I'm sure we are all trying to plan to integrate as much of our lessons with 1916 Rising at the minute. It seems that the celebrations have come around a lot faster than expected. I have listed a few ideas below on how to integrate the Rising as much as possible.
Literacy Oral Language:
Writing:
Reading:
SESE History:
Music:
The main thing to remember is to focus on one or two key areas. Don't try to do too much. Instead do a small amount and do it well. This is an important time in Irish History and is one that most children will remember in years to come.
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Our first attempt at planting this year worked out very well. I take a group of four children and we decided to plant some hyacinths. We used hyacinth jars to plant three of the bulbs. These are a great way to let children see all parts of the plant, including the roots. Another interesting aspect is being able to watch the water level decrease. Quite often the features of a plant and how they grow can be a very hard for children to understand.
Planting seeds and bulbs not only shows children how they grow but it also gives them a sense of responsibility. The following websites are well worth a look if you are thinking of planting with your class. Paddy Madden is an amazing man and we could all learn a lot from him. Bord Bia Organic Gardening- Sowing Seeds in the Classroom Bord Bia Organic Gardening Paddy Madden Month by Month As a child one of my favourite lessons in school was Nature Studies. I grew up in a flat in inner city Dublin. As you can imagine we had nowhere to plant flowers and the only birds i saw were pigeons! Now I have a keen interest in nature and gardening. I enjoy sharing this passion with the children in my class and in my school. If you are not quite so green fingered then I would recommend that you start with planting cress seeds. These seeds will pretty much grow anywhere! Last year we put some cress seeds on dry kitchen towel & cotton wool, wet kitchen towel & cotton wool, compost and moss. Over the following few days and weeks we kept a growing diary where each group would write down any changes in their seeds. you can see in the pictures above that some of the seeds fell into the bag of compost and began to grow there. Using recycled egg cartons, yogurt pots and newspaper is a cheap and easy way to plant in the classroom. It also encourages children to recycle. Aldi has great value gardening equipment this Thursday. These pots would be great addition to any classroom. The compost is usually on sale throughout the year from February until September. It is great value at €2.69 for 40 liters. Aldi Thursday 25th of Februaryhttps://www.aldi.ie/en/specialbuys/thur-25-feb/ I will add to this blog over the next few weeks, giving tips about growing in the classroom and school grounds.
As most of you already know I'm always talking about Twinkl on my Facebook page. I have been using it for over a year and i absolutely love it. When I first came out college I felt like I was spending a fortune on buying resources and paying for online teaching subscriptions. Over the years this has lessened and I have allowed all of my subscriptions to lapse, except one. I use Twinkl on a daily basis and am very impressed by the quality and selection of resources. I have listed some of the key features below. Choose your membership level You can sign up for free and enjoy access to a large variety of resources. Gold membership works out at €3.58 per month Platinum membership works out at €5.71 Platinum Plus membership: Full access to everything on the site and costs €8.36 per month There are also options to have a school subscription. Check it out for yourself: https://www.twinkl.co.uk/premium Republic of Ireland Curriculum Having spent the past few years searching through English based websites trying to remember what classes are equivalent to KS1 & KS2 it is refreshing to no longer having to do this. Twinkl allows you to look at resources that link to the Irish curriculum. Simply clicking on a tab for Junior Infants makes searching just so simple! I asked several of my fellow teachers to list some of their favourite resources in this section: 1. 1916 Rising Power Point 2. Ogham Poster 3. All About Lent Power point 4. St Brigid's Day Resource Pack 5. 6th Class Maths Record Worksheet Gaeilge!! We can all agree that there have been very limited high quality Gaeilge resources online. Thankfully over the past few years these have improved but Twinkl has taken it to a whole new level! The quality of the Gaeilge resources, as with all of the resources is second to none. Although I am not teaching Gaeilge this year my fellow teachers are always commenting on the newest Gaeilge resources available. These are my five favourite Gaeilge Resources: 1. Briathra Neamhrialta 2. Counting people 3. Naomh Pádraig 4. Feicim le mo shúilín 5. Gaelgoir na Seachtaine Customer Service There is a big emphasis on the website to get in touch if there is a specific resource you would like to see on the site. During the week I was working with a student in my class to research James Connolly. While we were looking a a Twinkl power point the student spotted a mistake. We decided to use the feedback section of the website to inform them of the mistake. We received a reply within twenty minutes and after two more emails we received the amended power point. The student in question was delighted to have received the replies. I was very impressed with the speed and customer service we received. Create it!! Last but not least the Create it section has completely changed the level of my displays. Before using this I created most of my displays using Microsoft Word and lets just say they were not very impressive. Now with Create it I can make posters, display banners, labels etc that look a lot more professional. It is also easy to link all of these with the same theme. You can always find what you need on Twinkl. We all have those days when we need to have easy access to a specific resource. As teachers we have so much to do that trawling the internet for resources is just something we do not have time for. The quality of these resources is always very impressive. Twinkl is ever growing and changing. It is not just a website for displays and resources, it has a huge variety of supports. Their Teachers Calender is a great help when using thematic planning and the blog is also a fantastic support. I would definitely recommend having a look at their website for yourself! Twinkl.co.uk Some photographs of Twinkl resources in the classroom!
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AuthorI have been teaching for several years and hope to share some of my ideas and experiences with you. Archives
March 2020
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