Do you often send notes home to your students' parents? If not, you definitely should consider it! Students and parents/guardians just adore getting notes from us! It’s a fantastic tool for positive behavior management as well as building a strong rapport with your students and their family. Also as it's a personalised, hand-written note, it has that personal touch and it can be saved as a special keep sake!

There are many "traditional" notes home like post cards and slips of paper which are fine, but I have a better idea..!

So I’ve been using post cards to send notes home for years, and recently in an effort to get the note home a little fast than "snail mail" would have it, I have been handing these post cards straight to students to take home instead of posting them. It’s been working better, plus it’s much cheaper not paying for stamps, and it's better for the environment! 

However, the post cards are quite costly due to the quality of the card, and the comment is exposed (I always hated that about post cards when writing to my friends while on vacation - I didn't want everyone reading my private notes!?) This made me think of designing something completely new: a folded note that looks like an envelope!

Check out this short video below to see just how easy they are to make!

My students have really been loving these and I have had such positive comments from parents too at how creative and personal these are to receive! I can’t wait to share them with you, so check out the designs and have a go at making some of your own notes to parents/guardians! ​If you want to try one out first, you can download a freebie which can be found in the VIP Member area right now!

Click here to register to the VIP area and join the newsletter (it's all free!).

I don't know about you, but I get quite frustrated with physical resources like using lollipop sticks pulling slips of paper out of a hat when I want to do random selection in my lessons. As I teach 10 different classes, it also gets quite difficult to organise these resources and it can get very time consuming and expensive! Well, I recently came across a fantastic free tool that seems to have solved all my problems and I can't wait to share it with you!

The tool is called "Wheel Decide". It comes as an app for both iOS and Android as well as a web version too. It's really easy to use: simply add the options you want to select, change the colours up if it matters to you (this is important to me, haha!) and click on the wheel! It will spin (with optional cool sound effects - the kids love them so I always leave them on!) and land on a random option. You have the choice for the wheel to remove each option after it has been landed on too which is quite a handy feature depending on what you're using it for!

So, it's almost International Talk Like a Pirate Day, aye! 19th September is a day where we should all be talking like pirates apparently, savvy? This isn't something I have ever tried before in all honesty, but I'm so curious to see my students' reaction - especially my year 7s! So I'm going to be easing them in gently with some pirate themed exit tickets (in a cute emoji style, of course!)... 
​Keep reading until the end where I share some tips for things you can do in your classroom as well as a free download just for you!

So firstly, let me start by saying I believe exit tickets are a fantastic tool to use in the classroom. They're great for students to reflect on their learning in your lesson but also for you to see how well your class has understood a topic in a quick snapshot. There are many ways to do it that don't require any printing, for example post-it notes or mini whiteboards, but sometimes there really is a time and a place for a cute printable exit ticket!

Anything emoji in this day and age will get your students' attention. They use them as a form of communication in every day life and these little smileys are a great way of conveying emotion too: that's what makes them ideal on exit tickets. I use these regular emoji exit tickets all the time with my students and they adore them! That's what inspired me to crank things up a notch and create a special Pirate themed version - perfect for International Talk Like a Pirate Day!

They are so simple to use and will work for any subject and a huge age range. What's more is that all the text is editable so you can personalise them to your lesson if needed! This particular set comes with ready made Pirate speak instructions to fit with the theme, but you're of course free to edit as you wish!

If you like these and would like to use them in your classroom, you can download the full version with all 9 tickets here. If you'd like to try out a freebie first, make sure you become a member where you can download lots of exclusive freebies not offered anywhere else, as well as receive a newsletter letting you know when a new freebie has been added! Simply click the "Freebies" tab at the top of this website and register - it's 100% free!

Finally, here are some other ideas and fun pirate lingo you can use in your classroom on ITLAPD:

• Have the image below up on your projector or print off some cards for the students to use a reference during the day - then encourage everyone to try at least once to use of these words or phrases.
  
  
• Ask students to answer to their names during the register using pirate speak (maybe "Ahoy" or "Aye"!)
  
  
• You can give verbal feedback in pirate speak: "Shiver me timbers - what a fantastic answer, matey!"
  
  
• Warn students in advance that this day is coming up and they should research some popular words or phrases to use in lessons beforehand - maybe the student who uses pirate speak the most during the day can win a prize!​
  
  
• Play pirate speak bingo - students can make up their own grid using words from the image below or any they researched themselves. Every time someone hears a word or phrase said in pirate speak during the day, they can check it off their grid - the first person to check them all off wins a prize! (How about some chocolate gold coins?!)
  
  
• Get hold of some props like a bandana, eye patch, hat, beard, feather, hook etc. and dress up for the students!

Feel free to use this in your lessons or even Pin it to Pinterest for some "pinspiration"!

​Also check out this Pirate Themed Board on Pinterest which has a range of great ideas for your classroom:

Do  you have a question? Something to add? What are you doing on the 19th for Talk Like A Pirate Day? Let's chat in the comments below - I respond to every comment :)