Chameleons are cute, clever and have the ability to blend in completely with their surroundings - what a fantastic animal to learn about in your class!

The rise in popularity of this little creature certainly rose when Pascal appeared on our screens (he's from Disney's Tangled if you didn't know that already! Great movie by the way).

As 2015 quickly appears to be coming to a close here is another post for all you organised bunnies for 2016.

I posted a few weeks back that 2016 will be the Year of the Monkey in both China and Japan. In order to have a bit of fun (and learn something of course!) I have put together a flipbook (also known as flip books). Now this is only the second flipbook I have ever made - but they are fun and students do seem to enjoy doing the activities and putting them together!

Before I begin about another idea you might want to consider for your new class in 2016 I wanted to make mention of a blog change...

Yes, it's official that you can access this blog now direct from the following address http://www.missjennysclassroom.com - Yay! It is so much easier to remember!

Okay, time to talk about what you are here to read about!

Class rules. Two words and yet the entire year you have with your class can be greatly influenced by how you set up and maintain your classroom rules.You certainly do not want to be steering staff or parents away from your room because the behaviour is out of control.

I have been thinking a lot about what I might give to my children on their next birthday - it's a while off but it's never too early to start planning! I really want to be able to give them more than just "stuff". My house is already full of stuff (which I am now sorting through and making the tough decisions on) and with the passing of two family members I know how precious time you spend with loved ones can be. My grandparents were always at a loss as to what to give - and this leads me to my latest creation!

Going through my organisation tub (I should write one of my organisation tubs) I came across some of the materials I use at the beginning of the year. The tubs were meant to make it easy for me just to grab them and take to a new classroom in the new year and know I had everything ready to go - of course I am still looking for the one thing I was searching for...fingers crossed it is in the other tub!

I have always had a classroom pet, of some description, while teaching students. Why? I personally feel that it teaches students a degree of responsibility and life skills that are important for them to have if we expect them to grow into thinking adults.

Over the years I have had frogs and fish as my main classroom pets. As a student myself I vividly remember my grade 2 teacher having a pet axolotls in the classroom - we were so enthralled by them but cutting up the meat was a little icky (but we loved it anyway). Another teacher I remember has silkworms - though only a couple of us got to have the silk (we were never told the truth about the poor moth!). Overall though I have grown up to love animals and be a responsible pet owner. Unlike other children though I was fortunate to also have pets at home (including a fish, mouse and cats).