It's that time again! I'm doing a round up of the month and summarising for you what new teaching ideas I blogged about, what freebies I added to the VIP Member area, what new resources I posted in store, what resources I updated so you can redownload them, how school has been for me and any other exciting updates from November! 

In school:
November went well for me, although it has ended on a stressful note: so many deadlines so little time!

Good news is that I had my observation and I absolutely nailed it - my observer said my lesson literally couldn't have been any better, I mean wow! It's so good to hear that feedback and remember that although teaching is tough, I am pretty good at it and I am doing a job that really matters and makes a difference!

Sadly, the lurgies eventually got me and I fell sick this month - boo..​. but the good news is I actually stayed home to rest for once! I even blogged about why we shouldn't feel guilty doing that as I know I am not the only one who experiences pangs of guilt...

Next month I will be decorating my classroom to make it all Christmassy and I CANNOT WAIT! No other teachers I work with have ever done this (it doesn't seem to be very common to do this in UK schools!?) but the kids love it and I get compliments every day about how much they like being in my room so it's all worth it!

My resources:
In my TpT store this month you may have noticed a surge of resources came out towards the end! A friend of mine requested some religion clip art so I got started on those right away, you can check them out below! More are on the way soon...

Resource wise, I was desperate to make use of the Christmas Emoji clip art set I created last month, and I came up with 3 different ideas! These new resources are mostly fun exit tickets (2 of which work perfectly in Interactive Notebooks) and the other is a dot to dot activity for practicing the times tables. I thought this would make a fantastic Christmas themed activity for maths, tutor time or any kind of extension work this season!

On the site:
This month I blogged about:​

I also added 2 free resources to the VIP area:

• Remembrance Day writing prompt
• Interactive Notebook Exit Ticket
  
  It's free to join!
  

On social media:
I'm still loving Instagram - I've been sharing lots of pictures of the pretty Christmas lights in London this month if you're interested!

Aren't they delightful!? I also sprinkle my page with inspiring quotes and sneaky peaks of my clip art and resources too - make sure to follow me to see what I'm doing behind the scenes!

In life:
So on a personal note, this is what I've been up to:

• I've been to the cinema a few times and watched: The Accountant, Arrival and Allied. (How weird that they all started with A.....!!? I would give them all As too, they were great movies!)
  
  
• I've been out for dinner every weekend this month which is always a lovely way to end a stressful week! Plus it gives me an excuse to take gorgeous pictures of lovely London! ;)
  
  

That's all for November! I hope you've had a great month and are ready to sacrifice seeing the sun for a while driving to and from work in the dark (depending on where you live of course!). Only a few more weeks left until Winter break, hooray! 

​Erm, where did October just go??!

It's that time again! I'm doing a round up of the month and summarising for you what new teaching ideas I blogged about, what freebies I added to the VIP Member area, what new resources I posted in store, what resources I updated so you can redownload them, how school has been for me and any other exciting updates from October! Yay for everything being all nice and neat in one place, just how I like my classroom, haha!

In school:
School has been going well. OK, so I was starting to feel quite drained and snappy half-way through the month (eek) but fortunately we had our beloved half term break in the third week of October, so that came at a much needed time and really helped me reboot!

I've had to deal with a few tricky issues this month, but that's always the way when you manage a team of people! I also started the first round of lesson observations which went well. I just need to prepare for my own now, agh! :)

Student wise, I have had lots of high moments this month as I am making a conscientious effort to record them on my "Peak of My Week" posts On Instagram! I like to focus on the good as much as possible: yes teaching is hard (really hard) but we make such a positive difference and that should be celebrated and enjoyed, in my opinion!

Eeek I am so excited to share these shiny new resources with you!

OK firstly, these watercolour splashes are divine - they are everything I have always needed but didn't know it until I had them! I am obsessed. I'm using them everywhere right now (check out the updated posters in the resources below and see if you can spot them there!) Heck, I've even jazzed up my social media logos on this website using them (see if you can find them too!) I am SO glad I made these for myself that I want to share them with you too!
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I am also seriously obsessed with those superhero praise call-outs - like woah indeed! Gosh, the kids are going to love these. They were born out of a personal need (like the watercolour splashes were!) as I wanted praise words for a wall display, rather than just onomatopoeia... as you can see, I put them to work right away with some fun comic themed exit tickets! I definitely have more plans for these call-outs! 
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And finally, you know I love me some doodle quote colouring pages! These ones are especially designed for Remembrance Day and I plan on using them as a quiet reflection activity with my students come mid November. I think it's going to be really special for them.

All these resources have had a complete redesign and I am so proud of how they've turned out: the 3D shapes set is completely different now and I think the posters are particularly gorgeous! The National Women of History is updated with the awesome ladies of 2017, the Cyber Bullying has lovely new posters, fresh clip art and an additional question sheet for Instagram bullying (in light of recent conversations I've been having with my students.... *sad face* ) and finally, the Chinese New Year clip art set now includes the Rooster for the year of 2017! All fresh and up to date, yay! Be sure to re-download these for free from your TpT purchases if you own them already! 

And hey, if you ever use my resources or clip art, please take a photo and send it to me or tag me on Instagram - I'd love to share it for you!

In life:
So on a personal note:

• Half term break has been "The One" this month :P I did have a few lie ins and afternoon naps this past week which have been wonderful! I won't be getting many more of those for the next few months so I made the most of it - haha! 
• I'm still healthy and successfully managed to dodge the sneezes and coughs... Seriously, hand sanitiser and vitamin C. All day long.
• I watched Magnificent 7 and Jack Reacher at the cinema which was cool, I enjoyed them!
• Finally, I got a new toy as you can see in my Insta feed - a Google Pixel phone! An upgrade was much needed...​
• Next month is all about observations, reports and parents' evenings - AGH! May the (resource)force be with us...!
  
  

That's all for October! I hope you've had a great month and are ready for driving to and from work in the dark next month (depending on where you live of course!).