Actual Size Social Studies - A New Perspective on Teaching

I have come across THE most wonderful resource! I guarantee it'll change the way you think about teaching Social Studies.

When I was approached to review the resource, I wasn't sure what to expect. I mean, Social Studies is such a huge area with a huge number of ways of delivering it. I admit that I love teaching Social Studies (over here we teach each subject separately, so it's History, Geography etc). History is my "thang". Could there possibly be any avenues I hadn't explored in teaching Social Studies...? Wouldn't it be great to find a fresh approach? We all talk about needing to bring History to life for our kids, but what if they could actually step inside...?

Intrigued? Well try this for size. "Actual Size Social Studies".

Kids love making and interacting with these full-scale chalk drawings - it's the next best thing to actually being there! The book is crammed full of detailed lesson plans and precise blueprints to guide you in creating experiences your kiddos will never forget! Imagine being able to draw the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Imagine being able to step into a Viking longship or an Iroquois longhouse. Imagine their faces when they reconstruct the Statue of Liberty's torch, or help to "construct" Mount Rushmore. By turning your playground into a landscape for learning, you will be creating unique learning opportunities for your children by breathing life into history.

Have I grabbed your attention? Well read on...

The book is a treasure trove of lesson plans and precision plans. It includes a full list of vocabulary that children (and teachers...) will need when using the book.

There are 36 delightful activities, each one focused on an actual size or small scale drawing or diagram of a high interest Social Studies topic. The lesson plans are so detailed that all you have to do is gather up your resources and get to work. Each lesson consists of:

• The Activity Page - providing teaching material for how to create and use the drawing or diagram
• The Plan Page - providing the drawing or diagram itself.

Each Activity Page comes with a full list of resources, and gives step by step instructions on how to deliver the lesson - you can't go wrong. As a Brit, I was intrigued to know how the book would take on recreating Stonehenge, but the plans are amazing, and simple enough for children to follow. But my favourite has to be the Statue of Liberty's torch - it really instils a sense of proportion into children.

I absolutely love this resource. It appeals to kids of all ages and all types of learning styles. But put simply, it generates memorable and meaningful learning experiences. Think back to your own school days: what is your most memorable experience? I guarantee it will be a project or activity. 

If you invest in nothing else this year, you must give this a go. It usually costs $33.90 but Educents is offering it at a very generous 32% discount until 16th May. To find out more click here.

Appreciating Mums

My mam is amazing. So is yours. And Mother's Day gives us all a chance to tell them. In the UK, Mother's Day has been and gone, but I'll still be telling her how much I appreciate her this weekend - and every day.

Now for some amazing news... Educents is offering the MOTHER of all Giveaways!

In honour of all the awesome mums we know and love, they have put together an amazing package of gift cards, spa credit, fun educational products for kids, and even an iPad 2 with Smart Case!

The more people that sign up, the MORE prizes they give out...so here's where you come in!

All you have to do to enter is "Like" the Educents Facebook page and enter your email address (so they can let you know if you've won!) by May 12th 2013. It couldn't be simpler!

You can sign up here or here.

And if you feel like, you can spread the word to your friends to double your chances of winning and to give your mates a chance to win.

What Are YOU Doing for Teacher Appreciation Week? Did Someone Mention a Sale...? And a Giveaway?

So it's finally here - Teacher Appreciation Week. As I'm not classroom-based I miss out on all the great stuff that Teacher Appreciation brings. For me, it's just great that I get to teach the kids. It is nice, though, when they turn up bearing gifts large and small. I'd love to know how you're going to mark Teacher Appreciation Week. Do you "appreciate" the staff you work with? Do they "appreciate" you? Leave me a comment to let me know.

It's certainly true that a lot of peeps out there appreciate Holly from Fourth Grade Flipper - she's just reached the huge milestone of 500 followers (way to go, Holly!). She wants you to help her celebrate and is having a HUGE giveaway with some fabulous prizes - you won't want to miss this one. There are over 50 prizes up for grabs between now and next Sunday (12th May). Don't get left behind - you've got to be in it to win it. Pop on over to Holly's blog now to join in the fun. Oh, and I'm donating a prize too.

And who could have possibly not noticed the events that are happening all over blogland for Teacher Appreciation Week? Everyone seems to be joining in with the sales - I know my baskets are chocablock... I appreciate every single one of you for taking an interest in my ramblings and checking out my shops from time to time. To show you just how much I appreciate you I'm joining in with the sales.

WEEK-LONG SALE: Starting on May 4th and ending on May 10th I will be holding a sale on all my Teachers Notebook items. Everything is reduced by a huge 30%. In addition, those lovely people at Teachers Notebook will automatically be giving ALL customers an additional 10% off EVERY sale item that they purchase - that's a massive 40% discount!

ORIENTAL TRADING SWEEPSTAKE: Fancy a chance at winning an Oriental Trading gift card? Starting on May 4th and ending on May 10th, Oriental Trading will be giving away a $100 gift card EVERY DAY! You can come back and enter every day. Just click on the banner below to join in the fun.

Also, I am holding a sale in my TPT store. Between May 7th and May 8th everything is reduced by a whopping 20%. By using the promo code TAD13 at checkout you could save yourself a further 8% - a total 28% discount! Some items are as low as 40c - what a bargain!

Now is a great time to stock up on all your end of year resources as well as items for the new school year. You could bag my best selling "First Day Jitters" at an amazingly low price during the sale.

I'm back to school tomorrow after a long weekend (it's Bank Holiday here in the UK - a day off for May Day). Catch you all later.

Exciting News for Teacher Appreciation Week!

As a huge thank you to all my hard-working teacher friends, I am very excited to announce some fantastic events for Teacher Appreciation Week.

WEEK-LONG SALE: Starting on May 4th and ending on May 10th I will be holding a sale on all my Teachers Notebook items. Everything is reduced by a huge 30%. In addition, those lovely people at Teachers Notebook will automatically be giving ALL customers an additional 10% off EVERY sale item that they purchase - that's a massive 30% discount!

ORIENTAL TRADING SWEEPSTAKE: Fancy a chance at winning an Oriental Trading gift card? Starting on May 4th and ending on May 10th, Oriental Trading will be giving away a $100 gift card EVERY DAY! You can come back and enter every day. Just click on the banner below to join in the fun.

Also, I am holding a sale in my TPT store. Between May 7th and May 8th everything is reduced by a whopping 20%. By using the promo code TAD13 at checkout you could save yourself a further 8% - a total 28% discount! Some items are as low as 40c - what a bargain!

Now is a great time to fill up your baskets and head off to checkout. See you there...!

Staying Positive

I've been naughty. I promised you an update - and I failed! It's been hectic, but I promise to try harder and update more regularly. Can you ever forgive me..?

I do have lots of news for you, though (I really think I should do Five for Friday - perhaps next week).
Here goes:


1.  Firstly, a huge marshmallow clap to Susan C who won my Educents/Conscious Box Giveaway. Susan's box will be with her on 10 May.

2.  It was weigh-in day today. Drum roll please... dddddddddddrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr I lost another 5 lbs! That makes a total of 1stone 3lbs in 6 weeks! I'm over the moon. I knew I was a little overweight, but I hadn't realised I was carrying that much. It's amazing really. I don't look any different (not to me anyway) and I don't feel any different but the weight must have been there in the first place for it to come off.  Only another 1 stone 5lbs to go to my target weight....groan. I must stay positive.

3.  I've been on the hunt for a new post. But Merthyr isn't the kind of place where teaching jobs crop up very often - teachers tend to stay till they drop... Today I managed to apply for not one but two posts! And the best news - one of them is literally just 200 yards from home. Now, I'm not getting too excited yet as there tend to be huge amounts of applications for jobs in these here parts (450+ sometimes), but I'm staying positive.

4.  I've been hard at work in the garden. With Spring threatening to show her face I thought it was time to get out there and clear away Winter. It's a long, hard, dirty job - but it'll be worth it in the end - I'm so positive it's scary. I'm planting up a raised vegetable patch and I've got great plans for a climbing vegetable garden. The framework is all in place, now all I need is a couple of fine days to get the planting done - my greenhouse is groaning. I've got two of the cutest hanging baskets all ready to give a loving home to some Tumbling Tom tomatoes. I can't wait until it starts to shape up.

5.  Now for some classroom chatter. Last week we looked at antonyms. Most of the children had no idea what the term antonym meant. I gave them a few examples and they soon cottoned on. We paired up lots of antonyms and glued them all in place - kids just love cut and paste activities. Here are some pics for you:

 

 Some of the lower ability children worked on sounding, blending and writing CVC words. They did remarkably well with very little intervention:

This little chap is amazing. He has only been in the country for around 4 weeks. When he arrived he spoke no English at all - not a single word. But he's a confident little guy and insisted on speaking in his first language to anyone and everyone. We have been working on emergency words and phrases and vocabulary-building exercises. He could identify all of the pictures in his own language so I knew it would only be a matter of time before he took off in English. When I saw him last week I used picture cards to help him to remember words he had learned. Now, these cards are a bit like jigsaw pieces with the second piece being the matching word. How totally surprised was I to find that my little guy was actually trying to sound the words to match to the pictures! What a hero! He really earned his sticker that day.

My kids always make me positive...