littlemissteacher.com

Did you know that we, as teachers ask up to two every minute? We can ask up to 400 questions in a day and an average of 70,000 questions in a school a year. That works out at about two or three million over the course of our career

However, something I find we need to strive towards keeping the excitement alive in, is stories and books. We're not stuck for choice with our picture books, there's literally a story for every day, every topic, everyone! A close friend of mine shared the most wonderful idea for drumming up the excitement level a few years back and I just loved it - Story Time Surprise. Now, there's a use for all that lovely wrapping paper you've been hoarding!

I recently visited the most wonderful and inspiring preschool, who base almost all of their learning and play outdoors, and simply refer to the classroom as their 'fancy changing room' - they only stay indoors if there is a full blown orange weather warning! There are so many simple ways to take learning outdoors with the infants, especially their literacy learning. Be it for some letter practice or even just free play at lunch-time, the opportunity to play and write on the ground with some chalk fosters all sorts of important skills - from gross motor to balance! A box of books that can come in and out at yard time is a lovely way of encouraging the freedom to just take some time to relax and read a story at lunch time.

An Instagram style post is ideal as it incorporates drawing and writing and encourages the pupils to focus on key words, or what they are on Instagram, 'hashtags'. Provide the pictures and challenge the pupils to create a caption & hashtags to match! Provide the photo posts to act as creative writing prompts for the pupils. Get to Know Us Instagram posts are a lovely way to create a 'Get to Know' the class display.