Primary Teaching Bloggers Ireland Blog Hop

Hello there and welcome to the Primary Teaching Bloggers Ireland first ever blog hop! You may have noticed an influx of Irish primary school teachers filling up your Facebook news feeds of late. Well, we've decided to get together and help one another to share our ideas and resources and to help you easily find resources specifically for the Irish classroom. 

At the bottom of this post, you'll be able to find links to other Irish teachers' blogs and Facebook pages. Have fun checking them out!

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So, to start, here's a bit about me!

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your teaching experience:
I'm Emer, from the depths of West Cork. I did my dip year in Ireland and then moved to Italy where I've been teaching in an international school for the last three years. I've taught 5th class in Ireland and I've taught children aged 5-8 in Italy.

What class level are your resources/ideas aimed at?
It varies hugely. A lot of my newest resources are specifically for IB schools but I make classroom decoration kits and behaviour management resources that apply to various schools and age levels. Also, if I see a great idea related to the Irish curriculum or another class level to mine, I'll happily share it. 

What made you want to start blogging?
I started this blog back in 2011 when there wasn't a big online presence from Irish teachers in the blogosphere. I loved how Seomra Ranga and Anseo.net shared up to date resources, ideas and teaching news specifically for primary school teachers. I was also really inspired by some American bloggers like Clutter Free Classroom and Step into Second Grade With Amy Lemons. I wanted to share resources specifically related to the Irish primary school curriculum as it's often hard to find stuff, especially in Irish. It's great to see people like Réalta Ranga, Ms Forde's Classroom and Ríona Kelly sharing quality resources as Gaeilge.

Would you advise other Irish teachers to start a blog?
YES! Go for it! I'm delighted to see so many new blogs in the last year or two. The more of us there are out there, the bigger the bank of resources and ideas for the Irish curriculum will be created. People ask if it's time-consuming. Yes, it can be but it's very addictive! 

What's your favourite free resource that you have shared?
These WALT and WILF posters for putting on or near your board. It's a great way to share learning objectives and success criteria with the children. I find it really helps them to focus on why we are doing certain activities.

What's your favourite paid resource that you have shared?
As excitement is building for the Rugby World Cup, this brand new resource pack is my current favourite! Come on Team Ireland!

To join in:
1. Create your own ID - Right click and save this ID template. Add in your details (You can use PowerPoint for this. Just add in text boxes and your image, highlight it all, right click and "group," then right click and "save as picture." Use whatever fonts and colours your please!)
2. Write a blog post using the same questions I have answered. If there's anything you don't want to answer publicly, just skip the question!
3. Make sure you include the "Primary Teaching Bloggers Ireland Blog Hop" image and link it back to this post.
4. Go to the bottom of this post and paste in the URL to your blog. Make sure the URL is directly to the relevant post and not just a general link to your blog's homepage.

If you have a teaching-related Facebook page but no blog, feel free to add a link to your FB page in the link up below!

An InLinkz Link-up

FREEBIE Friday: Peer-assessment sheet

It's the weekend! Want a freebie?

I've been working on some resources to create a reflection area in my classroom. I've decided to share this peer-assessment sheet with you. The file contains two versions - A4 and A5. 

This can be used at the end of paired-work or after a group task. The children can reflect on their partner noting if they:
-listened to them
-shared their ideas
-was helpful
-took turns
There is also space for them to reflect on how they could improve when working together.

You can download this freebie by clicking here or on the image above. This freebie is also available in my TPT store.
(If you don't already have membership on TPT, you'll need to register. Don't worry, it's free of charge, no strings attached!)

I'll add some more assessment tools in the coming weeks, including a mega-pack containing all of them! Stand by for that!

This post is part of Teaching Blog Addict's "Freebie Friday" collection. Click on the link below to view the rest of today's freebies!

100 Followers Celebration on Reading With Mrs. D

Mrs. D at Reading with Mrs. D. is having a 100 followers celebration. As part of this, she will feature 10 bloggers who post about the celebration and link up (click on the image to do so yourself). In these features, she will highlight five resources/ideas on these blogs. On the day of the last feature, she will post ten freebies that aren't in her Teachers Pay Teachers store yet. 

Best of luck to Mrs. D. in her endeavours!

Classroom Décor FREEBIE linky party

Greetings all! 

I'm delighted to be back blogging after a well-needed summer break. This year I'm faced with a lot of excitement and challenges as I will begin teaching in a new country, with a new age level and an entirely new school system. I hope to continue blogging - my resources will now be designed for 7-year old ESL (English as a Second Language) pupils. I hope that they will prove useful for somebody out there! 

 One of the challenges I'm facing at the moment is how I want to decorate my classroom. There are some outstandingly creative themed classrooms out there. Have a look at Miss Nelson's Before and After linky party to see some ridiculously talented teachers' rooms.

I've been looking around for ready-made resources to stick on the wall in preparation for day 1 of term. Unfortunately, most of what's out there at the moment is TPT sales. Though many of these resources are fantastic, it'd be nice to get some resources that teachers are sharing for free. Hence, this linky party is for teachers to share FREE resources that others can use to decorate their classroom.

FAO bloggers. I'd really appreciate if you could give this linky party a mention on your own blog!

Favourite Fonts

Adrienne at Unless Teaching is hosting a favourite fonts linky party. Here are mine:

For those of you who're not familiar with how to download and install them, this my simplest explanation:
1. Google the name of the font or search for it on a website such as www.dafont.com
2. Download it.
3. Unzip the folder if it is zipped.
4. Go to Control Panel and type "font"
5. Click on "Install or remove a font"
6. Drag your font file into this folder.
Et voilá!

St. Patrick's Day Linky Party

As Paddy's Day (FAO Anybody who calls it "Patty's Day"  - that's not how the Irish say it!) is fast approaching, here's a linky party with tonnes of resources and ideas for the day. Just click on the image below to visit it. My contribution is the St. Patrick's Day song by The Speks that I recently blogged about.

If you want to stay with Irish sites for resource-hunting, check out Seomra Ranga and Mash.ie too!

Freebie linky party

Lidia at Kinder Latino is having a freebies and giveaway linky party. Free resources... nothing should stop you checking it out!


My two additions to this are previously posted freebies and giveaways that I have had. Click on the pictures below to view the original posts and make sure to check out Kinder Latino for more freebies/giveaways from other bloggers!






1. Superlative Olympics pack (Great for teaching comparatives and superlatives to children with ESOL -  English as a second or other language, or just to use as part of a fun day/party!)

2. Orienteering pack (Useful for an orienteering lesson in P.E.)

If you would like these freebies just leave a comment (include your email address) on this post or either of the original posts and I'll send them to you.

Also, if you'd like to see other free resources, look over to the right sidebar of my blog and click on the "free resources" label.

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On a side note. I'm hosting an assessment linky party - details are in my previous post. Please link up, if you're interested! :)

Team Building Linky Party: Class Crossword

This is based on an idea that Jodi from Clutter-Free Classroom had as a back to school activity. I think it would work great as a team-building/getting-to-know-your-class exercise at any time of the year.

Class crossword:
1. Ask the children to tell you one quirky fact about them (a special skill, a pet's name, their first memory, what they're afraid of... anything!)
2. Create a crossword (there are loads of free online crossword generators) with the children's names as the solutions and their quirky facts as the clues.
3. Make a copy for everybody in the class.
* It might be nice to include your own name in it and they could learn something quirky about their teacher too!

Simple as!




I posted this as part of the linky party at Yearn To Learn. Head on over there for more team-building activities.

Team Building Linky Party: People Bingo

This is a great ice-breaker for a new class and can be used as a get-to-know-each other activity.

Give each of the children a card with things written on it like "somebody who owns a dog," "someone with brown eyes," "someone who can play the guitar," etc,. in various boxes. There's a good example of a people bingo card on page 6 here (as below):

The children then have to walk around the room and find a different person's name to write in each box.


I posted this as part of the linky party at Yearn To Learn. Head on over there for more team-building activities.

Free rewards for good behaviour

Following a quick search of behaviour management websites, here's a list of some FREE rewards for individuals and groups...


Free rewards for individuals:

• 5 minute walk break
• 5 minutes computer time
• Sit with a friend
• Homework voucher
• Swap own chair for comfier one
• A mystery prize posted to them
• Reading to/being class assistant for a younger class
• 10 minutes reading from the library
• Being first (in line to go out, to present something, to have a go in PE, choose art supplies, etc.)
• Choosing a class activity
• Free choice time at the end of the day
• Good phonecall/note/certificate home
• Free ticket for parent to a school event
• Draw a picture to illustrate a class book as the teacher reads
• Have a positive visit to the principal
• Keep a stuffed animal on their desk for a day
• Operate the remote if using a PowerPoint in a lesson
• Teach the class a favourite game
• Take home a class book/game for a night
• Write with a special pen for the day
• Sit on the class cushion for a class/morning/day/week (buy a really tacky, sequined one!)

Free rewards for groups:

• Game of charades/hangman
• No homework
• Eating lunch outdoors
• Holding class outside
• Listening to music while working
• Dancing to a song
• Free choice time at the end of the day
• A book read aloud to the class by the teacher

For more ideas on classroom management, head on over to Miss Kindergarten's Classroom Management Linky Party by clicking the button below.

Classroom jobs linky party

I'm posting this as part of Mel's (@ Mrs. Dillard 1st Grade) first linky party.


One of the great things about working as a substitute teacher is that you get to see some great ideas for organisation, classroom management, lessons, displays, etc.


Here are some class jobs that I've seen along my travels:

• Equipment managers
• Door keeper
• Messenger (takes notes to the office/ other classrooms)
• Shelf/Bookcase organiser
• Playground pals (in older classes, these must look out for the younger children in the yard)
• Distributors (Give out books/sheets)
• Collectors (Collect books/sheets)
• Bell (in many Irish schools, somebody has to ring the hand-held bell for breaks!)
• Time keeper (for timed activities)
• Environmental officer (takes care of recycling bins)
• Substitute (stands in when anybody is absent)
• Post master (collects the school post and distributes to the teachers)
• Roll book couriers (take the roll book to the next classroom)
• MC (greets and introduces guests to the classroom)
• Closet/cloakroom monitor (makes sure that all coats are hung up properly)
• IT technician (turns on/off lights, computer, etc. at the start and end of the day)
• Doorman/doorwoman

Behaviour Management Scheme: Pirate Money

This is an idea that I have used on T.P. (Teaching Practice). It's a simple token economy scheme in which the children receive rewards for good behaviour. I used these pirate Euro notes (seeing as I'm in Ireland, I didn't want to use the dollar templates that I found online). I also incorporated an outline of a map of Ireland. I didn't want to use any template that was online as unique ones can't be laundered as easily!

Here's how I made the template using Microsoft Powerpoint:

1. I started off with a simple rectangle outline.

2. Next I added two rectangles for the purple strips. (and formated the fill to textured purple)

3. I then inserted an oval in the centre and pasted a pirate logo in the middle of it.

4. I pasted a picture of a map of Ireland on the right (and faded it) and a random symbol on the left.

5. I then used text boxes to add the text and numbers. (Make sure to right-click on these boxes and click on "send to front."

(if you wish to make €5, €10 etc., just change the numbers in your text boxes and print on different coloured paper).

I then printed them on coloured paper, cut them out, laminated them and trimmed them to size.

Children were given a Pirate Euro as a reward for good behaviour, as an incentive to have the tidiest desk or to be the best co-operators in group work. At the end of each week I had a raffle for inexpensive prizes such as pretty stationary, small packets of Haribos, cheap little toys etc. If I was doing this in a classroom where I was teaching long-term, then I'd probably only have a raffle once a month. They could buy raffle tickets with their pirate money. They also had the option of buying a voucher to swap their wooden chair for a more comfortable, cushioned chair (referred to below as the 'computer chair') or a voucher to sit next to a friend. I displayed the reward options on this reward menu:

I also printed this menu on coloured paper and then laminated it. The children really liked the idea of choosing their own rewards and saving up for the more "expensive" rewards. 

There are other cheap/free things that could be added to a rewards menu. I kept it simple with just three rewards. (If anybody reading this has other ideas for rewards that could be added to a menu, please comment!)

This was posted as part of Miss Kindergarten's Classroom Management Linky Party. Click on the button above to view her blog and links to other great classroom management ideas!