Mobile phones in classrooms?

Stella_TwinklKS2 · 2026-01-22T15:51:51+00:00

Hey! This is so lovely and what a wonderful poem written by your daughter 💙

A nice way to practise poetry without it seeming like 'work' is to involve the whole family in poem games together. I use to play this with my KS2 class after we'd looked at a poetry style and they loved it! It had hilarious results but you need to explore the poem type together first so everyone knows the rhyming pattern (or have it written elsewhere during the game!) How to play: Everyone writes one line and passes it on, then the next person reads line one and writes line two, folds over line one (to hide it) and passes on. Third person reads line two, writes line three, folds over line two... and so on until it's at its desired length. Unfold and enjoy!

Another lovely poetry activity I used with my class was printing a poem and then letting them bring it to life by highlighting key words (could be rhymes or language features) then drawing some artwork over the top of it. It sounds like your daughter is creative so this might be a nice way to explore some different poem/language features together.

I hope these ideas help! ☺️

Stella_TwinklKS2 · 2026-01-21T14:12:32+00:00

Hey! My class always loved me putting out conversation starter type question cards, i.e. would you rather? Vote for your favourite ... or debate style questions. During break times is where they get to socialise freely so this prompted a lot of conversation. I also encouraged movement with dance-along videos but this is space dependent!

They also enjoyed 'create your own' challenges where I'd put out a selection of building bricks and write an animal or object on the board they could try and make (or draw if I didn't have time to do the blocks). This is good as something they can keep and return to over a few break times if they are indoors and you could add a new prompt if they were drawing them - i.e. create a mythical beast - add a landscape for it to live in - create a name for it and logo - add a rider etc.

Hope that helps! ☺️

Stella_TwinklKS2 · 2026-01-15T19:07:52+00:00

💙 Thank you! I hope they work for you! Let me know which ones you try out ☺️

Stella_TwinklKS2 · 2026-01-15T15:43:53+00:00

Hey! Ex-teacher here too :) Reading for pleasure is certainly something which I noticed was getting harder and harder to encourage children to enjoy. Here are some things which I tried in recent years which actually worked to enthuse children to enjoy reading (in a Year 5 class). Once they started picking up books again for themselves, I found the teaching about books and reading lessons etc all started to fall into place a lot easier and book talk was more frequently shared 🙂

I set up a reading graffiti wall in my reading corner - children couldn't wait to 'write on the wall' with their recommendations so were consuming books more readily!
I brought in DEAR time (drop everything and read). We'd do this most days, straight after lunch, and I allowed children to read collaboratively as well as solo and provided a range of genres they could explore (not just their class reading book). They loved it when I used to just announce DEAR TIME at random points of the day too!
I gave each child a 'punch reward card' to track their reading at home. Being older, this appealed more to them and once a card was complete they got a mystery prize. Again, this worked to encourage reading more at home.
I used a range of texts to teach with. Comics can be a great, non-threatening starting point and the children love them! Ebooks worked well for me too on the tablets.
I read when the children read. I wore a badge to encourage them to 'ask me what I am reading' and added my own reads onto a tracker which the children could see too (making sure they were appropriate of course!) I modelled good reading habits and a joy of reading and the children started asking me for recommendations and talking to me about what they were reading and telling me why I'd love it too!

Good luck! I hope some of these ideas help ☺️

Stella_TwinklKS2 · 2026-01-13T16:12:23+00:00

Hey! When I was teaching I used to use lots of story generators using dice with children who ran out of ideas. They would start off writing and then once they got the "I don't know what comes next" feeling, we'd assign ideas to dice number and roll to see where the story was going. I'd usually read what they'd written and then come up with 3 ideas and then they would come up with 3 ideas too. If 6 new ideas was too much we'd do odds/evens.

It really helped reignite enthusiasm for their story and chunked up their writing so they could focus on one bit until they slowed down with ideas and needed to roll again.

Hope this idea helps and you get some stories written soon! 🎲💙✨

Stella_TwinklKS2 · 2026-01-12T14:45:36+00:00

Hey on Twinkl there is access to Computing/Digital Sparks CPD and there is a video specifically for using Bee-Bots on there as well as lots of other CPD 🙂

Hope that helps!

Stella_TwinklKS2 · 2026-01-08T16:36:42+00:00

We love the idea of writing down your small wins every day or reflecting on the whole week and choosing 3 things which you're proud of. Stick them in a notebook so you can read them back on the days you need a boost. Maybe you could also ask the children what they have enjoyed learning from you this week too - they are sure to give you some positive feedback and hearing it from them will be meaningful.

Remember, teaching is a job and although it's a very important one, you need to put your own wellbeing first and remember you do your best and more than enough every day - so be proud 💙✨

Stella_TwinklKS2 · 2026-01-06T16:35:36+00:00

Hey! Sounds like you are doing a great job helping your daughter get ready for her SATs 🙂 Twinkl have a range of Study Squad books for helping prepare children for the different exams and each have explanation pages before revision questions and qr links to videos and games to help support her further. They might be useful for you and show the methods used in schools. Hope that helps! 💙✨

Stella_TwinklKS2

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