An interesting website

One of my students alerted me to this site (thanks George) so I am passing it on to you. It seems to have a great deal of learning style games which would be useful for many areas of arithmetic and the beginnings of algebra. It appears to be suitable for all Primary ages, so picking the games is something we need to do before letting your son or daughter loose on it.
The website is American, as so many of them are, and here is the link - Sheppardsoftware 
I have taken you to the Homepage so you are able to see all the areas this website covers and as you can see it is more than just a maths site. I haven't as yet explored all areas but I would suggest you have a look and think of all the areas your children could find it useful, from pre-school up to and including year 6.
As to the maths, some of it is useful to year 4 students whilst others will be useful to years 5 and 6. I will use some of these in the lessons and give an indication of which games to play in the homework so you are aware of what I am picking; this does not stop you from having a look and doing some of the games with them and then let them do it on their own. They are good tools and will support the child well. Think of their school work, are there areas there where a game of this would help consolidate? Remember, like dolphins, they have to be rewarded with play.

Another website which I often recommend, but only to those who are aware it caries a membership fee, is

 IXL, a site which was originally exclusively American but now has an English UK equivalent. At about £60 for the year, it offers a wide range of math support and work, but beware, this can be a bit of  "death by worksheets" and that will drive many children mad, bored and ultimately switched off, so if you do decide to invest in this site, keep the word VARIATION firmly at the front of your mind.
At the moment I am joining SumDog, a teaching tool which will allow me to set work for students which they can access from home. At the moment, I am still learning and inputting details of who does what, and as soon as I have set everything in motion I will let you all know and then give you access.
I have gone in as a school, so we will be known as Jobelltutoring.
Hope you all enjoy the rest of your holiday and I will see you all starting next week.

It has to be said to you all who have just passed

The results are in and so many have done well again this year; to you all, very well done and good luck in your choice of school, I hope you all get the place you really want.

To the parents of this year's cohort, well we still have to see what it is your children will have to sit, but if the last two years of papers are anything to go by then the hardest will be that maths paper. Again this year, the students found this very stretching and even those who will be going on to gain level 5/6 at the end of year 6 have commented on how hard it was compared with anything they have done in school.
It does give the impression they are pushing for the very elite and for us to have a fair chance we need to stretch our children as far as possible. By that I do not mean hours of sitting doing maths, that would kill any love they have for the subject but we have to challenge them and when they get stuck be careful how much of the, 'finding out for themselves' we do for them.
I will be giving you some ideas and references for good videos and websites to view so as to insure the basics; once these are in place then they can be built upon.
So watch this space and to all of you who have done so well..........

my thanks to Google images as always a mine of good information and fun!

Why games? What do they do for my child?

 

I have often been asked why it is I give a game each week which makes the students go onto a website and play a game I specify.

"Is it mathematical?"
"What's the point of doing this, do they have to?"
"Tell me, why should my child spend time doing this?"
These are all the sort of questions I get asked by parents anxious to make sure their child is geting what they need. In some schools who have heard of coolmath4kids, they have placed a ban on it because they believe it is not mathematical and therefore not relevant.

I beg to differ.

Let me start by telling you a story which is very true and comes from one of the Dolphin Worlds in America.
The trainers had some new dolphins to work with and started to teach them to perform tricks when they gave a give command. The method they used was very much like the clicker method of working with dogs only they used a whistle instead.
They started by getting the dolphins to play and every time they did a back flip, the whistle blew and they were given a fish. Very quickly the dolphins realised if they did a back flip they got a fish so were doing it every time they were asked and for a week they were happy to do it over and over again.
The next week they did the back flip and got nothing, so they kept trying until suddenly one of the dolphins did a back flip and then did a twist. The whistle blew and she was given a fish. The others copied and soon they all were doing the back flip with a twist.
Now, you can probably see where this story is going, the routines grew and every few days, the fish were given only when a new routine was created.
Until one day nothing happened; the dolphins wouldn't do anything, they just swam about. So the trainers just gave them fish, just because they were dolphins. The following day they went back to doing their routines and following the trainers requests.
Why did I tell you this story?
Well, in many ways I am that trainer and although your children are not dolphins there are many parallels which can be drawn. I am asking them to learn new routines with their English and their maths and I am giving them homework on top of the work they are getting from school, so I am asking a lot of them.

They are only young and deserve to be playing and having fun, they are not just learning machines, they are children still physically and mentally growing......... and its that which these games reach.

The games vary in their content mathematically; some will develop logic and process whilst others working under increasing frustration and pressure. All will increase concentration and single minded determination to see a problem through.
Some will require the development of mental trajectory orientation as well as quite high level calculations of timing and speed, others will work on developing order and routine as well as learning in a progression of steps and remembering those steps to use later.
And some are just for fun, they are the 'fish' thrown just because they are 'dolphins'. Children are just that and every now and then, they need to be given something that is just fun and ridiculousness because they have to want to keep coming back to me week in and week out, they have to want to keep up to date with all the work they are given and they have to create a teacher/student relationship with me, that is held together with our sessions and the audio tracks, videos and pieces of work they are given on their memory sticks.

This weeks problem solving game

So, next time they say, "Jo says the game this week is ********", then let them play it, perhaps not all the time :-) and remember, this could be brain development, synapse formation, mathematical expansion or just plain old fun.

The first piece of written work

Some of the work for the 11 plus students has started coming in and that includes their first piece of written work. This time it was under the title of "A day out with my family" making sure it was something they could write about that was well known to them as well as probably fresh in their minds, especially as the summer weather has held for so long.

So why do they have to write anything? What is the point of all this written work?

When we submit anything to a teacher or a potential employer, we are giving a taster of our skills and our interests; we are saying to the person who is about to read what we have written - this is me, and this is what I can do.

So a child is asked to write something which is about 500 words long, what is the marker looking for? 

Well we want to see what that child is capable of producing when asked. Can that child use punctuation well and can they use paragraphing techniques appropriately? Is there dialogue and has it been expressed correctly? Have they used a good selection of words and are those words used in context so they enhance the work rather than clumsily and detract from it? Is the content interesting such that the reader is really interested by the piece of writing, or does it show a child just going through the motions so as to satisfy the requirements? Is there a style which is obviously the child's? Has this work been 'developed' by an adult thus changing the work standard automatically? [ a parent's helping will distort the child's work and they will be 'caught out' when they have to produce that standard in a classroom or test situation].

So what am I looking for?

Exactly those parameters and as they develop, more and more of these skills will become apparent in their work. To encourage them, to them where the story really works and where it isn't quite so clear, and then let them sort it out. The temptation is to 'show' them how to improve on their work. As soon as that happens two outcomes occur; the work is no longer theirs and this can make them take less ownership of it, and secondly, they will never be able to write in the same way as you so the holes you corrected will show in their work elsewhere.
So tempting to help by doing, its natural as a parent to meant to do things for them, but there are times we need to sit on our hands, and this is when we can advise and then leave it to them to develop or not.

Nearly the first two weeks is completed

The timetable is nearly run for the first time and most people have found the dates and times and are sorted with memory sticks and folders. Those of you who are following work for the 'unknown' 11 plus will have printed off the two PDF manuals and have put them into the folders, whilst the others will have work on the memory stick either to print off or to work on depending upon the type of file it is.

Remember, the EXCEL math work sheets are read only and once you have completed them [do them on the computer so the program can self mark each question] remember you cannot save them and will have to print them off.

Once done, put them in the TO DO section so I can 'do' the checking and then file in the correct place. This way I know what you have completed and can make a mental note if certain things have not come in and possibly need to be re-explained or worked on.

PDF units will have to be run off unless you have PDF Writer installed on your computer, only then can you add text boxes into the spaces and do the work on screen.

I am being asked about what happens at Half term and do I work through or what do I do?

The answer is, I stop just the same as the schools do and allow the children to have a break. As the year progresses then some of the holidays will be used for all those following the 11 plus course, especially June half term and of course the summer. The rest of the time I too will be taking a break so as to re-charge ready for the next term.

There have been so many smiles leaving the house, it is once more a pleasure to be working with so many children. As a present from one of my student's mum's last year said;

A teacher changes the world one child at a time.

If I can support children into realising their potential and give them space in which to excel to whatever level that maybe and have fun at the same time, then I do feel that statement is a fair one indeed.