5 Ways to Use Letter Bricks

It's no secret that LEGO and DUPLO are more popular with young children than ever. Little Man spends ages building towers with DUPLO and Miss M creates some amazing, creative constructions out of her LEGO. It's always a popular choice of activity in my classroom and is so open ended with infinite possibilities!

So naturally, if you can find a way to tap into this interest to incorporate some more Literacy and Numeracy with your own children or children in your care - why wouldn't you take that opportunity? Recently I connected with the small business Lime Tree Kids, and they were kind enough to send us some Coko lower case letter bricks to feature on the blog. Both of my kids loved playing with them and it didn't take me long to come up with a list of 5 different ways to play with them!

The great thing with these bricks is that they still connect to regular DUPLO bricks as well as the base, so you can easily add them to your existing collection.

So when I first presented these to Little Man - this is what he did...

...followed by his rendition of the alphabet song, pointing at any random letter he wanted to. But this is great! This is where it all starts people!!

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BOOK WEEK 2018: Find Your Treasure

BOOK WEEK is here!! I just love this year's theme Find Your Treasure, don't you? Taking place across the country from the 18th - 24th August, teachers are preparing their engaging activities and parents have (most likely) organised their child's costume.

To me, books themselves are treasured items. Your child's favourite book is a treasure. The one you've read to them over and over again, so often that they can recite it by heart. But of course there are some more literal ways to interpret this year's theme... here are some of my favourite activities!

This is a sponsored post as part of my Brand Ambassadorship with Teach Starter. 

Image Credit - CBCA

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Learning the Alphabet before starting school

Children’s minds are like little sponges, soaking up anything and everything they are exposed to in the early years. There are so many ways to introduce them to the letters of the alphabet in their leading up to formal schooling. They will, of course do a lot of this in their first term of school, but being familiar with the alphabet will give them that little head start.

Now I’m not suggesting to bombard them with worksheets and make them write their letters ten times over – if you’ve been following me for a while you’ll know that I’m all about play based learning and I have done so many alphabet posts before (just search “alphabet”). I also want to advise you not to put pressure on your child or yourself that they “must know every letter before they start school”. Some children take longer than others, and some will be ready before others. These days there is also a huge age variation among Reception/Prep classes. Some children might be four and a half, some children might be approaching six years of age. Today’s post is more about proving a print rich environment using some of the fantastic products from Bright Star Kids.

This is a sponsored post as part of my Brand Ambassadorship with Bright Star Kids.

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Learn and Grow with the New Officeworks Range

Don't you just love wandering the aisles of Officeworks? All that pretty colour coded and matching stationery makes me feel like I could be the most organised teacher ever. Miss M shares my love of pretty stationery and is always so excited to simply just buy a new pen or notepad, but Officeworks recently launched their new Learn and Grow range, opening up a whole new world of kid's products and I'm sure it will fast become one of their favourite shops too!

Please note, this is not a sponsored post, although we were lucky enough to be invited to the launch of this new product range which included a very generous goodie bag! I couldn't help but show you some of the products in more detail here on the blog. 

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A Little Penguin's Guide to Life {Book Review}

When the title of this book first popped up in my Facebook feed, it immediately caught my eye. I was intrigued! I fell in love with the book even more when I received it, turned to the first page and began reading it to my children.

*cue heart melting

A Little Penguin's Guide to Life is a children's book about life's most important lessons (ten to be precise). In the words of the creator herself, it's more than a picture book. It's an emotional developmental tool. Think of it like a handbook.

The book has been written and developed by Chantelle and Ali Terai, and 'Little Penguin' is based on their son Marcel. He was at the forefront of their minds when writing the book. Chantelle, like me is a school teacher and Ali who has previously worked in education and now runs his own business. They are just your ordinary couple who dreamed of creating something special - and they have! So that's why I'm helping them to spread the word.

Kindly gifted for the purpose of this review. Not sponsored. 

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LATEST Book Release from Zanni Louise!

*1st March launch

You may have heard of the Australian author Zanni Louise as I've reviewed two of her books before; Archie and the Bear and Too Busy Sleeping (which is still a favourite of Miss M's - she's actually bringing it in to school for show and tell as her favourite book). Well, today on her launch day, I'd like to introduce you to a new super fun and quirky character who has just started school.

Everyone, meet Tiggy.

"Tiggy's special magic paintbrush can help her solve any problem... except sometimes her magic paintbrush creates brand new problems for Tiggy and her imagination to fix!"

Kindly gifted for the purpose of this review. 

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Our latest craft contributions for Inspire Book Box

Did you know that I'm one of the regular contributors to Inspire Book Box? Every second month I'll come up with an art and craft activity that ties in with the theme and key text from that month's book box. I really love how children's reading and literacy is being extended into the arts (and cooking too!) through these comprehensive packs. Here's my previous post with my very first activity contribution + review.

Inspire Book Box is so much more than a book delivery. It's almost like a mini unit of work carefully curated and themed to match the picture book perfectly, and that's why I'm so proud to be part of the team. It really warms my heart to see other children all over the country enjoying my activities after their Inspire Book Boxes have arrived in the post!

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Helping your child learn to read with Reading Eggs

Learning to read is one of the most important skills your child will learn. Naturally as a parent you want to know how you can help them learn to read at home. The first thing I always recommend is reading aloud to your children every night, but as they begin to show an interest in letters, words, and 'having a go' at reading themselves - I'd suggest you grab your device and give Reading Eggs a try (Right now, they are offering a limited time 4 week free trial when you sign up at www.readingeggs.com.au/teachertypes before 20 Feb!) 

This is a sponsored post. All opinions are my own :)

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The Perfect Book for Literacy & Numeracy Week

This brainwave came to me the other day and I couldn't wait to write about it and explore the book Uno's Garden with my Year 2 class - as part of Literacy and Numeracy week.

Graeme Base would have to be one of my favourite Australian illustrators (and authors of course but I feel his art work really needed a mention - did you know that original art works from the books sell for up to $50,000???). They detail is absolutely brilliant and the reader gets completed enthralled in the story thanks to the imagery.

Uno's Garden at it's core, is a story about how fragile the environment is, and how society needs to strive to create a balance between creatures, man made structures, and plant life. It uses multiplication concepts to do so, both increasing in numbers, and decreasing - even touching on square numbers. The mythical creatures and plants are so fun and creative!

Image Credit

Literacy and Numeracy week is all about integrating these two learning areas together, and what better way to do that than with books about numbers?

Let me explain Uno's Garden a bit more...

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Brilliant Book Week Resources & Lesson Plans

BOOK WEEK is here! It's a time to celebrate our favourite books and immerse ourselves in the joy of reading. The CBCA winning books have been announced and children all over the country are getting their Book Week costumes organised. Teacher's are planning their lessons - and with the help of Teach Starter, I've found some fantastic resources you might like to check out.

This is a sponsored post as part of my Brand Ambassadorship with Teach Starter. 

Let's start by discussing the theme - Escape to Everywhere...

A very imaginative theme, as we explore how books allow us to escape into another world. Kicking off this collection of resources with a classroom banner - giving students a starting point for their thinking about the theme. Will they escape to outer space or into a fairy tale castle? A great story writing prompt or story book investigation.

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Be Inspired by Inspire Book Box

I'm a big fan of monthly subscription packs for kids, and I've been lucky enough to review a few of them on the blog (I'm actually planning a round up post of all of them!). But this month I actually got to contribute to one! Roxanne from Inspire Book Box contacted me to see if I'd be interested in partnering with her business to come up with a book inspired art + craft activity to be included with the July book boxes. I have always said that a child can never have too many books - so I thought this subscription program was a fantastic idea! This month's theme was friendship and the key text was "Oliver and Patch" by Claire Freedman. So I got my thinking cap on and got to work...

Kindly gifted for the purpose of this review (not sponsored). 

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Games & Story Telling {My Little Set}

Hi everyone!
The blog has been a little quieter than normal this month, I've been busy at work taking on some extra relief days in a variety of classes across the school (which I've been loving) and of course the kids can be a handful when we're at home!

So today I'm pleased to bring you another brilliant product review with a focus on early learning (by the way if you're ever interested in browsing the other product reviews I've done, just look for the "review" label on my side bar, or if you're on mobile, scroll to the end and you should find it). 

We were recently sent two "My Little Set" sets of wooden discs that I'd love to share with you (kindly gifted for the purpose of this review).

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Archie and The Bear {Book Review}

Book reviews are one of my favourite types of posts here at Teacher Types! Books are such an important part of childhood and if I can introduce you to a new book, or give you some activity ideas based on a brilliant book - well then I'm going to do just that.

You may remember Zanni Louise, author of Too Busy Sleeping (which I reviewed back in 2015 before Little Man's arrival and it's still a favourite in this house). I was so excited to hear that Zanni's new book Archie and the Bear was going on a blog tour and of course I put my hand up! Kindly gifted for the purpose of this review.

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Following Up With The Sunshine Collective {GIVEAWAY}

Since I went back to work, Miss M has been super interested in "school work". She wants to know what the kids do all, day. I bring home spare worksheets for her to colour in and our dining table has quickly been taken over by "art". Endless pieces of paper, mini books, crayons and pencils, scissors and glue. And the best part is that she wants to learn! Her pictures are really starting to look like actual things with more detail. She explains what she's drawn and writes her name and numbers. She draws treasure maps and then we go on adventures in the back yard, and tick things off our scavenger hunt list as we go.


And she's almost four! It really is an awesome age!


Do you remember this product review I did for The Sunshine Collective? In particular we worked our way through the Preschool box, ideal for Miss M's age. Well on Friday afternoon we zipped to the post office before they closed to pick up our Foundation (reception/prep/first year of school) box to try out. Keep reading to find out how you can win one tailer made for your child.




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A Ferret Named Phil {The Sequel}

Remember this little guy?

If you don't, click here before you read on.

Phil the Ferret is back with a new story filled with fun and excitement at the circus - "A Ferret Named Phil and the old Ferris Wheel". Key themes of resilience, bravery, kindness, confidence, forgiveness, honesty, and remorse are woven throughout. In schools these are crucial for a student's emotional development. Aimed at children aged 3-8, both books are teaching valuable life lessons.

Gifted for the purpose of this review.

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A Very Hungry Caterpillar Tea Party {With Story Stones}

I'd be very surprised if you told me that your child didn't own a copy of The Very Hungry Caterpillar (and if they don't I insist you get one!). It's one of my absolute favourites with so many opportunities for early learning. The clever way that Eric Carle integrates concepts of days of the week, numbers, healthy/unhealthy food as well as the life cycle of a caterpillar is like no other early childhood text.

So when Johanna from Hello Pear asked me if I would like to help her launch her 'Very Hungry Caterpillar' story stones, of course I said YES!

Kindly gifted for the purpose of this review. 
Not sponsored.

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Creepy Crawly Small World Play {Guest Post}

I love love LOVE when my friends come to write for my blog. It makes me all kinds of happy. Today's guest blogger is the delightful Casey from Little Lifelong Learners. She had I have so much in common. We're teacher mummas, passionate about all things early learning and we each have a girl and a boy (roughly the same age). She has a beautiful Instagram feed, fantastic printables on her website and TODAY she releases her "Sensory Play for your little learners" ebook to the world! Is there anything this teacher mumma can't do?

To celebrate the launch her her book, she's sharing an awesome creepy crawly small world play idea. I can't wait to try this one out myself!

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Keeping up with the Kid's Learning During the Holidays

You might not even be contemplating or thinking about this yet (in which case please save, bookmark or pin this post for later in January). On the other hand you may be fresh out of a parent teacher interview or you've read your child's report and want to know how you can keep up with their learning during the long summer holiday break. (You'd be surprised at how many parents would ask me for 'activity books' and worksheets to be sent home with their child during the last week of Term 4). 

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Tailor Made Tales {Personalised Books for Kids}

There are so many nifty little products for kids out there these days, you just need to know where to FIND THEM! That's where I (and lots of other bloggers) come in. We love to discover unique and personalised items for your kids that you won't find in shops, try them out, and share them with you. We also love helping out small biz mums to get their awesome products seen by more eyes!

So today's product review is a pretty special one. It's a personalised story book, made by Kim from Tailor Made Tales. It's not just an ordinary photo book though, Kim will actually write a unique story especially for your child based on the photos you send her. I just love this idea, and I was so happy with what she came up with for Miss M (kindly gifted for the purpose of this review).

"The Big Adventures of a Big Sister"

I even love the title!

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Helping Kids Learn about Emergencies & Triple Zero

It's something that we hope our kids will never have to do - dial triple zero in an emergency. But it's important that they do know how to should they ever be in that situation. It's also important that they can differentiate between different 'emergencies' and identify 'is it really an emergency?'.

I was recently sent a fantastic book which gently introduces this concept to young children in a not-at-all scary way.

Meet Toby the Teddy...

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