Pom Pom Lids and Chalk on the Walls

I like to think of myself as a fairly forward thinking teacher. I love new technology, new ideas, amazing new resources. I try them in my class regularly. If they work then great! If not, I drop them. As much as I love shiny new things and can see how teaching and learning can be made better through using them, I still use some ‘classics’. Here are my ‘old school must use’ resources that I think still work just as well as the shiny and new:

Mini whiteboards

One of my most used and, for me, most effective resources used in my classroom are mini whiteboards and dry wipe pens. I use them every single day. A great way for children to show their understanding during main teaching as well as many other uses. I love writing on the tables but there’s something lovely about the proud moment a child writes down an idea or answer and throws their hand up in the air while holding the board up against them so nobody can see (sometimes resulting in rubbing off their answer). Cheap and amazingly effective (although not cheap when they keep losing the pen lids!). I also saw a genius once. Someone glued Pom Poms on the end of the dry wipe pen lids to use as an eraser! Love it! Also much easier to find them when they are dropped on the floor!

Chanting times tables

With the introduction of some amazing (and I mean really amazing) ways to learn times tables (TT rockstars for one ♥️) we shouldn’t lose sight of the effectiveness of chanting and singing tables in the classroom.  The children really enjoy it especially if you can try and link well known tunes to it! It speeds up recall and most importantly allows you to ‘teach’ times tables when you notice an error amongst the group. 

Mental arithmetic

As much as we all loathe SATs and the pressures that go with them, I really thought the mental arithmetic test that was undertaken each year was a really positive thing. Arithmetic is really important and the written methods are vital,however, mental arithmetic is so important too. Speed of recall is something we use as adults all the time. As much as I don’t want it back as another test, I feel it’s still vital that we teach mental maths. 

Chalk!

Lots of our classes use chalk on the playground or brick walls to either develop new concepts or as a way of children evidencing their learning or recalling things such as revision pre SATs. Cheap. Easy. Effective (unless you have a foot of snow covering the playground!) 

These are just a few of my ‘classic go tos’. I’d love to know what others people still use.