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Sunday, 30 June 2013

Twinkl

www.twinkl.co.uk 

Twinkl...possibly the most colourful and exciting resource website known to man! But seriously the site is pretty inviting and full of great colourful, child friendly resources! It's easy to navigate and has nearly everything you could want where resources are concerned!

I particularly like the parents sections of the site - I'm not a parent (and can't see myself being on any time soon) but I know decent resources and here there is just about everything you will need to support your child's learning at home. Also if you need support that doesn't come in paper based form head over to the forum where you can tap into a world of support from teachers, parents and other professionals.

Other sections I particularly like are the -
Story Sacks - This is a fantastic starting point for schools to build on to create some really interesting story sacks!
Phonics (Letters and Sounds) resources - There are tons of phonics resources and can easily link to different topic areas or support the topic!
Topic Sections - There is an endless number of topic resources which again are a great starting point for schools to use to complement teaching. Some of my favourite topic resources are 'Under the Sea', 'Jungles and Rainforests' and the ton of special days resources on the site!

One area that is under construction is the SEN sections and I am sure this will end up with a host of great resources! I would love to see more secondary based resources which are age appropriate but simplified (as this would be quite unique) e.g. maybe in the literacy section some simplified Shakespear resources, which would be great for those of us who work in Secondary special and try to run more age appropriate lessons while still tailoring teaching to a EYFS/KS1 level!

BUT...Twinkl is more than just resources...check out the 'handy tools' section for display ideas and more, the blog, the store and the forum and remember...these sections of the site are what you make of them so without people like you posting and getting involved it would be pretty boring so consider it a free CPD opportunity!

There are loads of free resources which are well worth downloading but there is also a premium subscription as well which can be bought personally, for someone else or by schools. This is 29.99 a year which may seem quite pricey when there are so may free resources out there but the premium resources are very good quality and ENDLESS so it is well worth buying into and comes highly reccomended!

So look for the little yellow bird and get downloading!
Enjoy!

The blog of a NEWLY QUALIFIED TEACHER...

And as I take my first breath out for a whole year my tutor signs my final appraisal form and says "Congratulations, you have passed your teacher training, you are now a qualified teacher". Well I have to say it was all worth it, the long days, the tears, the hair loss, the grey hairs!

I feel like I should do something significant with my file seeing as I put so much work into it...maybe paper my walls with it? Turn it into Christmas decorations or papier mache a statue from it! But I am sure that it will just end up stuck on a shelf in my store cupboard or in the loft!

This may be a bit of an egotistical blog post but in the end I passed with all 1's (outstanding) so needless to say I had a bit of a hangover the next day after celebrating! A word of advice to anyone considering doing the Schools Direct (New GTP) or PGCE...DO IT! But be realistic and know that it is going to take over your life for the entire year...you will lose sleep and hair and gain wrinkles but you will not regret it!

I have been doing this for some years in an unqualified state and that did make it easier...the more experience you can get pre GTP/PGCE the better and easier it will be!

So I may try and post on here more often now...