Wow… Term Three really kicked me in the rear end. To go along with all the normal teaching fun and games I had two ruptured ear drums, a throat infection and a good old common cold! But, I am very happy to say I survived.
Something that has really been keeping me motivated and inspired this year is the teaching community on Instagram. This community is where I first discovered Twinkl. I've subscribed to a few different teaching resource websites over the last few years however this was the first I'd heard of Twinkl. After some quick research and a few texts to teaching friends I decided to give it a go. This brings me to this term when I was asked to write a review of Twinkl resources from an Aussie teachers perspective… My excitement was a little ridiculous! Having already been singing the praises of Twinkl to my teaching friends I jumped at the opportunity to share how I'm using it in my classroom. All comments and opinions are my own.
Displays
The first resource that I used from Twinkl was the editable floating door display. I loved how simple and easy this was to print and put together. The whole door display took me half the time as usual. If I wasn't so keen to get it up on the door I would have put it through the laminator first. Next time I'll pace myself.
Other bits and pieces like birthday charts, that usually take a lot of preparation time at the beginning of the year, are all quick and easy to download and print.
Developing ICT skills has been a key focus in my classroom this term. Unfortunately for most of this year my classroom has had limited access to Wifi which meant that our laptops had been packed away. I was finally able to dig them out this term and I went straight to Twinkl to find some displays to create an ICT area within my room.
Vocabulary is so important when teaching computer literacy so I printed and laminated these posters. Velcro dots on the back make them quick and versatile to arrange. I also plan to add these ICT Area Challenge Cards to the area as a fast finisher activity.
One of our focus topics this term was Australia. We read the book Are We There Yet? by Alison Lester and followed their journey around Australia. I used the Create tool on Twinkl to make my own banner. I kept it pretty simple because I knew the display would be quite busy. It was awesome to be able to quickly and easily put together a display that was exactly what I wanted. I've been branching out into more detailed displays using Create ready for Term 4.
As apart of this unit we also pinned up a big map of Australia which we used to find and locate the different towns and cities that we received postcards from. I used the printable Australian flag patterned letters to make this. I love it when visitors come to my room and ask how I made all these awesome displays… I almost don't want to share my secret!
Learning Centres
One of the first resources that I created this year was these sight word wands. My students use them to search for their focus sight words in our L3 texts. I downloaded the Editable Star Labels, added our sight words, printed, laminated and hot glued them onto large paddle pop sticks.
There are also heaps (seriously, look for yourself!) of worksheets that are easy to search for and ready to print. I'm working towards paperless learning centres so I simply print my activities and slip them into write and wipe sleeves.
Other Features
As I mentioned, the Create tool allows you to create your own resources based on your specific needs. Create is so so simple to use. I recently used it to make a banner for our Are We There Yet? display. My next project will be labelling the hot mess that that is my literacy storage room.
Being able to save and organise resources is a huge timesaver for me. I do a lot of programming at home however I like to print at work (much better quality) something which this feature allows me to do quickly and easily.
Being able to go straight to Australian resources is another timesaver. Twinkl are adding more and more resources that are directly linked to the Australian curriculum.
Overall, I have been very pleased with my Twinkl subscription. Despite quickly becoming a go to website when planning and programming I still feel as though I am only scratching the surface of what Twinkl has to offer. For any teachers out there that are facing the toss up between teaching resource websites I urge you to check Twinkl out. I was knee deep in enthusiasm for this website long before being asked to review it and I will continue to pester teaching friends to check it out long after this review has been sent off into cyber space.
Check it out:
Beck xx
