students blog

  Phonemic awareness isn’t taught in a day! Constant consolidation of children’s phonemic awareness is crucial, especially in the early years. For more information on the English language, system check out our blog:   A Guide to the English Language System . This blog outlines some fantastic phonics resources and activity ideas that can be used in the classroom environment. Digraph Bug Swatting A small group digraph bug swatting game to consolidate the concept of digraph graphemes at the beginning of a word. How to use this resource: Laminate and cut out the game cards and four bugs. It is best to have a fly swat; however, students can just use their hands. Place the bugs on the floor and the game cards in a pile beside the bugs. Students take turns to turn over a game card. They must say the word that is on the card, then swat the bug that shows the corresponding digraph e.g. if the students chose the card showing the word  ship , the studen...

  Teaching fractions? We have everything you need right here to make learning fractions in the classroom exciting! Starting off with this super cute comic by Jeff Keane. What a great way to start a fraction lesson, have a discussion with your students about what is happening in this comic. The Fraction Boogie This is a great way to get your students up and moving. Each student will need one piece of newspaper. Students place the piece of newspaper out as a ‘whole piece’. The teacher plays some fun dancing music so that the students can dance along on their piece of newspaper. When the music stops, the students must pick up their piece of paper and fold it in half. They then start dancing on half of the newspaper. Again, the music stops and they fold the piece of paper so that they are dancing on only one quarter. Finally, they fold the newspaper so that they are only dancing on one eighth of the paper. An activity kids will love doing! They can then unfold their piece of ...

  Relax! Sit down, have a cup of coffee, and enjoy scrolling through some of these amazing, time saving teaching tools that are all available on Teach Starter!   Random Sentence Selector Beautifully designed images and sentence starters ready to go! Simply click on the red ‘Go’ button to randomly select a sentence starter and a matching image. No more searching through google images for writing prompts! It is all here ready for you to utilize… Random Name Selector Kids love this! If you need to pick someone for a classroom job, or to answer a question, simply put your students’ names in our random name selector and click the red ‘Go!’ button! Create your own Handwriting Sheets That’s right! You can create your very own handwriting sheets right here. Pick your preferred font and handwriting lines and type whatever content you would like. Perhaps it is focusing on a particular letter, number, or sight word! It’s so easy! Read our blog The ...

 Mental math  is a students ability to make calculations in their mind without the guidance of pencil and paper, calculators, or other aids. It is often used as a way to calculate and estimate quickly, using math facts that students have committed to memory, such as multiplication, division, doubles facts, etc. Therefore, to develop as a mental math whiz, students must have a strong number sense. Subitizing In the early years, subitizing activities are extremely useful to lay the foundations of students developing a strong number sense. This early maths skill encourages children to rapidly recognize quantities. These subitizing flash cards, used daily, are a great way to improve your students skills. This first set of flash cards is simply black dots – ask your students to quickly tell you how many dots they see on each flashcard. This second set of flash cards has some black dots and some white. Ask your students to tell you how many black dots, how many w...

  Creativity is important. It aids a child’s intellectual and emotional development, helps them to innovate and   develop problem-solving skills , and can even help children to feel more confident in their ideas and decisions. But, with so much of the school day structured around specific learning objectives, it can be difficult to find time to help children strengthen their capacity for creativity. That’s why whiteboards are so useful. Not only are whiteboards a useful learning aid for numerous lessons, they’re ideal for creative exercises too. The fact that each child can have their own whiteboard gives a sense of empowerment while learning, and because the boards are wipe-able they’re also a classroom resource that represents great value for money. So, invest in some whiteboards and accessories from somewhere such as here, then try out these classroom activities to encourage creativity…   ‘Wild Wednesday’ On the classroom whiteboard, write a question for...

  Playdough is one of those things most kids just can’t get enough of — so why not add some playdough learning activities to your classroom? After all, we know kids learn through play, and while they’re squishing and rolling, kids can be building their fine motor skills, building the foundation of literacy, and more. Easy No-Cook Playdough Recipe for Teachers Before you can add any of these playdough learning activities, you’ll need some of the dough itself! You can either purchase the good old Play-Doh, alternatively, here is an easy, no-cook playdough recipe: 2 cups flour 1 cup salt 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 2 tablespoons cream of tartar 1 1/2 cups boiling water (you can bring it to a boil in the microwave!) Optional: add a few drops of food coloring Mix all the ingredients together, and presto … you’ve got playdough for your students to work with! Playdough Learning Activities Now that you’ve got your playdough, it’s time to start learning! Fractions Using a cookie cutter and ...

  The trusty   classroom calendar   has been part of morning routines across classrooms all over the world! Some say it’s a great way to focus children for the beginning of the day! I say it’s a fantastic learning opportunity every morning! There are so many fruitful activities that can be enjoyed by you and the students to cement different learning concepts. Setting Up a Classroom Calendar Use our Classroom Calendar Pack to create a display that will stay up for the whole year! Each morning a student is allocated to change the appropriate parts of the calendar. Laminate and use velcro dots to make it easier to change daily! This Calendar Pack teaching resource includes a template for today’s date, the month, the weather, the season, days and dates of that month and a template to identify today’s day, yesterday and tomorrow. Each of these topics can generate so many different discussions about seasons, sequencing, numbers etc Learning the seasons is an impo...