MYP Approaches to Learning Display

Hi all,

As promised, I've added another MYP resource to my TPT store. This time it's materials for an ATL (approaches to learning) display. It contains the 5 ATL skills categories and the 10 MYP ATL skills clusters on cogs.

As you can see in the photo, I've printed the heading on yellow paper and the rest of the cogs on white paper. You could also print them on coloured paper for a brighter display.

The file contains both the British English and American English spelling of organization/organisation.

If you'd like this resource, click here to view it in my TPT store. It costs just $1.

Keep an eye on this blog for more MYP resources!

MYP Curriculum Subject Posters

Good news for all you MYP teachers out there - this summer I will be adding lots of MYP resources to my TPT store. 

I have just added my first item - posters with each of the 8 IB MYP subjects. The file contains a title poster that reads "IB MYP Curriculum" and then there is one poster each for:

• Language Acquisition
• Language and Literature
• Individuals and Societies
• Sciences
• Mathematics
• Arts
• Physical and Health Education
• Design

It costs just $2.00. Have a look at the preview and click here if you wish to purchase the set. NOTE: The title poster looks smaller in the preview but it is actually the same size as the other posters.

Activities for the last week of school

So you've finished the curriculum, the reports are done and dusted, finally you have the chance to do some nice, relaxing activities in the last week of school. Here are lots of ideas for nice activities to do (some that I shared last year and some more added in this year!)

Here are some nice ideas of things to do:

For the little ones:
Have a teddy bears' picnic. It doesn't have to involve too much organisation. They could just eat their normal school lunch and do it at a different time and with their favourite teddy bears in tow. If it's dry, it could be a treat to eat their snack on blankets on the grass. If not (for my Irish teacher followers, this is the more likely option once the Leaving Cert weather is over!), you could just clear a space in the classroom and put down the blankets there. They could read "We're Going on a Bear Hunt" and sing "Teddy Bears' Picnic" and the horrifically catchy, "Yogi Bear Song" - WARNING: Do not, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES show any video entitled "Yogi Bear Song" on YouTube without listening it to yourself first. There is a very non-child-friendly version out there!

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For the older children:

3-D hand drawing: This one is pretty easy to do and the results are really striking.

Create their own Harry Potter-inspired plant:
Read and respond to some descriptions of magical plants from the Harry Potter series. This article from Garden Design magazine could be useful to jog students' memories. There's lots more information available on the Harry Potter Wikia. The children could then create their own plant(s), draw them and write about them - an art and literacy activity all in one!

image source: Wayne Dorrington

"I Am" poem to get them reflecting about their personal characteristics, strengths and characteristics from Who's Who and Who's New.

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 This end of year scavanger hunt from Jonathan Pearson. You might need to modify this a little to make it suitable for your class. Here's another free one from SuperTeacherWorksheets.

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Introduce your children to these inspirational quotes (from Jason's Online Classroom). They can then design a poster to write them beautifully and illustrate accordingly. They could be used as a writing prompt so that their story uses the quote as its core.

Image source: Jason's Online Classroom

A table quiz. I'm a self-confessed quiz nerd and am quite happy to ramble off table quiz questions off the top of my head. If you need a bit more guidance, why not use a ready-made quiz like Seomra Ranga's wonderful art quiz (on PowerPoint, created for Digital Art Week but could be tweaked to make it suitable for your needs - non-Irish teachers, there are some questions you might want to change/remove) or this one from The Telegraph (answers are here).

For younger and older students:

A "field trip" to the next grade. Your children think of questions they would like to ask to children in the class above them. Then they go to that classroom and find out the answers from the "experts." What a fantastic idea from Melissa at Inspire Me ASAP.

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Going the other way, this end of year book allows your current students to give advice to incoming students. It's a great way for your students to reflect on what they have learned and it's a lovely thing to begin the school year with if you have the same class level.

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Create a memory book:
Use this free template from Sara Rucker's TPT store to create a cute and simple end of year memory book.

Minute to Win It games. Maybe you're familiar with the gameshow "Minute to Win It." I wasn't until Ginger Snaps shared this great idea for some fun class challenges to complete within a minute. She has given the link to the timer (for your board) and a playlist of the instructions to the challenges. She has also given a list of ones she has used and the required materials.

Orienteering around the school grounds. I've created a resource pack with instructions on how to set it up and carry it out and the resources needed. All you have to do is make a map of your school grounds, stick the clues around and hand out the students' sheets. Click here to download it for free from Google Drive.

Superlative Olympics. This is a game I have used to teach comparatives and superlatives to children with English as a second language in summer camps. I made my own cards to go with the game. Click here to read my blog post about how to play. It's suitable for primary school children of all ages and it's loads of fun! Click here or on the image below to download the resources for free from Google Drive.

This summer writing activity from Educating Everyone 4 Life:

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Create a wordsearch with all of your children's names in it. Thanks to Jordon at The Half Full Cronicles for this idea.

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One of my favourites is to create a maths table quiz to revise the topics you have covered in the year. I put different maths questions on a PowerPoint/Keynote presentation, split the children into teams of 3 or 4. They love working together to solve the problems. Just make sure you put in a few really tricky ones to get them fully engaged!

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Have an end of year compliments box. All you need is a box/basket, small pieces of paper and an envelope for each child. Obviously, it would be better to do it a day before they take them home so that you can read them and make sure there is nothing bad in there. Here's a ready-made compliment kit to get you started.Thanks to Blair Turner for creating it.

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Create an alpha-autobiography. The children choose words that mean something to them and explain why, for example: A is for Adam, my brother's name, B is for Belfast, where I was born; C is for cycling, my favourite sport... I've made two free-to-download versions, one with lines, one without. Click here or on the image below to download from Google Drive. I'm going to enlarge mine to A3 to give them more space to write/draw.

*The clip art in main image is from My Cute Graphics

How to use a class/school Twitter account in primary school

Hello there! 

I've been thinking of starting a school / class Twitter account in the next school year. Many schools have them and it has so many benefits. Children can interact with other classes, all over the world. They can share what they are learning to keep their parents in the loop. They can share work that they are proud of with the whole world. Obviously, you need to be very careful to seek permission from your principal and all parents. You may be allowed to share images/videos of the children. However, if you are not, it's still possible to share photos of their work or their reactions to something they are learning about.

I want to share some fantastic examples of Twitter accounts from Irish schools and how they have used this medium in a variety of ways. Firstly, I can't start off without asking you to follow @mrsbellsclass and their teacher (and edtech guru herself) Mary Jo Bell @7MJB. Her senior infants class is very well connected. They often share what they are learning and I particularly like how they interact with other schools. Here's an example of how they are learning a little more about a school in Texas. Also, you have to check out the adorable nuacht recordings they have shared using Voki. Here's a lovely example of Jamie's nuacht. It's such a great way to improve confidence and work on oral language skills. This would also be fantastic in English and particularly useful for children who have English as a second language.

 

Twitter is also a great way for classes, nationally and internationally, to tweet about the same topic. Two examples of this are schools sharing #tablestips or taking Spring pictures using the hashtag #antearrach

          

...and here you can see how Mr O'Callaghan's 6th class @MrOCallaghanWNS shared these lovely posters about the universal topic of internet safety on Safer Internet Day.


Initiatives like #MathsEyes @Maths_Eyes are great to get children thinking outside the box and looking out for practical applications of their learning in everyday contexts.
            

Mr. Moynihan's class @mrmoysclassglns and Ms Sullivan 4th @msmcormack4th have good examples of how they share what's going on day to day. The children in Mr. Moynihan's class often tweet about something they've enjoyed learning or share pictures of their work.

                     

And, of course, in the midst of following these blogs, you're bound to stumble upon teaching ideas that interest you. As I'm very interested in using ICT in education, I loved stumbling across this video of these junior infants @naionainGUF15 using Bee Bots to code and seeing how Miss Ward's class @misswardsclass were doing an assessment using Kahoot!

           

If you know of any other great class / school Twitter accounts, please comment below or tweet @ACrucialWeek and let us know why you like them.

Area and Perimeter FREEBIES

Hi there,

Just a quick couple of freebies for you. The first is this area and perimeter poster. Click here to download it for free from Google Drive.

The second is a set of area and perimeter challenge cards. Give each child / group 12 squares of card and have them try to make shapes with the given area and perimeter on the cards. Click here to download the cards for free from Google Drive.

That's all folks!

UEFA Euro 2016 Teaching Resource Pack

"The Euros" i.e. UEFA Euro 2016 Competition is on it's way. It's taking place from 10th June - 10th July. If you want to follow it with your class, download this free A3 wall planner where you can mark in the scores:

FREE WALL PLANNER:

I've also created a pack with 90 pages of teaching resources, posters, flashcards, worksheets, sample lesson plans, lesson ideas, bunting, word searches etc. The lesson plans and related resources are most suitable for upper/middle primary school. 

The full contents are:

• 2 title posters (UEFA Euro 2016)
• Groups posters
• Flashcards with names of each participating country
• Sweepstake kit
• Bunting for the children to colour
• Table quiz questions and answer sheet
• Maths lesson plan, worksheets and self-assessment sheet
• English lesson plan and prompt cards
• PE lesson plan and station teaching cards
• Science lesson plan
• Geography lesson plan and project template
• Visual arts lesson plans and ideas
• Drama lesson plan and related resource materials
• Music lesson plan and related resource materials
• Flag hunt sheet and solution sheet
• 2 differentiated word searches with solution sheets

Here's an idea of some of the contents:

Some things to note:

-The geography project is in the same format as that of my Rugby World Cup 2015 resource pack

-Some of the objectives in the lesson plans include objectives from the Irish primary school curriculum. These should be easily adaptable to any primary school curriculum

If you're interested in this pack, you can get it for $3.50 (about €3.20) from my TPT store.

If you're an Irish teacher - there's also a separate pack with a leagan Gaeilge (Irish language version) of the posters, flashcards, bunting, project template and sweepstake kit available on its own for $2 (approx €1.85) or as a 138 page bumper pack with this English-language pack for $4 (approx €3.65). 

Boosting staff morale in your school

Often, staff rapport in schools can be neglected due to short breaks and busy schedules. Sometimes teachers are too busy trying to get everything done that thinking about their well-being is not on their agenda. However, happier teachers lead to happier schools. Here are some suggestions of how to create a more positive atmosphere amongst staff.

Sign up for a free health and well-being seminar
Irish teachers, check out the free seminars on pdst.ie. Teachers can sign up for these courses at their local education centre free of charge. For those of you who can't attend, the PDST has also shared the booklets that accompany these workshops.

Make a compliment box for your staff room
This is a lovely thing to do with the children in your class but it also works really well with staff. I set up a compliment box in our staff room last year and it worked a treat. Here's how to do it:
1. Get an old box, stick a "Compliment Box" label on it and write some ideas of sentence starters on it like "Remember that time when...." "I really like how you..." "I admire the way you..."
2.Put envelopes (one for each staff member) in the box along with slips of paper, markers, pens, pencils and scissors.
3. Send an email with instructions that the box will be in the staff room the following Monday for a week. They can write compliments for as many staff as they like. Under no circumstances is anybody allowed to read what is already in somebody else's envelope. 
4. On Friday afternoon, seal the envelopes and deliver them to the teachers.
Lots of people came to me last year and said that it really gave them a lift. The things that were written in the envelopes were a mixture of heartfelt messages from close colleagues, surprise compliments from mystery staff members and some silly memories and jokes thrown in for good measure.

Try this 30 day happy teacher challenge from Presto Plans
Hop over to the blog to download this printable for free. It includes things to minimise your own stress levels and to be nice to your colleagues! 

Made by Presto Plans

Make a staff meeting more sociable: Let them eat cake!
Ask staff to bring in some treats to share on an INSET day or just before a staff meeting and spend 20 minutes indulging and having a chat. The sugar hit can really cheer people up, particularly if the meeting is at the end of a school day.

Count down:
In my school we sometimes put countdowns on the board in the staff room - usually to the next long weekend / holiday! Currently there's a "... days until the next Game of Thrones" episode. It's very satisfying watching the numbers get lower and lower and can be a good starting point for conversations between staff who don't know each other very well.

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Share those memes!
Did you see a blog post / meme about teaching that gave you a laugh? Why not print it off and stick it on the staff board? Somebody else might appreciate it!

image source: Buzzfeed

And remember... don't just think it, say it!
Did you just walk past a beautiful display of children's work? Turn back and tell the teacher (and students) what you think of it. Did you hear a student say something positive about what they were doing in class? Tell the teacher how enthusiastic they were.