prezi to share with the class. These presentations were worth 10% of our final grade and the both of us walked away with a HD.

We had the choice of how to create our maps and I went with Lovely Charts. I had used the online program in high-school on a PC; I loved how clean and professional the final product looked without using default fonts like Times New Roman and Verdana. So when I revisited their site and saw that they had an app, I looked into it. Now usually I only go for free apps, but at $5.50 I knew how good this program was and happily clicked 'buy now'.

The app is painfully easy to use and the part is its save function; you can email the diagram to yourself in a variety of formats. The only limitation I found with the app was the color schemes available; while there a plenty of nice colours there, I would have liked to be able to customise and mix the schemes. Besides that, use your fingers to draw shapes, use two finger to connect shapes and one finger to drag. There it is, painfully simple!

The original idea I had was to do two mind maps a week when I had the time but as things worked out, I majority of the work until the vacation week. Luckily I finished and had about 17 mind maps at the end of my ordeal which looked something like the one below...

But creating countless mind maps was not enough for my tutor, we had to make a grammar BOOKLET. So off to Officeworks I ran to get this piece of hard work bound. I choose the Pro-Click binding for this assignment as we were permitted to bring this into our exam and had I made a mistake, I would like to have had the option to change my mind map. One of my favourite components of this assignment was the fact that we had to include an acknowledgment thanking our classmates for their input since we used information from others presentations. I was really happy with my final product and thankfully, so was my tutor which reflected in my mark, another HD!

Miss Tracy xx