Category Archives: readilearn

special days and events for classroom celebrations

Special Days and Events for Classroom Celebrations — April – #readilearn

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We are only a quarter into the year but it seems so much longer with so much happening and situations changing constantly. While the situation will be far from business as usual for most of you, I will try to keep this post as close to usual as possible.

Whether children are at home or at school, their learning must continue. readilearn supports you with lessons and activities that focus on progressing children’s learning rather than simply keeping them busy. With resources easily affordable, and many of them free, readilearn is good value for teachers or parents working with children aged 5 – 7. If you feel yours is a special situation which places this low-cost resource out of your reach, please contact us.

April Fools’ Day

Be careful on 1 April as it is April Fools’ Day and tricksters and pranksters are about. Be on the lookout for fake news stories and all sorts of jokers trying to trip you up. Who will you trick?

International Children’s Book Day  

Continue reading: Special Days and Events for Classroom Celebrations — April – readilearn

keep the children engaged and learning with fun Easter activities

Keep children engaged and learning with fun Easter lessons and activities – #readilearn

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Easter is coming in 2020 along with school holidays, school closures and lockdowns. While readilearn lessons and activities are designed with teachers of the first three years of school in mind, perhaps, in these challenging times, parents may also find them useful in supporting their children’s learning while they are out of school.

The collection now numbers over 400 resources and more than 70 of these are interactive lessons and stories. All resources can be accessed with a small annual subscription or purchased individually. Many of the resources are free.

While teachers would normally use the interactive lessons on the interactive whiteboard with the whole class or small group, parents access them on their home computers. Just as teachers would discuss the resources when using them with a class, so too, parents discuss them with their children as they work through them together. The most benefit for children comes from the discussion. They are not designed for children to use independently.

Lessons and activities with an Easter focus

Lessons and activities in the readilearn collection cover a range of topics and curriculum areas. However, the focus of this post is on those with an Easter theme and how they can be used to keep the children thinking and learning while having fun. (Note: All readilearn Easter-themed resources can be found here.)

Continue reading: Keep children engaged and learning with fun Easter lessons and activities – readilearn

It’s time for the 2020 Student Blogging Challenge — Join Now! – #readilearn

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The 2020 Student Blogging Challenge starts on March 15. If you wish to participate, it’s still not too late to join in.

What is the Student Blogging Challenge?

The Student Blogging Challenge encourages students around the world to create a blog and experience the benefits of publishing online including:

  • developing digital writing skills
  • becoming aware of the possibilities and responsibilities of digital citizenship
  • writing for and developing an authentic audience
  • making connections with others around the world.

The project was founded in 2008 by Sue Wyatt and has been held twice a year since then in March and October. Each Challenge runs for eight weeks. A different blogging task is to be completed each week. You can download a copy of the schedule and a checklist of tasks here.

Who can be involved?

The challenge is open to students from K–12 around the world. However, organisers suggest that it is most suited to students from 8–16 years. Students can join in as part of a class group or individually. Participation is free.

There are three ways to participate:

Continue reading: It’s time for the 2020 Student Blogging Challenge — Join Now! – readilearn

First Cow in Space flash fiction

First Cow in Space #flashfiction

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I’m sure you all know the nursery rhyme Hey Diddle Diddle about a cat playing a fiddle and a cow jumping over the moon.

I love using nursery rhymes with young children. They are a great way for them to learn the sounds and rhythms of our language, develop their memories and just have fun with nonsense. I’ve never considered it important for them (or me) to know the background of the rhymes. We can leave that to more serious students of literature.

The rhythm and rhyme of nursery rhymes encourage children to join in with the recitation and commit them to memory. Their memory for the rhymes can be used as a step into reading. I’ve written before about nursery rhymes, both on this blog and on the readilearn blog here and here. I have also some written some literacy lessons based on nursery rhymes that are available in the readilearn collection, including Let’s read and write with Little Miss Muffet, Humpty Dumpty — a story in five sittings and The Accident — Humpty Dumpty’s Fall.

This week at the Carrot Ranch, Charli Mills challenged writers to In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story about Clarice. She can be any Clarice real, historical, or imagined. What story does she have for you to tell? Go where she may lead!

You may well wonder what that prompt has to do with nursery rhymes. But Charli always says to go where the prompt leads. It usually leads me to children and education in some way. This time, and with a huge apology to all the Clarices out there, it led me to a cow in a nursery rhyme. Why should she be called Clarice? I don’t know, but I thought the first cow in space would be quite an imaginary historical figure. I hope you like my story. I’m certain, if given a chance, children would come up with their own wonderful innovations too.

First Cow in Space

“We are here today with the first cow in space, whose identity, until now, has been kept secret. Will you please welcome [drum roll] Clarice Cloverdale.”

[Applause]

“Clarice, please tell us about your adventure and why your identity was undisclosed for so long.”

“It was simply a non-disclosure agreement. That contract has now terminated so I’m free to tell.”

“Go on.”

“We were all tired of playing second-fiddle to Cat. Dish and Spoon ran away so Dog had no alternative but to make me the star. Needless to say, I was over the moon. The rest is history.”

[Applause]

Thank you blog post

Thank you for reading. I appreciate your feedback. Please share your thoughts.

review of The League of Llamas by Aleesah Darlison

Double the fun with double l llamas — The League of Llamas by Aleesah Darlison – #readilearn

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Children will love this newly released series of books by Aleesah Darlison. Teachers and parents will take just as much delight in reading the books aloud as children will in reading them independently or listening to them.

The books are fun from beginning to end with The League of Llamas (LOL) — spies out to save the world from their arch-enemy General Bottomburp.

The series will appeal to those reading their first chapter books, whatever their age. Or, as  Aleesah writes,

“With high action, high adventure, and loads of side-splitting laughs, this series suits young readers aged seven and over. And anyone who likes llamas. Oh, and anyone who loves laughing!”

My review of Book 1 The Golden Llama

As if a story about spies and espionage wasn’t enough, Darlison has filled her stories with fun word plays that will amuse and entertain all readers. James Bond fans will not be disappointed in the escapades, close calls and derring-do of top spy Phillipe Llamar, otherwise known as 0011.

The names of the Llamas in the League are spelt with double ll. There’s Phillipe, Lloyd and Elloise. There’s Mama Llama who rhymes and General Bottomburp, the beaver, with his alliteration. Darlison has also dropped in many other double ll words; like llamaborghinis and prob-llama (as in ‘no prob-llama). There are place names like Chickenslovakia, Crowatia, Portugull, Leechenstein and Killamamaanjaro; characters like President Ollama; and artworks like Llama’s Mother and Venus de Llama in the Musée du Llama.

Double the fun with double l llamas — The League of Llamas by Aleesah Darlison is a fun new series about llama spies. Their antics will make you LOL

Continue reading: Double the fun with double l llamas — The League of Llamas by Aleesah Darlison – readilearn

special days and events to celebrate in the classroom in March

Special Days and Events for Classroom Celebrations — March – #readilearn

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As we step into March, here in the Southern Hemisphere, we are looking forward to some cooler weather and a reprieve from summer’s heat as autumn begins. In the Northern Hemisphere, many will be looking forward to springtime and warmer days.

Things to do in March

Regardless of your location, March is a good time for discussing the seasons and observing changes in the environment.

Records might include observations of changes in:

  • plants (remember this is the International Year of Plant Health so add that to your discussions)
  • animals
  • the weather including temperature
  • their own activities
  • the clothing they wear
  • the foods they eat

Records could be made using photographs, artworks (including drawing, painting, collage) and words.

The Classroom Daily Calendar can assist you record the weather and season for each day.

Clean up Australia Day

The first of March is Clean up Australia Day. The website provides useful information to assist each of us to be proactive in eliminating waste and reducing pollution. Each section in helping us to ‘Clean Up Our Waste’ explains the problem and suggests actions we can take. Whether large or small, every action makes a difference. Why not encourage your students to employ positive actions for the environment.

The website also lists ways individuals, schools and communities can become involved in cleaning up Australia on Sunday 1 March. (Clean Up Schools Day is today, 28 February.)

Continue reading: Special Days and Events for Classroom Celebrations — March – readilearn

leap into learning with leap year fun

Leap into learning with leap year fun – #readilearn

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Next Saturday 29 February is a leap day. A leap day is an extra day added to every fourth year to keep the calendar in line with the solar year. Since we only have one 29 February every four years, it is a day worthy of celebration. Here are some ideas to get you started.

20 Fun facts about leap years

  1. A leap year occurs once every four years.
  2. A leap year has 366 days instead of the 365 days of other years.
  3. The extra day added to a leap year is 29 February.
  4. The extra day is added to keep the calendar year in line with the seasons and astronomical calendar.
  5. The number of leap years are all divisible by 4; for example, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020, 2024, 2028.
  6. However, although all hundred years are divisible by 4, not all hundred years are leap years. Hundred years are only leap years if they are divisible by 400. So, while 2000 was a leap year, the next hundred year to be a leap year will be 2400.
  7. Leap years were first introduced by Julius Caesar over 2000 years ago with the Julian calendar. His rule was to add a leap day to every year that was divisible by 4.
  8. The leap year as we now know it, with the hundred year rule, was introduced by Pope Gregory VIII in 1582. In that year, Pope Gregory had to remove ten days from calendar to keep it in sync with the solar year. The calendar we still use, the Gregorian Calendar, is named after him.

Continue reading: Leap into learning with leap year fun – readilearn