[amurray@smpps.ie]

I completely agree Anna, the sheer amount of resources can be very overwhelming. I think you’re absolutely right to keep on using the resources you’re already finding useful and limit the new ones to try out. It’s great to have such a variety to choose from though and I’m excited to use some ideas from the course in my classroom in the coming year.

[amurray@smpps.ie]

Thanks for mentioning Twinkl for assessment, it sounds like they have lots on the site, so will save me creating new resources or searching the web when it’s all in the one place. I’ve used Twinkl so much for various types of resources but never for assessments so I look forward to checking this out in the coming year. It’s a super website and worth every penny!

[amurray@smpps.ie]

I use a number of assessments at the beginning of the year such as Jackson phonics and Dolch assessments. I find that these are a good starting point to ascertain the children’s level of knowledge and where I need to begin with each child.

We also use ‘My Thoughts About School’ which I find very useful to get to know them a little bit better and can often give us ideas about how to help a child especially with social aspects of their development.

I look forward to conferencing with parents some more this year as I have missed out on this due to covid/maternity leave. I always find it useful to chat with parents about their child in the mainstream classroom as it can give you a much deeper insight into how the child is getting on.

[Author]

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