Planning and resources

[Riceball]

I'm an NQT about to start a full time job. I know there are no magic shortcuts but I have two young children and am looking for all the support I can get.

I have decided to subscribe to the Hamilton trust and have also seen twinkl platinum plus which includes planning resources. Does anyone have any experience of us in these or other online resources as a starting point?

Twinkly is excellent, worth every penny particularly if you're teaching early years. Nice, clear resources, power points etc.

Hamilton trust plans are good as a starting point. Prefer their English ones to maths as the maths seems to be pitched a little low for my class.

It's even better if you can persuade your school to subscribe and save you the money! If other members of staff will find it useful, will your school consider it? Twinkl do a school subscription too.

Thanks. It's Y4.

I know I'll be adapting but I'm keen to avoid reinventing the wheel at midnight every night! :-)

I have used my Twinkl platinum subscription a lot. It definitely pays for itself in my eyes.

Once Twinkl was all naff display banners and twee instruction cards for nice listening- but these days there is a lot of useful content on there. I like the maths assessment packs.

I like to do my own planning so do not like Hamilton but I do NOT like making my own resources (I know some do) so a resource, rather than planning, led site suits me best.

If you're on FB, there are teaching FB groups which are good for swapping and sharing planning. There's even one called 'give me your planning' which has a Google drive of stuff people have contributed.

My biggest tip for planning is know when to say 'that'll do'. You can spend hours looking at different resources, ideas etc when there might be a sheet on twinkl that will teach the kids just as well and save you hours. Yes a home made personalised resource might be a bit better, but if both will teach the kids and you're not being observed, know when to say 'that'll do'.

Thanks. For my PGCE I did it all myself but I'm worried that that pace is not sustainable.

Twinkl is well worth the money, I've got the planning and resource membership and have used lots -the science bits are particularly good.

Hamilton is okay and cheap - I'm using their literacy planning this year, maths seems to be a bit too easy for my year 5/6 class. Downside is it's just planning and not many powerpoints etc but since I adapt it a lot I guess premise powerpoints wouldn't be that useful.

I've just registered for the maths hub mastery plans which look very useful. If you look on the tes primary forum, there's a link. Also Google ncetm teaching for mastery documents. Together they would make a good base for your maths planning.

Planbee is also a good website for buying pre written plans, they come with worksheets and powerpoints and the ones I've used have been well pitched and enjoyed by the children. I like the "something different" option for when I don't want to use yet another worksheet.

Good old primary resources or tes is always good for powerpoints, whatever you're teaching, someone will have already done it and i normally find what I want.

Interesting and wise words! Maybe the £70 is a necessary investment, especially for lessons that need a lot of resources.
The maths hub also looks great.

Lots of free resources on TES. Lots of them are on Word as well so if they are not exactly what you are looking for you can change them.

Our school has a platinum twinkl subscription so we don't have to pay for our own. If your school doesn't have one, could you split the cost with a colleague?

If you use something like Hamilton just make sure that you adapt it to the needs of your class. Lifting straight from a commercial scheme without thinking about the needs of your class is generally frowned upon.

Agree with the 'that'll do' attitude towards planning. I regularly plan stuff and then completely change it when I come to teach the lesson because a better idea suddenly jumps into my head!