SMILE and Stay Safe on the Internet

SMILE and stay safe on the internet.

The internet is a wonderful technical resource in our everyday lives.  Its

advantages are numerous from instant communication with family and friends across thousands of miles, to quickly finding information and even as a tool to learn a new language.  However, the internet and mobile devices are increasingly being used to harm, harass and manipulate both children and adults causing enormous stress and unhappiness; the consequences can be devastating.  Such incidences are reported regularly in the media and research shows that it is a growing problem for young adults and children.  Parental guidance settings, apps that block advertisements and virus protection programs can help reduce the danger, but do not eliminate it.   Children are taught in school to use the internet and mobile devices safely and with consideration to others.  At home you may find the SMILE acrostic useful for the whole family.

Stay safe.  Never reply to requests that ask for your age, gender or location or give any personal details.  Reputable companies, for example, will never ask you for your PIN in an email or text. 

Meeting up.  Do not arrange to meet up with someone you have met with on line.  In fact, it is always best to let someone know where you are going and who you are going with.

Information.  Remember that not all information you read on line is true.  On some websites, anyone can put up information and it is not checked.  Again, be wary off online friends you do not know; they may be deceiving you.

Let a parent or a trusted adult know if you are upset by something online or have received in a text or email; or that the content of what you have received is unsuitable and unpleasant.  Parents should let a their child know that they can talk about “secrets” that upset them; that there are laws, education and workplace policies and professionals to support them.

E-mails.  Never download or open e-mails, programs and photos that have been sent to you by someone you do not know because they may contain a virus or harmful malware.

Twelve Days of Christmas Activities

The Twelve Days of Christmas

Twelve fun activities for your children and family over the holiday season.

These activities will naturally encourage your child to use and develop their understanding of a range of skills.

1.    Cooking is great for developing a child's understanding of weight and capacity.  It is also a scientific activity as children gain firsthand experience materials changing.

2.    Design and make party hats for the family. You can make these fit perfectly by asking your child to measure the head circumference for each individuals.  This activity uses not only art and design technology but also measuring skills.

3.    Research the time zones around the world.  You may wish to use either the twelve or the twenty four hour clock using analogue or digital clocks. If Santa is in New York at 01:00 what time will it be in London?  If you wake up at 4 a.m will your Grandparents who live in California be wake if you Skype them? 

4.    Another activity that develops an understanding of capacity is to ask your child to create a one litre recipe for Reindeer Punch using at least 5 ingredients, either real or imaginary e.g. 33 ml of jet fuel, 476ml of carrot juice, etc. Encourage them to write down the recipe and the instructions of how to make the punch.

5.    Use the lyrics to the song The Twelve Days of Christmas to answer questions such as how many presents we given over the whole twelve days?  How many beaks are there in the complete song? 

6.    Draw a map of your local area and plot a route for delivering Christmas to friends and family.

7.    Encourage your child to record the species and numbers of birds and animals that they see in their garden, presenting their findings in a bar graph.  What can they find out about the creatures they see?

8.    Go for a walk.  Can you complete the alphabet challenge during the walk by finding something that begins with every letter of the alphabet?

9.    Create a Christmas decoration or wreath by using recycled materials.

10.  Develop sequencing skills using paper chains.  For example, how many patterns can you make using 10 red paper chains and 10 green chains?

11.  Play traditional board games and party games such as charades.  Games are a great way of developing communication skills and strategies.

12.  Try re- writing the words to The Twelve Days of Christmas to include family, friends and pets.  For example: On the first day of Christmas my mother gave to me a biscuit and a cup of tea.

Happy Christmas.

HOW TO MAKE HOME READING PURPOSEFUL

HOW TO MAKE HOME READING PURPOSEFUL

Most primary children will have "reading" homework.  For some children and parents this feels like a chore; whilst others find it an unproductive activity as their child is a fluent reader. Some parents worry that they do not know how to support their child's reading so that accuracy, fluency and understanding improve.

One of the most effective ways of improving your child's reading and comprehension skills is to read aloud with your child, taking turns to read a page or a paragraph.  By reading aloud to your child you model clear phrasing and expression.  Never be afraid to stop and re- read a sentence again; explaining why you are doing it e.g. "I am going to read that again because I did not pause at the comma."  This lets your child know that it is OK to make a mistake as well as encouraging them to listen to themselves as they read.  It is important not to correct every mistake your child makes as this can make them feel frustrated and anxious about their reading.  Encourage your child to attempt unknown words first before prompting them with the initial sound and finally give them word.  (If a child makes more than five errors on one page of a book that book may be too difficult.  Likewise if they make no mistakes it could be that the text is too easy). 

Reading a variety of texts aloud together provides a natural opportunity to discuss those texts, explore new and unfamiliar vocabulary and consider themes in the text and making links to real life situations or other stories and texts.  Share your thoughts with your child and encourage them to share their thoughts aloud.  The PEE principle is a useful strategy to employ in thinking about texts and completing comprehension activities. 

P - Point of view

E- Explain why you think that

E – Example - refer to the text

YOU ARE NEVER TOO OLD,

TOO WILD, TOO WACKY,

TO PICK UP A BOOK,

AND READ TO A CHILD.

(Dr Suess)

Reading aloud with your child will develop reading and comprehension skills but above all else sharing a book should be fun.

Handy Maths

Handy ways to do Maths

I have used “hands” with students who are just learning their number bonds, 3 and 4 times table as well as the higher 6x 7x 8x and 9x tables.  The” hands” have been really useful with individual students who are not very confident mathematicians; providing a prompt that helps them gain confidence as well as fluency.

You can use these strategies with just your fingers or making the hands in advance.  Remember not to stick the fingers down so that they can be manipulated easily.  (When I have used just fingers some individual students have found it useful to use finger puppets or pieces of tack to identify the finger as holding a finger or fingers down is tricky for them).  However I feel that the student gains valuable practice in developing their fine motor skills by drawing around their own hands, cutting them out and creating their own prompt.  Increasingly, teachers are finding that their students, even those in years 5 and 6, lack experience in cutting and struggle with this skill.

Number Bonds 

Encourage the student to think about what they need to make 10 if they have 3 and to record their answers.  You can give them missing number sums to complete e.g. 3 +    = 10. In addition, you can ask them to write down all the ways that they can think of to make 10 using addition and subtraction.

Three Times and Four Times Tables

Using the natural three sections of their fingers the student can work out sums such as 7 x 3 by having seven fingers up and three down and counting the sections.  Gradually they recognise the 3 6 9 etc are at the finger tips and become quicker at counting in threes and at the same time gain a quicker recall and fluency in the three times table.  The same approach is used for the four times table but the palm is used to create a fourth section.

Nine Times Tables

This is a method that is quite well known and again really supports students in learning and recalling the 9 times table with confidence and fluency. 

The photo below gives the example of 3 x 9 or 9 x 3.  The strategy works by putting down the third finger.  If we were answering 7 x 9 the seventh finger would be placed down.

Then count in multiples of 10 until you reach the finger that is down.  In the example, there are two fingers so we would count 10, 20.

Once you reach the “down” finger, count in ones until you reach the last finger.  In this example you would count ...  21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 27.  The final number is your answer.  3 x 9 = 27 and 9 x 3 = 27.

Multiplying by 6, 7, 8 and 9

NB: when making this prompt use split pins so that the hand and fingers can swivel into the correct position.

Many of my students find recalling the multiples between 5 and 10 tricky e.g. 6 x 7, 8 x 8 etc and lack confidence in their ability to recall these independently.  Using this strategy builds their confidence; at the same time it gives them practice in using the 2x 3x and 4x tables.  Some of my students needed lots of reinforcement with this strategy initially but once they understood it, it did support them in learning their tables and recalling facts quickly. 

As you can see from the photo, each finger has a number.  With palms facing up, the thumbs are 10, the “pointy” fingers are 9, and middle fingers are 8, the “ring” fingers are 7 and the little“pinkie" fingers 6.

To find a sum such as that in the photo 9 x 8 you would put a 9 finger with an eight finger.  Now count those fingers and those below in 10s.  In the photo you see that this is 7 – 7 x10 = 70. 

Look at the fingers above where the two fingers are touching and multiple the number of fingers on the left hand with the number of fingers on the right, or vice versa.  In the photo this is 1 x 2 = 2.

Finally add the multiples of 10 to the multiplication answer to get the answer. 70 + 2 = 72.  The answer to 9x8 = 72

WHAT DID YOU LEARN TODAY?

What did you learn today?

Many children will answer this question with the frustrating response - "Nothing!"  In order to get a better idea of how your child is doing at school and how they find school life in general, try asking questions that encourage your child to discuss their learning with you.

Ask your child to tell you about their favourite part of the day or what they found easy or hard during the school day.  Follow their answers through with these questions; "Why do you think that? Can you tell me more?  What else would you like to know about …?"  All of these questions can lead to you and your child making predictions, recognizing similarities and differences, as well as making links to real life events and people.   In turn, this may lead to you and your child visiting the local library, researching a subject together on the internet or sharing their learning with a family member possibly using a webcam app.

Another approach to use when encouraging your child to discuss the day's learning is to ask them to complete activities. For example:

Tell me three facts that you learnt today.

Give me 5 keywords from your lessons.

Draw a picture or build a 3D model about your learning.

Ask your child to quiz you on a topic they are learning about.

Play 'Just a Minute' where your child tells you everything they can remember about a lesson in a minute.  You can join in by telling them everything you know about the subject.

Sometimes your child may tell you about things that happened at play time. Although this is not strictly about their academic learning it can still be significant to your child.  Playing, forming friendships, sharing, collaborating and socialising with their peers are important parts of learning and developing life skills for every child.

It's ok not to know 

but 

it is not ok not to try!

Perhaps the most important things about sharing learning with your child is to let them know that it is normal to find things difficult and to make mistakes; this is part of the process of learning.  

TRIED AND TESTED - SPELLING MNEMONICS

As a tutor I find that children can struggle to spell every day words (high frequency words).  I have found that using mnemonics is a good way to help them.  Some of the following are not all my mnemonics but ones that I have seen and heard used during my teaching career, sometimes a student might introduce me to a mnemonic.  At times, a student and I will develop our own mnemonic which really gives them ownership and makes the spelling very personal to them.  They really enjoy the fact that I tell them that I will use that particular mnemonic with other students or that I am going to use it on my blog! 

I organised the following spellings so that a specific spelling can be trimmed, laminated and stuck onto a desk, in a book, made into a bookmark or even put on the fridge.  Anywhere where it is visible to the student and can be referred to quickly until they become confident in consistently spelling the word accurately.  Above all, I try to make learning these spellings fun for the student.

Please contact me if you would like a copy of these or if you have mnemonics that you use successfully with your students.

OUT OF THE HOUSE AND INTO THE GARDEN

OUT OF THE HOUSE AND INTO THE GARDEN

Summer is a time when your child can enjoy being in the garden; a place where your child can be imaginative and creative; e.g. making dens from old sheets; using things found in the garden to make pictures, weaving with sticks and painting stones. The garden is also a great place for your child to develop their understanding of life cycles, food chains, the parts of a plant and how plants grow and practice their classifying and grouping skills; all of which are part of the primary science curriculum.

Having a small garden plot or just a few pots on the patio to tend to gives a child a sense of responsibility.  If you do not have any seeds try re-growing plants from scraps, e.g. place carrot tops or potato peelings with eyes in a sauce of water.  Plastic bottles and food containers can be  recycled and decorated by your child to make unique plant containers.  Children may enjoy measuring and recording the growth of their seeds, using graphs, photos or sketching the seeds as they grow.

Your child may enjoy planting seeds that attract wildlife, feeding birds and creating wildlife homes, such as an insect habitat made with a tube by using a recycled plastic bottle filled with twigs.  Encourage your child to research for other ideas; either in the library, using the Internet or by visiting a garden centre.  Other garden activities could include looking for mini-beasts (insects) under stones, or going on a nature hunt, using an egg box or card with double sided tape to collect items such as different shades of green.

Perhaps try some garden experiments e.g. observing the water cycle by drawing with chalk around a puddle every 10 minutes; investigating what melts in the heat; or placing a leaf into a jar of water with food colouring in and watch the leaf change colour. Your child may also enjoy recording the weather and the phases of the moon, using pictures, words or graphs.

The garden gives your child experience of science in action.

Spelling Strategies and Activities

SPELLINGS STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES

These three activities I have used with individual students who are finding spelling very tricky. I find that they help to develop their understanding of phonemes and to develop their confidence in their abilities. 

BOGGLE: children choose 12 letters randomly and then use the letters selected to make words.  I have colour coded the vowels in red as some of my students are unsure which letters the vowels are.  I have included the phonemes and blends for students who are unsure of these and to help them recognise that they make one sound.

a	b	c	d	e	f
g	h	i	j	k	l
m	n	o	p	q	r
s	t	u	v	w	x
y	z	ai	ee	ie	oa
ue	sh	ch	th	th	ng
oo	oo	ar	er	or	oi
ou	ck	ll	ff	zz	qu
a-e	ay	ea	i-e	igh	y
o-e	owsnow	ue	u-e	ew	ir
ir	ur	or	au	aw	al
oy	owcow	ear	air	ure	ss
br	cl	cr	dr	sm	st
pl	sk	spl	tw	squ	thr
nd	lk	ft	nch	mp	ct
bl	ph	tch	tion	wh	dg
ea	ough	a	e	i	o
u	c	d	g	n	p
r	t	a	e	i	o
u	a	e	i	o	u

SPLAT:  In example I have used the letters b, d and p, however, I have used this activity with homophones too.  Say the letter to the student who them has to “Splat” the letter with their palm or make a zapper using a card shape.

b	b	b	b	b
d	d	d	d	d
p	p	p	p	p
d	b	p	d	p
b	d	b	p

 

ONSET AND RIME

This activity helps the student to recognise that many spellings follow a pattern (letter strings and letter families).  Often I will ask the student to tell me or to write down a sentence using the words. 

ook

l

t

b

h

The activities can be easily adapted and used with other strategies, for example recording the words created playing Boggle on coloured paper with felt pens; using  shaving foam or sand to write the letter b or d; and using plastic spoons or lolly sticks to create onset and rime resources. 

Above all else I aim to make the activities purposeful and fun for the student.