Prepare Your Classroom for the Price of a Pint: GAEILGE EDITION

Welcome to the first edition of "Prepare Your Classroom for the Price of a Pint." Today's Gaeilge edition totals to about €6.43 (which is closer to the price of a pint in Temple Bar or a long drink/cocktail elsewhere). I couldn't resist sacrificing the alliteration though! 

Anyway, think of how easily you could spend €7 on something you don't need. Here are some other ways you could spend it more selflessly. There are also loads of FREEBIE suggestions down at the bottom of the post so if you don't want to spend money on your classroom, skip down there!

Click on any of the images to download!

Mé féin bunting from Ms. Forde's Classroom - $1:

This doubles as a handy back to school activity... and it really fills up the walls!

Prionta sa Timpeallacht poster set from A Crucial Week - $2.50:

Available in 3 different colours - bright chevron, Irish tricolour and black with polka dots.

Using Prepositions (as Gaeilge) poster set from Réalta Ranga - $3.50

Bright, pretty and incredibly useful for remembering when you need to put a h or an uru! I wish these were in my classroom when I was in primary school!

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And now that you've spent the price of a drink, never fear - here are some wonderfully FREE resources to fill up your walls with Gaeilge!

These foghraíocht posters from Seomra Ranga are absolutely brilliant for remembering how to pronounce different letter combinations as Gaeilge. There are lots of different versions up there. They were very helpful when I was teaching 5th class.

These lovely labels made by Perfect for Primary are available as a free download on Mash.ie. 

Here are some bilingual number posters and a cute cupcake birthday display from Perfect for Primary:

 

And these are a bunch of miscellaneous freebies as Gaeilge from me!

   

Primary Teaching Bloggers Ireland Blog Hop

Hello there and welcome to the Primary Teaching Bloggers Ireland first ever blog hop! You may have noticed an influx of Irish primary school teachers filling up your Facebook news feeds of late. Well, we've decided to get together and help one another to share our ideas and resources and to help you easily find resources specifically for the Irish classroom. 

At the bottom of this post, you'll be able to find links to other Irish teachers' blogs and Facebook pages. Have fun checking them out!

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So, to start, here's a bit about me!

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your teaching experience:
I'm Emer, from the depths of West Cork. I did my dip year in Ireland and then moved to Italy where I've been teaching in an international school for the last three years. I've taught 5th class in Ireland and I've taught children aged 5-8 in Italy.

What class level are your resources/ideas aimed at?
It varies hugely. A lot of my newest resources are specifically for IB schools but I make classroom decoration kits and behaviour management resources that apply to various schools and age levels. Also, if I see a great idea related to the Irish curriculum or another class level to mine, I'll happily share it. 

What made you want to start blogging?
I started this blog back in 2011 when there wasn't a big online presence from Irish teachers in the blogosphere. I loved how Seomra Ranga and Anseo.net shared up to date resources, ideas and teaching news specifically for primary school teachers. I was also really inspired by some American bloggers like Clutter Free Classroom and Step into Second Grade With Amy Lemons. I wanted to share resources specifically related to the Irish primary school curriculum as it's often hard to find stuff, especially in Irish. It's great to see people like Réalta Ranga, Ms Forde's Classroom and Ríona Kelly sharing quality resources as Gaeilge.

Would you advise other Irish teachers to start a blog?
YES! Go for it! I'm delighted to see so many new blogs in the last year or two. The more of us there are out there, the bigger the bank of resources and ideas for the Irish curriculum will be created. People ask if it's time-consuming. Yes, it can be but it's very addictive! 

What's your favourite free resource that you have shared?
These WALT and WILF posters for putting on or near your board. It's a great way to share learning objectives and success criteria with the children. I find it really helps them to focus on why we are doing certain activities.

What's your favourite paid resource that you have shared?
As excitement is building for the Rugby World Cup, this brand new resource pack is my current favourite! Come on Team Ireland!

To join in:
1. Create your own ID - Right click and save this ID template. Add in your details (You can use PowerPoint for this. Just add in text boxes and your image, highlight it all, right click and "group," then right click and "save as picture." Use whatever fonts and colours your please!)
2. Write a blog post using the same questions I have answered. If there's anything you don't want to answer publicly, just skip the question!
3. Make sure you include the "Primary Teaching Bloggers Ireland Blog Hop" image and link it back to this post.
4. Go to the bottom of this post and paste in the URL to your blog. Make sure the URL is directly to the relevant post and not just a general link to your blog's homepage.

If you have a teaching-related Facebook page but no blog, feel free to add a link to your FB page in the link up below!

An InLinkz Link-up

Rugby World Cup 2015 Teaching Resources

Hello there!

I'm back to the blogging world with a bang! I'm very excited about the Rugby World Cup which is starting on 18th September and running until the final match on Halloween. It also coincides nicely with the start of the school year. So what better way to get into the spirit of things than with a few lessons tied into the theme of the Rugby World Cup? 

I have created 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 activity and would brighten up your classroom and start to fill up your walls from day 1!) 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.

Only in summer!

Hi all, I hope those of you who are on summer holidays are making the most of it! Here are a few things I've been up to that I certainly could not do during the school year.... Feel free to share what you've been up to in the comments!

I dyed my hair a non-teachery colour:

Living in Italy, I'm making the most of wearing dresses and skirts that are shorter than would be acceptable at school (It's necessary in this heat!). Also, who cares if there's a bra strap showing or the top is a little lower cut than usual? It's the holidays!

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I've gone back to being a student again! I'm doing a three-week intensive Italian language course to try and fix my dodgy grammar! I find it hard to study grammar during a school-week. Love having this spare time to focus on it properly!

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So I'm taking a nice little break from creating resources for the time being. I'm really enjoying not thinking about school but I know the bug will hit in a few weeks and I'll bombard you with ideas for the new school year. Let's enjoy this while it lasts!

"To do" lists galore!

Hi there,

I hope those of you on summer holidays are relaxing. If you're a compulsive list-maker like me, here are some ideas for making a pretty, wipeable to do list. 

You could buy a cheap photo frame and place some pretty paper on the inside. I turned to Pinterest for inspiration.

Before I share the pretty ones, have a look at this great, reusable to do list you could use for a child who could benefit from a daily (or morning/home time) checklist. Of course, glass frames could be a hazard in the classroom but you could always laminate some card inside the frame and take out the glass altogether.

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OK, now the pretty ones for YOU!

Nice and simple:

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Maybe you prefer a lined template in the background:

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You might add some scrap fabric flowers, pretty ribbon or buttons:

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I love these scrabble-themed headings on these to-do lists from Etsy:

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The best way to finish the school year!

Happy holidays to everybody who got their's today! At my school, we finished with the children a week ago and have had almost finished an intense week of POI reviews and collaborative planning with the staff. Here's how we finished off the school year this time last week..... with a MASSIVE water fight!

Making your central idea child-friendly

I know there are lots of IB PYP teachers out there who have very "wordy" central ideas. I have heard lots of teachers ask the question, "How do I make my central idea easy for children to understand?" 

Here are two examples of how my class breaks down the central idea at the start of every unit of inquiry: