Choice Boards have been particularly useful over the past 2 months of distance learning. It gives all children the opportunity to choose tasks that interest them and also allows the opportunity to challenge themselves. They can also be used in the classroom and are great in multigrade settings.
I have created these over the past few weeks as freebies and will update this post as I create more! Click on each one below to download it.
This year, rather than New Year Resolutions, I am going to continue with an activity that I used last term.
Between October and Christmas, each child in my class chose one area that they were going to focus on. Some examples were handwriting, presentation of their work, drawing skills, learning tables and spellings.
We put them up in the classroom to remind us as the weeks went by. Just before Christmas, we took them down and reviewed their progress.
This is a really fun Art lesson to do in the lead up to Christmas. I got the idea from a colleague who had used shaving foam to make ice-cream cones in an Art lesson. The students loved the texture of the mixture, which feels like a marshmallow once it has dried.
Over the past few few weeks, we have been exploring Report Writing. Our English reading texts were also based on this genre, as it provided examples of Report Writing for the children.
As we read the texts, we identified the information that was provided about the various animals: their appearance, habitat, what it eats, predators and some interesting facts.
The following week, the children wrote their piece of Report Writing about toucans, using writing frames. They also created some fabulous art to go with it.
The following resources were used to support the class, when developing their Report Writing skills.
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| Display Posters |
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| Planning Templates |
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| Self Assessment Checklist Freebie |
As Maths week is next week, I have been putting together some resources to use with my 1st, 2nd and 3rd Class throughout the week. Here are some of the activities we hope to do during the week.
As we return to the classroom, it has never been as important to create a safe and calm learning environment for students and staff.
Here are a couple of ideas of things I use in the classroom to create a sense of calm!
Yoga
A couple of years ago, I did a few great yoga workshops with Ciara Delaney from the IPPEA. She went through some lovely sequences of yoga that could be done in the class.
We also explored creating stories from the yoga poses. The children can also invent their own stories incorporating yoga poses for the class.
Here is an example of some free cards that you could use to get started and explore some sequences!
If you want to find little videos on yoga for children, have a look at Go Noodle and Cosmic Kids Yoga.
Relaxing Music
Simply type this into Youtube and you will have loads of options to set a calm atmosphere in the class.
Mindful Colouring
Mindfulness Programme
You could also follow a programme for Mindfulness. I bought the Mindfulness in the Classroom book by Michele Gallen a couple of years ago. As I return to the classroom this year, I have it dusted off and have it ready to go.
It does give you teacher homework (you have to also do the lessons!) A fabulous resource that contains everything you need to get started. (Click on photo for link).
On the first few days back to school, I always do a worksheet like this with the students. It is a great way for me to get to know the children and a nice activity to help them settle into your class.
We usually display them in the class for a bit and then I keep them in my folder so I can glance back every now and again! I have included an English & Irish version so you can choose which you prefer (or do both!)
Click on the image below to download this freebie!
I hope it makes the first few days back to school a little earlier.
Here is another version I use with the older classes. Click on it to download.
See other back to school posts here.
