Thursday, February 18, 2016

Twinkl the Great!

Do you find yourself trawling the internet month after month looking for inspiration and resources?
If so, you are bound to have come across Twinkl.





Searching through endless websites, Pinterest boards and blogs can be exhausting and if you're anything like me, you get completely side-tracked and end up ordering 10 packs of laminating pouches and a hot glue gun 'because it was 20% off and they'll never go to waste!'

Luckily, I found Twinkl soon after leaving college. Don't get me wrong, I still trawl through Pinterest and multiple blogs, many of them by Irish teachers, for inspiration and ideas. But when I need a resource for a specific topic or book, Twinkl is my go-to website.


I have so many reasons why I love Twinkl but in typical teacher fashion, I will categorise my reasons into three areas :)  
Classroom Management, Irish Curriculum-based and Inclusive Resources


Classroom Management

At the beginning of the year, Twinkl is great to take the bare look off your classroom walls. 
Their Classroom Management section contains a wealth of resources that are everything you need setting your classroom up to be a well managed, organised environment.
Now that I have been in SEN the past three years, this area is probably the one I use most, mainly because I need clearly defined areas and organisation, particularly when I was working with children diagnosed as being on the Autistic Spectrum.


Irish Curriculum-Based

I think it's great to see so many resources suitable for use in Irish Primary Schools. 
For so long, Irish teachers would find an excellent resource but then have to try to figure out if KS1/KS2 Pre-k etc would be applicable to their class grouping whereas now all you have to do is click Republic of Ireland Curriculum and off you go! I don't currently teach Gaeilge but since leaving mainstream classes three years ago, the amount of really good Gaeilge resources has soared and it's great to see!



Inclusive Resources

Unless you have worked in the area of Special Needs or suddenly found yourself with new child in the class that has Special Needs, you won't know how difficult it is to find resources in this area.When I began working in an ASD class three years ago, I didn't know where to start. If you type Autism Spectrum Disorder resources into Google, you are bombarded with an overwhelming amount of information, most of it coming from American based websites which may not tie in with the Curriculum or may not suit your children's specific needs. Again, you just have to trawl through until you find what you need.
With Twinkl however, they make it so much more accessible.
When you click on the SEN tab, you can choose what type of resource you need and get brought to those resources straight away for you to browse and download.


I am currently working in a Severe/Profound classroom and I knew I was going to find it difficult, even on Twinkl, to find resources suited to my class as each child in my class has such profound needs and differing abilities. 
But that's when I found Twinkl Create

It is a relatively new tool that allows you to make your own, personalised resources using an easy-to-follow tutorial. It's a great addition to the site and makes it even more inclusive of all ages and abilities.

I highly recommend Twinkl for any teacher wanting to add some life into their classroom, inspire their children and save your wallet from any unnecessary purchases! 
(The hot glue gun is still in it's box )





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