The Celts

Seeing as the season of giving is almost upon us, this week, I'm sharing a full History/Drama lesson with you all based on The Iron Age/The Celts.

When I taught this topic to my 5th Class, I used this interactive PowerPoint throughout the lesson. It worked really well as a lesson because it was interactive, it involved collaborative based learning and very little teacher talk. You can go through the PowerPoint lesson below, or you can download it off SlideShare here (it's free to sign up and you can download as many PowerPoints as you want!). By downloading it, you can also edit it, use it offline and the animations I have added will become fully active (which in turn makes it easier to use with a class). 

The Celts from SeniorInfants

I hope you find this resource/lesson useful and don't forget to let me know how your class enjoy this lesson!

10 Christmas Art Ideas!

This week's post features some old and new Christmas art ideas that I have used with various class levels over the past few years.  

1. Sock Snowmen: I have explained how these are made in my Winter post, but I love them so much, they are getting included again! They are really easy to make and the children love them! This is a craft that can be adapted for any age level too.

2. Reindeer Christmas Cards: These thumbprint cards are very effective while also being very simple! Here is a sample of one I found at: Madeinthedessert 

3. Christmas Brown Paper Stockings: I made these socks with a Senior Infant class. While they require some preparation (hole punching and gluing the sock together before you get the children to sew the edges together), they look great when finished and decorated. I put chocolate Santa lollies into each of them as a Christmas surprise on the last day of school. I got the idea from Enchanted Learning.

4. 3D stars and angels to hang from the ceiling: 

5. Christmas Wreaths: I have tried these out with senior classes, however, I think they would work well with younger children also. They start by cutting the centre out of a paper plate and colouring it green. Next, the children trace their hand on various shades of green paper and cut them out. They stick them around the outside of a paper plate. They then can add bells, berries and holly to their wreath with coloured paper. 

This particular example is from Rockmybabynewzealand.

6. Gingerbread Houses: When I taught Senior Infants, I made Gingerbread houses with them. The children brought in shoe boxes, painted them brown and then finger painted 'smarties' on the walls and roof. They drew and coloured in some 'sweets' to stick onto the outside of the house. They then added cotton wool to the roof, along with a chimney. The most difficult aspect of this project was attaching the roof the the house (it took up a lot of teacher's time unfortunately!). It's one of those painstaking projects which you feel very proud to have accomplished and vow never to do again, all at the same time! 

7. Christmas Tree Decorations: This year I am making two Christmas tree decoration crafts with my pupils, both of which I found on this wonderful website, pagingfunmums. The first is a clay owl decoration (which you can read all about here), and the other is a reindeer craft (which you can find here). I also really like this Christmas tree craft too!

8. Festive Scene: I was browsing through the Lidl (I think!) Christmas brochure a few weeks ago and found this really nice craft idea. I had my class bring in shoeboxes, they used the lid as the base and the box itself for the figures and the 'roof'. We then dangled stars from the 'roof' using thread. As my class are a 4th/5th class, they were given the freedom to decide what to put in their scenes (but also the advice to 'keep it simple!'). 

9. Paper Plate Crafts: I thought these paper plate Christmas character crafts from kixcereal were really eye catching and although I haven't made them with a class, they would be quite an easy art lesson for a younger class.

10. Pine Cone Christmas Trees: Recently I have seen a lot of pine cone Christmas tree art ideas and if I had a younger class, I would definitely try some of them out. Have a look at one idea here.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Behaviour Management Strategies for Senior Classes

My post this week is all about the various behaviour management strategies that I have found useful in my teaching of senior classes. Some I am using with my current 5th Class and others I have used with classes I have taught in the past. It is important to note that what works for one class may not work for the next, so don't be afraid to try out different strategies and see what works best for you!

Raffle Tickets:

www.tesco.ie/groceries/Product/Details/?id=259048224

I use raffle tickets in my classroom as my main reward system. This is my favourite way to reward behaviour in senior classes. I have tried lots of other reward strategies (ticks for groups, smiley faces on a chart, golden time rewards and Class Dojo), however I find that tickets are handy as you can carry them around the classroom with you and they act as an immediate reward.
I give out tickets for: good work, working quietly, handwriting and presentation of work, answering questions, quizzes, kind deeds, helping teacher, etc. On a Friday, I choose my pupils of the week and they each get 3 tickets. I choose someone as Gaeilgeoir na Seachtaine, someone who was an enthusiastic learner, someone who showed respect and kindness and someone who showed good sportsmanship in P.E. I also give 3 tickets to the student who has won 'Work of the Week'. The children's tickets then go into the draw and winners get a homework pass.

Golden Time:
I used this with my 3rd and 4th Class last year and found it quite successful as a reward system for the whole class. I used this Golden Time Race Track to record their progress throughout the week. Golden time choices (board games, extra P.E., drawing, etc) were then given to the group who won group of the week from ticks on the board.

Cushions:

This year, in order to motivate my 5th Class to complete extra work once they have finished their classwork, children can receive 2 points for their group when they complete a worksheet, Maths card, write a poem or come up with a Maths problem. The group that has the most points at the end of the week, win cushions to sit on the following week. 

The Quiet Sign:

I've found this works as well with 3rd and 4th class as it does with infants. I use a door hanger sign when children are engaged in independent written work. The sign has a picture of a child working and says 'Sh, quiet time'. When the children are about to start writing, I go to the door, pick up the 

sign and slowly bring it to the handle while counting down from 5, getting quieter each time until 1 is only a whisper. When it is on the door, everyone including me must not speak above a whisper.

www.clipartbest.com

Chants:

When I am looking for attention I say: 'Hocus Pocus' and the children reply: 'Everybody focus!'. If they don't hear me the first time, I will repeat it and they will usually reply the second time. I emphasise how focusing involves looking and listening with their lámha trasna. 

Sign a contract:

In our school, we have a set of school rules that we discuss with children on the first day. We talk about which rules they feel are most important, whether any rules have been left out and whether they feel any rules are unfair/unnecessary. Occasionally when they have broken a rule, I ask them to take out their contract and find the one they have broken. They must explain why it is important to keep that rule and they are reminded of their signing of the contract on the first day.

The 3 Warning System:

Unfortunately, no matter how much positive behaviour is rewarded, there must be consequences for children who repeatedly misbehave in class. I give my children 3 warnings: 

1. Verbal warning
2. They must move seat
3. Extra work to be completed during break/at home. 

Once a child has gone through all of these warnings and they misbehave for a third time, parents are contacted.

Class Discipline Problems:

Sometimes some classes can be particularly challenging and need to be reminded constantly of the behaviours expected of them, especially in 5th and 6th. In the past I have used this checklist to monitor class behaviour during each lesson. Children can then be rewarded for getting a certain score at the end of the week. This score can increase each week as they reach their target.

Last But Not Least: Keep Them Busy!:

Make sure you have activities for children to undertake when they finish their work, as many discipline problems happen when children aren't focused on an activity. You can read about some of my early finisher activities in this post. Songs, poems and reciting tables are all good transitional activities to do while children are changing books to reduce noise in the classroom. Make sure you give them time before a lesson to take out books, line copies and write titles and dates so that when it comes to the written part of the lesson, they can start straight away.  

Throwback Thursday: The Sun, Moon and Stars

We have been learning all about the sun, moon and space over the past couple of weeks and the kids enjoyed this immensely! Here is our current classroom display: (Apologies for poor lighting, it is directly under a window!)

Geography/science: 

We discussed features of daytime and nighttime (sun, moon, stars, light and dark colours, people who work during the day and those that work at night, etc) and completed the above poster as they named the various features. We discussed how the sun is still around during the day even when it is cloudy. We discussed how we are never in total darkness because of the moon and stars. We also created night and day pictures. 

The following day, we learned about how the earth rotates and how this causes night and day. We pretended we were the earth as we all held hands in a circle. One child held the Irish flag (they were Ireland) and the other children were other countries in the world. One child held a flashlight (facing the child holding the Irish flag) and pretended to be the sun shining on the earth. They started by shining it on Ireland and I got everyone to rotate around, as the earth does, as day passes. I told the girl playing 'Ireland' that when she could see the sun, she would shout out daytime. When she could not see the sun anymore, she would call out nighttime (as it is now dark in Ireland, with no sun). We then did the same thing with a globe to check whole class understanding. We stuck a sticker on Ireland on the globe and we all shouted out daytime when the sun was shining on Ireland, and nighttime when it wasn't. 

History:
We discussed the first moon landing. We brainstormed things we knew already. We then looked at a PowerPoint which told us about the first people on the moon.

First walk on the moon! from SeniorInfants

We watched some Youtube videos of the moon landing and talked about how the moon was different to earth. They then wrote about one thing they had learned about the moon landing.

We also read a story the following week on Neil Armstrong's life. We discussed this and created timelines of his life (What Armstong was doing as a child, as a teenager and as an adult).

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0618152393/ref=rdr_ext_tmb

Art: 

We created blazing suns. We talked about colours in the sun, how it is too hot to land on (unlike the moon), and general sun safety (you can't look at it in the sky, you need to protect yourself from the sun, etc). We used crayons in yellow, orange and red to create the suns on A4 pages. We used a squirty container to squirt yellow paint around the center and then repeated this by mixing more yellow paint with PVA glue and glitter. 

Literacy:

We focused on the sounds: 'igh' and 'oo' and following various activities and a lot of practice in reading words containing these sounds, they were included in our morning messages each day e.g. we are talking about the moon today, we are learning about day and night, we are making a moon today, we are dancing to high and low music etc.

                         

Music: 

We sang the song See-Saw (The Right Note) and pretending we were on a see-saw, we went up and down  to accompany the high and low notes in the song. We then listened to pieces of music 'The Elephant' and 'Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy', talked about the music (whether it was high or low pitched), and responded to it through dance. I sang high and low notes to them and they showed whether it was high or low by bending down low or going up high on their tip toes. I asked individual children to do this also. 

Geography 2: 

We created a KWL chart of what we had learned about the moon so far and what else we wanted to know about it. 

We played an interactive game on http://www.earthsunmoon.co.uk/. We discussed through our playing of it, how craters are made, how mountains are made, how the moon moves around the earth and how the moon changes shape and what shapes it makes. We noted what we learned on the KWL chart and then created mini-moons from playdough.

English: 

We used what we learned about the moon to write a class non-fiction book about the moon. We looked at some non-fiction texts and talked about things that make a non-fiction text different to a storybook. They then drew a picture of the moon on a template and wrote some facts about the moon that they had learned over the past couple of weeks. We numbered the pages, created a contents page and added a coverpage to our book to complete it. It was then placed in the class library for reading.

So that's what I've been up to for the last two weeks, happy teaching!

Thematic Unit: Space

The topic of 'Space' offers great scope for integration across the Primary School Curriculum. Here are some tried and tested lessons based on the theme for senior classes (I taught them to 5th, however they can easily be adapted for younger classes too):

Geography: The Solar System:

Create a KWL on the solar system. Explore and quiz the children on this PowerPoint from Seomra Ranga, which gives useful, simple information on each planet. Divide the children into groups and give each a planet (or another topic like stars and constellations, etc) to research over the week and create a project on. 

Geography: Stars and Constellations: 

Discuss prior knowledge with the children and then go through the activities and discussion points in this PowerPoint:

PE/Music: Creative Dance:
Create an Outer Space themed creative dance sequence using the lesson outline provided on page 72 of the Teacher Guidelines. Revise different shapes, pathways and travelling movements with them before you begin teaching this dance. The dance itself is divided up into three different segments:

1. Countdown, explosion and take off: Encourage them to stay in the one place on the floor for the countdown and explosion, while using their bodies to show a build up of energy (shaking,
   
   flame movements, etc). Get them to take off and form groups of 5 with the first child forming a rocket front with his hands and discuss how the rocket moves through space slowly and gracefully. I like to use music from Star Wars for this section of the dance: John Williams – Anakin vs. Obi-Wan.
2. Landing on the planet Zor and exploring it: The children join together as a long rocket and then separate into two groups. One half of the children fall to the ground as if landing, lying flat. The rest of the 'rocket' makes its way off the 'stage'. As they begin to rise, get them to perform actions, struggling with the effects of gravity. The theme music from X-Files is a suitable piece of music for this section of the dance.
3. The Death Dance of the Whirly Gums: Read the poem with the children and discuss and create various movements to portray the poem in pairs, ending with the death dance. I like to use John Williams - The Asteroid Field to accompany this section.

Perform the dance with a clear start and end point and ensure all sections run smoothly from one to the next.

Art: The Solar System:

Use the song above to learn the order of planets in the solar system. Discuss the colours and textures of the 8 planets so they can recreate them as accurately as possible. Create a solar system picture using oil pastels for the planets and a black wash for the background.
They can also create 3D Papier-mâché planets like these:

Science: Light:

Explore this PowerPoint (as far as slide 17), discussing ideas and doing the experiments discussed along the way :

Sources of Light from blueroses0805

In the following lesson, you can go through this PowerPoint and set of experiments on refraction and colour mixing:

Light: Refraction and Colour Mixing from SeniorInfants

If you are looking for lesson ideas for teaching younger children all about space, check out my post for Senior Infant Adventures on The Sun, Moon and Stars! 

Throwback Thursday: The Theme of Winter in Senior Infants

Autumn is over, much to my dismay, and so too is the unusually mild weather! As we (reluctantly) welcome the beginning of winter, I feel it only appropriate to feature this post on winter themed lessons as my Throwback Thursday post this week. Enjoy!

Geography/Science:

We looked at an image and discussed how they knew it is winter in the picture. We then played a game of Cluiche Kim using the following PowerPoint:

Winter things seen in winter from SeniorInfants

In their workbooks, they crossed out the things that you would not see in winter and circled the things you would see. Early finishers had to draw more things you might see in winter. Over the course of the week, the children were asked to bring in new things for our winter nature table from home.

Science:

We discussed the ways that birds keep warm in winter and looked at pictures of birds using feathers for insulation (after feathers were mentioned as one particular way to keep warm).

We explored how birds also use migration to keep warm, through this PhotoStory about Wally the Swallow, which I questioned them on afterwards:

The children then drew two pictures side by side of the two ways that birds keep warm in winter.

Geography:
We helped teddy get dressed for the winter weather using items from the magic bag and explained why he would wear these things. We then discussed how teddy would keep warm if he lost his warm winter clothes (e.g. food, heating, exercise). The children mimed different things you could do to keep warm and the class guessed what they were miming. We drew all of the 4 things that would keep teddy warm in winter in separate boxes on our sheets.

History:

We read and discussed the book: ‘Snow Bears’. After this, we sequenced events from the story on the IWB, discussing the vocabulary of: beginning, middle, end, first, second, third, last. The children also drew their own storyboard for the story.

                                     Snow bears sequencing activity from SeniorInfants

We also discussed winter in the past. We talked about ways that people lit and heated their homes in winter in the past and also how they heated their food during the winter. We looked at laminated pictures and sorted the old pictures from the new pictures. We then completed this worksheet, labeling each as either old or new:

Art: 
We filled a white sock with a large ball of newspaper and then a small one. We twisted the top of the sock around a good few times and folded it down on top of the snowman’s head to make a hat for him. We added buttons, eyes, a nose and some children added cardboard (cereal box strength) arms to his sides.

  

Music

I showed the children two winter themed pictures of an inside and outside scene. We talked about sounds you might hear in each scene. I played Vivaldi’s ‘Four Seasons: Winter’ for them and asked them to choose which winter scene they hear in each section of the music i.e. the blizzard picture or the indoor picture by the fire. Following this, they pretended their fingers were falling snow and moved them in time with the music as they listened again. 

Winter vivaldi from SeniorInfants

We also sang the song ‘Winter Clothes’ as a transitional activity.

Writing Genres: Recipes in Senior Classes

I hope everyone had a relaxing break. It's hard to believe we are on the run up to Christmas already!

Before the midterm, I was writing recipes with my class. Despite having taught recipe writing to them last year (in 4th Class), I found myself having to do a lot of resource hunting online to find some new (and

www.bakingmad.com/

more challenging) examples to use with them this year. Unfortunately, I found myself getting slightly frustrated at the lack of free ideas and samples to show children when it came to this genre. I eventually built up a bank of good resources myself (putting in a huge amount of time and effort) and my lessons went very well. Then I thought, why not save other teachers some time and share these ideas and resources all together, in one place? Therefore, this week, I have written a post containing all the ideas, samples and templates you could ever require to teach recipe writing to your class. I hope you find them useful!

Step 1:
Begin by asking the children to tell you what a recipe is, who uses them and what makes the format of a recipe different to the format of a story. Brainstorm a few things on the board.

Step 2: (Optional)
Make a simple recipe with them in class. This gives them a purpose for their reading and written work. Get them to work in groups or make the recipe as a class (depending on resources/class size). Discuss any difficult words before they begin. Pick a simple recipe which will be easy for them to write about later. Here are some recipes you can try:

1. This year I used my own recipe to make Rocky Road.

2. There are some great recipes which require only a microwave on Number 2 Pencil's website. Brownie in a Cup was the one I used with my class last year.

3. If you don't have a microwave in your school, you could always make something like Eton Mess

The Food Network

www.joe.org

or fruit salad.

4. If you are looking for something more complicated or have an oven/more advanced cooking equipment, some of Nigella Lawson's recipes are quite straightforward.

Step 3:

It is now time for them to learn more about the genre of recipe writing by examining a collection of different recipes (or simply using the recipe they followed the previous day) to come up with a list of features they must include in their writing. Some of the websites I have linked to above have some very good recipe samples you could use. It is very important that you choose recipe samples with a similar style to what you want them to create i.e. if you want them to use numbers, don't show them recipes using paragraphs, etc.

You have two activity options once you have chosen your sample recipes: 

1. You can pair them up and have them highlight various characteristics of a recipe on their own individual copies of the recipes.
2. You can have the sample recipe on the board and go through it with the class, highlighting key features as you discuss them.

Step 4: 

Create with the children, a class checklist of all of the features they have identified and write the list in their copies. Get them to put a box at the end of each point, to tick once they have finished their first draft.

Our checklist included:

• Headings: Ingredients and method
• Measurements of ingredients
• Numbers/steps
• Short sentences
• Imperatives (You can also call these 'ordering words' if you have a younger class and discuss examples of these)
• Baking/cooking vocabulary (Make a list of these on another board using their ideas and some extra words of your own)

Step 5:
The children can now begin writing their recipes.
Twinkl.co.uk have a useful template for recipe writing which you can download here.

You have three choices when it comes to topics:

1. The children can write a new version of the recipe they created the previous day in class. 
2. The children can create their own original recipe.
3. They can create an imaginary 'Witch's Potion' (this website has a nice template they can use).

At this point, they have their checklist to work from in their copies, a sample recipe to guide them either on the IWB or as a handout, and a list of baking terminology available for them to use. 

Step 6:

Once the first draft is complete, the children can start self assessing and editing their work:

• First, get the children to read over their recipe and check off items on their checklist.
• Then, have them spend 5 minutes checking over their work and correcting capital letters. 
• Next, have them check for punctuation and spend a couple of minutes correcting this in their work. 
• Finally get them to check that they used some variety in their imperatives and change words that occur more than once.

Step 7: 

The children can now write a second draft including these changes.

Step 8:

Correct the children's second draft. When it is corrected, they can write their final draft using their best handwriting.

Keep in mind that this post covers a couple of writing lessons and the steps weren't all completed in one day. Let me know if you find these tips helpful and if you would like to see more posts on different writing topics in the future!

Halloween Themed Lesson Ideas for Senior Classes

Here are some Halloween based lesson ideas that I have used with 3rd, 4th and 5th Class around Halloween, both this year and last. I hope you find them helpful, especially over the next few days when it can be difficult to get the children to focus on anything but the midterm break!

English: Poetry
There are many different poems you can do with your children based on Halloween. This year I did a poem from the 5th class Reading Zone Teacher's Manual, called 'Halloween Night'. What I like to do with poems based on this theme is get the children to create and then perform a dramatic/expressive reading of the poem in small groups, following a discussion of vocabulary, themes and images in the poem. One member of the group reads the poem with expression while other group members make various sound effects in the background. They can even learn off the poem and create actions to accompany their performance!

http://www.momendeavors.com/

English: Creative Writing:
Focus on recipes as a theme of writing with the children. Read various examples, highlight features of a recipe, brainstorm 'cooking/baking' vocabulary, make a recipe, write it down together as a class (modelling the structure of the writing genre) and finally get them to come up with their own imaginary witches' potion recipe. Make sure to encourage them to be creative with ingredients and give them access to their 'cooking terms' word wall while creating their recipes!

English: Oral Language: 

http://goo.gl/BCFdTN

Get the children involved in storytelling by getting them to tell some scary stories to the class. Discuss the characteristics of a good storyteller along with what makes a scary story different from a feel good story, a funny story, etc. Note some of these ideas on the board so they keep them in mind while creating their own stories. The children can then create a short spooky story in their copies (ensuring to have a definite beginning, middle and end). In pairs, they can read each other their story and get advice from their partner as to how to make it 'spookier' or more dramatic. Give them an opportunity to memorise their stories, reassuring them that they don't have to remember them word for word. Get some of the children to tell their story from memory to the class using dramatic pauses, different tones of voice for different parts of the story and raising and lowering their voice to suit the story's progression.

Gaeilge: Foclóir agus Dán:
Teach them some Halloween vocabulary (which you can download from Seomra Ranga) by playing Cluiche Kim, Biongó, etc. Get them to write a short paragraph about Halloween, answering these questions: An maith leat Oíche Shamhna? An bhfuil tú ag gleasadh suas d'Oíche Shamhna? An bhfuil do chara ag gleasadh suas d'Oíche Shamhna? An bhfuil tú ag dul ag imirt bob nó bia? These phrases can also be used in a comhrá beirte.
You can also teach and get them to perform the poem Oíche Shamhna (from Seomra Ranga):

Science: The Skeletal System: 
Discuss the functions of a person's skeletal system and what joints do. Teach them a song to help them remember the different bone names, such as this one from YouTube (with actions):

Do an internet scavenger hunt to search for more information about the skeletal system and get them to fill in the information found on a writing frame like this one:

Links for Skeletal System websites:

Learn about joints.

Learn about the skeleton and rebuild it.

Put the skeleton back together.

Look at a real x-ray!

Finish a skeleton puzzle.

Label the bones.

Complete a quiz on the skeletal system.

History: Stone Age Burial Customs:

Use the Power Point below to get the children to discuss and write about what they think each building/monument was used for (include some pair discussion here as well!). Then go through each picture (monument) and discuss and name it. At the end, get the children to write down a sentence about something new they learned about each tomb. (These lesson activities are outlined further in the Power Point!).

P.E: Thriller Dance:
Teach a simple version of Michael Jackson's Thriller:

Drama: Spooky Stories
In groups, create a spooky, Halloween themed improvisation and perform it for the class.

Music: 
Sing the song 'Disco in the Dark' (The Right Note) and artistically respond to some spooky film music too!

I hope you find these ideas useful this week and don't forget you can check out some ideas for Halloween Art projects in my previous post: Halloween Art Lesson Ideas.
Happy Halloween!

Halloween Art Ideas

Last year while teaching 3rd and 4th class, I wrote about a website I discovered called Artventurous, that had some excellent seasonal Art lesson ideas. I tried out the project called In a Dark, Dark Wood with my class and it turned out very well (I also really like her 3D Witch Faces project by the way!). Below you can see the Halloween haunted houses we made. The children had a great time colour mixing, making colours gradually darker to create this illuminated sky effect and then drawing on the houses and trees with markers.

We also created these crayon scrapings:

This was a very quick and simple art lesson. We coloured the background of our page in warm colours: red, orange and yellow. Then we coloured over the background with a black crayon. We then scraped Halloween pictures and patterns onto the page and the colours came out through the black layer.

We also made these Halloween masquerade masks from paper plates:

I really liked how each came out so differently and they really loved this project! We began by discussing what a masquerade ball is and why these masks are different to normal masks. I showed them this slideshow of pictures I had Googled:

and we discussed different ideas for creating their own masks. They then folded their mask in half and drew half of their mask's face, cut it out and opened it up to find a symmetrically shaped mask (some weaker children found this difficult and had to draw the whole shape with the plate opened up, meaning it wasn't perfectly symmetrical, but this was more manageable for them!). They were given different collage materials to use on their mask along with colouring pencils/crayons/etc. I added an elastic to some of the masks to wear around their heads and a long cocktail stick to the sides of others (depending on the design). 

This year in 5th Class, we are making these spooky houses using oil pastels and watercolours (You can mix normal poster paint with lots of water to create a similar effect). I really like the ease of the project, the bright colours and the lack of mess it creates. The idea and the picture below come from the blog: Art Teacher In LA. You can find all of the instructions on how to make them there!

http://artteacherinla.wordpress.com

You can check out her other simple and creative Halloween Art lesson ideas if you click here too. There are ideas for every age group.  I really like her Monster Collages and her Silhouette Acrylic Paintings in particular!

I hope you get some inspiration from some of these ideas and enjoy your mid term break.

(By the way, If you are an infant teacher and haven't already checked out my Halloween Themed Infant Lessons, check them out, you might get some good ideas for the last week of school!)

Decorating for Halloween!

Over the past week we have been getting a little 'spooky' in fifth class. I was adding some finishing touches to our Halloween decor today and thought I would share some of my displays with you (I know, sometimes I go way overboard!):

My Nature Table last year:

Pumpkin lantern, Dealz

'Straw' packaging from a hamper

Coloured paper leaves

Scarecrow, bought in the US

Conkers, leaves and a tree branch

This year's Nature Table: 

Pumpkin lantern, Dealz

'Straw' packaging from a hamper

Coloured silk leaves, Amazon

Scarecrow, bought in the US

Conkers, conker shells, leaves, tree stump, rocks, acorns, pine cones and a tree branch

Halloween crayon scrapings art display in the classroom: 

Words from Seomra Ranga

Halloween paintings on the classroom windows: 

Spiderwebs, Dealz

 Other window decor:

Window stickers, Dealz

Irish word display this year:

Scarecrow, bought in the US

Coloured silk leaves, Amazon

'Straw' packaging from a hamper

Words from Seomra Ranga

Teacher's desk:

Trick or Treat bucket, Tesco

Ghost and pumpkin, Dealz

Book shelf:

Pumpkin lights, Dealz
Skull, Lidl
Bones in a Bag, Aldi
Cobwebs, Dealz

I hope you enjoyed having a peak around my classroom and happy decorating!