Letter to an Unknown Soldier...

Today I wanted to share a lovely activity that I did with my year 8 class. They contributed to a war memorial with a difference; one made purely of words. It centres on the statue of an unknown soldier in London's Paddington Station. Here is a screenshot from the website:

 I thought it was a very creative way of honouring and remembering fallen soldiers. The letters will be archived digitally soon but this is an activity that could be embedded in any schemes of work that touch on war. For example, I will be delivering a unit of work on conflict (classic and contemporary war poetry, articles, prose extracts, etc.) and this is an activity I will definitely incorporate.

My students had some stunning responses and with initiatives like this, we don't have to worry about youngsters forgetting the heroism of soldiers 100 years ago.

So give it a go and pen something for Unknown Soldier.

Here's the link to the website.

Creative collars...

Why not add a point of interest to a plain shirt? A chunky necklace that sits under the collar is a fantastic way to beautify a formal shirt:

Many of my colleagues also know how to put the ‘chic into teach'. I cornered one of them today because she is no stranger to getting creative with her collars:

A right bunch...

These are my school keys. This jingly, jangly bunch are never far from my side, in fact, they could be an additional limb. If you're thinking the bunch of keys is quite sizeable, when we were in our old school building (we recently moved into our brand new school) my set of keys was even bigger! This was for several reasons:

1. When students bought me key rings as presents, I added them to the bunch.

2. The fact that I had so many key rings inspired students to be buy me even MORE. I had no choice but to add those as well.

3. I frequently lost my keys and the size of the bunch made them much easier to find.

4. When the above happened, students would bring me my keys as they were so distinctive and recognisable. I knew they'd always make it back to me.  

Believe it or not, I have downsized since then!

The teddy bear aodrned with a ‘P' was a gift from a student, the personalised keyring and fabric owl are from Etsy.com and the silver witch's hat was bought when we took students to watch ‘Wicked' in the West End.

And people think our keys are just thrown together!

The wonder of the wedge...

I find wedges a great alternative to heels and surprisingly comfortable for work. Us teachers clock up quite a distance, running between various locations in school (yes, we do actually venture out from behind the desk) and wedge heels don't slow me down! I have a slight arch so heels have never been a problem for me. An added bonus is that they give me some extra height as I do seem to be placed with some ludicrously tall students.

Here are a couple of my favourite pairs. They look far more intimidating than they are:

Be brave - get some wedges in that classroom!

Go forth and be bold...

It takes the bold and the brave to wear an eye-catching trouser, or just the extrovert. Either way, printed trousers are a huge trend at the moment and I don't see why this can't make it to the classroom. 

   They can be dressed up to look smart-casual so that they're more fitting for a professional environment. I team mine with a pair of court shoes and a simple vest and cardigan.

   I did wonder if they'd prove too distracting for my students but so far they've been a hit. Apologies in advance for the terrible ‘clothes selfies'.

From Warehouse

From Dorothy Perkins