Showing posts with label growing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label growing. Show all posts

Wednesday, 29 August 2012

Pinterest - Classroom Ideas and Inspiration

In less than a week the summer holidays will be over and I'll be back into the whirlwind of teaching once again! I've been trying to get my brain back into "school mode" and I've been in and out of school sorting out my classroom and finding sources of inspiration. I have found some great teaching ideas over on Pinterest. If you haven't explored Pinterest, I urge you to now. Here are my Pinterest pin-boards.

 The best ideas are the simplest, you can pick up these little pots for very little cost. There's always the potential for chaos during a maths activity if everyone in the class needs to be rolling dice, so this is the perfect solution!

This is one of my favourite ideas! In year 3 one of the science topic looks at what plants need to be healthy and this is the perfect and really easy way to illustrate to children exactly what is happening when a plant grows. One of the most interesting stages of a seed germinating is that first moment when the seed sprouts roots and this is ordinarily completely hidden from view. I'm definitely going to try this with my class this year! I also came across a fabulous idea of growing seeds inside lightbulbs that you hang from the window frames in the classroom. 

What a brilliant idea! My sister The Style PA suggested it could be adapted by inserting Kings and Queens. But this idea could be used in many ways. With a variety of book characters inserted, it would be a powerful way of children developing their skills of character description and would be an exciting way of starting a literacy lesson on descriptive language.

 Another brilliant and cost-effective storage solution.

A great way of teaching children about erosion.

Another recycling idea - using Starbucks plastic cups as paint pots.

I think I may have to steal this for my classroom. I currently have words around my clock, but this is a simpler and and more visual aid for telling the time.

Every child works at different speeds and there are inevitably going to be a few children that finish tasks early. This is a great way of having a quick and easy bank of extension tasks that can easily be adapted and added to depending on the context.

 This is a lovely idea for an early morning activity while children are filtering into school, a time filler activity, or as part of phonics sessions.

(for sources follow this link)

Sunday, 2 August 2009

Rice Crispie cakes, Homemade Hummous and Peanut butter cookies

Well my fellow bloggers and blog-readers! I have been baking again this week, First on the Agenda... peanut butter cookies. There is something I LOVE about the slightly salty sweetness of these crunchy-on-the-edges-and-soft-in-the-middle cookies. They also make a perfect little treat for me to have for my lunch at work this week!


These are my special rice crispie cakes.... they are divine! The rice crispie base is made with a bit of butter mixed with melted Mars Bars... heavenly! Topped with creamy milk chocolate, and left to set in the fridge.


I also made (for the first time) my own hummous from scratch. It all went according to plan, making my own tahini paste, adding, garlic, oil, lemon, chickpeas, until it came to the addition of red peppers. Unfortunately they were quite juicy and it only served to water down the hummous and make it taste a tad bland. I think perhaps next time I might make a spicy hummous, with either chilli or jalapeno's. But loathe to waste food, I teamed it with some mini toasted pitta breads and some olives and it went down a treat!


Ooh! Me and my boyfriend have been putting our green fingers to use as well. We have been growing our own pepper plant... and this is the first of our mini harvest! It's great fun growing your own food and I highly recommend it! This little Pepper certainly isn't as large or perfectly shaped as the peppers from supermarkets but it is extra special as it was grown with my own two hands! :D