A new start to the year for me!

Happy New Year!
Yes, I know we are well into the New Year but it is never too late!

I started my new job last week, a new school, a new class and a new position! Started as a principal teacher of a 4 teacher school in Athy. Is it quite crazy to say that I feel settled in after 3 days? So much happened last week! I had to settle my own class in, 3rd and 4th Class.I introduced them to the Golden Time system and they are well impressed!I also teach Irish to the 5th and 6th class there while another teacher takes my class for maths..I miss maths, I never loved it as a child and struggled with it all the way but I think I am a really good Maths teacher! Is there a link there?
So, my three days consisted of teaching, well trying to teach and take phonecalls, talk to the secretary, meet the staff and meet the parents. After the children went home, I had a list as long as my arm to take on! It is mad busy but I love it!
I believe that change is the best thing for teachers and indeed anyone. I enjoy change and handle it extremely well. A principal told me recently that he made a vow when he went into principalship, he promised he would look for a new principal job every 7 years and he does that religiously. He said it keep him on his toes!
New changes for me were the multi-class environment, which to me is fine. My 3rd and 4th Class are working from the same curriculum and no matter what class you get, you will find about 7 different levels of ability anyway!
Other new changes were the fact that I would have to teach PE lessons all by myself! In my last school, we were lucky enough to have a qualified PE teacher on our staff. She took the PE lessons for the whole school.so, I hadn’t taught PE for 4 years! Scary! I did my research and came across 2 amazing resources for us non-specialised PE teachers.
The PSSI website is your first port of call. This website can be found by googling PSSI or finding it through the pcsp website. It is an amazing website which hands you all your lesson plans, warmups and cool downs as per the Irish curriculum.
The second PE resource I have had direct experience of is the Buntús for primary schools. It is an initiative run by the FAI. It hones in on soccer skills so it would only cover your Games Strand and even then only one strand unit then. In 2 of the schools I have tuaght in, we had a half day of training from the Buntús crew. Diane trained us in and once we had finished our training, she handed us a massive kit of soccer resources…every type of ball you could think of amongst other cool things! The school received a full set of lesson plans on colourful, laminated cards. Extremely useful! So, if your school has not availed of the Buntús, tell your principal! Their website can be found at http://www.faischools.ie/activities/primary/buntus-initiative/
So, these are the 2 resources you can avail of for free! Why reinvent the wheel?
Mail me or blog to anseo.net to tell me of any other PE ideas, websites, tips or lessons that you have tried and you rate!
Until next week
Love and hugs
Rozz