TPT Back to School Sale - at least 20% off everything in my store!

It's that time of the year again - online sales time!

Teachers Pay Teachers is having a site-wide sale on Wednesday 1st and Thursday 2nd August. I'm having 20% off everything in my TPT store. In addition to that, TPT is offering another 5% off when you use the promotional code BTSFRESH at the checkout (Just make sure to select "Apply a Promo Code"). 

It starts at 4:01am GMT (Irish time!) on 1st August and finishes at 3:59am GMT in the early hours of 3rd August. However, I've decided to have 20% off everything in my store from now until the sale begins. 

I've created some new categories to help make browsing easier. The "Irish Classrooms" category is for anything that might be of interest to Irish teachers (and not stuff for international schools).
Then you'll also find these new custom categories on the top left:
Behaviour Management
MYP
PYP
Stationery

Happy shopping!

Tutorial: Mirrored Lettering Using Old CDs

How's the weather where you are? It's absolutely pouring here and has been all day. What better excuse to get in a day of crafting! I had been trying to think of ways to display the word "reflect" or "reflective" for the reflection area of the classroom. I was thinking about having the writing on a mirror-like background or maybe making tin foil (aluminum) letters. Then it hit me, why not make the lettering from old CDs? I'm really happy with the finished result. Here's it turned out. Scroll down to find instructions for how to do it.

Resources needed: A computer and printer, paper, thick card, black marker, PVA glue, paintbrush, scissors, craft knife, old CDs/DVDs, boiling water, heatproof container, towel ...and a LOT of patience!

1. Soak some CDs/DVDs in boiling water for 10 minutes. This will soften them and make them easier to cut. I did two at a time so they didn't cool down too much.

2. Take the CDs out of the water and dry them off.

3. Cut the CDs into tiny shapes. I realised that these were much too big for my letters so I ended up cutting them much smaller.

You'll might also be able to pull apart the two layers. This makes cutting easier. I was able to snap some pieces. NOTE: Snapping is a bit risky - my eyes are lucky to have survived! :)

4. Print your lettering. I used the Franklin Gothic Heavy pre-installed font in PowerPoint (size 287). Glue the lettering to some thick card and cut it with a craft knife.

5. (Optional) Get a black permanent marker and colour the rough edges so you can't see the colour of the card.

6. Cover the letters with PVA glue, small sections at a time, and stick your CD pieces on with small spaces between them. When you're finished sticking on all of the pieces, add a layer of PVA glue over everything just to seal it all in properly. It will look cloudy at first but it will dry clear and your CD lettering will be nice and shiny!

Free International Events Calendar 2018-2019

Hi all,


I recently put together a calendar with many celebrations during the 2018-2019 school year. It includes things like international events, major religious celebrations, commemoration days, World Book Day etc. Some of the events include links to websites about them. The calendar is editable so feel free to remove and add in what you like. Click here to download it for free from my TPT store.


Irish teachers, Ciara Brennan (AKA @PrimEdTeacher on Twitter) is compiling a list that includes lots of Irish-specific events like GAA matches, national science fairs, the Texaco art competition, etc. You will find these "Dates for Your Diary"published on the wonderful Seomra Ranga website in the near future.

FIFA World Cup 2018 Teaching Resources

Summer 2018 is fast approaching which means that the FIFA World Cup is on it's way. It's taking place from 14th June - 15th 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 over 100 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 (FIFA World Cup)
• 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/UEFA Euros 2016 resource packs

-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. These are the same lesson plans as in my UEFA Euro 2016 pack.

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 166 page bumper pack with this English-language pack for $4 (approx €3.65). See the preview below for some of the contents.

Safer Internet Day - Fake News Teaching Resources

Well hello there! Safer Internet 2018 is coming up on Tuesday, 6th February 2018. I thought "fake news" would be a fun theme to work with this year. I've put together these "Real or fake news?" resources to use with our older primary school children. If you want to use them, click here or on the image to the left to download the resources (photo prompts, response sheets and lesson plan) for free from Google Drive.

I've made them so you can print the photo prompts and use the QR codes on tablets to access or, alternatively, you can share the PDF digitally with your children and they can click directly on the links.

Enjoy!

Show and Tell for teachers too?

Hi all,

You may have noticed that the blog has been very quiet lately. Naturally, September has been very busy at school and I've had other priorities personally. One of these has been trying to do more art/crafts and have less screentime! As you can see, it's working!

Do you do Show and Tell in your school? We do and it's such a wonderful time of the week. The children love to share things that are special to them. I can understand people being against teachers joining in as they see it as a time where the children really take the lead. However, I've found it beneficial to join in and bring in my own item for Show and Tell every now and then. Here's why!

Firstly,  it's a great way to model the things you expect to see - eye-contact, speaking slowly, clearly and audibly (!), body language. 

Secondly, the children love to see a little insight into the teacher being "human!" This might afford them the opportunity to see a part of your life that would never crop up in class otherwise.

Thirdly, you can model your own achievements and how you have worked towards a goal. Maybe you've run a race and show them your medal. You can explain how much hard work went in to earning that. Perhaps you tell them about a new class you've tried and how you were nervous to try a new thing but you're glad you did.

Tomorrow I'm bringing in something I've been working on since going back to school - handwriting practice! I've been trying to teach myself calligraphy using brush pens. I'm currently on day 28 of practice and there has been a huge improvement. I thought this would be something nice to share with the children as many of them might feel inspired to work hard on improving their handwriting "just like Miss Downing" or maybe see that adults also have to work to achieve results! 

In case, you're curious, here's day 1 and day 28 of practice!

IB PYP Unit of Inquiry Bulletin Board Display Kit

Well hello there! If you've seen my classroom reveal post, you'll know that I've added lots more information about my unit of inquiry to the central display board. Here it is:

I've created a display kit that I can use throughout the year and just switch in and out the necessary attitudes, Learner Profile attributes, key concepts, etc. I spent a lot of time making this and now have a kit that you can purchase from my TPT store. Here's a preview of what's in it. Scroll down below the picture to read about the full contents!

The kit contains headings (bunting-style) for:

• Lines of Inquiry
• Key Concepts
• Transdisciplinary Theme
• Central Idea
• Learner Profile
• PYP Attitudes
• Approaches to Learning (as requested)
• Student Work (as requested)

There are flashcards for each of the 6 Transdisciplinary Themes (both versions of organise/organize are included).

There are also mini posters of the key concepts, Learner Profile attributes and PYP attitudes. The clip art on these is the same as some of my other PYP resources. As everybody's central ideas and lines of inquiry are different, I haven't included a template for these.

If you are interested in purchasing this kit, pop over to my TPT store!

Here are some more pics of how they look printed and laminated!