Welcome to Seomra Ranga, the Hub for Primary School Resources. For the overseas visitors “Seomra Ranga” means “classroom” in the Irish language.
Seomra Ranga has been successfully providing tried and tested resources for primary school classrooms since 2007. Since that time, the site has gradually built up a strong following amongst educators as a repository of quality teacher-created resources. The resources on the site, which support all areas of the curriculum, are arranged in accordance with the curricular provisions of the Irish primary school….
Seomra Ranga in Numbers
Over the past few weeks, Seomra Ranga has passed some significant milestones on its web journey. There’s already been the 3rd Twitter Birthday (#Twitterversary), 2000 Facebook “Likes”, 1,200 Twitter Followers and 3,500 Tweets. This Blog Post now represents another significant number in the life of the site. This is the 2,500th Blog Post on the site! It’s only five years since the website commenced and here are some other numbers associated with the site: read more…
National Tree Week
National Tree Week takes place from 4-10 March 2012. It is an annual, week-long festival celebrating all positive aspects of trees in our lives and environment. It is organised by the Tree Council of Ireland. This year’s theme is ‘Trees – Our Past, Our Present, Our Future’. During National Tree Week, as well as prompting people to plant more trees, people are being asked to celebrate our remarkable heritage of trees and woodlands and to recognise the significance of trees and forests as a living link to our past, as an enjoyable, life-enhancing asset in the present, and as a wise investment in our future. read more…
Update on Teaching Council Election Blunder
Election Process to Start Over Again
Two days ago I wrote a Blog Post about the confusion among teachers over the mix-up in the Declaration of Identity Form issued to teachers for the election of teachers to the new Teaching Council. Two very basic typographical errors were contained in this form which should have been easily spotted by anyone proof-reading the form. In the top section of the form, teachers were asked to fill in the “Elector’s Name” instead of “Voter’s Name“; in the bottom section (which the Witness was to complete), the witness was asked to fill in the “Voter’s Signature” instead of the “Witness’s Signature”. read more…
iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch Apps for (Special) Education
It’s always great to get recommendations of mobile apps for use in an educational setting. Thanks to Mary Foskin (@m2thefizzle on Twitter) for making me aware of this great document with a wide-ranging list of apps sorted into different curricular areas. The list is intended for special education, however many of the apps are very suitable for use in the mainstream class (hence the brackets in the title of the document). The list has been compiled by Eric Sailers, a Speech-Language pathologist. The list also include links to the apps in the App Store which is very convenient. read more…
CESI Conference 2012 Reviews
I spent last weekend at the Computers in Education Society of Ireland (CESI) annual Conference in Portlaoise. It’s always a great event to meet teachers from all three levels of education in Ireland who are interested in the integration of technology in the classroom. It’s also great that so many teachers share their enthusiasm and expertise in so many different fields. read more…
Teaching Council Election Confusion
Original Teaching Council Declaration of Identity Form with errors highlighted
Teaching Council Election voting papers have recently been posted out to all teachers registered with the Teaching Council. Teachers were supplied with two Ballot Papers – one for the female candidates and one for the male candidates. Teachers were asked to vote 1, 2, 3 in the order of their preferences. Teachers were also supplied with a Declaration of Identity Form which they were asked to complete and have witnessed by a person known to the teacher. However, herein lay the errors which caused much confusion among teachers and which called into question both the efficiency of the Council and the legitimacy of the election process. read more…
Guest Post: Reading – A Gift For Life
Reading for pleasure – it’s a no-brainer, really, isn’t it? It’s so obvious that it’s a really great thing to encourage children to read, I nearly feel a bit sheepish saying it. It’s like motherhood and apple pie. Who could be against it? (Bang-bang, you’re dead. When I was at school, children’s books were known as ‘storybooks’. That’s not a word you hear much lately; it has an old-fashioned ring to it. The idea was, I suppose, to distinguish between books that were associated with schoolwork (textbooks, ‘readers’ and so on) and books that were just for fun. read more…
Gifted Education Links
This week is Gifted Education Awareness Week (GEAW). Its aim is to encourage teacher awareness of Exceptionally Able pupils in the classroom and to help overcome the myths about these pupils. By recognising the educational needs of Exceptionally Able pupils the teacher can help these pupils achieve their potential in the classroom. The most harmful myth about Exceptionally Able pupils is that they will perform well no matter what; and if they don’t perform well, they were probably never gifted in the first place! read more…
