Classroom reveal: Owl-themed PYP classroom

Hello there, followers! It's that time of the year again - classroom reveal time! I still have a few bits and bobs to do but this is the classroom as it looked today after day 1 with the children!

This is my teacher desk area. I've gone to town on the paper flowers on my own bulletin board. I love my little stationary house from Tiger and my set of drawers to help me organise resources for the coming week.

 Here is my classroom management behaviour clip chart. I got this one from Under The Alphabet Tree and added my own "Are we being principled?" sign.

 Here's the central focus board for my first unit of inquiry. I've displayed the transdisciplinary theme as the centre of the paper flower and will change this according to each unit. Don't you just love the watermelon bunting from Tiger?

Here is one side of work wall (high frequency words). I've kept a section separate for vocabulary specific to the unit of inquiry.

These photos show both sides of my reading/reflection corner. I have yet to add some cushions (and I definitely need to have a word with my children about how to put books back carefully!). The R-E-A-D owls are from Kathleen Amari-Crookston. I made the paper lantern owl display that reads "We love books."

The reflection corner consists of 6 different reflection sheets. You can read more about the exact contents and purchase them (individually or as a pack) in my TPT store.

Here are my Learner Profile and Attitudes reflection sheets. The children will use one of these each week to set a goal. They will then reflect on how well they have achieved that goal using the same sheet.

These reflection sheets will then be stored in this stripy box in A5 folders. Tomorrow, the children will design their own cover sheet for this folder.

As you can see, there are also some Learner Profile and PYP attitudes certificates. These are available for the children to take, fill in and present. to a student who demonstrated one of these attributes/attitudes. I will then hang them up on the classroom

Here is my editing board. The giant pencil is from The Teacher Wife and the "capital letters detective" display is by me (and available in my TPT store!).

If you have read my blog over the summer, you may have seen the post in which I created these owls. Now you can see what they were used for. Each owl's tummy has a picture and a description of each of our essential agreements.

As for the board below, you'll just have to wait a little longer to see what I'm doing with that one. I spent a lot of time preparing some parts for it which the children need to finish in the coming weeks. All will be revealed in due time!

Here is the calendar/birthday area. The adorable owl-themed classroom birthdays display is from Halle Hird, the owl-themed calendar set is from from Apple Girl Amber and the header was from Sparklebox. All other elements were made by me. 

And finally, some more IB PYP displays. The first one is my cupboard, backed with blue paper. The wonder wall is for children to post their questions about the unit. I added a "We are inquirers" sign with cute detective clip art from My Cute Graphics. On the other door, I've displayed the transdisciplinary skills. These are also available in my TPT store.

The other display is on my door. I bought the owls swinging from the tree wall sticker on eBay, added this action cycle freebie and created my own purple lettering. My plan is that the children will take photographs of themselves representing the attributes of the Learner Profile and I will add each of these on clouds above the tree.

 I hope you've enjoyed this little tour. If so, please leave a comment. It'd make my day! ;)

Reflection area resources (self-assessment and peer assessment)

If your have been following this blog over the summer, you probably know that I have been, ever so slowly, building up a bank of resources to make a reflection area in my classroom. I definitely feel the children in my class could have been given many more opportunities for written self-reflection. I thought dedicating a section of my room to this would promote this aspect of assessment.

I have already shared some of the resources for the reflection area on my blog (including the FREE peer assessment sheet.) 

I've gone about making the rest of the resources that I'll be using in my reflection corner. I've uploaded them to my TPT store so that you can purchase them if you like. Two of these sheets are directly related to IB schools as my school follows the PYP. However, the other four sheets and headers could be useful to teachers in any school setting.

The pack contains:

• "Reflection Area" heading (A4)
• "Reflection Corner" heading (A4)
• Mini headings for each sheet (blue)
• Mini headings for each sheet (multicolored)
• and the following assessment sheets in A5 size (2 on each A4 page):
• Peer assessment
• Collaborative group reflection
• How Well Do You Understand? (self-assessment - colour)
• How Well Do You Understand? (self-assessment - black and white)
• Two Stars and a Wish (with lines, colour)
• Two Stars and a Wish (with lines, black and white)
• Two Stars and a Wish (without lines, colour)
• Two Stars and a Wish (without lines, black and white)
• Learner Profile Aims
• Attitude Goals

All of these items are available for sale individually in my store. Just use the filters to select "assessment" and you should find them easily.

Click on the image above to view the pack in my TPT store.

Stand by for photos of the finished assessment corner when I get free reign on my classroom next week!

Learner Profile and IB PYP Attitudes goal-setting and reflection

This one is for the IB PYP teachers out there! As mentioned here before, I'm working on a reflection area for my classroom. This year I'd like my children to keep written reflections on how much they demonstrate the attitudes and learner profile attributes. The sheet contains the PYP action cycle vocabulary, "choose," "act" and "reflect." 

The idea is that the children will choose a learner profile attribute/attitude on Monday, act on it during the week and then reflect on their action on Friday. It could also be used monthly or per unit.

I've created two different sheets, both in A4 and A5. They can be bought individually in my TPT store or you can save $1 by buying them together in this pack.

Self-assessment: Two Stars and a Wish

One of my favourite methods of self-assessment is the "two stars and a wish" tool. The students reflect on their learning by writing two things that they have learned (stars) and one thing that they would like to know/be able to do (wish). It works well for younger and older children and provides interesting feedback for the teacher.


This is on sale in my Teachers Pay Teachers store for $1.50 (about €1.10). 

There are various combinations of each of the following:
*Black and white or colour
*A4 or A5
*Lined boxes or unlined boxes

Quick and easy self-assessment in the classroom

One of my aims for this coming school year is to provide more opportunities for the children to reflect on their learning and assess themselves. I'm working on creating a reflection area in the classroom.





This is the first item I have made for it. These are self-assessment posters. I'm going to staple the oval posters on a wide ribbon under the heading to create a hanging display. They would also work nicely on a bulletin board.



I chose 4 levels based on Marzano's Levels of Understanding:

4. I'm an expert! (I can help another person.)
3. I understand! (I don't need help!)
2. I kind of understand (but I need some help.)
1. I don't understand (I need help!)



I have also made two pupil self-assessment sheets based on the posters - one in colour and one in black and white for easy photocopying.



The posters and self-assessment sheets are available to download from my Teachers Pay Teachers store for $2.50. 

Self-assessment for fluency - free posters and reflection sheet

At the moment, I'm building a bank of self-assessment resources to create a reflection corner in my classroom. I came across this on Pinterest. It's a free set of posters and a self-assessment reflection sheet. The posters are very simple and are written in clear language. Thank you to Rachelle at What the Teacher Wants for creating it! She has also suggested an action to help to teach and remember these concepts. Click on the image to view the original post and download this freebie!


Now, there's one ready to go printable sorted - off you go!