Creations In Education

Teacher Tour Japan 🇯🇵

That’s a wrap on one epic week with 🌎

📍Tokyo > Osaka > Kyoto

Highlights
• Feeding deer in Nara Park
• Izakaya
• River cruising Dotonbori
• Eating and making sushi 🍣
• Sake brewery tour and tasting
• Running through Shibuya crossing
• Watching a Maiko (apprentice geisha/geiko)
• Visiting shrines and temples
• Reading our fortunes
• Visiting two schools in different cities
• THE FOOD

• Petting piggies
• Tea ceremony
• Sumo show
• Mt Fuji tour

My favourite thing I took away was the concept Ichi-go ichi-e (一期一会); a Japanese phrase often translated as “one time, one meeting” or “one chance in a lifetime.”

It is a philosophy rooted in Zen Buddhism and tea ceremonies, encouraging people to cherish every moment and encounter as a unique, non-repeatable experience.

Travelling brings so many amazing opportunities (and challenges), but it is what you make of it.

Life is short.
The world is wide.
This trip was my reminder to be present.

So grateful for this job and life.

Arigatōgozaimasu, Japan. 🇯🇵

I’m going to schools in… JAPAN 🇯🇵😍

If you’ve been following me for a while, you may remember I went on a trip to Indonesia 🇮🇩 🛫 with where I had the most humbling, enriching experience to go and visit the island of Lembongan, visit various school, teaching in some and deliver PD to local teachers (on number talks — something I am SO passionate about)!

Well… now I’ve been given an opportunity to LEAD a similar trip to Japan and I am so excited and grateful!

In Japan, the first few years of elementary school focus on manners, character development, and social values over academic, exam-focused learning. 📝

The Japanese education system is known for rigorous standards, consistently placing at the top in international assessments (PISA/TIMSS) 🌎🎓

A high degree of discipline is also instilled, along with a, strict, hierarchical respect for teachers and elders.

‼️There is only one spot left, so if you’re interested in experience the Japanese culture and visiting schools during cherry blossom season — let me know and I can let you know more information! 👇🏼📲

‼️OPEN & GO RULE SETTING RESOURCE!

👇🏼Set CLEAR rules and expectations by doing this!

1️⃣ Involve students

💡This gives a sense of ownership, increasing motivation to engage with the rules and take accountability of their actions!

2️⃣ Avoid vague, open terms

“Be safe”
“Be responsible”
“Be respectful”
“Demonstrate excellence”

Many schools use this as a foundation of their school values or rule setting, but for many students it does not set a CLEAR expectation or boundary.

Instead brainstorm — what does it look, sound and feel like? 👀

3️⃣ Teach expectations EARLY (DAY 1)

💡 This sets a foundation for the remainder of the year.

‼️ Reviewing rules as necessary is equally as important to reinforce the expectation and standard of behaviour.

4️⃣ Practise!

💡 This provides a model of each expectation, so students can see and understand exactly what is expected of them.

Research shows practising expected behaviours makes students more likely to repeat it!

🎭 Incorporate some drama to make it fun (ie. Do’s and don’t do’s 👎🏼)

5️⃣ Be clear (and consistent)

💡Clear = simple terms + VISUALS!

Example: “We raise our hand to speak 🙋🏻‍♀️🗣️ “

We ➡️ builds classroom community
🙋🏻‍♀️ ➡️ a visual can be pointed to when students are not meeting that expectation as a non-verbal reminder.

💡 TIP: Frame things positively to foster a positive classroom culture!

Example 👇🏼

❌ We don’t talk over others
✅ We listen while others are speaking

6️⃣ Restorative Reflection

💡After an incident of misbehaviour, encourage restorative reflection.

💭 Reflect on actions
💭 The impact on others
💭 What to do differently next time

✅ This encourages students to recognise patterns, understand the consequences of their actions and allows them to come up with strategies to improve!

Need help to do this in your classroom? 🙇🏻‍♀️

Comment “RULES” to check out this! 🔗⬇️

👉🏼 Discussion guiding slides
👉🏼 Opportunities for interactive activities
👉🏼 Co-constructed rule setting
👉🏼 Expectations checklist
👉🏼 Behaviour Contracts
👉🏼 Reflection Slips

70 FREE BOOK COVERS + TIPS! 📗🎉

Comment “book covers” ⬇️ and you’ll get a direct link to download these for FREE! 😍

Here are my top tips for covering books 📚

1️⃣ COLOUR BY SUBJECT

📕Easily find misplaced books
📕 Good for younger students

💬”Get out your red book for writing”

2️⃣ BLACK & WHITE

📗 Great for mindful colouring
📗 Gives students an opportunity to personalise their covers and take pride in ‘their’ book!

3️⃣ PRINT & STICK

📘 The quickest book cover solution!

🚨 PS: If your school has parents cover books for students ALWAYS have back up book covers as not all parents will cover them and you don’t want students to be left with an uncovered book 😞 (and if you get new students you have spares).

4️⃣ WRAP AROUND ART COVERS

📙 A3 art paper is your best friend for book covers!

💡 Complete a few artworks over the first few days of school and use these as book covers! (This is a great time to start building student relationships as you can chat to them as they create 👩🏼‍🎨🎨)

📙 Print lines or circles (in a word doc) and let students paint them!

💡 Older students can cover books themselves with instructions (a great time filler in the first few days!)

5️⃣ DON’T COVER THEM YOURSELF! ❌

⏰Your time is precious, especially at the beginning of the year!

💡 Use the first few days of school to have explicit lessons on how to cover student books… why?

This is an opportunity to…

💡 Explicitly teach how to use scissors, how to cut neatly, set book work expectations, how to glue (yes… I’m serious 😂), how to work from the FRONT of the book to the back and not skip pages, glue things the right way up… AND…

♻️ This can lead into a lesson about HOW TO CORRECTLY DISPOSE OF PAPER WASTE!

Trust me… this is a MUST (even for the older grades🙃)

So many students have no idea what goes where in bins… and I don’t know about you… but constantly taking boogie-filled tissues out of the recycling, and paper out of the waste bin isn’t something I enjoy doing 🤷🏻‍♀️

📲 How do you cover books in your classroom? 💬👇🏼

Ready for a CRACKER year? 🧨

💬 Comment FREE for a copy of this cute and engaging GOAL SETTING TEMPLATE 🙌🏼😍

I’ll be sharing lots of FREE and MUST HAVE back to school resources over the next week to help get you organised for the 2026 school year, so keep your eyes peeled! ✏️🍎

📍Christmas Around the World!

💭 Did you know…

🇮🇸 In Iceland, children can leave their shoes under their bedroom window 13 days leading up to December 25th awaiting for visits from the 13 ‘Santas’ (Yuletide Lads). Good children supposedly get sweets or a toy left in their shoe and the naughty kids… a rotten potato 🥔 😂

🇪🇬 In Egypt, Santa is called Baba Noël.

🇫🇮 In Finland, Joulupukki is the name of their ‘Santa’ Christmas figure. The name joulupukki means ‘Yule Goat’ and in the past… he was an evil, goat-like creature who didn’t bring presents and demanded that children behave, with Winter festivals being held to keep him away!

🇯🇵 Japan does celebrate Christmas, although it is not an official Japanese holiday. Eating Kentucky Fried Chicken on Christmas Day however, has been a Japanese tradition since the 1970s!

🇷🇸 Christmas, or Božić, in Serbia is celebrated on January 7th.

🇩🇪 Children in Germany receive stockings on Saint Nicholas Day, 6th December and they are opened on the morning of the 7th. ‘Stollen’ is a traditional German festive cake made with nuts, spices, candied fruit and powdered sugar, that is typically enjoyed for the Christmas celebrations!

If you want a resource that is…

🌍 Open-ended (use for any country!)

✂️ NO PREP‼️ Print, fold, staple, go!

💻 Perfect for research projects!

✍🏼 A great end of year activity!

🎨 Crafty for your students who love to draw!

Swipe 👉🏼 to check this out!

💡 Hot Tip: Print on A3 paper for a full A4 sized booklet!

If you’d like to check it out, drop a flag (🇮🇸)👇🏼 to show where you’re celebrating Christmas this year and I’ll send you a link! 😍

I’ve been MIA because. . .

Life has been busy and my immune system has not been great 😓

I started this year on a 2 day a week job share position, which recently turned into a full time mat leave cover (2 days on class, 3 days in Library 📚).

LIBRARY IS SO GREAT! 📖

I’d never thought about being a “librarian”, but the opportunity arose and I can’t believe I’ve never considered it before (teacher, author and book lover dream right?)

I took a big social media hiatus because as I’m sure you can relate, it can get very draining and I needed to disconnect for a while and focus on myself and some projects I’ve been working on BTS 😌💻

Hope your year has been wonderful, teaching or not.

How is it already October?