Decorating a learning support/resource classroom

If you're working outside of a mainstream classroom setting, you might be getting jealous of all the teacher bloggers sharing their massive, decorated rooms. If you're lucky enough to have your own little room in which to offer extra support to children, here are some ideas of how you can spruce it up!

TABLE CADDIES:
As you will probably be using limited table space for a variety of activities, you may have to move writing/cutting supplies often. You can use a desktop caddy for handy, portable storage of all of those pencils, markers, scissors, rulers, etc. These can be bought or made (some tubs, a basket and a hot glue gun should do the trick - see how it was done on Tales of a Teacherista) and can be prettied up with ribbon or stickers.

Image source: The Learning Curve

Image source: Zeek's Zoo

This one has mini buckets glued to a "lazy Susan" so that children can spin it around to reach what they need.

Image Source: Kindergarten Smiles

TIMERS:
These liquid timers (€4 from Tiger) would be great to help children to work on time management skills.

Image source

BIG CALENDAR:
A big calendar display is a very useful resource to place in your room. Lots of sequencing activities are worked on within learning support/ resource rooms. Having  "Yesterday was," "Today is" and "Tomorrow will be" posters gives an opportunity for a simple sequencing task. A calendar can also be used as another method of reinforcing counting on and counting back. There are a myriad of these types of displays available for free and paid download on sites such as Sparklebox, TeachersPayTeachers and TeachersNotebook.

This is my classroom calendar from last year:

Calendar - part of the bee-themed kit I won from Classroom Decor and More.

Days of the week cards from Johnson Creations.

"The day is/ The month is" sign from Sparklebox.

I absolutely love Mama Jenn's idea of making the date in coins. They are added to the calendar using velcro dots. What a great reinforcement activity! She also cleverly stores the spare coins on an extra velcro strip beside this display.

Image source: Mama Jenn's blog

"CRIMINAL WORDS" DISPLAY:
Teacher's Pet has a wonderful display of "criminal words" i.e. overused words such as "said," "went" and "walked." You can download this for free here.

MATHS VOCABULARY:

Another one more suited to older primary school children is this maths vocabulary board.

Image source: Angela Silverwood via Clasdisplays.co.uk

If you don't have space for that one, you can download a printable version from Teacher's Pet.

NUMBER LINES:
It's a good idea to display number resources in a variety of forms to suit different types of learners. In my school we use Numicon which I have found to be fantastic for my visual learners. They offer lots of free resources on their site including these number lines.

Image source: Numicon.co.nz

Here is another bright number line. This free to download set by Keri Brown contains a number line with ten frames and very cute alphabet posters. 

ALPHABET/PHONICS POSTERS:
There are lots of alphabet posters available for free online (such as those in the free set above). However, if your school follows a scheme such as Jolly Phonics, Letterland, etc. then it's probably best to have these displayed.

MANIPULATIVES:

Any resource room will have lots of concrete materials for children to use. Keeping these organised in a bright display can add colour and order to your room. 

Image source: Rainbows Within Reach

Reuse baby wipe containers or food packaging to repackage games/manipulatives. Stick part of the game box (or a photograph) of the manipulatives for easy identification. These can then be stacked neatly beside a tall shelf/filing cabinet. 

Image source: Jazzie and Thalia

MISCELLANEOUS:
Brighten up a corner with some hanging decorations such as paper lanterns or large pompoms/paper flowers. View my pom-pom tutorial here.

Image source: NatSprat

Image source: This Little Life of Mine

Utilise all areas of your room. Create extra display space on the side of a bookshelf or the front of a desk by blu-tacking on backing paper and cardboard borders. 

Absolutely no space was wasted in this teacher's room!

Image source: Tales of a Teacherista

This one was done by placing two filing cabinets back to back.

Unknown source on Pinterest

Have a look at Ms. M's blog post about creative ways to display in classrooms for lots more ideas.

Take inspiration from others. Lucky for you, the person behind "Sped-ventures" has compiled a list of blogs related to special education. I'm sure you'll find lots of ideas there!

If you have any other resource room ideas, please comment below with your ideas!

Win a classroom management clip chart!

Hi folks!

August is flying by so here's a little competition to help to ease the Back to School Blues. You can win one of my classroom management clip charts, in English or as Gaeilge. There are a few different themes in my TPT store. You can choose your favourite.

Click on this link to go to my Facebook page and enter. All you have to do is like the page, then find the post with the competition and share it! Easy peasy! I'll pick a winner on Saturday.

Classroom management clip charts AS GAEILGE

Irish primary school teachers! Do you use a classroom management clip chart in your classroom? I used one last year for the first time and found it great. 

You write each child's name on a clothes peg. All children's pegs start the day on the green section of the chart. You can then ask them to move their peg up or down according to their behaviour throughout the day. I find it very effective as simply saying "Mary, do you need to move your peg?" was a calm warning. The act of moving their peg up allowed for reinforcement of positive behaviours. They loved doing this!

I have created various versions of these clip charts as Gaeilge (as well as in English). All of them cost $2 (which is about €1.50) - not much more expensive than a pack of stickers!

You'll find more resources as Gaeilge - including some freebies - in my TPT store. Please have a browse!

Freebie finds

Hi all,

Here are some freebies I found that I'll be using in my classroom this year.

Let's start with my favourite, this owl-themed classroom birthdays display from Halle Hird in Across the Hall in 2nd Grade. I love how each owl is dressed appropriately for the month. Of course I was delighted to see an Irish-themed owl (complete with a THREE-LEAFED shamrock - kudos to you Halle!) for March.

Next is this lovely owl-themed calendar set from Apple Girl Amber. The set contains many colour varieties. I chose one with black numbers as I feel they are easier to read.

I found this free action cycle poster (for IB teachers!) on the PYP section of Mrs. Nicole Calderbank's Teach Love blog.

This very sweet owl-themed "I love reading!" poster is available for free at Kelly Benefield's TPT store.

This giant, pencil-shaped "What do writers write?" poster inspired by Cara at The First Grade Parade is available as a free download from Lindsey AKA The Teacher's Wife.

These key concepts posters (another for IB teachers!) came from Ms. Murdoch's store on TPT.

These writing process posters, designed to be used as a clip chart were created and shared for free by The Teacher Wears Prada. I'm going to find a pencil template and attach this to pegs for the children to place their peg at their current stage in the writing process.

And, as always, I have raided Sparklebox's supplies of owl-themed banners. I'll probably be using "Whoo's in our class?" "Our class birthdays" and "Our class promises."

A huge, huge thank you to all of the teachers who have provided these resources free of charge!

Free Welcome Posters As Gaeilge

Múinteoirí bunscoile na hÉireann! 

Tá siopa agam ar Teachers Pay Teachers le fearas as Gaeilge (agus as Béarla). Tá na póstaeir seo le fáil saor in aisce. Ní mór duit a bheith cláirithe ar an suíomh gréasáin chun íoslódáil a dhéanamh. Tá an cúntas saor in aisce a chruthu agus beidh rochtain agat ar a lán rudaí úsáideacha le haghaidh na múinteoireachta.

Déan cliceáil ar an t-íomhá chun cuairt a thabhairt ar mo siopa!

Teachers of Ireland!

I have a Teachers Pay Teachers store with Irish (and English) resources. These posters are available free of charge. You must register on the site to download. The account is free to create and you will have access to a lot of useful things related to teaching.

Click on the image to visit the shop!

Back to school activity: Monster/animal bookmarks

The PYP Library's Facebook page shared this blog post from CT Baker (in the Acres). She made these adorable monster/animal origami bookmarks with her children.  They would be wonderful as a simple back-to-school activity. Your children could create something that they can use in the classroom all year round.

Image source

Inspired by this image on Pinterest, she devised a tutorial to make life easy for the rest of us! Click here or on the image below to view her tutorial.

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