Back to blogging after the madness of September. I feel that this year has been far busier than any other years in terms of preparing for back to school, planning and getting myself and my classroom organised.
I have been working on my yearly plans over the last few weeks to make them more user friendly over the course of the year. I have been adding links to resources, ideas for lessons, worksheets and presentations to link with the topics for each subject. It has been so much work but I am hoping it will pay off in the long term.
In terms of planning, here is a rough idea of what I’m using in Senior Classes.
English:
I am working off the school plan and focusing on genres for six to eight weeks at a time. This will allow the children to be working on specific genres in reading and writing. I am also attempting whole class guided reading as inspired by Rebecca the Irish Teacher.
My main focus for Oral Language this year is from Folens Starlight and I am a huge fan of this resource. I will feature it on instagram over the next few weeks. I can see how the poster focuses the discussion but there is also opportunities to engage in playful activities too. This week my class were introduced to hyperbole and they loved it.
I am also using Just Grammar from Educate.ie and it has become a key resource and workbook in my class. We complete activities daily as it raises awareness of the grammar and punctuation across the week rather than a lesson in isolation. I follow this up with similar topics for IXL homework.
This year I am also using Spelling Shed with my class for phonics. I can also add my own spelling lists from their spelling workbook. It is a subscription service and the class are really responding to it. More information on Spelling Shed can be found here.
Maths
I have using the texts from our Book rental scheme in the school but I really like the variety of approaches used in Cracking Maths from EdCo. I am also trying to encourage more active maths activities and problem solving using a range of resources from Prim Ed Publishing (gifted)
Irish
This year I have put a huge focus on oral language in Gaeilge and am using the site Irishhomework.ie to encourage this. This flipped classroom approach allows the children to take ownership of their learning and apply it in school for structured activities. I have also been developing their writing skills as during the week they expand on the drama from Irishhomework.ie or they have the opportunity to develop their own. It is amazing the enthusiasm for learning irish using this approach. Check out the irishhomework.ie site for more information.
SESE
I am trying to plan thematically for SESE this year and incorporate other subject areas like Arts, Drama, English Writing where I can. While we have a range of textbooks under the book rental scheme in the school I use resources from twinkl.ie and Scoilnet to support my topics. I am also planning projects for each half term so the children can prepare projects and presentations in preparation for secondary school.
Music
I am really excited to use DabbleDoo music this year with my class. After an enthusiastic workshop with them last year we introduced DabbleDoo across the school. I am also hoping to cover a genre of music each month in Listening and responding. I tried this last year and it worked well so hope to continue it this year.
PE
This year I will be focusing on the Fundamental Movement Skills again. I think it is important at any level of primary school to teach the specific fundamental movement skills and make the children aware of them. While most of the children in senior classes will have develop these skills it will make them more aware of using these skills across all areas of sport. Further information can be found here. There will also be workshops during the year which are worth attending.
My aim is to add my updated plans to mash.ie, so if you have purchased them before you can log in and download any additional files at no extra cost. I will update my progress on Instagram and Facebook.
If you have any questions on the above post please send me a PM.
A.M.
Aistear Múinteoir 