Well, there goes another month (and year!). 2016 is coming to a close so here are some reflections on my teaching life from December 2016!

In school:
December was an interesting month... On one hand there were lots of fun things happening in school during the festive season: I had Christmas tunes playing in class and my room was decorated to the max - the kids loved it! Sadly, I got sick again, agh! I was not my best towards the end of the December, but I've been off on break for a week so far which has really helped me recover.

​In life:
December went by in a bit of a blur as it is always a busy time of year, but I did watch Passengers in the cinema which was great! Of course, I am also currently on Christmas break (woohoo!) and am thoroughly enjoying my time off. In fact, I dug out an old blog post from the archives that I wrote 2 years ago on what I love doing over winter break and all of it still applies!

Well that's it, 2016 is done - can't wait to see you on the other side!

Ah Christmas... I do love teaching this time of year, it's so cosy and joyful - even if my to do list is a mile long and I rarely see the sun!? At the moment my classes are still deep in curriculum, but I have been keeping a few crafty / creative projects up my sleeve ready for "wind down time" and I want to share them with you so you too can have a restful end to the year. 

I've always found an abundance of crafty resources for primary students, but none that would really suit my teens. So I got to crafting and designed some Paper Christmas Ornaments that come in three differentiated levels of challenge, as I always have such a wide variety of abilities in my classes.

​Here's what I came up with. All you need is some paper, scissors, glue and ribbon! 

Making paper crafts like this promote independent learning, especially if you include "how to" instructions that students can work from. This will prepare them well for any IKEA days ahead....!

They can also practice fine motor skills as they cut slowly and neatly along the outlines.

Plus, there is of course art integration where students can design their own decorations and experience some relaxing therapy while they colour these in. You could have some jolly Christmas music playing in the background or even have a cosy fireplace / snow scene video up on the whiteboard too!

To meet the needs of all your students, it's a good idea to include differentiated levels of challenge as undoubtedly you will have a range of abilities and you want to ensure all your students are being stretched. These kind of challenges will do wonders for developing your students' problem solving skills too, as they're not as simple as decorating a piece of paper and hanging it on a tree. They have to cut, stick and assemble in a particular way that does make it more fun and challenging!

That star is my favourite but is definitely the most challenging one in the pack - reserved only for the brave! I have also included a much more simple window hanging style for the lower end if you have any students that might struggle with the folding and assembly of the ornaments. Plus, these window hangings would look so very cute up in your classroom when they're done!

So if you are looking some fun craftivities that will save your sanity in the last few days before Winter break when it can be really challenging to keep our students (and ourselves!?) motivated and engaged, then why not get your students making some fun paper ornaments! They also work great for indoor recess as students will be really quiet and focused: I tested them out on some of my year 7 (6th grade) students during one rainy lunch time and I can confirm they worked a treat!

If you like these ideas but don't want to spend hours working out how to make the templates, plus photographing and typing up instructions yourself, then you can save your time and sanity (as I've already spent mine for you!!) and download them here! 
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In the full kit, there are a range of Christmas decorations included which are differentiated to suit a variety of abilities (3 of them are particularly challenging and are ideal for developing problem solving skills!) 

I have provided you with both blank and already decorated templates to suit your students’ needs and preferences. As always, all clip art is original, designed by me and can’t be found elsewhere! :)
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For each decoration, there are visual instructions that you can choose to show your students (or not for some extra problem solving challenges!) Have a look below for a closer peek into what else is included:

Finally, as a gift to you this Christmas, I am giving you the present ornament as a freebie - you can download it below:

I hope you and your students enjoy this freebie or the full differentiated set!

November is officially done and dusted! It has been a manic month what with observations, reports and limited access to sunlight! Here's the monthly round up of my teacher life!

In school:
It's been an intense month to say the least! I've had reports to write (which means endless marking!), observations (being observed and observing others) plus I'm closely supporting my student teacher as they start taking over more classes! ☺

Sadly, I did get sick this month, not surprising with all the stress I've been under, but at least I decided to stay home and recover instead of pushing through and staying sick for ages, which is what I usually do! ☹

On the plus side, I did get an outstanding lesson observation which I was thrilled about - my observer said it couldn't have been any better, wow! It's so great to hear the words out loud and know that you're doing a good job for the kids!

In my store:
Considering life has been so manic, I somehow managed to pump out a lot of goodies for you this month!
A friend requested some religion clip art so I got started on them right away, check out what I've done so far:

I'll be adding a few more religion clip art sets soon, so keep an eye out for those!

I also created some new teaching resources as I wanted to do something fun with my Christmas Emoji clip art, and integrate self reflection / well-being in particular. I created 3 different sets of self-reflection exit tickets suitable for any topic: 2 in interactive notebook style and one focusing on Growth Mindset!

​The other resource is a really cute Christmas Emoji dot to dot that covers multiplication and times tables from 1-12 - ideal for extension work for early finishers, homework tasks and general fun for the festive season!

On the site:
This month I blogged on the following topics:

and I added 2 new free resources to the VIP area:

• Remembrance Day Writing Prompt
• Interactive Notebook Exit Ticket 
  
  

Check them out: it's free to sign up!

On Social Media:
Yup, you guessed it - I am still loving Instagram! I've been particularly enjoying taking photos of the pretty Christmas lights in London this month:

And as you know I am passionate about self reflection and well being, so I post a lot of inspirational quotes with stories of how they are motivating me or how I am applying them in life and teaching.
​These are my most popular ones from November!

I also added some new boards to my Pinterest page that will help you out in a whole range of areas in teaching:
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• Classroom Community
• Behaviour Management
• Exit Tickets
• Teacher Well-being
• Morning Meeting Messages
• Teacher Time Management
• Advice for New Teachers
• Growth Mindset Activities

In life:
As this month has been quite intense for me, I watched quite a few films at the cinema which is one of my favourite pastimes! I watched The Accountant, Arrival and Allied (um, how weird they all start with an A!? I'd give them all an A too as too they were great movies!)

I've also been eating out in town every weekend this month and that has been a really great way to wind down after a hard week, plus it gives me a good excuse to take photos of the lovely Christmas lights of London!

So now we are in December - I love teaching this time of year! My classroom is all cosy and festive, I play Christmas music in my lessons and there's not so many commitments and deadlines looming over my head. I won't be seeing much sunshine for a while now as I drive to and from work in the dark but hey, that's all part of the fun! I hope you had a great November and roll on the last few weeks before Winter break, yay!