Wordle for Kids - Spellie

Are you a big Wordle fan like me? Do you get stuck into Wordle, Quordle, Octordle, Sedecordle or any of the other variants? 

Did you know that there’s a child-friendly version? It’s called Spellie. It was created by a Canadian dad who felt his 5 year old could solve Wordle if it had words within her vocabulary range. This also means that Spellie contains age-appropriate words that don’t thwart their innocence! It has three different levels available daily. Here are examples of yesterday’s daily puzzles: 

EASY:

MEDIUM:

HARD:

It also has the following settings to make it more accessible to students with different needs. 

Though not specifically designed for children, another great Wordle variant is “Worldle” where you have to identify a country when given a silhouette. The site is ad-free so looks to be child-friendly. 

Below is a screenshot, explaining how Worldle works. 

These could be lovely challenges in your classroom. If you’d like QR codes to print so your students can easily access them, click here! 

If you’d prefer an editable version, click here to create a copy of my file in Google Slides (already set up for A4 paper).

FREEBIE: Maths Scavenger Hunt (Editable)

Hi all,

Just a quick freebie that I've created for the last week of school. It's an editable maths scavenger hunt aimed at 8-9 year olds. It's on Google Slides so perfect for those doing distance learning / remote learning using Google Classroom. Students will need a device on which they can take photographs and add them to this presentation.

To download, click here and it will prompt you to make your own copy.

Here's a video preview of the resource:

Freebie: Symmetry Choice Board for Distance Learning (Editable)

In our school here in Italy, we're in week 13 of distance learning! As I've mentioned before, a lot of the resources I have been making are very specific to our POI (programme of inquiry) so I haven't been sharing them. This latest resource I made this morning is very general. It's a symmetry choice board, aimed for upper elementary students. It's on Slides so ideal to share on Google Classroom or you can convert it to a PDF by going to File --> Download. 


This free resource is completely editable. Simply click here to make your own copy and then edit as necessary for your students. 
*NOTE: This opened perfectly when using Google Chrome but the formatting was a bit off when I used the Safari browser.

Happy teaching!

Freebie: Editable Choice Board for Remote Learning Project

Hi all,

Our school has been doing remote learning for the past 7 weeks here in Italy. I'd love to share more here but, being a PYP school, a lot of resources we have made are very specific to our school's Programme of Inquiry and wouldn't be useful to others. 

However, I think this choice board could be a valuable resource for remote learning during the current school closures. Simply click here to download. This will prompt you to make a copy in Google Slides. You will then be able to edit this copy to suit your class' needs. Don't worry if you do not have a way to share this with your students through an online learning portal. You can simply click "File" then "Download" and save it as a PDF file.

Choice boards are a great way to promote student agency. The students get to decide how they would like to learn. As our students were learning about how the activities of different regions in Italy are connected to the natural environment, they did research projects about their chosen regions in Italy. I've modified the version I'm sharing with you to be about a country. However, you could change it to be about a specific county or state.

You can also modify the activities to suit your students' current skillset. We had already focused on directions, data handling and persuasive language - hence you'll see that some activities are closely linked to that. 

We tried to put in a variety of activities to suit different intelligences, interests and strengths. We asked our students to do one task of each colour. The green tasks have more of a language focus, the purple a maths focus and the yellow were more "creative" activities, trying to incorporate visual arts, music, drama, dance etc. You could also put in something more "sporty" like demonstrating skills from the national sport, designing a logo for that country/county/state's team, etc.

Rugby World Cup 2019 Teaching Resources including FREEBIES!

I'm very excited about the Rugby World Cup. It's starting on 20th September and running until 2nd November. Here I've gathered some resources so you can celebrate the Rugby World Cup with your class in school. First I'll show you some of the resources I've made. Scroll down to the second part of this post for free resources!

Due to its popularity in previous years, I have updated this resource pack with lots of things to decorate your classroom (in particular, the RWC bunting would be a great first day back to school / golden time activity to  brighten up your classroom) and some different resources and ideas for various subject levels. I've also got a page in there with links to other good resources I have found.

The maths activities included in the pack are quite challenging so I would say that this pack is most suited to upper primary/elementary school.



The pack includes:

• A heading and posters displaying the 4 pools
• Flashcards with each of the participating countries' names and flags
• Bunting with black and white versions of the participating countries' flags for the children to decorate - a very easy display to create and it would make your classroom/corridors very festive!
• An 8-page research project template - This could be used in class or as a homework task. The idea is that the children choose (independently or randomly select from a hat!) one of the participating countries to study in depth.
• Two maths loop games (one is based on the 5 times tables, the other is quite challenging!)
• A rugby-based maths target game (this one's a good challenge!)
• A table quiz about the RWC (with answers!) and an answer sheet for the children
• Language, drama, PE, music, art and history lesson ideas.
• Useful links to other resources that might be helpful

The pack is just $3 (that's less than €3!). If you wish to purchase it, pop over to my TPT store by clicking here.

Here's a pic of some of the kit already in use in some schools in Ireland (thanks, Sandra and Timmy for the pics!)

And here is the start of the RWC corner (work in progress) in my classroom.

(Note: The "We can greet each other..." poster is not part of the RWC resource pack)

For Irish teachers, a version as Gaeilge is available in my TPT store for the same price. This could be very useful for teachers in gaelscoileanna or if you choose to do "caitheamh aimsire" as your téama in September or October.
(To clarify, I've only translated the materials that the children will use and the questions for the tráth na gceist. The teaching ideas and instructions are still written in English.)

I have also created a Rugby World Cup Fixtures Wall Calendar which is available in my TPT store for just $1! Irish teachers, I've also created a leagan Gaeilge (version in the Irish language) for the same price. 

FREE RESOURCES AND IDEAS:

Discover different country's war dances: 
Show them videos with this YouTube playlist. Have your class choreograph their own version of a haka.

Have the students find participating countries on a map:
Here's the one we did in my class. If you'd like the heading, grab it for free from my Drive here. I printed that on card, found an image of the world to print on A3 and glued it on.

The BAZILLIONS of resources on Ruggerland:
I can't recommend Ruggerland's teacher resource section highly enough. This site is jam-packed full of RWC-themed resources that span lots of curricular areas. And best of all, everything on there is free! Get browsing - you won't regret it!

Here are some of my favourites from Ruggerland:

• Colouring sheets with flags from each of the 20 participating countries
• Mapwork - locate the match venues on a map of Japan
• Oral language/debate topic - video referees
• Maths - calculate the time of the RWC final in different time zones
• Reading/SPHE - newspaper scavenger hunt

Design their own Mascot:
Introduce your students to Ren-G, the official Rugby World Cup 2019 mascot. They could read some information about Ren-G on the official RWC website or watch this cute video. Have your class design their own mascot for this year's world cup or maybe one for the 2023 RWC trying to incorporate something from French culture.

Source: https://www.rugbyworldcup.com/mascot

History of Rugby Reading Comprehension:
It does what it says on the tin! Check out this lovely freebie from Top Teaching Tasks. It includes great graphic organisers and higher order thinking tasks.

Have a quiz about Japan...
...with All Blacks' captain Kieran Read on the amazing Ruggerland website.

Get playing!
If you're in an Irish school, check out Aldi Play Rugby - you can register your school for free by clicking here. Find out more about it on Aldi's website from the man on Superman's pyjamas. If you're in another country, check out your national team's website to see if they offer programmes for schools.

Freebie: Division with Remainders Board Game

Hello there,

Just a quick freebie for you. It's a board game to practice dividing with remainders that I used with my 8-9 year olds. I've included four differentiated sheets. I also differentiated by giving groups either one or two dice and by giving the students the option to solve the problems mentally or to write them down. 

The game is very simple to play. The students roll a die. They then divide the number they are on by the number on the die. Next, they move forward the number of the remainder. So if I am on 41 and I roll a 5. I would get an answer of 8r1 so I move forward one place. If there is no remainder, they don't move for that turn.

Click on this link or the photo to download these sheets for free from my TPT store.

Enjoy!

Key Concepts Review: PYP Classroom

Oh key concepts! They can be a little tricky for our PYP students to understand. I made a conscious effort this year to focus more on helping my students to understand the key concepts. I could really see a difference. Here are some things that we did.

The key concepts are on our burning questions/wonder wall. As students added their questions, they put them beside the relevant key concept. If they were unsure (which they often were), we would have a class discussion to figure out with which concept it best fit.

To explore them even further, I took inspiration from this amazing blog post by ProDivas. This activity could be done at any point in the year with any unit of inquiry. Here's what we did.

Firstly, we had already done a lot of research into the circulatory system. As a whole-class activity, we brainstormed what we have learned about the circulatory system relating to each key concept. Here's what they came up with! (That student's mother in the reflection box is a doctor who came to school to speak to them about the circulatory and respiratory systems.)

I then split the students into small groups and gave them an A3 sheet and a copy of some their questions from the burning questions wall. They cut out each question and decided as a group which key concept it fit under. We had a group chat to discuss how we categorised each question.

Finally I divided the students into interest groups. Each student had previously chosen another system about which they would like to inquire further. I shared a  template with them on Google Slides. You'll see the three concepts we were focusing on in that unit of inquiry have stars beside them. 

All students used their iPads to collaboratively update their slide with questions relating to each key concept. This was really useful for guiding their inquiry. If you'd like to use these templates (for free), pop on over to Google Drive and make a copy to edit and use in your own classroom.

Dip Tips (Updated July 2019)

(Updated: July 2019)

Hello there,

If you happen to be in a position to do your probationary year in Ireland or if you are just qualified, this may be of interest to you!

I am by no means an expert but this is some information and advice to give you the gist of how it runs going by my experience of doing the dip seven years ago.

Happy reading!

Where do I begin?
Once you are qualified and eligible to do the dip, you need to go to the Limerick Education Centre website. In the "probationary teachers" section, you will find information about the Droichead and traditional processes for getting "dipped" there or on the Teaching Council website. This document gives a handy overview of both.

What do they expect from me?
Have a look at the Appendix 3 (page 26) of the "Post Qualification Professional Practice Procedures and Criteria 2018/2019" document from the Teaching Council website. This gives an overview of the criteria you are expected to meet in the following areas:

• Planning, preparation and recording of progress
• Classroom management and organisation
• Quality of teaching across curriculum areas
• Quality of pupils’ learning in curriculum areas

Have you read it? See! That's not so scary now after all! Remember, the dip is not teaching practice. You cannot possibly maintain all-singing, all-dancing TP-style lessons on a long-term basis. TP was a 100m sprint, the dip is a marathon. Take it handy! (I really wish I could go back in time and give myself that advice!) Obviously you will need to do what is required to ensure that the children are learning in a positive environment and that you are covering the national curriculum but make sure you pace yourself.

The National Induction Programme for Teachers (NIPT)

As part of the traditional probationary process, you will be expected to complete the NIPT. This programme offers workshops with topics that are important for an NQT. They also give you an opportunity to meet others who are going through the probationary process. This is a plus for NQTs who are the only probationary teachers in their school.  Have a look at their website for lots of useful information and resources such as the planning toolkit, guidelines, planning templates for long-term plans, short-term plans, SEN planning, cuntais míosúla. 

What's next?

Now that you've applied to complete your probation, what can you do to prepare?

Get your planning in order: 

This is how I organised my paperwork. I had two folders divided into sections as follows:

(Again, remember to get guidelines and planning templates from teacherinduction.ie)

FOLDER 1: PLANNING FOLDER (with 5 sections)

1. Timetables (general class timetable, support teachers' timetables)

2. Current short-term (weekly) plans [Each weekend I would move these into section 3 and replace them with the new weekly plans]

3. Short-term plans (Weekly plans from past weeks, sub-divided by subject)

4. Long-term plans (termly plans)

5. Cuntais Míosúla (this is a monthly summary of what you have covered. You are legally required to do this. You should print one copy for this folder and send another to be filed in your school.)

FOLDER 2: ASSESSMENT FOLDER (2 sections)

1. General Class Records (e.g. MICRA/SIGMA results from the past year, any whole-group assessments, spelling test results, reading assessments and groups, etc.)

2. Pupil Profiles (sub-divided by child): IEPs, class tests, reading records, behaviour observation forms, carefully selected work samples, etc.

You can get some pretty editable or pre-made dip cover sheets in my TPT store for under a euro each!

When planning, make use of the fantastic online planning tool. It's much easier to copy and paste objectives from here than from the curriculum PDFs. If the INTO hasn't already sent you their 2019-2020 wall planner, you can download it for free from here.

Prepare your classroom:

A print-rich, inspiring classroom helps to create a positive learning environment. Refer to your classroom posters constantly. If you cannot do this, perhaps they are not as valuable as you may have thought! It's very likely that your inspector will ask the children about displays and posters. Make sure to display the children's work. A really useful way to display work is a wall like this - then you just peg up the work rather than fiddling with mountains of Blu-Tack! Obviously you will change displays according to topics on hand but here are some staples that could be of use all year around (click on each for an example to inspire you!):

General:

Laethanta na seachtaine/ míonna na bliana

Prionta sa timpeallacht

A GIANT timeline

Number lines (age-specific)

Class rules/agreements/promises
"We are authors" area/box
Question prompt posters
Classroom jobs 
Dathanna posters

Early primary specific:

Calendar

Word wall with high frequency words
"Give me five" reminders

Colour posters

Senior-specific:

Foghraíocht (pronunciation)

Overused words display

Capital letters display
Clock flashcards
Irish Grammar Posters

My favourite sources for display materials are:

Seomra Ranga (for resources as Gaeilge)

Teachers Pay Teachers 
Twinkl 

Sparklebox (especially for headings)

Teacher's Pet

Have your children on board:

Get classroom management under control. It's very hard to teach anything if you cannot control the behaviour within the room. Try to strive for a balance where the children enjoy coming to school and are happy to share their ideas but that they treat you and their classmates respectfully. There are so many positive ways to go about this.

I used a token economy system during my dip year where they children got "Pirate Euro" notes for behaving well or really making an effort on a task. Together, we created a "rewards menu" and decided on appropriate prices. You can read about it here.

Currently I am using a clip chart system. You place all pegs on the middle section of the clip chart each morning and move them up or down according to their choices. Make your own, browse the net or have a look at the ones I have for sale here (in English and in Irish - people seem to have gone a bit crazy about the Star Wars ones this summer!).

Take up an after-school activity:

Do something that is not dip-related to avoid becoming a teaching-robot. Play sports, take up a new hobby or go for coffee/lunch dates (preferably with someone who does not want to listen to you ranting on about the dip!). Remember to keep a healthy work-life balance. Replacing an hour of tweaking resources (that were probably fine an hour ago) with an hour in the gym, an episode on Netflix or a long bath will probably be of more benefit to you and your students. An energetic teacher with good planning and preparation is far more productive and happy than a zombie teacher with PERFECT resources. Now, if only I could turn back time and listen to my own advice a bit sooner!

Keep yourself in the know:

Regularly check sites such as the INTO, Teaching Council, NIPT as well as less formal sites like the Education Posts forum (great for finding answers to specific dip-related questions and crowd-sourcing ideas for themes, methodologies, etc.) and following teaching blogs. There are some fantastic Irish teaching pages you should add to your Facebook feed such as Anseo.net, Seomra Ranga, Réalta Ranga, Múinteoir Valerie, Ms. Forde's Classroom, Primary Art, Art with Ms. Lahart, Irish Primary Teacher, Infant Teaching Ideas, Claire's Primary School Art, Irish Primary PE association and the INTO LGBT Teachers' Group. (Sorry if I've forgotten anyone!)   

I hope this has been of use to you. I welcome all feedback via comments below.








Also, if you've made it this far, I've created a 170-page Dip Starter Pack with planning and display resources and pretty stationery to help keep you organised. Click here to find out more!

Make Someone Smile FREEBIE

Hi all,

Here's a little freebie to brighten up your staff room or classroom! Print it, laminate it and then you can write jokes with a whiteboard marker. Simply wipe it clean when you're ready for another terrible joke!

Here's hoping it brings your staff/students lots of eye-rolling and hidden smiles!

Free International Events Calendar 2018-2019

Hi all,


I recently put together a calendar with many celebrations during the 2018-2019 school year. It includes things like international events, major religious celebrations, commemoration days, World Book Day etc. Some of the events include links to websites about them. The calendar is editable so feel free to remove and add in what you like. Click here to download it for free from my TPT store.


Irish teachers, Ciara Brennan (AKA @PrimEdTeacher on Twitter) is compiling a list that includes lots of Irish-specific events like GAA matches, national science fairs, the Texaco art competition, etc. You will find these "Dates for Your Diary"published on the wonderful Seomra Ranga website in the near future.

Safer Internet Day - Fake News Teaching Resources

Well hello there! Safer Internet 2018 is coming up on Tuesday, 6th February 2018. I thought "fake news" would be a fun theme to work with this year. I've put together these "Real or fake news?" resources to use with our older primary school children. If you want to use them, click here or on the image to the left to download the resources (photo prompts, response sheets and lesson plan) for free from Google Drive.

I've made them so you can print the photo prompts and use the QR codes on tablets to access or, alternatively, you can share the PDF digitally with your children and they can click directly on the links.

Enjoy!

Dip Starter Pack Giveaway

Following lots of positive feedback on my "Dip Tips" blog post, I've created a Dip Starter Pack. I've been working very hard these summer holidays to save probationary teachers lots of time, effort and money. I've also gone a bit overboard in buying shabby chic and bullet journal style clip art! You'll see that theme running through the pack! :)

To celebrate back to school season, I'm having a giveaway on the A Crucial Week Facebook page. If you want to win a pack, pop over there. Scroll down to see what's in the pack - many of the parts are available individually and lots are suitable for non-dip teachers!

Here's what's in the 169 page pack: 
(the preview picture below doesn't show everything! Scroll down to read the full contents.)

PLANNING RESOURCES:

• Example short-term (weekly) plans
• Example long-term (termly) plans
• Example cuntais míosúla
• 9 cover sheets for your planning and assessment folders
• Weekly planning checklists (3 sheets, one per term)
• Editable checklists and information sheets (e.g. homework record, information for substitute teachers, birthday record, etc.)
• Teacher calendar sheets (August 2017 - June 2018)
• Editable international Events Calendar 2017-2018
• A PDF copy of my "Dip Tips" blog post

ASSESSMENT RESOURCES:

• Superhero-themed behaviour management tools including an editable token chart, token sheets, an editable behaviour record cover, goal-setting/reflection sheets, a behaviour frequency record with an example and instructions)
• Two Stars and a Wish self-assessment sheets
• Self-assessment display based on Marzano's Levels of Understanding
• Self-assessment sheet based on Marzano's Levels of Understanding

DISPLAY RESOURCES:

• Laethanta na Seachtaine display
• Dathanna display
• Prionta sa Timpeallacht (28 flashcards, 4 posters)
• Na h-Ábhair Scoile circular display
• Visual timetable pack (with editable cards)
• WALT and WILF signs (for sharing objectives and assessment criteria)

Many of these resources are available individually (paid/free) in my TPT store. The total of the paid resources is $18.50. This bundle allows you to save $6.50 as it's priced at $12 (that's roughly €10). The example weeklies, termlies and cuntais míosúla are not sold separately. Those are a bonus just for this bundle! So, in summary, for a tenner (not a massive investment!) you'll get 169 pages of example plans, planning and assessment templates and classroom displays. 

Here's a closer look at just some of the things that are inside. Click on the images if you'd like to purchase these separately! Many are suitable for non-dip-doing teachers too!

These calendar sheets (not just for dip teachers!):

 These bullet-journal inspired, washi-tape filled checklists to help you keep track of your planning (and fulfill your pretty stationery needs!):

These editable sheets for your teacher folder including a birthday tracker, editable information sheets for substitute teachers, lots of editable checklists that you could use for homework, phonics, spelling test records, recording specific objectives. (Again, not just for the dip!):

   

These pretty dip folder cover sheets (9 of them in total!). I also have editable versions in different styles for anybody not doing the dip:

These superhero-themed behaviour management tools for tackling individual children's behaviour. This pack includes a fully editable behaviour chart with editable tokens, a behaviour frequency record with an example and instructions and a cover sheet and goal-setting/reflection sheet to make a behaviour record book (FYI, my dip inspector loved seeing that record book!):

This prionta sa timpeallacht pack that contains 28 flashcards and 4 posters:

This dathanna display:

These visual timetable cards (includes editable cards):

 These circular chalkboard-style subject posters as Gaeilge:

This self-assessment chart based on Marzano's Levels of Understanding (with corresponding self-assessment sheets): Here's how it looks in my classroom!

         

Flash Freebie: Editable Folder Covers

Good morning!

I'm very excited to announce that I'm hosting a "Flash Freebie" giveaway today and tomorrow. For 48 hours only, these beautiful, editable folder covers will be free to download from my TPT store. When the 48 hours are up, the covers will cost $1 each. The Flash Freebie will run from 8:00GMT on Monday 14th August to 8:00GMT on Wednesday, 16th August. Of course, if you have the file, you can edit the text as you like - perhaps you want to use it as your own planning folder, maybe you want to create sections for your dip folder, or perhaps you want to use it for something that's not school related. The choice is yours! Click on the images below to go to the one you wish to download (or download them all!).

Quick note: I used a font called Billabong. As these are editable you'll have to choose your own fonts. If you want to know how to download pretty fonts, check out my tutorial.