New Resources:
Due to a crazy month at school, I wasn't able to create as much as I would have liked to, but after my negative experiences at work I was inspired to create a Character Education unit on Respect! ;) But joking aside, I think this would be a really valuable resource for any classroom community where you are noticing some students not being very kind to one another as we explore: how to define respect; how to analyse their own and others' level of respect; where they might need to demonstrate respect; signs of being respectful; signs of being disrespectful; what can affect respect; self-awareness of their own respect and actionable steps to build respect.

I also managed to squeeze in a Character Education unit on Honesty as well, another extremely valuable skill to help your students build positive relationships and a strong reputation. 

Finally, as you know I love to draw - it really helps me unwind, so I came up with these cute little Blobbie characters that can be used to decorate your teaching resources! These guys are "page bombers" so they can interact with whatever is on the page: sitting on top of boxes, pushing objects, hanging off objects or peeking behind object etc! 

Check them all out below:

On Social Media:
So due to my "work dramas", I have been a little quiet on Social Media this month. I am still sharing my peak of the week with you on Instagram though so you can see some of my teacher highlights, which hopefully encourage you to do the same (even if mentally!).

In Life:
Nothing major has happened this month - it's a crazy busy time of year so I've just been trying to have some downtime to relax and get through it all! Fortunately, we have a half term break in the UK right now so I am relieved to have a week off where I can actually hang out with some friends and unwind!
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That's all from me, I hope you have had a great May! Have you broken up for the summer yet? How long have you still got left? I wish you a well deserved rest!

Summer break is coming (woohoo!) but we know it's likely that most of our students are going to be wasting many of their days away watching TV, playing video games, shopping and who knows what else! Although I understand they work hard all year and will want to chill out (and they should!) after a while, it's not uncommon to hear complaints of "boredom"...! Depending on where you live, this could mean weeks or even months of wasted time!

The problem with our students being so unproductive for a long period of time over the summer, is that they fall out of the routines we work so hard to teach them all year long! Learning never stops but if left to be unproductive for too long, our students get the wrong idea about learning believing that it only happens in school.

In order to keep them in positive routines over the summer and ready to get back into school mode, we should be doing our bit to ensure they are productive, having a break from technology, getting out and about and always learning. Now, as we're not going to be seeing our students for a while, there is only so much we can do from a distance, but we can still have an influence. Plus, parents will love you for showing you continue to care about their children and giving them opportunities to extend their learning over the break! 

​Here are 3 tips for how you can encourage your students to stay productive over the summer break:

Tip 1: Tell them that when they come back to school, they will be giving a short presentation on what they did over the summer and what new things they learned. This could be in the form of a new hobby, skill or summer job etc. If you express that you want evidence of these such as pictures or even live demonstrations if appropriate, then that will be even better! The pressure of knowing they will have to present means that they will be alert over the break to ensure they have something to share, but it also might encourage them to do something they hadn't had the drive to do before such as take up a new hobby or how to play a new instrument. 

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Tip 2: You can also set up a formal book reading challenge! This "Summer Reading Challenge" website is a fantastic tool which you can encourage your students to take part in: https://summerreadingchallenge.org.uk. It encourages your students to read new books, play games and take part in competitions over the summer break - plus it's all free!

Thanks for reading this post :) If you found this valuable, leave a comment below or share it out!
The summer break is a long time for students to be off from school and out of the routine. I believe by encouraging them to do some "summer homework", then not only will parents be delighted (!) but we'll be helping our students look a little less at their phones and instead open their eyes the world around them and understand that learning never stops!

Do you usually give your students summer homework? Why / why not? Leave a comment below!

I believe student well-being in our classrooms is just as significant as academic well-being. However, we're not all trained to be school counselors, nor should all the burden of well-being fall solely on a counselor's shoulders (if you are even lucky enough to have one that is: my school certainly doesn't!). That means when we're in the classroom and just us and our kids, we are the ones who have to handle the situations at hand, whatever it may be.

Bullying is a traumatic thing for students to suffer through and it can have a detrimental affect on not only the victim's well-being, but sometimes the whole vibe of the class (especially if a group of students are involved). 

My first tip is to look out for signs. Bullies can be really sneaky but the victims do subtly reveal they're uncomfortable through their body language. If you spot a student isn't quite being themselves or you're sensing some general tension, you can try pulling a student to the side after the lesson and ask them if everything is OK or if they are happy where they are sitting.

Keep an eye out for your students outside of lessons too. The playground in particular can be a war zone and is where a lot of the bullying happens. I'll share a story that happened to me once. I had 3 girls (about 12 years old) in my classroom who were joined at the hip; they were always together! Then one day I saw these three girls talking in the playground but one of them looked really upset. I went up to them to see if everything was OK, but no one was keen on telling me what it was all about... I happened to be teaching these girls the same afternoon and they all sit next to each other in my class. Everything went as normal with no hiccups during the lesson. They all seemed to be getting on and the upset girl seemed fine too... I still wanted to speak to the her just to make sure though, and I'm so glad I did. After the lesson she revealed to me that these girls had been best friends for years and years but recently things had been turning sour and they were being really mean to her. Thank goodness I happened to spot that incident in the playground as this initiated what was to be a very important step for this girl, as I was the first person she had told. After a long chat about how she was feeling, what they were doing and what the next steps were, I assured her she would not have to sit next to them in my lesson any more, which she was delighted with! That was a very easy thing for me to do as a teacher, and I know it made a big impact in helping her have some space from these girls. I placed all 3 of them at opposite ends of the room and I made sure I sat her with some really sweet girls in the class. Long story short, she handled the situation like a champ and eventually made a new group of friends - I now see her hanging out with the sweet girls I put her next to in my class!!! That gives me so many goosebumps to know that I helped her make new friends just from that one action step! I love a happy ending!

This unit will help you teach your students:

• To identify what bullying is
• To analyze common situations and discuss which are considered bullying and why
• The reasons why people might bully others
• The impact bullying has on others
• Ways they can respond to bullies
• How to be assertive
• How to deal with bullying
• Support networks they can turn to for support
• A final pep-talk!

The PowerPoint text is editable (yay!) so you can modify the content to suit your students’ needs. The pack comes with a set of graphic organisers too which work as a helpful tool for students to record their thoughts in an engaging way as you go through the lessons. Plus, these printables are particularly handy for using on wall displays not only to decorate your room, but to serve as a constant reminder about what they learnt about bullying.

I've also included a set of discussion task cards for students to discuss possible scenarios they may come across: these can be printed off for each group of students, or they can be used in whole class discussion – it is up to you! I've found this has helped with whole class bonding as it gets them talking and sharing stories with each other.

When I last delivered this unit, I was shocked at how many of my students didn't know the definition of bullying, they didn't know what they could really do about it, they didn't know how to be assertive and they don't really talk about it much. This lesson really opened their eyes and having has some deep and meaningful conversations with them since; some are starting to be more assertive when being treated less than fondly by their peers. I am so super proud of them! I really hope this helps your students out too!

Thanks for reading this post :) If you found this valuable, leave a comment below or share it out!
I believe if we take some time out to watch out for bullying and tension in our classroom and help educate our students on bullying and how to deal with it, then we will continue to see a significant improvement in the emotional well-being and assertiveness of our students!

What are some of the struggles you have with dealing with bullying in your classroom? Leave a comment below, I'd love to chat more!