Whilst the Paralympics would seem to give us plenty of scope for activities in sport and in maths, there’s a lot of English work that can easily be drawn out of it, linking to other curriculum areas. In the following activities we’ll show you how to use the event for some thought provoking English.
Activity One - Overcoming adversity
LO: To be able to ask relevant questions to obtain information
To be able to plan an interview and take notes on the answers given
One of the overriding features of the Paralympics is the courage and motivation that athletes have had to enable them to avoid self-pity and to achieve a goal despite the adversity.
Many of us are faced with adversity in our lives and it’s the way we deal with it that defines us. In this activity the children develop interviewing techniques as well as gain an understanding into what it is like to be unable to compete on the same level as able bodied people.
The Organisation England Athletics supports disabled athletes in their sports and encourages local athletics clubs to do the same.
Invite a member of your local club to visit school and to tell the children their story. The children should prepare questions beforehand to ask the athlete and focus on the level of determination it took for them to be able to compete in their chosen sport.
Follow this up with a citizenship lesson on facing and overcoming adversity, not necessarily a physical one but maybe one in learning or in social situations.
Ask the children to talk about things they find difficult to do, perhaps a particular subject or a topic in the subject and find out from them what their response is to facing the problem. Ask them to write a short piece comparing the difficulty they face with that the athlete did and identify similarities and differences.
At Home: Can the children find examples from other fields where people have overcome great adversity to be successful – examples could include Helen Keller, Beethoven, Einstein or Franklin D Roosevelt.
Activity Two – Biography
LO: To be able to write for different purposes and audiences
To identify relevant information in research activities and make notes on it
There is often a tragic, yet ultimately heart-warming story behind the lives of disabled athletes. The website
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/02/25/disabled.athletes/index.html
lists some of the world’s greatest and best known disabled athletes and tells a little of their story.
Biography is a great writing skill to acquire and this activity helps the children to develop it.
Read the children the brief biographies given on the website and ask them to choose a disabled athlete that they want to find out more about. Use the internet to research key information in note form and ask them to write a biography of them.
Begin by reading a brief biography of a famous person to the children and ask them to tell you the features of the biography. They are likely to include that it’s chronological, deals with their family life to begin with then lists their achievements. It uses a lot of description but is still concise. It also uses no dialogue.
With younger classes you can use this template:
What is their name?
When and where were they born?
When and how did they become disabled?
How and when did they become interested in their sport?
What were the difficulties they faced?
How did they try to overcome them?
What successes have they had?
What are their hopes for the future?
Older children can still use the template as a guide, completing their writing as a passage rather than as a series of statements.
At Home: Ask the children to find out what the difference is between biography and autobiography and think of a way in which the two might differ in terms of how the subject is perceived.
Activity Three - Empathetic Poetry
LO: To be able to use the structure of a poem to help express the emotion of empathy
To be able to respond empathetically to expressed emotions
Empathy is a difficult emotion to develop but by listening to stories of someone’s life and experiences together with the opportunity to talk about it afterwards, you can help children to develop empathy. Use one of the biographies from a previous activity, either one of the athletes or one of the other famous people who overcame difficulties or disabilities.
Questions are important here and you should begin by asking the children to think of what they’d like to find out more detail of about the person. Encourage them to ask questions which use emotion words such as ‘How did you feel when…?’ ‘What did people think when…?’ or ‘Did you think you would ever…?’
These kinds of questions elicit responses which the children can take a position on, either they will feel sorry for the person, pleased that they overcame the problem, in awe of their determination or proud of their achievements.
Poetry can be a very expressive way of showing emotions and no less so than to display empathy.
Depending on the ability of the children you can start them at different stages of the process in this activity.
For the less able, give them a template where they need to make a response to a statement. e.g.
When I found out that I couldn’t walk...
When I found out I couldn’t run to play with my friends…
When I found I couldn’t see…
The responses could be in the simplest form as a verb such as ‘I cried’ or in a longer sentence.
More able children could use a template that allows for more detailed information such as…
When I see children running I..
When I hear children playing …
When a friend picks up a puppy …
The responses to these encourage a longer sentence with more emphasis on how they might feel if they can’t walk, don’t have functioning arms or can’t see.
Finally, the able poets in the class could really get to grips with feelings, either if it’s them in that position or if they see another with disabilities by starting their poem off with how they feel.
At Home: Use a dictionary or thesaurus to find words which convey feelings. Use them in the next English lesson to improve the verbs in your poem.
Showing posts with label Primary Literacy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Primary Literacy. Show all posts
Wednesday, 29 August 2012
Primary Literacy - The Cultural Olympiad
You’d be right in thinking that the Cultural Olympiad would include many works by Britain’s most famous poets, writers and playwrights. Performances of plays, readings of extracts of famous books and recital of great poetry have all marked the Olympiad. In this series of activities you will introduce the children to some of Britain’s best loved poetry, the world’s most enjoyed stories and help them to use recognised plots in creating great stories of their own.
Activity One – Poetry Recital
LO: Be able to confidently recite a piece of poetry to an audience using expression, pace and dynamics
Be able to learn a piece of poetry or prose off by heart
Reciting poetry develops speaking and listening skills, confidence and an understanding of poetry and prose. Children get too few chances to express themselves through performance these days with the crush of the curriculum but spending some time working on poetry recital is very worthwhile across the curriculum as it gives children the confidence to speak out and offer opinions.
Children are mainly exposed to modern and often humorous poetry but have little experience of more serious or classic poetry until they reach KS3. Begin by reading a poem to the children that is in a style and on a subject that may be unfamiliar to them. Suggestions include Christina Rossetti’s ‘A Birthday’ William Blake’s ‘The Tyger’ or for something a little different, Benjamin Zephaniah’s ‘Talking Turkeys. You could also choose pieces from the LAMDA syllabus
http://www.lamda.org.uk/exams/candidates/subjects/documents/GradedExaminationsinCommunicationwebversion.pdf
You can of course choose your own poems but try to aim for ones that express ideas from other cultures or countries.
Begin by reading it in a normal voice avoiding emphasis and dynamics. Ask the children what they thought of the poem. Now read it with feelings, expression and dynamics and ask the children what they think now.
Write a simple phrase or sentence on the board, for example ‘No, I won’t go’
Talking Point: Discuss the different ways the sentence or phrase could be said.
Under what circumstances might we say the words in each of those styles?
Now choose one of the ways the children have suggested the words could be said, for example, in a whisper. Suggest to them that if this was a line in a poem, what lines might come before it and after it. You should find that they’ll suggest lines that indicate a secret or a desire not to be heard, for example…
Will you go with me?
‘No I won’t go’
I’m too scared
Ask the children to use the way they suggested ‘No I won’t go.’ might be said and to write the line before and the line after.
Talking Point: Ask the children to read out their work using the style they suggested. Ask the rest of the class if they think it worked with the additional lines.
The next step is to get children to practise a piece of poetry or prose for recital. You can do it formally by entering the children into the London Academy for Music and Dramatic Arts (LAMDA) Speaking and Listening Exams or more informally, choose poems or prose from their syllabus and do it yourself in school. The document also gives guidance as to what the performer needs to do to recite it perfectly.
It’s good to give the children an audience so try to arrange an assembly when they can perform their pieces to the whole school.
At Home: It’s important for the children to practise their pieces and setting practice for homework means they get to perform it to family where they are likely to be more confident.
Activity Two – Using Plots in Different Settings
LO: Be able to identify the plot within a story
Use a recognised plot as a scaffold for rewriting the story in a different setting
Many of us will have been to performances of plays or operas, or seen them on TV where the original setting has been changed giving a freshness to the play or opera. One of the favourites of Hollywood is to use the plots from Shakespeare and place them in a modern setting.
For this activity, unless you’ve been studying a Shakespeare play in detail, you’ll need to start simply. Choose a play from the BBC Animated Shakespeare series and watch it with the children.
Talking Point: Ask the children to tell you what the plot of the story was. You may have to explain the word plot to younger or less able pupils.
Map out the plot on the board avoiding using specifics that tie it to the original setting and ask the children to think about how that plot could be transposed into say, the school playground, or a soap opera.
Write the story as a class on the board as a precursor to the children writing their own. Read out the class story and check with the children that they think the plot is the same.
Now choose a different play from the animated series and after identifying the plot, ask the children to write their own story using the plot.
At Home: Shakespeare’s plays had characters of different shades. Give the children a list of the ‘dramatis personae’ from the plays they’ve watched and ask them to sort them into good or bad characters. Many of his characters were influencers or influenced by others. Ask the more able children to decide which of these labels they would place the characters under.
Activity Three – Shakespeare’s Sonnets
LO: Identify and translate unfamiliar language in classic poetry using contextual clues
Be able to identify the metre of sonnets and use it to maintain the style in work of their own
Shakespeare’s sonnets are some of the earliest forms of poetry that children will come across in school. They are quite hard to access but they provide a useful tool for decoding language and understanding the meaning of words and phrases.
Choose one of the better known sonnets such as…
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day
Thou art more lovely and more temperate
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date
Sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines
And oft’ is his gold complexion dimm’d
And every fair from fair sometimes declines
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm’d
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Or lose possession of that fair thou ownest
Nor shall death brag thou wanderest in his shade
When in eternal lines to time thou growest
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see
So long lives this and this gives life to thee
Read the sonnet to the children and ask them who they think it’s from and to.
Go through the poem and explain the meaning of thou, thy and thee.
Now ask the children for their ideas on the meanings of some of the more difficult words which are underlined. Encourage them to use contextual clues to help their suggestions.
Can they spot the use of metaphors in the sonnet?
Finally, give them a copy of the sonnet, double spaced, so they can try to turn it into modern language. Some of the less able may need help and it can be useful here to use learning partners.
At Home: You’ll find that the translation will make the sonnet a little clumsy. As an extension activity or for homework, ask the children to rewrite their translation to make it flow better.
Activity One – Poetry Recital
LO: Be able to confidently recite a piece of poetry to an audience using expression, pace and dynamics
Be able to learn a piece of poetry or prose off by heart
Reciting poetry develops speaking and listening skills, confidence and an understanding of poetry and prose. Children get too few chances to express themselves through performance these days with the crush of the curriculum but spending some time working on poetry recital is very worthwhile across the curriculum as it gives children the confidence to speak out and offer opinions.
Children are mainly exposed to modern and often humorous poetry but have little experience of more serious or classic poetry until they reach KS3. Begin by reading a poem to the children that is in a style and on a subject that may be unfamiliar to them. Suggestions include Christina Rossetti’s ‘A Birthday’ William Blake’s ‘The Tyger’ or for something a little different, Benjamin Zephaniah’s ‘Talking Turkeys. You could also choose pieces from the LAMDA syllabus
http://www.lamda.org.uk/exams/candidates/subjects/documents/GradedExaminationsinCommunicationwebversion.pdf
You can of course choose your own poems but try to aim for ones that express ideas from other cultures or countries.
Begin by reading it in a normal voice avoiding emphasis and dynamics. Ask the children what they thought of the poem. Now read it with feelings, expression and dynamics and ask the children what they think now.
Write a simple phrase or sentence on the board, for example ‘No, I won’t go’
Talking Point: Discuss the different ways the sentence or phrase could be said.
Under what circumstances might we say the words in each of those styles?
Now choose one of the ways the children have suggested the words could be said, for example, in a whisper. Suggest to them that if this was a line in a poem, what lines might come before it and after it. You should find that they’ll suggest lines that indicate a secret or a desire not to be heard, for example…
Will you go with me?
‘No I won’t go’
I’m too scared
Ask the children to use the way they suggested ‘No I won’t go.’ might be said and to write the line before and the line after.
Talking Point: Ask the children to read out their work using the style they suggested. Ask the rest of the class if they think it worked with the additional lines.
The next step is to get children to practise a piece of poetry or prose for recital. You can do it formally by entering the children into the London Academy for Music and Dramatic Arts (LAMDA) Speaking and Listening Exams or more informally, choose poems or prose from their syllabus and do it yourself in school. The document also gives guidance as to what the performer needs to do to recite it perfectly.
It’s good to give the children an audience so try to arrange an assembly when they can perform their pieces to the whole school.
At Home: It’s important for the children to practise their pieces and setting practice for homework means they get to perform it to family where they are likely to be more confident.
Activity Two – Using Plots in Different Settings
LO: Be able to identify the plot within a story
Use a recognised plot as a scaffold for rewriting the story in a different setting
Many of us will have been to performances of plays or operas, or seen them on TV where the original setting has been changed giving a freshness to the play or opera. One of the favourites of Hollywood is to use the plots from Shakespeare and place them in a modern setting.
For this activity, unless you’ve been studying a Shakespeare play in detail, you’ll need to start simply. Choose a play from the BBC Animated Shakespeare series and watch it with the children.
Talking Point: Ask the children to tell you what the plot of the story was. You may have to explain the word plot to younger or less able pupils.
Map out the plot on the board avoiding using specifics that tie it to the original setting and ask the children to think about how that plot could be transposed into say, the school playground, or a soap opera.
Write the story as a class on the board as a precursor to the children writing their own. Read out the class story and check with the children that they think the plot is the same.
Now choose a different play from the animated series and after identifying the plot, ask the children to write their own story using the plot.
At Home: Shakespeare’s plays had characters of different shades. Give the children a list of the ‘dramatis personae’ from the plays they’ve watched and ask them to sort them into good or bad characters. Many of his characters were influencers or influenced by others. Ask the more able children to decide which of these labels they would place the characters under.
Activity Three – Shakespeare’s Sonnets
LO: Identify and translate unfamiliar language in classic poetry using contextual clues
Be able to identify the metre of sonnets and use it to maintain the style in work of their own
Shakespeare’s sonnets are some of the earliest forms of poetry that children will come across in school. They are quite hard to access but they provide a useful tool for decoding language and understanding the meaning of words and phrases.
Choose one of the better known sonnets such as…
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day
Thou art more lovely and more temperate
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date
Sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines
And oft’ is his gold complexion dimm’d
And every fair from fair sometimes declines
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm’d
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Or lose possession of that fair thou ownest
Nor shall death brag thou wanderest in his shade
When in eternal lines to time thou growest
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see
So long lives this and this gives life to thee
Read the sonnet to the children and ask them who they think it’s from and to.
Go through the poem and explain the meaning of thou, thy and thee.
Now ask the children for their ideas on the meanings of some of the more difficult words which are underlined. Encourage them to use contextual clues to help their suggestions.
Can they spot the use of metaphors in the sonnet?
Finally, give them a copy of the sonnet, double spaced, so they can try to turn it into modern language. Some of the less able may need help and it can be useful here to use learning partners.
At Home: You’ll find that the translation will make the sonnet a little clumsy. As an extension activity or for homework, ask the children to rewrite their translation to make it flow better.
Wednesday, 13 June 2012
Primary - Text Level Reading Activities
Activity One – Reading Buddies
We often ask parents to help with reading at home but with the pressures of family and work life that’s not always possible.
To counter it we’ve set up a Reading Buddies scheme in school asking for volunteers from our stronger readers to work with weaker readers at break times or lunchtimes.
The system is easy to set up but relies on the volunteers who can be encouraged with badges on their uniform announcing them as reading buddies. They’ll need a little training but all you need them to do is to read a book to a weaker reader then listen to them read it, helping with any difficulties and discuss the book afterwards in simple terms such as: Did you like the book? What was your favourite part etc. We found that the strugglers liked to have a, usually older, pupil to work with and we eventually extended this into a ‘learning partners’ scheme where the pairs would work together in other lessons where there are benefits to both parties.
Activity Two – Reading Workshops
These are a fun way to devote a whole afternoon to reading. We carefully selected a small range of books that we felt would be ideal for the session and asked parents and some local celebrities to come into school to help. The workshops were set up as follows:
- Quiet rooms where a child could go and listen to a story being read to them.
- ‘Explore a story’ rooms where older children had helped us prepare by reading books and providing displays on the characters, objects that were relevant to the book and costumes of the characters as well as audio versions of parts of the book recorded onto press and play devices. We had rooms set up as Horrid Henry’s bedroom, The Worst Witch’s house and Hogwarts, amongst others. This idea brought the stories to life for the children almost as much as a film of them would have.
- We set up a ‘Read to Me’ room where teachers and adults dressed up in fancy dress, often as book characters, and children could volunteer to read to them. They all said it was so much more fun than just reading to an adult although we did have concerns from parents that they might have to continue the idea at home!
Activity Three – Invite a Famous Author in for the Day
I know we’ve all done it, usually for World Book Day, but if you have the funds or a friendly local children’s author, the children get so much more motivated to read by listening to and asking questions of the author of the book they’ve read or are going to read. Most authors do a session of reading to the children and then talk about their characters and how they came about. The children can then ask questions of them before the author usually entices them with an excerpt of their forthcoming book.
If you are worried about budgets, many authors will quote you a fee but which can be reduced if they make sales of books to children and parents afterwards. The authors we have invited in have cost us almost nothing with careful planning and marketing to parents.
Dave Lewis
Primary teacher
We often ask parents to help with reading at home but with the pressures of family and work life that’s not always possible.
To counter it we’ve set up a Reading Buddies scheme in school asking for volunteers from our stronger readers to work with weaker readers at break times or lunchtimes.
The system is easy to set up but relies on the volunteers who can be encouraged with badges on their uniform announcing them as reading buddies. They’ll need a little training but all you need them to do is to read a book to a weaker reader then listen to them read it, helping with any difficulties and discuss the book afterwards in simple terms such as: Did you like the book? What was your favourite part etc. We found that the strugglers liked to have a, usually older, pupil to work with and we eventually extended this into a ‘learning partners’ scheme where the pairs would work together in other lessons where there are benefits to both parties.
Activity Two – Reading Workshops
These are a fun way to devote a whole afternoon to reading. We carefully selected a small range of books that we felt would be ideal for the session and asked parents and some local celebrities to come into school to help. The workshops were set up as follows:
- Quiet rooms where a child could go and listen to a story being read to them.
- ‘Explore a story’ rooms where older children had helped us prepare by reading books and providing displays on the characters, objects that were relevant to the book and costumes of the characters as well as audio versions of parts of the book recorded onto press and play devices. We had rooms set up as Horrid Henry’s bedroom, The Worst Witch’s house and Hogwarts, amongst others. This idea brought the stories to life for the children almost as much as a film of them would have.
- We set up a ‘Read to Me’ room where teachers and adults dressed up in fancy dress, often as book characters, and children could volunteer to read to them. They all said it was so much more fun than just reading to an adult although we did have concerns from parents that they might have to continue the idea at home!
Activity Three – Invite a Famous Author in for the Day
I know we’ve all done it, usually for World Book Day, but if you have the funds or a friendly local children’s author, the children get so much more motivated to read by listening to and asking questions of the author of the book they’ve read or are going to read. Most authors do a session of reading to the children and then talk about their characters and how they came about. The children can then ask questions of them before the author usually entices them with an excerpt of their forthcoming book.
If you are worried about budgets, many authors will quote you a fee but which can be reduced if they make sales of books to children and parents afterwards. The authors we have invited in have cost us almost nothing with careful planning and marketing to parents.
Dave Lewis
Primary teacher
Tuesday, 12 June 2012
Primary - phonemes
The national reading tests will soon be upon us and whilst the DFE has given schools a lot of material for them to implement and manage the scheme, it doesn’t hurt to have a few extra fun activities up your sleeve for when the children get weary of the practice.
Activity One – Phoneme Treasure Hunt
A very simple activity is to hide phonemes in different places around the school and set out on a treasure hunt to find them. You can vary the ones you want to hide, from just a handful to the whole set when it gets nearer to the test. For younger , attach them to objects they’ll recognise such as cut out bears or shapes and get them to copy them down alongside a number on a worksheet to show the location. The activity can be extended by ‘hiding’ the phoneme in a word or by asking the children to find groups of phonemes such as the ‘A’ sound or consonants.
Activity Two – Phoneme Countdown
Whilst most children won’t be aware of the TV programme and will be too young to understand it fully, you can play a whittled down version of the game to practise phonemes.
Instead of vowels and consonants, prepare vowel phonemes and consonant phonemes and divide the children up into groups. Ask them to choose two vowel phonemes from a hidden ‘pack’ and four consonant phonemes from another pack. Give the groups a minute to make up as many words as they can by joining the phonemes together to make words. They will have to say them out loud to you when the minute is up.
Activity Three – Phoneme Scrabble
Most schools have a Scrabble board tucked away somewhere or if not, it’s not hard to make one – preferably with larger squares. This time, instead of using letter tiles, make up tiles from phonemes and play the game in the usual way. Even though the tiles will often have two or more letters on them to make the phoneme and so you’re likely to have two or more letters on a square, the game works with the words readable across or down. Unlike the real game, ensure that the children correctly say the word they have placed on the board. If it is incorrectly placed or incorrectly read, pass it over to the opposing team to try for bonus points.
Activity Four – Community Phonics
This is an idea we tried in a small community and which was a lot of fun. It does involve a reasonable amount of effort but for us it was worthwhile. We involved our local supermarket, sweet shop, food outlet, petrol station, and post office together with any other places that children are likely to go with their parents. Each week the venue would be asked to display one or two pictures together with an accompanying word that related to the phonemes we were practising.
Out of school, whilst the children were shopping, getting petrol, posting letters etc. with their parents they would be looking out for the picture and word and completed a chart with a sticker from each outlet, a miniature version of the poster. So, for example, the word ‘chain’ would involve a picture of a chain with the word underneath it and the phoneme highlighted in bold. The outlets didn’t mind helping with the activity as they then got regular visits from the parents and so more business, whilst the children had a fun activity out of school that acted as their homework.
Dave Lewis
Primary teacher
Activity One – Phoneme Treasure Hunt
A very simple activity is to hide phonemes in different places around the school and set out on a treasure hunt to find them. You can vary the ones you want to hide, from just a handful to the whole set when it gets nearer to the test. For younger , attach them to objects they’ll recognise such as cut out bears or shapes and get them to copy them down alongside a number on a worksheet to show the location. The activity can be extended by ‘hiding’ the phoneme in a word or by asking the children to find groups of phonemes such as the ‘A’ sound or consonants.
Activity Two – Phoneme Countdown
Whilst most children won’t be aware of the TV programme and will be too young to understand it fully, you can play a whittled down version of the game to practise phonemes.
Instead of vowels and consonants, prepare vowel phonemes and consonant phonemes and divide the children up into groups. Ask them to choose two vowel phonemes from a hidden ‘pack’ and four consonant phonemes from another pack. Give the groups a minute to make up as many words as they can by joining the phonemes together to make words. They will have to say them out loud to you when the minute is up.
Activity Three – Phoneme Scrabble
Most schools have a Scrabble board tucked away somewhere or if not, it’s not hard to make one – preferably with larger squares. This time, instead of using letter tiles, make up tiles from phonemes and play the game in the usual way. Even though the tiles will often have two or more letters on them to make the phoneme and so you’re likely to have two or more letters on a square, the game works with the words readable across or down. Unlike the real game, ensure that the children correctly say the word they have placed on the board. If it is incorrectly placed or incorrectly read, pass it over to the opposing team to try for bonus points.
Activity Four – Community Phonics
This is an idea we tried in a small community and which was a lot of fun. It does involve a reasonable amount of effort but for us it was worthwhile. We involved our local supermarket, sweet shop, food outlet, petrol station, and post office together with any other places that children are likely to go with their parents. Each week the venue would be asked to display one or two pictures together with an accompanying word that related to the phonemes we were practising.
Out of school, whilst the children were shopping, getting petrol, posting letters etc. with their parents they would be looking out for the picture and word and completed a chart with a sticker from each outlet, a miniature version of the poster. So, for example, the word ‘chain’ would involve a picture of a chain with the word underneath it and the phoneme highlighted in bold. The outlets didn’t mind helping with the activity as they then got regular visits from the parents and so more business, whilst the children had a fun activity out of school that acted as their homework.
Dave Lewis
Primary teacher
Monday, 11 June 2012
Primary - helping capable readers
Activity One – Give Them Responsibility
One of the key complaints from strong readers is that they know how to read and find reading to themselves or to the teacher or parent quite boring. To overcome this you need to give them different challenges and you can do this by identifying opportunities for reading to different audiences. We identified several ways they could do this.
Recitals
We often have music recitals for parents called ‘Tea Time Concerts’ where the members of the school choir or those taking music lessons can play to their parents. We decided to set up a reading recital for our stronger readers. They were asked to choose a chapter of a favourite book and practice reading it aloud for expression, pace and accuracy. They then had to prepare a synopsis of the book and an account of the events that led up to the chapter they were going to read. In the first one hour recital we organised, we had twelve pupils take part and the feedback from the parents was excellent. The pupils found it a little unnerving but loved the experience and we now hold recitals every half term.
Examinations
Drama organisations such as LAMDA operate exams in reciting poetry and prose from nursery and reception right up to age sixteen. There is often a set syllabus the children can choose from and they have to practise, ready to perform in front of an external examiner. Successful children earn certificates they can be proud of.
Reading in Church or at Assemblies
Our school has links with the local church and we have services for the pupils and parents there three times a year, once at the start of the school year, once at Christmas and once for leavers. At each of these there’s an opportunity for children to read a prayer or to read a lesson from the bible. Strong readers who need challenge can be asked to do this. Less confident ones could be asked to read a passage or prayer in assemblies.
Activity Two – Newsround
Readers need practice at different styles for different audiences and situations and this activity helps.
Ask the children to watch an episode of Newsround or another TV news program and to listen to the tone of voice and expression of the newsreader. They should notice a difference when the newsreader is telling about news where deaths or injuries have occurred, where the news is serious but no harm has taken place, sports reports where a team or sportsman has won or lost or a fun item of news.
For a little bit of practice with sports news we listened to the reading of the football scores recorded from a Saturday ‘Final Score’ program and found that we could predict the result from the sound of the reader’s voice.
Now ask the children to research and prepare a news report on a serious issue, either in school, in their town, nationally or internationally and read it to the class sat at a ‘news desk’. You should record their efforts and can even put together a ‘newsreel’ by linking a news program introduction from YouTube with their video using Windows Live Movie Maker. If you need to convert files, they’re easy using the free service www.zamzar.com whilst to make it more life-like you can also use a free, easy to use teleprompter at www.cueprompter.com.
Now you can play the news clips back to the class and evaluate them.
Activity Three – Reading With a Difference
There are lots of other forms of reading to help add variety to children’s reading, try some of these:
Reading classics
Many classic authors wrote books or stories that are accessible to better readers. Not only will they get the chance to read stories written in a different era with subtle and not so subtle differences in style, language and content but they’ll also have the knowledge that they have enjoyed books read by countless children over the years. Good examples are Moonfleet by J Meade Faulkner, Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe and Black Beauty by Anna Sewell.
Other forms of reading
Try getting some magazines and newspapers into school such as the National Geographic Kids, First News, football or music magazines so the children can see that reading isn’t confined to the book and that some forms can be throwaway or in instalments. You can also try instructions reading, asking the child to explain how something is done in their own words having got to grips with a set of instructions. You can use this is cookery lessons asking them to follow a recipe, in science carrying out a procedure for an experiment, or in sport to explain the rules of a new game.
Dave Lewis
Primary teacher
One of the key complaints from strong readers is that they know how to read and find reading to themselves or to the teacher or parent quite boring. To overcome this you need to give them different challenges and you can do this by identifying opportunities for reading to different audiences. We identified several ways they could do this.
Recitals
We often have music recitals for parents called ‘Tea Time Concerts’ where the members of the school choir or those taking music lessons can play to their parents. We decided to set up a reading recital for our stronger readers. They were asked to choose a chapter of a favourite book and practice reading it aloud for expression, pace and accuracy. They then had to prepare a synopsis of the book and an account of the events that led up to the chapter they were going to read. In the first one hour recital we organised, we had twelve pupils take part and the feedback from the parents was excellent. The pupils found it a little unnerving but loved the experience and we now hold recitals every half term.
Examinations
Drama organisations such as LAMDA operate exams in reciting poetry and prose from nursery and reception right up to age sixteen. There is often a set syllabus the children can choose from and they have to practise, ready to perform in front of an external examiner. Successful children earn certificates they can be proud of.
Reading in Church or at Assemblies
Our school has links with the local church and we have services for the pupils and parents there three times a year, once at the start of the school year, once at Christmas and once for leavers. At each of these there’s an opportunity for children to read a prayer or to read a lesson from the bible. Strong readers who need challenge can be asked to do this. Less confident ones could be asked to read a passage or prayer in assemblies.
Activity Two – Newsround
Readers need practice at different styles for different audiences and situations and this activity helps.
Ask the children to watch an episode of Newsround or another TV news program and to listen to the tone of voice and expression of the newsreader. They should notice a difference when the newsreader is telling about news where deaths or injuries have occurred, where the news is serious but no harm has taken place, sports reports where a team or sportsman has won or lost or a fun item of news.
For a little bit of practice with sports news we listened to the reading of the football scores recorded from a Saturday ‘Final Score’ program and found that we could predict the result from the sound of the reader’s voice.
Now ask the children to research and prepare a news report on a serious issue, either in school, in their town, nationally or internationally and read it to the class sat at a ‘news desk’. You should record their efforts and can even put together a ‘newsreel’ by linking a news program introduction from YouTube with their video using Windows Live Movie Maker. If you need to convert files, they’re easy using the free service www.zamzar.com whilst to make it more life-like you can also use a free, easy to use teleprompter at www.cueprompter.com.
Now you can play the news clips back to the class and evaluate them.
Activity Three – Reading With a Difference
There are lots of other forms of reading to help add variety to children’s reading, try some of these:
Reading classics
Many classic authors wrote books or stories that are accessible to better readers. Not only will they get the chance to read stories written in a different era with subtle and not so subtle differences in style, language and content but they’ll also have the knowledge that they have enjoyed books read by countless children over the years. Good examples are Moonfleet by J Meade Faulkner, Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe and Black Beauty by Anna Sewell.
Other forms of reading
Try getting some magazines and newspapers into school such as the National Geographic Kids, First News, football or music magazines so the children can see that reading isn’t confined to the book and that some forms can be throwaway or in instalments. You can also try instructions reading, asking the child to explain how something is done in their own words having got to grips with a set of instructions. You can use this is cookery lessons asking them to follow a recipe, in science carrying out a procedure for an experiment, or in sport to explain the rules of a new game.
Dave Lewis
Primary teacher
Friday, 8 June 2012
Primary - helping struggling readers
These activities use the Collins Big Cat Progress struggling readers scheme books Animals in War, Tigers in Trouble and Africa’s Big Three.
Activity One – Where in the World?
Children like a context to their work and many will question why they’re doing it if they can’t see a point. Sometimes they’ll ask questions about their work, leading it off in a new direction and sometimes, to help them understand, it’s useful to plan a little sub topic which can motivate them to continue with the key concept.
Looking at the books from the Struggling Readers range I’ve chosen three which can be linked together along the theme of animals. This year has seen the release of the film War Horse based on the book by Michael Morpurgo and many children will have been to the cinema to see it.
Tigers are beautiful creatures but even their power and strength can’t save them from the hunters and loss of their habitat.
Africa’s Big Three tell children all about the three biggest animals in Africa, the elephant, the rhino and the hippo.
Linking the books together and thinking of the questions children will ask, a good idea is to start with geography and where in the world these animals can be found. Start with Africa’s Big Three and Tigers in Trouble.
For younger readers there’s no need to go into precise details of countries, especially as they have difficulty with reading. Instead work with a large scale map of the world with the continents written on it and talk about which continents the book say that these creatures come from. Find them on the maps by writing the words on the board and looking letter by letter at how they’re spelt. Once the continents are found, talk about what the environment is like for the animals as shown in the books.
They’ll notice savannah for Africa’s Big Three and jungle for India’s tigers. Ask the children if they know what the environment is like in North Africa and use Egypt as an example. Most should know that it is hot, dry and sandy. Then show them pictures on the board or interactive white board of the jungles of central Africa and ask if the environment looks like where the ‘Big Three’ might live. Eventually you’ll be able to narrow it down by looking at photographs of South Africa and Kenya and the children can add the animals to their map. Likewise in India, which has a range of environments, show them pictures of the different regions and discuss where tigers might be found, marking them in on a map.
Activity Two: Animals in War
This activity links in with our use of Africa’s Big Three and Tigers in Trouble. Using the Animals in War book is a little different and I ask the children to tell me why the different animals were used; pigeons for messages, dogs to sniff out mines and horses to ride and to pull artillery. Then, referring to some of the animals we know, including those from the other books, ask whether any other animals might be useful in wartime. My class often say that elephants would be good for trampling or pulling heavy loads or for use as battering rams but other examples come up such as the geese who saved Rome, setting lions as attackers to frighten the enemy or dolphins to attach mines.
I’ll ask the children to draw a poster of the different animals they think of and how they can be used. After it’s complete, the children present their ideas to the class.
Activity Three: Is it Fair?
There’s a danger in the previous activity of trivialising or glorifying war which is why the book deals only with animals that don’t take on a combative role. With the ideas from the book and those from Activity Two, I ask the children to consider the moral issues of using animals in wartime. Often you’ll get the girls who think it’s cruel that animals are put in danger to help humans kill each other whilst the boys tend to disagree.
Using a session to talk about the rights and wrongs of the issue is very worthwhile and allows the children to refer to parts of the books to give credibility to their ideas.
With enough time, you can turn the ideas from Activity Two around to ask whether the animals they suggested could be used to help deal with the tragedies of war such as elephants helping to clear damaged buildings or dogs and cats helping to rehabilitate injured people.
Dave Lewis
Primary teacher
Thursday, 7 June 2012
Primary - reading
Reading is a key part of the literacy curriculum and a vital part of the whole curriculum. Over the decades and even centuries there have been many different approaches to the topic with some of them working better than others. Everyone accepts that until a child can read effectively, large parts of any curriculum and indeed aspects of life will remain out of their reach. This year we have the first of the national assessments for phonics which have been generally well received despite the media frenzy over the usefulness of nonsense words. How well they’ll improve reading standards is yet to be seen but the promise is there that it should help.
Like many teachers in the UK, I have to teach reading and writing to children from other countries and I’m fascinated by how they are riveted to the formation and pronunciation of phonemes and letter sounds from their native languages. The fixation they have with using phonemes to say a word fills me with the conviction that the phonemic approach should be the bedrock on which we teach children to read. We all recognise that as this approach takes hold in the child’s mind, other approaches will be used by them to read new words or to consolidate ones they are almost fully confident with.
In practising reading, my main concern is the abstractness of some reading schemes and how, once they’ve been read, that’s it, finished with that topic or scenario and move on to another, often a completely different one.
My preference is for reading schemes which help emergent or struggling readers to maintain an interest in what they’ve just read and consolidate it through activities that will involve meeting those words, phrases and ideas again and again but not in the repetitive way that some schemes do it but through additional activities that broaden the learning around the books in the reading scheme. That’s why I like the Big Cat series of reading books.
Whilst still in its early days, time and trouble has been taken to offer variety, but of a connected kind, within the levels. Additional material, both free and to purchase, reinforces the children’s progress with activities where they meet the words again but in a motivating and creative way.
Dave Lewis
Primary teacher
Tuesday, 1 May 2012
Primary - using The Olympics in Literacy
Activity One – Following tweets
Year 4 to Year 6
Tweeting is one of the least known but most popular internet communication methods and enables the world to find out what is happening to famous and not so famous people during their day.
In the run up to the Olympics, athletes will be tweeting about their preparation and during the games, their nerves, fitness, anticipation and their response after they’ve taken part in their events. It’s like following their progress as a friend rather than just an onlooker. Almost all of Britain’s and indeed the world’s athletes have twitter accounts and it’s easy to follow them. Some of their twitter addresses are given below but you may well have a local athlete taking part. Gemma Spofforth is a former pupil from our school and the children will be following her efforts this summer. Your local newspaper will be following athletes from your area in the run up to the event and it’s worth asking the athlete if they can spare the time to come into school and talk with the children.
After the visit, you can then set up your computer or mobile device to receive tweets from them.
You can ask the children to use the tweets you receive and expand them into a piece of diary writing that can be added to each time they tweet!
@beckadlington
@dwainchambers
@mo_farah
@j_ennis
@chrishoy
Activity Two – Reporting
Year 3 to Year 6
There will be a number of key events at the Olympics; from the opening ceremony to events like the 100m sprint, the marathon and other events.
Prior to the events show the children examples of sports reporting on different events. Together highlight the key aspects of them including the language used and the structure.
The structure is quite simple as reports usually begin with the lead up to the event, talking about who is expected to win or to discuss the potential of key competitors in the event. Next, the reporting follows the event chronologically, identifying key events as they happen and finishes with the effect of the result on the competitors or their team or country before looking forward to the next event.
Using the template that accompanies this activity, ask the children to watch an event, either during school time or at home and write a newspaper report.
Activity Three – Explain how it works
Year 2 to Year 6
Many people watch events at the Olympics without realising what the focus of the events are. Whilst it’s simple enough to understand what’s happening in a sprint, it’s more difficult in a relay race when specific rules have to be followed. The same is true of perhaps show jumping, gymnastics or judo.
This activity asks the children to work on writing instructions and a clear explanation of an event at the Olympics.
Ask them to choose an event they are familiar with, or even one they would like to know more about, and to research the rules before writing a set of instructions together with rules for that event. Many of the events will lead to chronological instructions and you should encourage them to use the language of chronology such as first, next, then, finally etc.
Finally, to check their work they can swap with a friend and watch the event after reading the partner’s instruction. It will be interesting to see if the explanation works!
Activity Four – The Journey to Success
Year 3 to Year 6
This activity allows pupils to practise work on biography by focusing on an Olympian.
Use a short biography from a children’s book or a child friendly website to highlight and discuss the format of biographies. The children should note that they are almost always written chronologically.
Use one or more additional biographies to identify content that is common for both and list them ready for their biographies.
They should choose from a list of Olympians selected by you or possibly one of their choice and research facts about them.
Try to get them to focus on what led the Olympian into their particular sport.
Ask them to compile a biography using the format they have picked out from the samples and, when complete, read them out to the class and ask them how well they compare with the examples.
Dave Lewis
Primary teacher
Year 4 to Year 6
Tweeting is one of the least known but most popular internet communication methods and enables the world to find out what is happening to famous and not so famous people during their day.
In the run up to the Olympics, athletes will be tweeting about their preparation and during the games, their nerves, fitness, anticipation and their response after they’ve taken part in their events. It’s like following their progress as a friend rather than just an onlooker. Almost all of Britain’s and indeed the world’s athletes have twitter accounts and it’s easy to follow them. Some of their twitter addresses are given below but you may well have a local athlete taking part. Gemma Spofforth is a former pupil from our school and the children will be following her efforts this summer. Your local newspaper will be following athletes from your area in the run up to the event and it’s worth asking the athlete if they can spare the time to come into school and talk with the children.
After the visit, you can then set up your computer or mobile device to receive tweets from them.
You can ask the children to use the tweets you receive and expand them into a piece of diary writing that can be added to each time they tweet!
@beckadlington
@dwainchambers
@mo_farah
@j_ennis
@chrishoy
Activity Two – Reporting
Year 3 to Year 6
There will be a number of key events at the Olympics; from the opening ceremony to events like the 100m sprint, the marathon and other events.
Prior to the events show the children examples of sports reporting on different events. Together highlight the key aspects of them including the language used and the structure.
The structure is quite simple as reports usually begin with the lead up to the event, talking about who is expected to win or to discuss the potential of key competitors in the event. Next, the reporting follows the event chronologically, identifying key events as they happen and finishes with the effect of the result on the competitors or their team or country before looking forward to the next event.
Using the template that accompanies this activity, ask the children to watch an event, either during school time or at home and write a newspaper report.
Activity Three – Explain how it works
Year 2 to Year 6
Many people watch events at the Olympics without realising what the focus of the events are. Whilst it’s simple enough to understand what’s happening in a sprint, it’s more difficult in a relay race when specific rules have to be followed. The same is true of perhaps show jumping, gymnastics or judo.
This activity asks the children to work on writing instructions and a clear explanation of an event at the Olympics.
Ask them to choose an event they are familiar with, or even one they would like to know more about, and to research the rules before writing a set of instructions together with rules for that event. Many of the events will lead to chronological instructions and you should encourage them to use the language of chronology such as first, next, then, finally etc.
Finally, to check their work they can swap with a friend and watch the event after reading the partner’s instruction. It will be interesting to see if the explanation works!
Activity Four – The Journey to Success
Year 3 to Year 6
This activity allows pupils to practise work on biography by focusing on an Olympian.
Use a short biography from a children’s book or a child friendly website to highlight and discuss the format of biographies. The children should note that they are almost always written chronologically.
Use one or more additional biographies to identify content that is common for both and list them ready for their biographies.
They should choose from a list of Olympians selected by you or possibly one of their choice and research facts about them.
Try to get them to focus on what led the Olympian into their particular sport.
Ask them to compile a biography using the format they have picked out from the samples and, when complete, read them out to the class and ask them how well they compare with the examples.
Dave Lewis
Primary teacher
Thursday, 5 April 2012
Literacy Activities for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee
Activity One – Letter to the Queen
EYFS to Year 6
This activity allows the children to practise the style and format of letter writing.
The queen will receive many letters of congratulations this year and the Jubilee website has a section where the public can add their messages of congratulation. Word count is limited on the site so why not do things the old fashioned way and write a proper letter to Her Majesty. The youngest children could have a template prepared for them and have the teacher go through a list of things they might want to say, writing down some ideas for the less able.
Older children could be asked for suggestions on what might be included in a letter congratulating a monarch for ruling the country for sixty years whilst an extension could be to look back at the school’s history and tell the queen some of the things that have happened to the school during her reign. Ideas might include; being built, being extended, moving site, famous pupils etc. She might also be interested in hearing about what the school did for her silver and golden jubilees and the plans you have for her diamond jubilee.
Try to follow the tenets of letter writing so the children get practice in what is becoming a dying art with the advance of email, SMS and social networking.
Activity Two – Present for the Queen
EYFS to Year 6
This activity offers the opportunity for some creative writing. On her wedding day the queen received over 6,500 wedding gifts and over the years of her reign has received many more gifts.
Take a look at
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/7384170/A-gift-fit-for-the-Queen.html
for an idea of the weird and wonderful gifts she has received over the years including the grasshopper wine cooler cum wine table!
Now ask the children to think what they might want to give the queen as a gift to mark her jubilee. It can be anything they want as long as they can justify it. They can write their story in the form of a letter e.g.
Dear Queen Elizabeth
I have enclosed a ……. as a present for your diamond jubilee. I thought it would be perfect for you because…
Or you can compose it as a piece of writing beginning:
I would send the queen …. because… and then they can continue to explain the reasoning behind their gift.
Activity Three – Queen’s Speech
Year 4 to Year 6
Each year at Christmas the queen gives a short speech to the nation as previous monarchs have since the introduction of mass communications. In this activity you are going to write a speech including what you think the queen might say in her speech to the country.
Get the children to watch one of the queen’s Christmas speeches and discuss its format and what it includes. Talk about things that the queen may want to include in a fresh speech to mark her diamond jubilee and ask the children to write a speech lasting a minute or two and using some or all of the ideas.
If you want to extend the activity you can get the children to read the speeches out to the class or to assembly and even video them. Some may like to dress up as a king or queen to read the speech for added fun.
Activity Four – Debate: Monarchy or Republic?
Year 4 to Year 6
Over the years in this country and around the Commonwealth there has been a lot of debate on the value of the monarchy with some saying they are an institutional icon and representative of the country whilst others say they live off the population’s taxes.
For this activity, split the class into two and ask one to think of their own reasons why we should retain the monarchy whilst the other group thinks of ideas why we should have an elected head of state.
Next ask them to research reasons why members of the public think the monarchy is good or bad together with information on the times and events that have affected public opinion. You could even organise a survey.
Once they have their notes ready, set up a debate between the opposing sides. If numbers are too big to be manageable, you can set up two debates with one set of debaters watching whilst the other debates, swapping over halfway through the session. You can then ask the observers which side had the most convincing arguments and talk about the skills used in debate.
You’ll need to have a process by which only one person speaks at a time. Wearing a crown is a topical variation on holding the pencil or teddy bear and could add more fun to the proceedings.
At the end of the debates, ask the children to list the main points for and against and come up with a decision of their own backed up by reference to the arguments.
Dave Lewis
Primary Teacher
Wednesday, 21 March 2012
Primary - Literacy Activities for the Titanic
Activity One – Come Sail With Us!
Year 2 to Year 6
The Titanic was the most opulent, largest and most incredible ship ever built at the time of its maiden voyage. Hundreds of important people were on board, desperate to be there when history was made but not expecting the history that was to replace it. The ship’s owners’ Cunard, wanted as many people to enjoy the trip of a lifetime so set about promoting the ship.
In this activity, the children should be the ‘advertising executives’ charged with ‘selling’ the trip of a lifetime. They need to pick out all the information that would make people wish to sail on her and decide how they could promote it.
They could choose to do a poster, a radio advert, for radio was becoming popular at the time, a newspaper advertisement or a feature for the news detailing the luxury and innovation on board. The children may find that they’ll need to focus on just some of the good things about the ship so it’s also a good activity for work on grouping and prioritising. In carrying out the activity, remind the children, through examples, of the style used in posters of the day – several are available on Google Images, and look at the fonts that were used. If they are going to include pictures of people in their work, they’ll need to consider the way they were dressed and they’ll need to think about the language that was used in that era.
Activity Two – Ship’s Log
Year 2 to Year 6
Online there are examples of ship’s logs and a good American website that shows children how to fill out a log for a ship’s voyage. Both can be useful to help you with this activity.
See http://seagrant.psu.edu/education/stear/Ships%20Log.pdf
and http://sailsproject.cerch.kcl.ac.uk/wp-uploads/2010/07/shipslog3.jpg
Many websites and books tell you of the events leading up to the sinking, giving times when the events happened. Explain to the children what a ship’s log is and what it’s used for – it’s really a diary of what happens on board a ship.
Use the template provided here to fill in the information you find – if you can’t find some of it, don’t worry, because a bit of thought will help you fill in the blanks.
Activity Three – The News Report
Year 2 to Year 6
The world was horrified when it heard of the sinking of the Titanic and the world’s newspapers responded likewise. In this activity the children will compose a newspaper report in an appropriate tone reporting on the disaster. It’s nice if you can make their final copy look old so if you get the chance, soak pieces of paper in cold tea before drying flat. If you’ve done it properly you’ll still be able to pass them through a printer to add a newspaper template. You can singe the edges or ask the children to tear small pieces out of the edges to add extra ‘age’.
Ask the children to make notes of the key facts about the ship to open the piece, then make notes on the events that led up to the sinking. Finally, ask them to research some of the people, rich or poor that perished and add that as a ‘personal’ touch to the report. Finally, finish by adding a drawing of the Titanic’s final moments or of some of those that died.
Dave Lewis
Primary Teacher
Year 2 to Year 6
The Titanic was the most opulent, largest and most incredible ship ever built at the time of its maiden voyage. Hundreds of important people were on board, desperate to be there when history was made but not expecting the history that was to replace it. The ship’s owners’ Cunard, wanted as many people to enjoy the trip of a lifetime so set about promoting the ship.
In this activity, the children should be the ‘advertising executives’ charged with ‘selling’ the trip of a lifetime. They need to pick out all the information that would make people wish to sail on her and decide how they could promote it.
They could choose to do a poster, a radio advert, for radio was becoming popular at the time, a newspaper advertisement or a feature for the news detailing the luxury and innovation on board. The children may find that they’ll need to focus on just some of the good things about the ship so it’s also a good activity for work on grouping and prioritising. In carrying out the activity, remind the children, through examples, of the style used in posters of the day – several are available on Google Images, and look at the fonts that were used. If they are going to include pictures of people in their work, they’ll need to consider the way they were dressed and they’ll need to think about the language that was used in that era.
Activity Two – Ship’s Log
Year 2 to Year 6
Online there are examples of ship’s logs and a good American website that shows children how to fill out a log for a ship’s voyage. Both can be useful to help you with this activity.
See http://seagrant.psu.edu/education/stear/Ships%20Log.pdf
and http://sailsproject.cerch.kcl.ac.uk/wp-uploads/2010/07/shipslog3.jpg
Many websites and books tell you of the events leading up to the sinking, giving times when the events happened. Explain to the children what a ship’s log is and what it’s used for – it’s really a diary of what happens on board a ship.
Use the template provided here to fill in the information you find – if you can’t find some of it, don’t worry, because a bit of thought will help you fill in the blanks.
Activity Three – The News Report
Year 2 to Year 6
The world was horrified when it heard of the sinking of the Titanic and the world’s newspapers responded likewise. In this activity the children will compose a newspaper report in an appropriate tone reporting on the disaster. It’s nice if you can make their final copy look old so if you get the chance, soak pieces of paper in cold tea before drying flat. If you’ve done it properly you’ll still be able to pass them through a printer to add a newspaper template. You can singe the edges or ask the children to tear small pieces out of the edges to add extra ‘age’.
Ask the children to make notes of the key facts about the ship to open the piece, then make notes on the events that led up to the sinking. Finally, ask them to research some of the people, rich or poor that perished and add that as a ‘personal’ touch to the report. Finally, finish by adding a drawing of the Titanic’s final moments or of some of those that died.
Dave Lewis
Primary Teacher
Tuesday, 14 February 2012
Primary - Literacy Activities for Dickens
Activity One – Beat the Deadline
Year 2 to Year 6
This activity helps pupils to write to a deadline including structuring and editing. It encourages them to take notes and then expand upon them.
Charles Dickens early career was as a journalist and like journalists throughout history, he had to work to a deadline. At a certain time of day the newspaper had to be printed, no matter what or it wouldn’t be out on the streets in time for sale the next day. Everyone had to work to a deadline; the journalists collecting and writing the story, the editors who had to check and agree the stories, the typesetters who got the printing plates ready and the printers who got the presses rolling to produce the daily news.
Children are occasionally given the chance to work to a deadline – you may say ‘I need this story finished by break’ or ‘I want you to do twenty questions in the next hour’. The notion is sometimes a little abstract to some children because they can’t see why it must be done by then but with this activity and the explanation around it, they’ll soon see why deadlines can be important.
Introduction:
Tell the children about Charles Dickens’ life as a reporter and journalist and discuss what his typical day may be like. You may have suggestions such as:
- He sees something happening like a fire or a robbery
- He asks other people what they saw and may interview those affected.
- He’ll go to his office and write the story
- Someone will check what he has written
- He’ll find a picture to go with it
- The story will be printed
Tell the children that they are going to work like they were Charles Dickens and that you will be their ‘editor’ keeping track of time. You can set the children up in groups and give them the name of a newspaper they work for. Set up a news ‘event’ which can either be a trivial one for younger pupils or a more serious issue for older ones. We’ve used a cake left on a teacher’s car; how did it get there, who put it there, who saw anything? etc. If possible, get other members of staff to act as eyewitnesses or a ‘victim’ who can give the children information. You could also report on a school sports fixture, a charity or school event or anything that is appropriate to your school.
Tell the children what you require of them in terms of the writing, the length of the piece and the deadline. Tell them that they can visit the scene of the event they’re reporting on (as long as it’s school based!) and interview eyewitnesses, victims or participants. If you want to really test them you can throw in new information for the older journalists and ask them to update or amend their story.
Activity Two – What’s in a Name?
Year 2 to Year 6
This activity helps pupils to develop characters for their stories.
Dickens uses some marvellously creative names for his characters, many of which tell a lot about their looks and character. Use a selection from his books and ask the children to sort them under the headings of good or bad people. Ask then to explain why they put them under the particular headings.
Next you can ask them to draw how they would imagine the characters looked before comparing them to the illustrations of the time. Not all characters were illustrated but many were and plates of the illustration are available on Google Images. Try this list…
Mr M’Choakumchild – Hard Times
The Cheeryble Brothers – Nicholas Nickleby
Anne Chickenstalker – The Chimes
Tiny Tim Cratchit – A Christmas Carol
Creakle – David Copperfield
Canon Crisparkle – The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Mrs Cruncher – A Tale of Two Cities
Captain Cuttle – Dombey and Son
Lady Honoraria Dedlock – Bleak House
Abel Magwitch – Great Expectations
There are plenty more suggestions to be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Dickensian_characters
Now give the children brief descriptions of some new characters and ask them to come up with a suitable name for them. Select the best of the children’s ideas and for the next lesson ask them to pair the names up with the description.
Activity 3 – Writing from a Different Age
Year 5 and 6
This activity helps children to understand the different styles of writing that have been used over the centuries and the changing use and meaning of words.
The activity is quite difficult but can be very rewarding. Often, especially in history, children are asked to write as a character from the period but so often their choice of language reflects their existence in the modern age which then detracts from the content of their work. Working on a piece written in contemporary language helps children to understand not only the meaning of different styles of writing but also how language has changed over the centuries.
Use the extract from Oliver Twist and begin by reading it through. Highlight all the unfamiliar words and discuss what they mean in the context of the passage. Ask the children which words we would use these days to replace them.
You can then go on to do a verbal comprehension on the passage or in written form using questions such as:
1. What aspect of daily life is being described in the text?
2. Where do you think the piece of writing was set?
3. How did the children decide who would go up and ask for more?
4. Why do you think they get one of their number to go up and ask?
5. What was the reaction from the master?
You’ll need to adjust the complexity of the questions depending on the age and ability of the children but try to draw out of them an understanding of the scenario and how it may differ from a school dining room today.
Activity 4 – Writing for a Different Era
Year 5 and 6
After working on a piece of writing completed in Victorian times, the children should have a good idea of how the language differed and how the author used objects and scenarios common to their era.
This activity is quite difficult as it relies on children focusing completely on a past time. It will help them practise sticking to a theme in a piece of creative writing.
It’s best to start with a piece of descriptive writing:
Ask the children to research information for a street scene from Victorian times. They should consider transport, buildings, people, their dress and occupation. From the information they have collected, ask them to describe a typical street scene. You’ll have to remind them to stick only to what they have researched as the temptation is to add in bits which usually end up as being out of context. Those who performed well on the comprehension exercise looking at an extract of Victorian writing may be able to adapt the style of their writing similarly.
Activity One – Beat the Deadline
Year 2 to Year 6
This activity helps pupils to write to a deadline including structuring and editing. It encourages them to take notes and then expand upon them.
Charles Dickens early career was as a journalist and like journalists throughout history, he had to work to a deadline. At a certain time of day the newspaper had to be printed, no matter what or it wouldn’t be out on the streets in time for sale the next day. Everyone had to work to a deadline; the journalists collecting and writing the story, the editors who had to check and agree the stories, the typesetters who got the printing plates ready and the printers who got the presses rolling to produce the daily news.
Children are occasionally given the chance to work to a deadline – you may say ‘I need this story finished by break’ or ‘I want you to do twenty questions in the next hour’. The notion is sometimes a little abstract to some children because they can’t see why it must be done by then but with this activity and the explanation around it, they’ll soon see why deadlines can be important.
Introduction:
Tell the children about Charles Dickens’ life as a reporter and journalist and discuss what his typical day may be like. You may have suggestions such as:
- He sees something happening like a fire or a robbery
- He asks other people what they saw and may interview those affected.
- He’ll go to his office and write the story
- Someone will check what he has written
- He’ll find a picture to go with it
- The story will be printed
Tell the children that they are going to work like they were Charles Dickens and that you will be their ‘editor’ keeping track of time. You can set the children up in groups and give them the name of a newspaper they work for. Set up a news ‘event’ which can either be a trivial one for younger pupils or a more serious issue for older ones. We’ve used a cake left on a teacher’s car; how did it get there, who put it there, who saw anything? etc. If possible, get other members of staff to act as eyewitnesses or a ‘victim’ who can give the children information. You could also report on a school sports fixture, a charity or school event or anything that is appropriate to your school.
Tell the children what you require of them in terms of the writing, the length of the piece and the deadline. Tell them that they can visit the scene of the event they’re reporting on (as long as it’s school based!) and interview eyewitnesses, victims or participants. If you want to really test them you can throw in new information for the older journalists and ask them to update or amend their story.
Activity Two – What’s in a Name?
Year 2 to Year 6
This activity helps pupils to develop characters for their stories
Dickens uses some marvellously creative names for his characters, many of which tell a lot about their looks and character. Use a selection from his books and ask the children to sort them under the headings of good or bad people. Ask then to explain why they put them under the particular headings.
Next you can ask them to draw how they would imagine the characters looked before comparing them to the illustrations of the time. Not all characters were illustrated but many were and plates of the illustration are available on Google Images. Try this list…
Mr M’Choakumchild – Hard Times
The Cheeryble Brothers – Nicholas Nickleby
Anne Chickenstalker – The Chimes
Tiny Tim Cratchit – A Christmas Carol
Creakle – David Copperfield
Canon Crisparkle – The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Mrs Cruncher – A Tale of Two Cities
Captain Cuttle – Dombey and Son
Lady Honoraria Dedlock – Bleak House
Abel Magwitch – Great Expectations
There are plenty more suggestions to be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Dickensian_characters
Now give the children brief descriptions of some new characters and ask them to come up with a suitable name for them. Select the best of the children’s ideas and for the next lesson ask them to pair the names up with the description.
Activity 3 – Writing from a Different Age
Year 5 and 6
This activity helps children to understand the different styles of writing that have been used over the centuries and the changing use and meaning of words.
The activity is quite difficult but can be very rewarding. Often, especially in history, children are asked to write as a character from the period but so often their choice of language reflects their existence in the modern age which then detracts from the content of their work. Working on a piece written in contemporary language helps children to understand not only the meaning of different styles of writing but also how language has changed over the centuries.
Use the extract from Oliver Twist and begin by reading it through. Highlight all the unfamiliar words and discuss what they mean in the context of the passage. Ask the children which words we would use these days to replace them.
You can then go on to do a verbal comprehension on the passage or in written form using questions such as:
1. What aspect of daily life is being described in the text?
2. Where do you think the piece of writing was set?
3. How did the children decide who would go up and ask for more?
4. Why do you think they get one of their number to go up and ask?
5. What was the reaction from the master?
You’ll need to adjust the complexity of the questions depending on the age and ability of the children but try to draw out of them an understanding of the scenario and how it may differ from a school dining room today.
Activity 4 – Writing for a Different Era
Year 5 and 6
After working on a piece of writing completed in Victorian times, the children should have a good idea of how the language differed and how the author used objects and scenarios common to their era.
This activity is quite difficult as it relies on children focusing completely on a past time. It will help them practise sticking to a theme in a piece of creative writing.
It’s best to start with a piece of descriptive writing:
Ask the children to research information for a street scene from Victorian times. They should consider transport, buildings, people, their dress and occupation. From the information they have collected, ask them to describe a typical street scene. You’ll have to remind them to stick only to what they have researched as the temptation is to add in bits which usually end up as being out of context. Those who performed well on the comprehension exercise looking at an extract of Victorian writing may be able to adapt the style of their writing similarly.
Dave Lewis
Primary Teacher
Year 2 to Year 6
This activity helps pupils to write to a deadline including structuring and editing. It encourages them to take notes and then expand upon them.
Charles Dickens early career was as a journalist and like journalists throughout history, he had to work to a deadline. At a certain time of day the newspaper had to be printed, no matter what or it wouldn’t be out on the streets in time for sale the next day. Everyone had to work to a deadline; the journalists collecting and writing the story, the editors who had to check and agree the stories, the typesetters who got the printing plates ready and the printers who got the presses rolling to produce the daily news.
Children are occasionally given the chance to work to a deadline – you may say ‘I need this story finished by break’ or ‘I want you to do twenty questions in the next hour’. The notion is sometimes a little abstract to some children because they can’t see why it must be done by then but with this activity and the explanation around it, they’ll soon see why deadlines can be important.
Introduction:
Tell the children about Charles Dickens’ life as a reporter and journalist and discuss what his typical day may be like. You may have suggestions such as:
- He sees something happening like a fire or a robbery
- He asks other people what they saw and may interview those affected.
- He’ll go to his office and write the story
- Someone will check what he has written
- He’ll find a picture to go with it
- The story will be printed
Tell the children that they are going to work like they were Charles Dickens and that you will be their ‘editor’ keeping track of time. You can set the children up in groups and give them the name of a newspaper they work for. Set up a news ‘event’ which can either be a trivial one for younger pupils or a more serious issue for older ones. We’ve used a cake left on a teacher’s car; how did it get there, who put it there, who saw anything? etc. If possible, get other members of staff to act as eyewitnesses or a ‘victim’ who can give the children information. You could also report on a school sports fixture, a charity or school event or anything that is appropriate to your school.
Tell the children what you require of them in terms of the writing, the length of the piece and the deadline. Tell them that they can visit the scene of the event they’re reporting on (as long as it’s school based!) and interview eyewitnesses, victims or participants. If you want to really test them you can throw in new information for the older journalists and ask them to update or amend their story.
Activity Two – What’s in a Name?
Year 2 to Year 6
This activity helps pupils to develop characters for their stories.
Dickens uses some marvellously creative names for his characters, many of which tell a lot about their looks and character. Use a selection from his books and ask the children to sort them under the headings of good or bad people. Ask then to explain why they put them under the particular headings.
Next you can ask them to draw how they would imagine the characters looked before comparing them to the illustrations of the time. Not all characters were illustrated but many were and plates of the illustration are available on Google Images. Try this list…
Mr M’Choakumchild – Hard Times
The Cheeryble Brothers – Nicholas Nickleby
Anne Chickenstalker – The Chimes
Tiny Tim Cratchit – A Christmas Carol
Creakle – David Copperfield
Canon Crisparkle – The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Mrs Cruncher – A Tale of Two Cities
Captain Cuttle – Dombey and Son
Lady Honoraria Dedlock – Bleak House
Abel Magwitch – Great Expectations
There are plenty more suggestions to be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Dickensian_characters
Now give the children brief descriptions of some new characters and ask them to come up with a suitable name for them. Select the best of the children’s ideas and for the next lesson ask them to pair the names up with the description.
Activity 3 – Writing from a Different Age
Year 5 and 6
This activity helps children to understand the different styles of writing that have been used over the centuries and the changing use and meaning of words.
The activity is quite difficult but can be very rewarding. Often, especially in history, children are asked to write as a character from the period but so often their choice of language reflects their existence in the modern age which then detracts from the content of their work. Working on a piece written in contemporary language helps children to understand not only the meaning of different styles of writing but also how language has changed over the centuries.
Use the extract from Oliver Twist and begin by reading it through. Highlight all the unfamiliar words and discuss what they mean in the context of the passage. Ask the children which words we would use these days to replace them.
You can then go on to do a verbal comprehension on the passage or in written form using questions such as:
1. What aspect of daily life is being described in the text?
2. Where do you think the piece of writing was set?
3. How did the children decide who would go up and ask for more?
4. Why do you think they get one of their number to go up and ask?
5. What was the reaction from the master?
You’ll need to adjust the complexity of the questions depending on the age and ability of the children but try to draw out of them an understanding of the scenario and how it may differ from a school dining room today.
Activity 4 – Writing for a Different Era
Year 5 and 6
After working on a piece of writing completed in Victorian times, the children should have a good idea of how the language differed and how the author used objects and scenarios common to their era.
This activity is quite difficult as it relies on children focusing completely on a past time. It will help them practise sticking to a theme in a piece of creative writing.
It’s best to start with a piece of descriptive writing:
Ask the children to research information for a street scene from Victorian times. They should consider transport, buildings, people, their dress and occupation. From the information they have collected, ask them to describe a typical street scene. You’ll have to remind them to stick only to what they have researched as the temptation is to add in bits which usually end up as being out of context. Those who performed well on the comprehension exercise looking at an extract of Victorian writing may be able to adapt the style of their writing similarly.
Activity One – Beat the Deadline
Year 2 to Year 6
This activity helps pupils to write to a deadline including structuring and editing. It encourages them to take notes and then expand upon them.
Charles Dickens early career was as a journalist and like journalists throughout history, he had to work to a deadline. At a certain time of day the newspaper had to be printed, no matter what or it wouldn’t be out on the streets in time for sale the next day. Everyone had to work to a deadline; the journalists collecting and writing the story, the editors who had to check and agree the stories, the typesetters who got the printing plates ready and the printers who got the presses rolling to produce the daily news.
Children are occasionally given the chance to work to a deadline – you may say ‘I need this story finished by break’ or ‘I want you to do twenty questions in the next hour’. The notion is sometimes a little abstract to some children because they can’t see why it must be done by then but with this activity and the explanation around it, they’ll soon see why deadlines can be important.
Introduction:
Tell the children about Charles Dickens’ life as a reporter and journalist and discuss what his typical day may be like. You may have suggestions such as:
- He sees something happening like a fire or a robbery
- He asks other people what they saw and may interview those affected.
- He’ll go to his office and write the story
- Someone will check what he has written
- He’ll find a picture to go with it
- The story will be printed
Tell the children that they are going to work like they were Charles Dickens and that you will be their ‘editor’ keeping track of time. You can set the children up in groups and give them the name of a newspaper they work for. Set up a news ‘event’ which can either be a trivial one for younger pupils or a more serious issue for older ones. We’ve used a cake left on a teacher’s car; how did it get there, who put it there, who saw anything? etc. If possible, get other members of staff to act as eyewitnesses or a ‘victim’ who can give the children information. You could also report on a school sports fixture, a charity or school event or anything that is appropriate to your school.
Tell the children what you require of them in terms of the writing, the length of the piece and the deadline. Tell them that they can visit the scene of the event they’re reporting on (as long as it’s school based!) and interview eyewitnesses, victims or participants. If you want to really test them you can throw in new information for the older journalists and ask them to update or amend their story.
Activity Two – What’s in a Name?
Year 2 to Year 6
This activity helps pupils to develop characters for their stories
Dickens uses some marvellously creative names for his characters, many of which tell a lot about their looks and character. Use a selection from his books and ask the children to sort them under the headings of good or bad people. Ask then to explain why they put them under the particular headings.
Next you can ask them to draw how they would imagine the characters looked before comparing them to the illustrations of the time. Not all characters were illustrated but many were and plates of the illustration are available on Google Images. Try this list…
Mr M’Choakumchild – Hard Times
The Cheeryble Brothers – Nicholas Nickleby
Anne Chickenstalker – The Chimes
Tiny Tim Cratchit – A Christmas Carol
Creakle – David Copperfield
Canon Crisparkle – The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Mrs Cruncher – A Tale of Two Cities
Captain Cuttle – Dombey and Son
Lady Honoraria Dedlock – Bleak House
Abel Magwitch – Great Expectations
There are plenty more suggestions to be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Dickensian_characters
Now give the children brief descriptions of some new characters and ask them to come up with a suitable name for them. Select the best of the children’s ideas and for the next lesson ask them to pair the names up with the description.
Activity 3 – Writing from a Different Age
Year 5 and 6
This activity helps children to understand the different styles of writing that have been used over the centuries and the changing use and meaning of words.
The activity is quite difficult but can be very rewarding. Often, especially in history, children are asked to write as a character from the period but so often their choice of language reflects their existence in the modern age which then detracts from the content of their work. Working on a piece written in contemporary language helps children to understand not only the meaning of different styles of writing but also how language has changed over the centuries.
Use the extract from Oliver Twist and begin by reading it through. Highlight all the unfamiliar words and discuss what they mean in the context of the passage. Ask the children which words we would use these days to replace them.
You can then go on to do a verbal comprehension on the passage or in written form using questions such as:
1. What aspect of daily life is being described in the text?
2. Where do you think the piece of writing was set?
3. How did the children decide who would go up and ask for more?
4. Why do you think they get one of their number to go up and ask?
5. What was the reaction from the master?
You’ll need to adjust the complexity of the questions depending on the age and ability of the children but try to draw out of them an understanding of the scenario and how it may differ from a school dining room today.
Activity 4 – Writing for a Different Era
Year 5 and 6
After working on a piece of writing completed in Victorian times, the children should have a good idea of how the language differed and how the author used objects and scenarios common to their era.
This activity is quite difficult as it relies on children focusing completely on a past time. It will help them practise sticking to a theme in a piece of creative writing.
It’s best to start with a piece of descriptive writing:
Ask the children to research information for a street scene from Victorian times. They should consider transport, buildings, people, their dress and occupation. From the information they have collected, ask them to describe a typical street scene. You’ll have to remind them to stick only to what they have researched as the temptation is to add in bits which usually end up as being out of context. Those who performed well on the comprehension exercise looking at an extract of Victorian writing may be able to adapt the style of their writing similarly.
Dave Lewis
Primary Teacher
Wednesday, 2 November 2011
Primary - Bread Making
As well as being great fun, bread making takes us back to the very basics of food production and to a time when a happy accident led to flour, contaminated with natural yeasts was left longer than usual on a warm day and began to rise. The cooked bread was found to be lighter and easier to eat and so a revolution in food was born.
Activity One - Looking at natural microbes
There are many microbes in the world around us which, in their quest for survival, feed off natural sugars and protein,s causing them to decay. These produce moulds and gases of which some are harmful and some are helpful.
The children can test for the presence of microbes around them by leaving bread, cheese and fruit out in the air, in a safe place, and note the changes that happen over the course of a few weeks. What we see is the microbes feeding off sugars and proteins and developing fruiting bodies which we call mould. Now mix some fresh or dried baker’s yeast with warm water and sugar and leave it somewhere warm but ventilated. After 30 minutes to an hour they should be able to observe frothing of the mixture and a pungent smell. These are caused by the production of carbon dioxide and alcohol in the process known as fermentation.
Now show the children a loaf of bread and slice it in half. What do they notice?
Ask them what they think caused the holes in bread. Keep referring to the froth on the yeast mixture and show them that when it is stirred, the bubbles disappear. Why doesn’t that happen with the bread?
Activity Two
As an introduction to bread making, read the children the story of the Little Red Hen. It illustrates beautifully the process of bread making from field to plate in order to show how cooperation can enable all to share in a reward for their combined efforts. From the book, ask the class to illustrate and label each stage of the process and display it around the class. Can they use the ideas from the book together with what they have learned to far to write instructions for the bread making process? There will be gaps but they can complete those later after the process has been completed.
Activity Three
You can also link the idea of bread making into the history topic of Invaders and Settlers.
Begin by asking the children what kinds of food invaders would eat and what kinds of food settlers would eat. Can they justify their choices with reference to how long each takes to produce? Early humans were nomadic and had a protein rich lifestyle as they killed animals from the flocks they herded or wild animals through hunting. As humans settled in hospitable areas they initially became gatherers and then found they could cultivate much of what they gathered. This meant that they would have to stay in the same place for as long as the crops took to grow and would need to spend time tending the crops during the growing season. One of the earliest cultivated crops was wheat and this was used to make bread.
Activity Four
Ask the children to bring in different kinds of bread. You may get wholemeal, granary, oatmeal, rye, soda, unleavened etc. Do an observation and taste test with them. Label headings on the board such as what it looks like, texture, size of holes/bubbles, taste, like or dislike. Be careful to check you have no celiac sufferers beforehand. Looking at the wrappers will tell them what is different about the ingredients or how it’s been cooked. From this you could discuss healthiness by looking at the nutritional information label on the bag and rank the breads in order of healthiness, deciding what it is about each bread that makes it healthy or unhealthy.
Activity Five
Making bread! Children love this and it’s easy and almost always successful. It’s even more fun when you go right back to the beginning and buy some whole wheat grains and mill them in a pestle and mortar. The children will see the white powder that is the flour and after sifting they’ll end up with nearly pure flour. This could take a very long time if you want to make all your flour this way so I’d recommend mixing some of your ground flour with commercial bread flour. At the same time you could sow some of the wheat grains in a pot or in the school garden to see how it grows.
Get the children to make us the yeast mixture as you showed them in the previous activity. It will begin frothing almost immediately and they’ll have to mix it with the flour and salt quickly. Once the dough leaves the sides of the bowl cleanly, ask the children to pick out the dough and begin kneading it. Ask them what they notice happening to the dough as they do this. The gluten in the flour is being released and making the dough stretchy. Once the dough is smooth and stretchy, put the dough back in the bowl and leave in a warm place to prove. An hour later ask the children what they notice and what has happened to the dough to make it rise. If you carefully cut a piece off using a sharp knife the children will be able to see the bubbles in the yeast. Ask them again if they can understand why the bubbles disappeared in the yeast mix yet stay in the dough. They’ll have to knead the dough again and then shape it to form their bread before proving it again. You can explain that this is to make sure the yeast and bubbles form evenly through the bread. Finally it’ll be ready for baking. Making one of your own with the children will earn you some kudos and you can use yours at the end of the activity to demonstrate the capture of the bubbles through the hardening of the dough through cooking.
Dave Lewis, Primary teacher
Activity One - Looking at natural microbes
There are many microbes in the world around us which, in their quest for survival, feed off natural sugars and protein,s causing them to decay. These produce moulds and gases of which some are harmful and some are helpful.
The children can test for the presence of microbes around them by leaving bread, cheese and fruit out in the air, in a safe place, and note the changes that happen over the course of a few weeks. What we see is the microbes feeding off sugars and proteins and developing fruiting bodies which we call mould. Now mix some fresh or dried baker’s yeast with warm water and sugar and leave it somewhere warm but ventilated. After 30 minutes to an hour they should be able to observe frothing of the mixture and a pungent smell. These are caused by the production of carbon dioxide and alcohol in the process known as fermentation.
Now show the children a loaf of bread and slice it in half. What do they notice?
Ask them what they think caused the holes in bread. Keep referring to the froth on the yeast mixture and show them that when it is stirred, the bubbles disappear. Why doesn’t that happen with the bread?
Activity Two
As an introduction to bread making, read the children the story of the Little Red Hen. It illustrates beautifully the process of bread making from field to plate in order to show how cooperation can enable all to share in a reward for their combined efforts. From the book, ask the class to illustrate and label each stage of the process and display it around the class. Can they use the ideas from the book together with what they have learned to far to write instructions for the bread making process? There will be gaps but they can complete those later after the process has been completed.
Activity Three
You can also link the idea of bread making into the history topic of Invaders and Settlers.
Begin by asking the children what kinds of food invaders would eat and what kinds of food settlers would eat. Can they justify their choices with reference to how long each takes to produce? Early humans were nomadic and had a protein rich lifestyle as they killed animals from the flocks they herded or wild animals through hunting. As humans settled in hospitable areas they initially became gatherers and then found they could cultivate much of what they gathered. This meant that they would have to stay in the same place for as long as the crops took to grow and would need to spend time tending the crops during the growing season. One of the earliest cultivated crops was wheat and this was used to make bread.
Activity Four
Ask the children to bring in different kinds of bread. You may get wholemeal, granary, oatmeal, rye, soda, unleavened etc. Do an observation and taste test with them. Label headings on the board such as what it looks like, texture, size of holes/bubbles, taste, like or dislike. Be careful to check you have no celiac sufferers beforehand. Looking at the wrappers will tell them what is different about the ingredients or how it’s been cooked. From this you could discuss healthiness by looking at the nutritional information label on the bag and rank the breads in order of healthiness, deciding what it is about each bread that makes it healthy or unhealthy.
Activity Five
Making bread! Children love this and it’s easy and almost always successful. It’s even more fun when you go right back to the beginning and buy some whole wheat grains and mill them in a pestle and mortar. The children will see the white powder that is the flour and after sifting they’ll end up with nearly pure flour. This could take a very long time if you want to make all your flour this way so I’d recommend mixing some of your ground flour with commercial bread flour. At the same time you could sow some of the wheat grains in a pot or in the school garden to see how it grows.
Get the children to make us the yeast mixture as you showed them in the previous activity. It will begin frothing almost immediately and they’ll have to mix it with the flour and salt quickly. Once the dough leaves the sides of the bowl cleanly, ask the children to pick out the dough and begin kneading it. Ask them what they notice happening to the dough as they do this. The gluten in the flour is being released and making the dough stretchy. Once the dough is smooth and stretchy, put the dough back in the bowl and leave in a warm place to prove. An hour later ask the children what they notice and what has happened to the dough to make it rise. If you carefully cut a piece off using a sharp knife the children will be able to see the bubbles in the yeast. Ask them again if they can understand why the bubbles disappeared in the yeast mix yet stay in the dough. They’ll have to knead the dough again and then shape it to form their bread before proving it again. You can explain that this is to make sure the yeast and bubbles form evenly through the bread. Finally it’ll be ready for baking. Making one of your own with the children will earn you some kudos and you can use yours at the end of the activity to demonstrate the capture of the bubbles through the hardening of the dough through cooking.
Dave Lewis, Primary teacher
Tuesday, 4 October 2011
Primary Literacy - Fresh Ideas for Comprehension
Comprehension used to be dreaded by my class. Make sure you answer the question fully, don’t start with because, use the words from the question and the text to help etc etc. And it would be the same, week after week. So I decided to do something about it that would make the exercise more relevant to what they wanted to do and the following activities are what we tried.
Activity 1: Comprehension Through Art
I would give the children a copy of the text and ask them to read it carefully, highlighting everything they felt could be represented as an image. From this I asked them to draw and colour or paint a picture that showed me what they had read about in the story. Overall, the results showed a good understanding of what they had read. Whereas I may have asked a younger class how many friends did Peter meet at the park, there in the picture would be Peter with two friends. If the text had described each of them, I would see in their picture, the two friends of the correct size, right hair colour and correct clothing as per the text, so in a much more enjoyable way fro them, they were comprehending the story.
I thought difficulty might arise in the comprehension for the older children but instead what I though would be a road block for them turned out to be an inspiration.
For questions where inference was required; e.g. How did Mary feel, seeing the turtle swim away? I had paintings showing a sad face but also changes in the colouring of the picture itself and the child, in describing their work afterwards, would say, I painted it in greys and blues because Mary is sad the turtle has gone.
I was surprised at how successful it was and have tried it from time to time since. Obviously it can’t be used all the time because the formation and practice of the language of understanding is a vital component but for variety it works very well.
Activity 2: Comprehension as Comic Strips
The difficulty with using pictures for comprehension is that it is impossible to show progression in a story.
I found by using a comic strip format, those texts which question children on a progression such as ‘What do you think Mary will do to help the turtle?’ or ‘What do you think Raj’s parents will say when he gets home?’ are more easily answered.
The children can also practice sequencing by considering how they can show their understanding through the development of the text into a story. It’s fairly easy to guess how many frames will be needed for their answers and I would suggest asking the children to think about where the story will go next. To be able to do this, they will have to have a good understanding of it so far and their finished strip should demonstrate this.
Activity 3: Rewriting the Text
This is a very useful activity as it also practises writing for different audiences.
It can be done in quite a variety of ways depending on the text:
- A change of person; this often can give a different perspective on the story and help the child to understand more of what might be inferred.
- A change of setting; this enables the child to take the facts from the given text and transplant it into a different scenario. When assessing it you should see all of the characteristics and action but higher order work will also adapt the actions of the character to the new situation but not completely change them
- A change of style; The easiest is to convert the text into a newspaper report format and it works quite well as detected inferred information often appears in ‘What the eyewitness saw’. Some texts which have a chronology can be tested by changing the format to an instructional one which highlights sequencing of events.
- The version I like is when you change the subject of the text. We once did this exercise on a piece from ‘Alice in Wonderland but changed Alice to Alex, a boy. The children had to rewrite it but thinking about whether the boy would react in the same way to his encounters. Needless to say, the Cheshire Cat has been rescued by the RSPCA and the Mad Hatter is receiving treatment.
Dave Lewis, Primary teacher
Activity 1: Comprehension Through Art
I would give the children a copy of the text and ask them to read it carefully, highlighting everything they felt could be represented as an image. From this I asked them to draw and colour or paint a picture that showed me what they had read about in the story. Overall, the results showed a good understanding of what they had read. Whereas I may have asked a younger class how many friends did Peter meet at the park, there in the picture would be Peter with two friends. If the text had described each of them, I would see in their picture, the two friends of the correct size, right hair colour and correct clothing as per the text, so in a much more enjoyable way fro them, they were comprehending the story.
I thought difficulty might arise in the comprehension for the older children but instead what I though would be a road block for them turned out to be an inspiration.
For questions where inference was required; e.g. How did Mary feel, seeing the turtle swim away? I had paintings showing a sad face but also changes in the colouring of the picture itself and the child, in describing their work afterwards, would say, I painted it in greys and blues because Mary is sad the turtle has gone.
I was surprised at how successful it was and have tried it from time to time since. Obviously it can’t be used all the time because the formation and practice of the language of understanding is a vital component but for variety it works very well.
Activity 2: Comprehension as Comic Strips
The difficulty with using pictures for comprehension is that it is impossible to show progression in a story.
I found by using a comic strip format, those texts which question children on a progression such as ‘What do you think Mary will do to help the turtle?’ or ‘What do you think Raj’s parents will say when he gets home?’ are more easily answered.
The children can also practice sequencing by considering how they can show their understanding through the development of the text into a story. It’s fairly easy to guess how many frames will be needed for their answers and I would suggest asking the children to think about where the story will go next. To be able to do this, they will have to have a good understanding of it so far and their finished strip should demonstrate this.
Activity 3: Rewriting the Text
This is a very useful activity as it also practises writing for different audiences.
It can be done in quite a variety of ways depending on the text:
- A change of person; this often can give a different perspective on the story and help the child to understand more of what might be inferred.
- A change of setting; this enables the child to take the facts from the given text and transplant it into a different scenario. When assessing it you should see all of the characteristics and action but higher order work will also adapt the actions of the character to the new situation but not completely change them
- A change of style; The easiest is to convert the text into a newspaper report format and it works quite well as detected inferred information often appears in ‘What the eyewitness saw’. Some texts which have a chronology can be tested by changing the format to an instructional one which highlights sequencing of events.
- The version I like is when you change the subject of the text. We once did this exercise on a piece from ‘Alice in Wonderland but changed Alice to Alex, a boy. The children had to rewrite it but thinking about whether the boy would react in the same way to his encounters. Needless to say, the Cheshire Cat has been rescued by the RSPCA and the Mad Hatter is receiving treatment.
Dave Lewis, Primary teacher
Primary Literacy - Fresh Ideas for Spellings
Over the years we have been furnished with many different ideas for spelling schemes and also for ways to learn spellings. I believe that the problem some children encounter is being encouraged to use only a single method to learn and practise their spelling words. A girl in my class who had been doing really well in her tests began to tail off a bit and when the situation got to the point where I was sure she wasn’t learning them I asked her what the problem was.
Her reply was that she was bored of learning them in the same way week after week and so had given up. Mindful of her comments I looked at the available ways of learning and practising them and implemented a few changes following these activities:
Activity 1: Using Spellcheckers
In Microsoft Word, a red line appears under any incorrectly spelt word (as long as the dictionary language is set correctly)
The children in my class knew this meant they had spelt the word incorrectly but apart from asking me how to correct it, could go no further. We then looked at how, if you right click on the word, a list of possible spellings comes up. I asked them to look through this and see if they can recognise the correct spelling. I’ve found that in over 80% of cases, if the spelling is close enough, the child will be presented with the correct spelling and they are able to select it from amongst the other words that don’t match.
I extended this to producing a list of commonly miss-spelt words using the common problem seen in each one and again presented this to the children. Again, almost all could correct them by recognising the spelling from the right click supplied list.
Activity 2: Paired Spellings
In this activity I pair up children of roughly similar spelling ability and give the whole class a differentiated spelling test. Instead of having to remember the spellings by themselves, they are free to discuss the spelling with their partner and how it needs to be changed if seen as incorrect. This idea helps children’s confidence in spelling tests and once the confidence is there you can split pairs or rematch them.
Activity 3: Guess the Word
Hangman is always a great game for practising spellings and it shows if children are getting the correct rule if the first letters they suggest are the ones from it.
Another version of this is to start off with the first two letters of a word, not necessarily from a list given recently to learn and ask the class to suggest what words could begin with those letters. From this you can practise many words, e.g. if I gave them A and B as the first two letters I could expect above, able or aboard and I would give extra points for if they could continue the spelling correctly. If they got a letter wrong, I would then use the letters we had so far and ask another child to continue.
Activity 4: Words From Words
I used to love this activity as a child. It was often given as a filler and I sometimes use it for that reason. The child is given a word and asked to find, five, ten, fifteen or twenty words from it, depending on ability. This can help with looking at how words are formed form others e.g. the word another being an-other.
Activity 5: Spelling Bees
In the USA, spelling bee competitions are very popular. They have fallen out of favour here because of the public competitiveness of the idea. I like to use the idea occasionally but rather than make all the class do it, I ask the children to challenge each other. In this way they are opting to be in the spotlight and will usually only do it if they feel confident. To encourage the less confident to participate I say that they can take part in pairs.
Activity 6: Teacher Error
I began doing this activity to check if the children were paying attention to what I was saying but it soon got to be a way I could test their spellings. If the opportunity arose to use a word out of their spelling lists in any I was writing on the whiteboard I might spell the word incorrectly and wait to see if there was a reaction. To begin with I had to say that’s what I was going to do but now I can just do it and my eagle-eyed class are watching all the time. It gets embarrassing if I make an unintentional error though!!
Dave Lewis, Primary teacher
Her reply was that she was bored of learning them in the same way week after week and so had given up. Mindful of her comments I looked at the available ways of learning and practising them and implemented a few changes following these activities:
Activity 1: Using Spellcheckers
In Microsoft Word, a red line appears under any incorrectly spelt word (as long as the dictionary language is set correctly)
The children in my class knew this meant they had spelt the word incorrectly but apart from asking me how to correct it, could go no further. We then looked at how, if you right click on the word, a list of possible spellings comes up. I asked them to look through this and see if they can recognise the correct spelling. I’ve found that in over 80% of cases, if the spelling is close enough, the child will be presented with the correct spelling and they are able to select it from amongst the other words that don’t match.
I extended this to producing a list of commonly miss-spelt words using the common problem seen in each one and again presented this to the children. Again, almost all could correct them by recognising the spelling from the right click supplied list.
Activity 2: Paired Spellings
In this activity I pair up children of roughly similar spelling ability and give the whole class a differentiated spelling test. Instead of having to remember the spellings by themselves, they are free to discuss the spelling with their partner and how it needs to be changed if seen as incorrect. This idea helps children’s confidence in spelling tests and once the confidence is there you can split pairs or rematch them.
Activity 3: Guess the Word
Hangman is always a great game for practising spellings and it shows if children are getting the correct rule if the first letters they suggest are the ones from it.
Another version of this is to start off with the first two letters of a word, not necessarily from a list given recently to learn and ask the class to suggest what words could begin with those letters. From this you can practise many words, e.g. if I gave them A and B as the first two letters I could expect above, able or aboard and I would give extra points for if they could continue the spelling correctly. If they got a letter wrong, I would then use the letters we had so far and ask another child to continue.
Activity 4: Words From Words
I used to love this activity as a child. It was often given as a filler and I sometimes use it for that reason. The child is given a word and asked to find, five, ten, fifteen or twenty words from it, depending on ability. This can help with looking at how words are formed form others e.g. the word another being an-other.
Activity 5: Spelling Bees
In the USA, spelling bee competitions are very popular. They have fallen out of favour here because of the public competitiveness of the idea. I like to use the idea occasionally but rather than make all the class do it, I ask the children to challenge each other. In this way they are opting to be in the spotlight and will usually only do it if they feel confident. To encourage the less confident to participate I say that they can take part in pairs.
Activity 6: Teacher Error
I began doing this activity to check if the children were paying attention to what I was saying but it soon got to be a way I could test their spellings. If the opportunity arose to use a word out of their spelling lists in any I was writing on the whiteboard I might spell the word incorrectly and wait to see if there was a reaction. To begin with I had to say that’s what I was going to do but now I can just do it and my eagle-eyed class are watching all the time. It gets embarrassing if I make an unintentional error though!!
Dave Lewis, Primary teacher
Primary Literacy - Fresh Ideas for Speaking and Listening
In the past I considered this to be all about drama but since the introduction of thinking skills and philosophy into the curriculum, I’ve realised that there are a lot more ways it can be practised and developed.
Activity 1: The Voice of the School
Schools are all about children but we often try to keep them at arm’s length from visitors.
In our school, we recognise that children can naturally be shy around adults they don’t know but try to help them feel more at ease in these situations by allowing them to be the face or voice of the school. This can range from showing parents and visitors around the school, answering the telephone, visiting the elderly in the community and helping out at school events. Don’t worry, we don’t just throw them into the situation, the head teacher organises role plays for them to think about and practise what they may say and what they might hear from the adults. Whilst it seems a little scary to some, they will need these skills soon in life so we help them to develop them.
We often underestimate the ability of children when placed in unfamiliar situations and we found that whilst initially reticent about taking on such roles, soon many were volunteering, gaining greater confidence along the way.
Activity 2: Who Am I?
OK, so this is more drama but I like to think of it as a combination of a bit of research, a bit of drama and practise for speaking.
Tell the children they are going to be famous people giving a speech. Aim for only thirty seconds – that will still seem like an eternity to them!
They need to research what that person may talk about and how they might do it.
You can let them choose but to begin with it’s often better to get them to select from a list you’ve chosen so you don’t get an obscure one. I chose the US President, an actress, a footballer, a pop star and person from history. They then had to research their person to find out what they spoke like and what they talked about and then practise 30 seconds of something similar.
When we came to performing this it was huge fun. Some had decided to dress up as their speaker so the ‘guess the celeb’ aspect was completely lost but they really tried their best and in the fun of the experience forgot that they were being assessed for speaking skills and were naturals.
This is very useful as a introduction to taking on a character role in drama. We follow this activity in drama by asking the children to investigate their character, build up an idea of their personality and use what they find out to make their performance more realistic. It’s a skill often not practised until secondary school but we had some success with it, especially amongst those who are keen on their acting.
Dave Lewis, Primary teacher
Activity 1: The Voice of the School
Schools are all about children but we often try to keep them at arm’s length from visitors.
In our school, we recognise that children can naturally be shy around adults they don’t know but try to help them feel more at ease in these situations by allowing them to be the face or voice of the school. This can range from showing parents and visitors around the school, answering the telephone, visiting the elderly in the community and helping out at school events. Don’t worry, we don’t just throw them into the situation, the head teacher organises role plays for them to think about and practise what they may say and what they might hear from the adults. Whilst it seems a little scary to some, they will need these skills soon in life so we help them to develop them.
We often underestimate the ability of children when placed in unfamiliar situations and we found that whilst initially reticent about taking on such roles, soon many were volunteering, gaining greater confidence along the way.
Activity 2: Who Am I?
OK, so this is more drama but I like to think of it as a combination of a bit of research, a bit of drama and practise for speaking.
Tell the children they are going to be famous people giving a speech. Aim for only thirty seconds – that will still seem like an eternity to them!
They need to research what that person may talk about and how they might do it.
You can let them choose but to begin with it’s often better to get them to select from a list you’ve chosen so you don’t get an obscure one. I chose the US President, an actress, a footballer, a pop star and person from history. They then had to research their person to find out what they spoke like and what they talked about and then practise 30 seconds of something similar.
When we came to performing this it was huge fun. Some had decided to dress up as their speaker so the ‘guess the celeb’ aspect was completely lost but they really tried their best and in the fun of the experience forgot that they were being assessed for speaking skills and were naturals.
This is very useful as a introduction to taking on a character role in drama. We follow this activity in drama by asking the children to investigate their character, build up an idea of their personality and use what they find out to make their performance more realistic. It’s a skill often not practised until secondary school but we had some success with it, especially amongst those who are keen on their acting.
Dave Lewis, Primary teacher
Tuesday, 2 August 2011
Primary literacy - Writing competition!
Have your pupils entered the Collins Big Cat Writing Competition? Now in it's third year, hear from the winners of the 2011 competition and watch this space for information on how to enter for 2012...if you think you're up to the challenge!
The competition is a great chance to get your pupils excited about writing - the winners get to see their book published as part of our Collins Big Cat series.
Louisa
Collins Education Blog
The competition is a great chance to get your pupils excited about writing - the winners get to see their book published as part of our Collins Big Cat series.
Louisa
Collins Education Blog
Thursday, 30 June 2011
Primary literacy - Make a documentary
Sticking with the theme of news, here's an activity around documentary-making.
There is often a local, national or international news article which poses questions or demands further research to ‘fill out’ the picture. In real life, this often takes the form of quickly put together documentaries.
By putting together a documentary, children practise many of the skills we teach in English and Drama such as script writing, acting, writing in a particular style, speaking and listening etc.
Ask the children to choose a subject. It could be something to do with the school, their community or a national or international item.
They will need to gather facts on it and pictures to support their information. They can then write and practice a script, being mindful of the style needed. Finally, they can film the documentary and edit it using simple free software such as Windows Movie Maker. We suggested that the documentary be between six and ten minutes long. Many of the children thought this was too short but then found sometimes it was a struggle to fill the time. Adjust it according the ability of the groups and topics chosen.
When we did the activity we found that the interactive whiteboard made for an excellent background or for displaying pictures. The children saved their pictures or backgrounds on a PowerPoint slide show and noted the order and changes of slides alongside their script. If you get the position of the child correct in relation to the camera and board their shadow won’t spoil the image.
We held a special ‘Newsnight’ evening for children to present their work on the news and showed a selection of the documentaries at it, then uploaded our finished documentaries to our website for parents to see.
Dave Lewis
Portsmouth High School Junior Dept
There is often a local, national or international news article which poses questions or demands further research to ‘fill out’ the picture. In real life, this often takes the form of quickly put together documentaries.
By putting together a documentary, children practise many of the skills we teach in English and Drama such as script writing, acting, writing in a particular style, speaking and listening etc.
Ask the children to choose a subject. It could be something to do with the school, their community or a national or international item.
They will need to gather facts on it and pictures to support their information. They can then write and practice a script, being mindful of the style needed. Finally, they can film the documentary and edit it using simple free software such as Windows Movie Maker. We suggested that the documentary be between six and ten minutes long. Many of the children thought this was too short but then found sometimes it was a struggle to fill the time. Adjust it according the ability of the groups and topics chosen.
When we did the activity we found that the interactive whiteboard made for an excellent background or for displaying pictures. The children saved their pictures or backgrounds on a PowerPoint slide show and noted the order and changes of slides alongside their script. If you get the position of the child correct in relation to the camera and board their shadow won’t spoil the image.
We held a special ‘Newsnight’ evening for children to present their work on the news and showed a selection of the documentaries at it, then uploaded our finished documentaries to our website for parents to see.
Dave Lewis
Portsmouth High School Junior Dept
Tuesday, 3 May 2011
Primary Literacy - Making Story Writing Fun and Challenging
There are not many pupils that will say they love writing and there are probably fewer teachers that love marking it! I’ve just done an assessed piece of writing with the children and I see the same problems in all of their work. You can get them to plan all you like but when the writing starts, getting them to stick to the plan all the way through to the conclusion is a nightmare.
You can tell the point at which they feel they’ve done enough - I’d be a rich man if I had a pound for every time I’ve read the end of a story where the characters have a cup of cocoa and go to bed or wake up part way through the story to find it’s all been a dream!
So what’s the answer to making writing fun and sustaining their concentration?
I’ve experimented with several ideas over the years and some of the best I’ve found involve either shared writing or writing that is done in a format that the children enjoy.
You can tell the regard in which story writing is held by your class when their initial question is ‘When I finish, can I draw a picture?’ This often means that the work is rushed to get to the enjoyable bit, so why not ask them to draw the picture first then write about it?
Another writing method we use is the shared story.
We began by using an exercise book. The teacher would write the opening lines of a story and the child would continue it, returning the book to the teacher after a paragraph had been completed. This worked well until books got lost and all the work with it. We looked around for an alternative and hit upon the use of blogs.
If you want to follow this route, set up WordPress or other blog provider’s accounts for each child that is participating and give them the log in details.
Begin the story for the child and ask them to continue it. Alternate regularly completing sections of the story. You should each choose a different colour font to be able to differentiate between the authors and to enable you to monitor how much each author is contributing.
If you set up the spam filter to remove all spam you won’t have any unwanted comments appearing on the blog. This way you can use the comment facility to be able to tell the child how you think the story is progressing. From time to time, discuss the story verbally with the child so that they can discuss ideas.
Other free blogware is available and some allow you to keep the blog private although in all the time we have operated the system we have never had a comment come through the spam filter on WordPress that wasn’t from an accepted source.
By using blogware, we are sure that the story won’t be lost and the story can be continued in school or at home. Parents like this method too as they can log on and see the child’s work and the comments from the teacher.
Dave Lewis
Portsmouth High School Junior Dept
You can tell the point at which they feel they’ve done enough - I’d be a rich man if I had a pound for every time I’ve read the end of a story where the characters have a cup of cocoa and go to bed or wake up part way through the story to find it’s all been a dream!
So what’s the answer to making writing fun and sustaining their concentration?
I’ve experimented with several ideas over the years and some of the best I’ve found involve either shared writing or writing that is done in a format that the children enjoy.
You can tell the regard in which story writing is held by your class when their initial question is ‘When I finish, can I draw a picture?’ This often means that the work is rushed to get to the enjoyable bit, so why not ask them to draw the picture first then write about it?
Another writing method we use is the shared story.
We began by using an exercise book. The teacher would write the opening lines of a story and the child would continue it, returning the book to the teacher after a paragraph had been completed. This worked well until books got lost and all the work with it. We looked around for an alternative and hit upon the use of blogs.
If you want to follow this route, set up WordPress or other blog provider’s accounts for each child that is participating and give them the log in details.
Begin the story for the child and ask them to continue it. Alternate regularly completing sections of the story. You should each choose a different colour font to be able to differentiate between the authors and to enable you to monitor how much each author is contributing.
If you set up the spam filter to remove all spam you won’t have any unwanted comments appearing on the blog. This way you can use the comment facility to be able to tell the child how you think the story is progressing. From time to time, discuss the story verbally with the child so that they can discuss ideas.
Other free blogware is available and some allow you to keep the blog private although in all the time we have operated the system we have never had a comment come through the spam filter on WordPress that wasn’t from an accepted source.
By using blogware, we are sure that the story won’t be lost and the story can be continued in school or at home. Parents like this method too as they can log on and see the child’s work and the comments from the teacher.
Dave Lewis
Portsmouth High School Junior Dept
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