A plea from Santa
Dear Parents and Carers, Thank you for your support over the years. I am always made to feel welcome in your homes – glasses of milk or something stronger, cookies or slices of Christmas cake, oats for my reindeer… However, there’s something I’ve been uncomfortable with that has built up over the years. Despite only leaving one or two small presents in each child’s stocking, children are crediting me with huge mountains of expensive presents. The parents are misguidedly thinking it’s a good idea to give all the credit to me. You need to understand two things: I have…
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Why I Wrote About a Puppy Farm in my Children’s Book.
Dogs are amazing: cuddly companions, snuggling up to us on a night, greeting us with enthusiasm every time we enter the home – even if we were only two minutes while we put the bins out. Furry friends, not judging our awful decisions or fashion sense and forgiving us for our mistakes. Peaceful pals who never say nasty things to people or behind their backs. Dogs are so well tuned into us, they can be trained to guide visually-impaired people, alert people who are about to have an epileptic fit and intuitively protects us from danger. Most of us…
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ORACY
Has Your School Recognised the Importance Yet? You might be forgiven for thinking oracy is the “new” buzzword, but it has been around since the 1960s. However, it is currently enjoying a well-deserved, renewed focus. Why is it so important? Because as the educationalist, James Britton, said in 1976: “Reading and writing float on a sea of talk.” In other words, our children need to have strong oracy skills as a foundation for reading and writing. I would add to that – our children need to have strong oracy skills as a foundation for learning. In the Bloom’s Taxonomy,…
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Why Your School Should Have an Intervention Menu
When you visit a restaurant with your friends or family, the waiter doesn’t force you all to eat the same meal. Instead, you choose something appropriate for your individual wants and needs. Aunty Ann has a small appetite so selects a meal from the children’s menu, Cousin Yassa is vegetarian and selects a cheesy pasta. Big Dave is into body building and looks for the large steak. Grandma isn’t hungry but fancies a sugary desert. Likewise, when a student’s reading age falls below their chronological age, we shouldn’t dish out the same literacy fodder to all the students. The…
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The Grandparent Effect on Reading
Grandparents are magic. Fact. Whereas your children might be fighting with each other at your house, they go their grandparents and act like little angels. Whilst they might argue at the dinner table with you, eating at the grandparents is a relaxed affair. Even though they will refuse or cry about having to read to you, they’ll pick up a book voluntarily to read to their grandparents. What is this strange phenomenon? It’s time. Plenty of time. Those retired oldies don’t have the stress of managing the cleanliness, education, nutrition, mental-health, physical exercise and everything else you have to…
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Rachel Coverdale 