The Learning Curve

This simple Anzac Day craft idea would be perfect for Australian or New Zealand children commemorating Anzac Day. It could be also used in a study of Australiana. The file includes the templates and simple instructions to make this craft. Anzac Day is an important holiday in both Australia and New Zealand. We remember the diggers of World War I and others who have served since.

These cards have photos and words to show the animal babies and corresponding parents. These cards can be used for various activities in Science or Literacy such as sorting, matching, reading and phonics activities. They could also be used for card games such as Snap or Go Fish, or as cards for a word wall or in a learning centre. They would be useful when teaching children science concepts about growing and changing as well as life cycles. There is a variety of animal types including farm anima

This PowerPoint presentation is to be used as a whole class game to review the concept of common nouns and proper nouns. The file is editable so that you can include nouns that are relevant to your students - add your name, your principal, your school, your city, your students' names. The game is very simple to play - you show the slideshow and the students sit if it is a common noun or stand (tall like a capital) if it is a proper noun. It is only a quick game but a great review and a fun warm-

This set comprises of ten cards to be used as a resource for students when writing an Animal Report. The information consists of basic keywords and phrases which can be used by students to construct their own sentences. This is a great way to scaffold note taking skills. When students experience using these notes to create their own written report, they build a better understanding of the purpose of note taking. These Animal Report Notes can be printed and laminated for use by many students. Th

This very simple worksheet is designed as an assessment task for my students. They need to write the correct months for the seasons into the spaces around the edge of the wheel. The spaces for each season allow for differentiated assessment since it is open-ended. The simplest response is to draw a symbol or choose a colour for each season. The next level up would be to write the typical weather and a favourite activity into each section. The extension activity is to write special days that occ

This unit is a series of activities and experiments designed to introduce children to science ideas such as fair tests and the scientific process. There are three experiments that guide students through the process of asking a question, making an hypothesis, carrying out an experiment, recording observations, and making conclusions. The three experiments give children opportunities to learn more about fascinating mealworms. This unit was written as part of a larger unit on growing and changing.

This file contains a number of resources that are designed to get the most out of cooking Anzac Biscuits with your class. There is a recipe to follow, or to use as a sample procedural text, a cloze version focusing on verbs, a comprehension sheet, an adjective activity, a recount writing template and a Venn diagram to compare the two similar texts. All of these items are designed to support the implementation of the Australian Curriculum for English in Year 2, but of course other students will e

This is a series of engaging and motivating activities and suggestion for using E.B. White's much-loved novel, Charlotte's Web, with students in Grades 2 to 4. Activities are primarily hands-on active learning experiences that aim to develop higher order thinking skills, foster co-operative skills and extend students' comprehension, grammar and vocabulary skills. Concepts explored include compound words, verbs (including saying verbs, commands and thinking and feeling verbs), persuasive texts,

This Powerpoint presentation is designed to introduce the various sections of a written report in a visual way. Visual icons are used to represent the different sections of the report. This makes it easier for early readers and writers to locate the information they need from the notes and to record their own sentences in the right sections of the report. This powerpoint complements the Animal Report Notes, as well as the various writing guides for Animal Reports available as free downloads.

This basic table is designed to be used by students to create their own calendar page. The table is to be printed onto A4 or letter sized paper and then students write the days of the week across the top and add numbers to the squares to make the calendar. This page is then glued onto a larger piece of paper (such as A3) in a contrasting colour and students create a header for the month name and decorate the page as appropriate. Each child could make their own calendar or they can compile the pa

A comprehension sheet to accompany a simple Anzac Day poem by an unknown author: Why are they selling poppies, Mummy? The worksheet has a copy of the poem and some simple multiple choice questions. Perfect for Anzac Day!

These very handy desktop placemats are great for use in class or for homework help. They are designed to be printed on double-sided A3 paper or light card and laminated for long term use. I use these placemats everyday in my classroom for Math warm-ups, assistance with spelling, handwriting and math problems, and for classroom organisation. I move the placemats to the desks where I want students to work so they know where to go to get started right away on a group or independent work activity. T

This is a worksheet which guides students through the scientific process to conduct a simple experiment to determine the best surface over which Santa should pull his sleigh. Through this simple investigation students explore the effects of friction and learn to control variables to make a fair test. This is a fun Christmas experiment that I did with Year 2 students (seven-year-olds) but could easily be done with much older students. We used spring balances to measure the force in Newtons which

This worksheet is designed to assess students' ability to use a calendar to locate a given date and to determine the number of days in a month. There are twenty questions. The file is a word document so that you can edit the questions to suit a particular calendar (since not all calendars will have the same information or features) or to make it easier or harder for your students, or to suit a different year. This assessment task is particularly suitable for the Year 2 Australian Mathematics Cur

These very handy desktop placemats are great for use in class or for homework help. They are designed to be printed on double-sided A3 paper or light card and laminated for long term use. I use these placemats everyday in my classroom for Math warm-ups, assistance with spelling, handwriting and math problems, and for classroom organisation. I move the placemats to the desks where I want students to work so they know where to go to get started right away on a group or independent work activity. T

This Valentine's Day activity by The Learning Curve is suitable for 1st and 2nd Graders who are developing an understanding of place value. Students can place counters on their 100 board or colour the given squares to make a heart shape. The activity could be used with a whole class using an interactive 100 board on an interactive white board or as a small group activity or center activity.

This classic science experiment involves planting a number of seeds in a jar and covering the outside of the jar with a paper sleeve. Students check the progress of their seeds and sprouts each day and determine if it matters in which direction they planted the seeds originally. This experiment works well with bean seeds because they are big enough for the children to see the different parts of the seeds.

This template gives younger students a guide while writing reports about animals. The icons down the side are a visual representation designed to assist early readers in tracking the sections. Students write a title in the top box and then record their ideas on the paper. The lines for writing are dotted thirds. The sub-sections for the report are classification, appearance, behaviour, habitat, diet, life cycle and closing statement. This template can be used with the matching PowerPoint presen

This is an advent liturgy suitable for primary school children. It could be used for prayer or devotion. If you would like to see how I used this in my classroom, read my Learning Curve blogpost here: http://thelcurve.blogspot.com.au/2013/01/tis-season-well-it-was.html The liturgy is a very simple devotion based on the idea of the Jesse Tree. The liturgy can be easily adapted to suit your own class.

We are reading Charlotte's Web next term so I am busily reading the novel (again - love this book!) and devising activities that will be useful for people wanting to teach core English objectives using Charlotte's Web as a springboard. This is only activties for the first chapter. I am working on the rest! This chapter has activities for vocabulary and comprehension as well as saying verbs and persuasive texts. To be kind to the environment and to avoid "death by blackline master", I am trying t