Wishing you all the very best for 2014!
I look forward to sharing the journey.
Follow this link to see when the new year begins in each time zone around the world.
Did you know that it takes more than 24 hours for the new year to begin in all the world’s time zones?
On Christmas Eve, my post is one for the children, especially my two gorgeous little grandchildren, Artie and Anna.
I hope they, and children everywhere, will enjoy this little guessing game.
Next year my skills may have developed enough to make it interactive, or even an app!!! Now, let’s not get too excited!
I am very grateful to Bernadette Drent who created the illustrations for me with very little notice.
Here it is for you:
Happy Christmas everyone!
A big thank you to all who have walked with me all, or any part, of the way as I took my first tentative steps into the world of blogging (and tweeting) earlier this year.
I appreciate every contribution, from visits and suggestions, to liking, commenting and re-blogging.
I have learned more than I probably even realise, from many different people, and the encouragement from all interactions has helped me find my voice and the strength to maintain the journey.
This post offers a break from my usual educational fare by providing a little Christmas jollity. I hope you enjoy it.
Wishing you and your loved ones much joy during this holiday season.
Norah
When the topic “Maths” is mentioned in conversation among adults, including teachers, many of them moan, “I hate maths. It’s too abstract. I could never understand it. I can’t see the point in it.”
I think it is a sad situation that many such adults were turned off maths in school by teachers who didn’t introduce them to the beauty of maths, who didn’t teach maths in the context of real-life purposes and whose pedagogical kit bag was entirely filled with worksheets of meaningless and endless algorithms to complete.
I am one of those adults too. In my final years of high school I had a “teacher” who could do the math but couldn’t teach the math; couldn’t explain the why or the how, or any of the steps required to achieve understanding. Maths became an impenetrable forest of meaningless algorithms, formulae and theorems.
As both a parent and teacher of young children, I was determined to not be an instrument of math torture. Granted this may be easier with young children than it is with older students, but I’m sure there are still ways of making maths fun and meaningful in high school classrooms.
The suggestions in this article provide parents of young children with ways of finding maths in everyday contexts and incorporating mathematical learning effortlessly into holiday activities. Of course, the activities are of benefit at any time, not just during the holidays!
If you don’t have young children to inspire, or inspire you, please move on to the end of the article for some suggestions to excite your own interest in maths!
Although the word “counting” appears in the title, it is important to remember that maths is not just counting.
The strands of maths as described by The Australian Curriculum include:
My list includes just a few suggestions for each of those strands to get you started. Need I say there is an infinite number of possibilities?
25 ways to keep children thinking mathematically during the holidays:
Number and place value
Patterns and algebra
Measurement and geometry
2. A child’s understanding of volume and capacity can be developed when they:
3. Scales can be used to compare the mass of different items or quantities e.g. compare an apple and an orange, measure the mass of butter required for a recipe
4. Measuring length can be included by:
5. Use the calendar to
6. Identify shapes in the home and environment e.g.
7. Play games that involve shapes e.g. jigsaw puzzles, tangrams
8. Talk about directions e.g. left, right, forwards, backwards and follow directions on a grid
9. Play games that involve directions and movement in space e.g. battleship, Hokey Pokey, Simon Says, snakes and ladders, ludo
10. Read and discuss books that include measurement concepts e.g. Pamela Allen: Who Sank the Boat? (volume); Eric Carle: The Very Hungry Caterpillar (days of the week) and The Bad Tempered Ladybird (time); Penny Matthews and Andrew McLean A Year on our Farm (months and seasons); and for looking at places on a map Mem Fox Sail Away The ballad of Skip and Nell or Annette Langen & Constanza Droop Letters from Felix
Probability and statistics
This list is really just a beginning. I’m sure you will add many more suggestions of your own.
For your convenience, the list is available to download FREE in my TEACHERSpayTEACHERS store.
As promised I will leave you with a few suggestions to spark your own interest in and love of maths. Be sure to check them out:
These are must listen TED talks by Arthur Benjamin:
The magic of Fibonacci numbers
and A performance of “Mathemagic”
And a fascinating one for the Christmas season “The 12 days of Pascal’s triangular Christmas” by Michael Rose on The Conversation.
If you want to delve a bit deeper, here are some interesting reads to get you started:
Charles Seife Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea
Mario Livio The Golden Ratio: The Story of PHI, The World’s Most Astonishing Number
Rozsa Peter Playing with Infinity: Mathematical Explorations and Excursions
I listened to the biography of zero on audiobooks this year. It was a fascinating listen.
What do you think of maths? Do you love it or hate it?
I hope you enjoy your adventures in maths! A world of possibilities awaits!
The school year in Australia is over and the long summer holidays have begun.
Parents often wonder how they will keep their children entertained during the long days with few structured or timetabled activities.
When returning to school after many weeks without the formal practice of skills taught during the previous year, teachers often lament that children’s writing ability (content, sentence structure, spelling, punctuation and handwriting) has declined. Sometimes this is an illusory effect of comparing end-of-the-previous-year results with those of students who are just beginning the same school year level. However some of it is a result of the natural attrition that occurs when ongoing practice is not maintained.
One solution to this issue is as simple as:
Let the children write!
Let them have paper, e.g.
Let them have implements, e.g.
Any of these make wonderful gifts that keep on giving, for a child of any age.
Here are 20 suggestions for keeping your children entertained while maintaining their writing skills.
The suitability of each suggestion will depend upon the abilities of the individual child and the level of support required. The focus and response should always be upon the content of the message, rather than the spelling, punctuation or handwriting. The idea is to encourage a love a writing; not to discourage it through negative attention to details which will improve with practice – and reading!
Just as writing is a great way of improving reading, reading is a great way to develop writing skills through exposure to correct use of grammar, spelling and punctuation, as well as the richness of language!
The possibilities for writing opportunities are limited only by your imagination!
What are your favourite ideas?
When I was a child I spent many hours reading, but I also spent many hours writing. I would write songs, poems, stories and plays which would be performed by myself and siblings for an appreciative audience (if one could be found) or just for the fun of it. My love of writing has continued throughout my life and, although most of my writing is now done on the computer, I still love all the different types of paper, pencils and pens that are available and beckon ownership.
The trick is to not make writing an onerous task that must be endured, but one that gives pleasure for its own sake e.g. stories and poems; or for a purpose e.g. writing a shopping list or things to remember.
Setting aside time to write alongside your child and share the enjoyment of each other’s creativity will do much to encourage a real love of writing; for yourself, maybe, as well as for your child.
Click here to download this document FREE from my TEACHERSpayTEACHERS store.
The school year in Australia is over and the long summer holidays have begun.
Parents often wonder how they will keep their children entertained during the long days with few structured or timetabled activities.
When returning to school after many weeks without the formal practice of skills taught during the previous year, teachers often lament that children’s reading fluency and level has fallen.
What is one way of addressing both these issues?
The answer might just be in a book!
Well in reading anyway.
Here are 20 suggestions for keeping your children entertained while maintaining their reading skills.
I’m sure you can think of many more!
Please keep in mind, as you read the list, that the amount of support given, or independence allowed, in each activity will need to be adjusted to the individual child’s age and reading ability. Even young children who are not yet reading independently can be included in most activities.
What are your favourite ways of incorporating reading into everyday activities?
When I was a child, I loved receiving books as gifts. I still do! Books are among my most treasured possessions.
I remember the delight when, on awaking in the dark of an early Christmas morning, I would reach down to end of my bed and discover a book there. I couldn’t see it, but I could feel the smooth glossy cover and the familiar roughness of the pages. I would lift the book up and breathe in the rich, delicious smell which promised so much pleasure I almost wanted to devour it. I knew that something delightful was in-store for me, and as the dawn’s soft glow began light the room, I watched the colours, pictures and words slowly take form and reveal themselves to me. What joy!
I am forever grateful to my parents for encouraging my love of reading.
The love of reading is one of the greatest gifts a parent can give a child.
So, here is #21, it probably should have been #1!
21. Give books as gifts!
Read! Read! Read!
You are welcome to download and distribute the 21 suggestions FREE from my TEACHERSpayTEACHERS store.
You can read another post on this topic by Nanny SHECANDO by clicking here.
Do you recognise this book?
Chances are you do.
According to the website of the author Eric Carle, since its publication in 1969 it has been published in over 50 languages and more than 33 million copies have been sold worldwide. It ranks highly in the Wikipedia List of best-selling books.
Most primary schools, preschools and kindergartens would have numerous copies in their libraries with a copy in most classrooms as well as in teachers’ private collections. Most homes with young children would have a copy in their storybook collection.
In addition to the books, many of those schools, classrooms and homes would have some of the associated merchandise; including toys, games, puzzles, posters and colouring books, which are now available.
When I typed ‘the very hungry caterpillar’ into the Google search bar about 5,640,000 results were listed in 0.33 seconds!
There are activities, lesson plans, printables, videos, and advertisements for merchandise. There is a plethora of suggestions for using the book as a teaching resource, including counting, days of the week and sequencing.
I think you would be hard pressed to find someone that hasn’t at least heard of the book. That is quite an impact, wouldn’t you say?
For a book to have done so well, it must have a lot going for it. And it does.
There are many things I like about this book, including:
Reading to children
Sharing of picture books with children from a very young age has a very powerful effect upon their learning.
There are many benefits to both parent and child of a daily shared reading session.
It can be seen as a special time of togetherness, of bonding; of sharing stories and ideas. It can be a quiet and calming time; a time to soothe rough edges and hurt feelings; a time for boisterous fun and laughter; or a time for curiosity, inquiry, imagination and wonder.
Whatever the time, it is always a special time for a book; and all the while, children are learning language.
© Bernadette Drent. Used with permission.
They are hearing the sounds and rhythm of their language. They are being exposed to new vocabulary, sentence structures, concepts and ideas. They are learning important understandings that will support them on their journey into literacy e.g. they are learning that the language of a book differs from oral language and that the words in a book always stay the same.
They begin to realise that it is the little black squiggly marks that carry the message, and they may even start to recognise some words.
Many of these, and other, features make “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” suitable for incorporation in an early childhood curriculum, for example:
Eric Carle, in an interview with Reading rockets, describes it as a book of hope. He says:
“You little, ugly, little, insignificant bug: you, too, can grow up to be a beautiful, big butterfly and fly into the world, and unfold your talents.”
He goes on to explain that,
“I didn’t think of this when I did the book, but I think that is the appeal of the book.”
But I’m not going to let him have the last word!
While “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” has always been one of my very favourite picture books, I do have some misgivings about the impact that this book has had.
In future posts I will share what I consider to be some limitations of the text, and what I consider to be the most powerful use of all.
What do you think?
What appeals to you about this book?
What questions does it raise for you?
Please share your ideas. I look forward to hearing what you think.
Back in the early days of my teaching career, back before many of our younger teachers were born, let alone teaching, we used to have a visit from a school inspector every year or two. The role of the inspector was to monitor and evaluate the implementation of school programs as well as to provide advice and support to teachers.
However many teachers tended to think of them in less positive ways and these visits often engendered a sense of fear in some teachers as the inspector could appear at the classroom door at any time and ask to see current curriculum programs and mark books, test the spelling and computational ability of the class as a whole, and hear individual children read.
Because of this, when one of these visits was imminent there was often a flurry of activity getting curriculum documents and assessment up to date, and displaying children’s work in the classrooms and foyer.
But I wasn’t one of those teachers frantic in preparation and fear of being found out. I firmly believed that if what I was doing each day for the children in my class wasn’t good enough, then so be it. They were the ones that mattered after all and their education was my priority. I could not see what else I could do to prepare for these visits.
My programs were well researched, up to date and innovative. They were responsive to individual needs which were well documented with anecdotal records and diagnostic assessments as well as required testing, and supported by samples of student work. My classroom had an ever-changing display of children’s current work allowing visitors to see what we had been working on as well as giving the students a sense of pride in their achievements.
I guess also, for me back then, the school inspector was only one of the many visitors to my classroom as I was used to people coming to see what we were doing. Parents were always welcome and there were many who helped out on a regular basis and others who made the effort to come for special events and celebrations.
The principal was very involved and supportive and often popped in to see what we were up to and to provide additional support for children’s learning. In addition, teachers from other schools would visit in order to observe and take ideas back to their own classrooms; and pre-service teachers (student teachers they were called then) were often involved.
So, for me, the inspector’s visit was just another day, business as usual.
I am having difficulty in summoning words to describe how I felt when I saw the teacher next door (our classrooms were open, separated only by cupboards and shelves) busily testing children and writing marks in mark books, filling in “current” curriculum programs for the preceding term’s work and covering the previously bare classroom walls with displays of children’s work completed that day.
I guess you could say I was aghast at what I considered to be blatant dishonesty. I felt it was so wrong that I almost wanted to remove what I had on display for fear of the inspector thinking it was simply there for his benefit.
I didn’t.
Instead I turned to poetry, as I often do, to express my feelings; and I would like to share it with you, its first readers.
I had forgotten all about it until I came across it unexpectedly while looking for something else. It reminded me of the attempt at deception I saw enacted. I say “attempt” because, of course, the principal would have been aware of the situation and I have no doubt that these trained inspectors would be able to see through the veneer.
I think if I was writing the poem now, rather than 30 years ago, I would not be so generous with my analogy, nor so disrespectful to the butterfly.
Here it is:
©Glenn Althor www.http://obscurepieces.com/ Used with permission.
Not really about a butterfly
Look at you now.
You put on your show.
Your butterfly colours are warmly aglow.
It’s hard to imagine
That not long ago
You were a mere silent pupa
With nowhere to go.
You flit and you flutter
Cry, “Hey, look at me!”
And all turn their heads
-wondrous beauty to see.
But where have you come from?
And how can this be?
Before . . .
Not one head would have turned.
There was nothing to see,
– just a little green ball,
curled up on a tree.
Is it dishonest
To change rapidly?
What do you think?
If you have been following my blog you will know that I have certain misgivings about traditional styles of education. That’s not to say that I don’t have certain misgivings about alternative styles of education as well, for I do. It was these collective misgivings that led me to home educate my daughter in her early years while attempting to establish an alternative school that met my expectations.
In researching programs on offer in many traditional and alternative schooling environments, I read a lot of school descriptions, policy and philosophy statements. I usually find there is little to argue with in these statements, it is usually the way the beliefs are translated into practice with which I have difficulty.
Occasionally I read something about a school that really excites me and I think “Wow, this school has really got it all together: philosophy and pedagogy. Children and their learning needs are at the centre of this organisation.”
Recently I read a description that made me wish I was six years old again and enrolled to start my schooling there.
According to the article it is
“Learning at its best . . . where the MAGIC happens” and describes a “Disney World – only better”, where
• Imagination can prosper
• Friendship and freedom of speech is fostered
• Conflict resolution skills are developed
• Active and open listening is encouraged
Among other things, it has:
• a creativity corner
• a nature reserve
• a dramatic play areaWhy don’t I just let you read the article that fired my imagination, then you can let me know what you think . . .
.. Is where the MAGIC happens.
Given my interest in all things children, education and teaching, being lucky enough to have a tour of Miss Charlie’s classroom was like getting a private and personalized tour of Disney World – only better!
Her class, and the rest of the Junior School (Kindy, Year 1 & 2), share newly renovated and connected federation houses in one part of the campus. Here they have their own tennis courts, play grounds, rooftop gardens, a junior library and even a secret corridor connecting them to the main gym and swimming pools and on to the rest of the school. It’s rather impressive, even if I say so myself.
What really amazed me, and made me want to never leave (I’m not joking, I might have to apply for a teaching job there ASAP), was the open planned piazza that connects the junior school classrooms. This…
View original post 616 more words
Norah Colvin 