Teacher Week 2011: Meet The Teacher Monday

I'm taking part in "Teacher Week 2011" over at Blog Hoppin', a new blog created to connect blogs, share links and pinpoint some of the best ideas on teaching blogs. Click on the image, right, to view the details.  


(As I'm a new teacher, I won't be participating in Tuesday or Wednesday. Check back here for Thursday and Friday's posts though!)


So, as it's "Meet the Teacher Monday," here's and introduction to me...


I'm an NQT (newly qualified teacher), having just graduated from teacher training college in my native Ireland. I'm currently on the (so far unsuccessful) job-hunt but am hopeful that I'll get my own class soon. If worse comes to worse, I'll work as a substitute teacher and perhaps volunteer in schools/other projects. 


Though I have another blog under my real name, I've decided to do this teaching blog under the pseudonym, Baggy Trousers (stolen from The Madness song - I wanted a school-related username). 


I got hooked on hopping around teacher blogs while unemployed at the start of the summer and decided to start posting myself. I'm really enjoying finding other people's creative ideas and sharing some of my own. I've turned into a complete nerd and get great satisfaction from looking at my stats and seeing my number of followers rise (slowly, but surely).


Thanks for reading and please have look around! If you like what you see, click the follow button!

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! :)

Free rewards: Painted pebbles

I previously blogged about things that can be used as cheap/ free rewards for good behaviour, here and here. While staying at a seaside resort recently, I found some really smooth pebbles on a beach. Of course, my crafty side couldn't let them sit there on the beach so I bagged up a dozen or two and brought them home. I used gouache tempura paint to decorate them.


Here are my first attempts at making ladybirds, a pig and some monsters. I'm sure that with a better brush, brighter paint combined with more talent and creativity, these could be a lot better. If anybody reading this has some examples of better ones, please leave a comment with a link!


These are my ladybirds and pig (I've seen a much better pig, with pom pom ears and a button nose here):

And these are my monsters:

Trócaire Tales of Disaster Resource Pack (FREE activity sheets)

I got this natural disasters resource pack from Trócaire (an Irish charity, for those of you who're not from this part of the world) for €6.This includes a book of the worksheets in the link below and an accompanying DVD with really cute puppet animations (see picture) depicting natural disasters such as flooding, landslides, volcanoes, tsunamis and earthquakes. 


If you would like to buy the DVD, just email/ring Trócaire and they'll sell you one for €6. The money's going to charity so it's a good cause as well as a good teaching resource!


The worksheets are available for free here: http://www.trocaire.org/sites/trocaire/files/pdfs/edu/age/talesofdisaster.pdf
It's really well laid out with ideas for extension activities that could be done for different subjects.

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They have some free resources that would be useful for geography at http://www.trocaire.org/resources/primary-resources.

Vistaprint... just the beginning

 


My first introduction to Vistaprint (a site that allows you to design business cards, post cards, stickers etc.) was from reading Mrs. Petite's Teaching Passion. She had some fantastic ideas on her blog on how to use this site to your advantage, cost-efficiently.
I absolutely loved the Deskerella "The Desk Fairy" idea so made an order for 250 of these business cards. It cost me less than €5. The picture of the cards below are from Mrs. Petite's blog (seeing as I copied her design) - all credit due is to her! Thanks for the inspiration Mrs. Petite! :)

Top 5 oldies for freestyle dance

Have been crazy busy this week so am not up to my usual blogging tempo. Will be away for the weekend too so here's a quickie to keep things alive!


Here are my favourite songs from times gone by that instantly make me feel like getting up and dancing. These could be useful for a freestyle dancing warm-up/cool-down in P.E. class or for a class party.

• Twist and Shout - The Beatles
• Jailhouse Rock - Elvis Presley
• Rock around the Clock - Bill Haley
• ABC - The Jackson 5
• Greased Lightning - John Travolta (from Grease) [make sure to get a censored version!]

For more ideas on songs (and simple dances), I posted about them here!

Giveaway: Orienteering cards

I'm giving away this orienteering pack to anybody who comments below to say that they already follow or have just become a follower of my blog (please leave your email address in the comment box!).

The orienteering set is very easy to use. Simply, draw out a map of the area in which the children will play, stick the code cards around the area (put the corresponding numbers on your map), divide the children into teams, give them a solution sheet, then sit back and relax until the children come back to you at the end of the activity to check their solutions against your teacher's solution card.


(Anybody who enters will also grab a copy of my Superlative Olympics cards)