Road Safety Week 2008

This week is Road Safety Week and to celebrate Littlesheep Learning are offering their popular Policeman Glove Puppet and Lollipop Man Glove Puppet for just £4 (offer ends 17th November), so buy yours today and get role playing road safety with your children.

Every year Brake chooses a theme that for Road Safety Week, the theme for 2008 is…

FAMILY SAFETY: STOP. IMAGINE. CHANGE.

Brake and their sponsors of the Week 3M, DHL, KWIKFIT INSURANCE and MASS (Motor Accident Solicitors Society) have chosen to focus on the theme 'Family Safety – STOP. IMAGINE. CHANGE.

In particular, they will be raising awareness of the following 3 key things:

1. The vital need for parents to ‘protect the ones they love’. They have released a Brake research report about child car seats, cycling and walking safely, and speed when driving your family.


2. The terrible devastation caused by death and injury on roads. Families affected in this way and representing Brake will tell how their lives have been wrecked by death and serious injury.


3. The need for drivers and parents to Stop. Imagine. Change. We are asking people to stop and imagine how horrendous it would be to lose a loved one in a road crash, or cause a fatal crash, take a long hard look at their behaviour on roads, and change their behaviour for the better. We can all make a commitment to improve our behaviour, whether that means taking more time to look twice at junctions, or committing to not ever overtaking unless it is totally safe, or simply always holding our children’s hands.

Competition Reminder!

Don't forget to enter our 'Write a Review' competition to win a Knickerbocker Glory Game - it closes on Tuesday 11th November 2008. To enter all you need to do is to write a review of one of the products sold at Littlesheep Learning. You will get one entry for the draw for each review that is accepted and the winner will be chosen at random. To write a review of a product, log in (you may need to create an account if you don't already have one), choose the product to review, click on 'Write Review' and add your review! Please note: We will accept reviews of products we stock even if you haven't bought them from Littlesheep Learning.


Some of the reviews added so far:


Shopping List
Review added by Yvonne Crossland
A fantastic game for children of all ages, we have this game + 2 add on's for it. I have 2 children (age 2 & 9) this was originally bought for my eldest approx 3 years ago but still is played often now. My youngest is starting to regonise more & more every day items because of this game. We lost one of the pieces & when contacted 'Orchard Toys' the company that makes the game they replaced it free of charge which I was amazed at. So easy to play but still enough to keep the kids amused for a long time.
Rating: ***** [5 of 5 stars]





First Experiences: Going on a Plane
Review added by Tracy Gladman
This book is an excellent buy for anyone going on a plane for the first time with a young child. It makes the experience fun and they can look out for the things in the airport.Made the 9hr flight with my daughter "fly" by.
Rating: ***** [5 of 5 Stars]

Police Man Glove Puppet
Review added by Tracey Boyd
I USED THIS ITEM TO TEACH MY DAUGHTER ABOUT WHAT TO DO SHOULD SHE GET SEPARATED FROM ME, WE HAD GREAT FUN USING IT AS A ROLE PLAY AID AND MOST IMPORTANTLY SHE TOOK IN ALL THE LESSONS I WAS TRYING TO GET ACROSS!
Rating: ****** [5 of 5 Stars!]

Magnetic Words: Years 1 and 2 Key Words (Mega size)
Review added by Rebecca Mason
These magnetic words are fantastic. My son loves writing messages on the fridge, especially funny ones! I keep them in a box on top of the fridge and he chooses words to use each few days, developing his vocabulary. They are very hard wearing- when my two year old daughter gets hold of them they dont break or wear. A super product.
Rating: ***** [5 of 5 Stars!]

The Common Assessment Framework (CAF)

The Common Assessment Framework (CAF) was developed as part of the Every Child Matters initiative and is a key part of delivering frontline services that are integrated and focused around the needs of children and young people. The CAF is a standardised approach to conducting an assessment of a child's additional needs and deciding how those needs should be met. It can be used by practitioners across children's services in England.

The CAF will promote more effective, earlier identification of additional needs, particularly in universal services. It is intended to provide a simple process for a holistic assessment of a child's needs and strengths, taking account of the role of parents, carers and environmental factors on their development. Practitioners will then be better placed to agree, with the child and family, about what support is appropriate. The CAF will also help to improve integrated working by promoting co-ordinated service provision.

Q: What is the Common Assessment Framework (CAF)?
A: The CAF is a shared assessment tool for use across all children’s services and all local
areas in England. It aims to help early identification of need and promote co-ordinated
service provision.

Q: What does the Common Assessment Framework consist of?
A: 1. A simple pre-assessment checklist to help practitioners decide who would benefit from
a common assessment.
2. A three-step process (prepare, discuss, deliver) for undertaking a common
assessment, to help practitioners gather and understand information about the needs
and strengths of the child, based on discussions with the child, their family and other
practitioners as appropriate.
3. A standard form to help practitioners record, and, where appropriate, share with
others, the findings from the assessment in terms that are helpful in working with the
family to find a response to unmet needs.

Q: Why do we need common assessments?
A: There are four important reasons:
• To give all practitioners working with children and young people a holistic tool for
identifying a child’s needs before they reach crisis point and a shared language for
discussing and addressing them.
• To ensure important needs are not overlooked and reduce the scale of assessments
that some children and young people undergo.
• To provide a common structure to record information and facilitate information sharing
between practitioners.
• To provide evidence to facilitate requests to involve other agencies, reducing
unnecessary referrals and enabling specialist services to focus their resources where
they are most needed.

Q: What will the common assessment involve?
A: The assessment process encourages practitioners to consider the needs of the child or
young person in three key areas (‘domains’):

Development of child, baby or young person
• Health:
- general health
- physical development
- speech, language and communications development
• Emotional and social development
• Behavioural development
• Identity, including self-esteem, self-image and social presentation
• Family and social relationships
• Self-care skills and independence
• Learning
- understanding, reasoning and problem solving
- participation in learning, education and employment
- progress and achievement in learning
- aspirations

Parents and carers
• Basic care, ensuring safety and protection
• Emotional warmth and stability
• Guidance, boundaries and stimulation

Family and environmental factors
• Family history, functioning and well-being
• Wider family
• Housing, employment and financial considerations
• Social & community factors and resources, including education

The CAF has been developed by combining the underlying model of the Framework for
the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families with the main elements used in
other assessment frameworks.

Q: Which children and young people is CAF for?
A: Most children will not need a CAF. CAF is for children and young people with additional
needs. These are children and young people who, according to the judgement of
practitioners, require extra support to help them achieve the five Every Child Matters
outcomes:
- being healthy
- staying safe
- enjoying and achieving
- making a positive contribution
- achieving economic well-being

Q: Who will carry out the assessment?
A: It is expected that the majority of common assessments will be undertaken or arranged by
practitioners in universal services such as early years settings (for example children’s
centres), schools and health settings. These services are best equipped to identify
possible needs in their early stages. Common assessments, particularly in the context of
extended schools, will help schools tackle, along with other services, a broader range of
social and behavioural issues acting as a barrier to learning and attainment. Similarly, in
health, common assessments will help midwives and health visitors take a broad view of
the issues affecting unborn and new born infants, as part of the national child health
promotion programme; practitioners will apply these principles to older children and young
people in other settings, such as health drop-ins in schools and further education
colleges. The police will also have an important role in identifying children with additional
needs and arranging for common assessments.

However all practitioners working with children and young people should have an
awareness of the CAF and either know how to complete a common assessment
themselves or know how to arrange to have one carried out. Everyone working with
children should be aware of the sorts of situations that indicate the need for a common
assessment.
Q: When should a common assessment be carried out?
A: A common assessment can be done at any time – on unborn babies, new babies, and
children or young people. It is designed for use when:
• There is concern about how well a child (or unborn baby) or young person is
progressing (this includes particularly vulnerable children and young people such as
persistent truants and young runaways)
• Their needs are unclear, or broader than a service can address on its own
• A common assessment would help identify the needs, and provide a basis for
getting other services involved

The pre-assessment checklist can be used to help identify if a common assessment
should be completed. The decision about whether to do an assessment should be made jointly with the child and or parent. Children should always be encouraged to discuss the assessment with their parents. If the child is old enough and competent to understand, they may make their
own decision.

Q: Is it the intention of Government that all CAF forms should be exactly the same across the
UK or would it be possible to make some local adjustments?
A: The development of the CAF form involved relevant government departments as well as
practitioners, local authority managers and other stakeholders and has been cleared by
Ministers -it is preferred that no changes are made to the form although the addition of the
local logo is permissible.

Q: What is the process that should be followed to carry out a common
assessment?
A: Step 1: Preparation
This involves recognising potential needs and then discussing the situation with the child,
involving parents or carers unless this is not appropriate. The practitioner may talk to their
manager, colleagues, or others – possibly those already involved with the child. It is
important to find out whether a common assessment already exists. After reviewing the
existing information a practitioner decides whether to undertake a common assessment
with the agreement of the child and or family as appropriate.

Step 2: Discussion
This involves completing the assessment with the child and family, making use of
information already gathered from the child, family or other practitioners, and completing a
consent statement. At the end of the discussion the practitioner should understand better
the child’s strengths, needs, and what can be done to help.

Step 3: Delivery
This involves agreeing actions that the practitioner’s service or the family can deliver, and
considering what may be needed from other services. According to local practice,
decisions may be made through meetings with other practitioners and the family, and the
appointment of one practitioner as lead professional where integrated support is required.

Note: the CAF does not give a practitioner the ability to guarantee a service from another
organisation without consulting that organisation.

Q: Will the CAF produce records of unnecessary information about children and their
parents?
A: The CAF is about trying to understand a child’s needs in a holistic way, rather than
through lots of different assessments that are not linked. This is in order to provide them
with a quality service. It is not about information gathering for its own sake. Common
assessment, in line with established good practice for assessment, will operate with the
full knowledge and involvement of the child or young person or their parent or carer.

Q: What are the benefits of a CAF?
A: Potential benefits include:
• Quicker service provision to children and families - as a result of more appropriate
referrals to specialist services
• Better service provision to children, young people and families - due to the CAF
looking at the whole child rather than the needs of the child from the perspective of
one particular agency
• Less repetition and duplication for children, young people and families - due to the
CAF information being shared, with consent, between practitioners
• Better understanding and more effective communication amongst practitioners -
due to the promotion of a common language around the CAF
• Timesaving for practitioners - who will be able to build on existing CAF information
rather than collecting it themselves from scratch

Q: What is the CAF’s relationship with specialist assessments?
A: CAF will replace the assessment aspects of the Connexions Framework for Assessment,
Planning and Review. Other assessments such as universal checks and targeted
assessments (for children in need; those with special educational needs etc.) will remain in
place.

However, the CAF may be appropriate to be used before, or in conjunction with a
specialist assessment to help understand and articulate the full range of a child’s needs. It
can help ensure that the referral to a specialist service is relevant and can build up a
comprehensive picture of needs, rather than a series of partial snapshots.

Q: What is the relationship between the CAF, the lead professional and information sharing?
A: The CAF, the lead professional and information sharing are all essential for the effective
provision of integrated services to children and families;
• The CAF provides a process for identifying needs and bringing services together to
meet those needs more swiftly and effectively
• Where a range of needs are identified that require an integrated response, the lead
professional co-ordinates these actions and acts as a single point of contact for the
child and family
• Effective information sharing then helps practitioners work together to deliver a
coherent and relevant service to the child and family

Q: Can a parent or carer initiate a CAF?
A: If a parent or carer would like to initiate a CAF, they should discuss this with someone
currently providing a service to them. This may be a health visitor, a doctor, or someone
else.

Local services are responsible for determining how they use CAF, and there is no
entitlement to receive one on demand. If, after talking to a practitioner, the individual
wanted to discuss further what is happening locally, they would need to contact their local
authority’s children’s services department.

November's Special Offers

This month at Littlesheep Learning you can save 10% on these lovely wall hangings:

Today's Chart Calendar and the Mr Face Emotions Chart

Both would make lovely Christmas presents!

Place Value Maths

Don't forget the importance of hundreds, tens and units when multiplying and dividing!

Wikki Stix Activity Ideas

What are Wikki Stix?

Wikki Stix are waxy sticks which look a bit like pipe-cleaners. They are made from a combination of a strand of acrylic, hand-knitting yarn and a microcrystalline, food-grade, non-toxic wax. Wikki Stix stick to smooth surfaces (like the Wikki Stick boards included in the Activity pack or onto white boards) and to each other. They are a colourful, tactile, sensory and engaging product that can be used in many different ways.

Who can use Wikki Stix?

Wikki Stix can be used by children and adults alike. Their non-toxic nature means that they are safe even for children who may try to eat them however their use should be supervised. Wikki Stix are also great for children with various disabilities – they are fun for children to manipulate and can be used to help children develop their fine motor skills, their clean mouldable nature makes them an ideal ‘fidget’ toy and their ability to make 3D pictures makes them a great resource for children with sight difficulties.

How to use Wikki Stix

There are endless uses for Wikki Stix so use your imagination to see what you can create however we have included some ideas here:

During pre-writing activities, Wikki Stix can be used to create patterns and mazes to draw between. They can also be used make raised edges to colouring pictures to make colouring inside the lines easier. In handwriting exercises, Wikki Stix can be used to make a raised border margin to show where to start and stop on the edges of the paper, or to make raised lines to prompt letter placement and size. Wikki Stix can also be used to create boxes to write letters / numbers within. Different colour Wikki Stix can be also used to add prompts of where to start and where to stop. Wrapping a Wikki Stix around the base of a pencil can also be used as a grip and a reminder of how to hold the pencil. Placing a Wikki Stix under the top of the paper will help prevent slippage during writing and drawing activities.

Wikki Stix are also good for kinaesthetic learning activities. Once patterns / letter and numbers have been created they can be traced with the finger to practice the formation. A fun game is to try to identify letters, numbers or shapes by touch alone.

Playing with Wikki Stix can help develop a range of creative skills. They can be moulded to form shapes, letters, numbers and pictures. As they are easy to peel up and reposition modelling with Wikki Stix is virtually ‘mistake-free’ which helps build self-esteem. Wikki Stix are a quiet and creative fidget tool, providing a calming effect which may help children better focus on classroom activities. Wikki Stix may help generate verbal interaction, as children create while using them. This may also be helpful in the development of social skills, through tactilely engaging play.

In literacy activities, Wikki Stix can be used to highlight parts of words or a sentence. A Wikki Stix cut into shorter lengths can be used to show the division of words into syllables. Different colours of Wikki Stix can be used to code types of words in a sentence for example red = adjectives, blue = nouns and green = verbs or divisions of compound words. Wikki Stix can be used to loop or underline responses for example; words that rhyme, have a certain ending or include certain sounds.

In numeracy activities, Wikki Stix can be used to teach concepts of long and short, as well as maths symbols. They can be used as counters, to demonstrate place value and also for patterning and sequencing.

Wikki Stix can also be used to improve independence and self-help skills. Wikki Stix can outline the area where an item should be placed, for example a cup on the table or toothbrush on the shelf. A Wikki Stix threaded through the hole on a zip and twisted makes it easier to pull up and down with the Wikki to hold onto improving independent dressing skills.

Buy Wikki Stix!

Wikki Stix are part of a range of Fine Motor Activities available from Littlesheep Learning.

SENDIST Tribunals

I've just had this email - so thought I'd spread the word...

Dear all,

Please sign the petition at http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/SENDISTtribunals/. It is imperative that we protect special needs children and their families' right to appeal for choice in special needs education.

Should the proposed new labour government regulations go through it will create even more distress and potential financial hardship for families who are in desperate need of help not hindrance.

Please encourage all your friends, family and colleagues to sign up too!

New Product: Wikki Stix

We've recently added the Wikki Stix Activity Set to our range of Fine Motor Activities.


The Wikki Stix Activity Set contains 48 brightly coloured Wikki Stix, a dry wipe board to use with the Wikki Stix, a reusable bag and a storybook. Wikki Stix are coated with a unique patented wax formula, they stick to almost any surface and each other with just fingertip pressure. A great resource for fine motor activities - mould them, bend them, shape them, use them to 'edge' handwriting lines / colouring sheets or for creating tactile raised pictures.


Look out for an article soon about some of the many uses of Wikki Stix.

Special Educational Needs – A Parent’s Guide

I've just received information about this great book written by two fellow Work at Home Mums (WAHMs) to help parents who have children with special educational needs so I thought I would share it with you.

As many as one in five children may at some time need extra help with their education, but does this mean they have special educational needs?

Antonia Chitty and Victoria Dawson’s new book, Special Educational Needs - A Parent’s Guide, brings together the facts on special educational needs, looking in detail at the different types of additional needs and how parents and carers can cope with them in daily life.

Find out which professionals can help, how to get through the ‘system’ and gain support, how to handle behavioural difficulties at home and school, and how to get the best education for your child’s needs. The different types of SEN are explained and accompanied by handy checklists to help you look at a child’s behaviour and start the diagnosis process. Practical issues such as family life, sleep, education, housing and finance are also an integral part of the books.

Whether you are worried about your child’s development or work with children and want to know more about the area, this book contains all the facts about the world of special educational needs including the contact details for sources of help.

Discovering your child has special educational needs can leave many parents feeling unsure of where to go for help. This practical guide will spell out clearly how to deal with the problems special educational needs present.

Published by Need2Know – the imprint of People’s Publisher Forward Press that focuses on overcoming real life problems – Special Educational Needs- A Parent’s Guide is available now from the Need2Know website (www.need2knowbooks.co.uk) or by calling 01733 898103 or emailing sales@n2kbooks.com. Also available from Amazon and bookshops. Buy Special Educational Needs Now Price: £8.99.

New Products: Maths Games

We are very excited about the arrival of several new numeracy games.

First we have three different lotto based games - Fraction Action Lotto, Times Table Lotto and Tell the Time Lotto. These lotto games contain 4 boards (4 by 4 grids) and 64 cards in each set.

Players pick a card and take turns to try and match them to their board, the first to complete their board is the winner.

The games are designed to suit different levels of ability; the first level being simple matching and the second level being matching equivalent cards. The card pieces can also be used as a equivalence memory matching pairs game or as flashcards.

Secondly we have three new Snap games; Fraction Action Snap, Money Snap and Tell the Time Snap. These great snap / matching pairs game to help children learn these mathematical concepts.

The cards feature different representations of the concepts - find two that are equal to find the snap pair. The card pieces can also be used as flashcards for children learning about fractions, money and to tell the time.

'Write a Review' Competition

Do you want to win a Knickerbocker Glory Game? This is a great first dice game where you race to make a colourful, fruity knickerbocker glory by colour matching or counting.

To enter all you need to do is to write a review of one of the products sold at Littlesheep Learning. You will get one entry for the draw for each review that is accepted and the winner will be chosen at random on 11th November 2008.

To write a review of a product, log in (you may need to create an account if you don't already have one), choose the product to review, click on 'Write Review' and add your review!

Please note: We will accept reviews of products we stock even if you haven't bought them from Littlesheep Learning.

New Products: Magnetic High Frequency Words

We are pleased to announce the arrival of these Mega Magnetic Words to enhance our range of reading resources. We are stocking the key word sets for both Reception children and those in Years 1 and 2.

This set of large Reception Magnetic Words contains the first 45 High Frequency words which every child is expected to recognise by the end of their Reception school year as part of the National Literacy Strategy.

Building onto the Reception Magnetic Words pack, the Years 1 and 2 sets list the remainder of the High Frequency words which every child is expected to recognise by the end of Key Stage 1 / Year 2.

National Bookstart Day 2008

Today is National Bookstart Day and the theme is Pirates Ahoy!

Bookstart, run by the independent national charity Booktrust, encourages a love of reading for reading’s sake; helping children in the earliest stages of their development to associate books with pleasure.

Posters, bookmarks and stickers have all been illustrated by Debbie Harter and over 500,000 free copies of ‘Pirates A-Hoy’ by Debbie Harter and Oscar Seaworthy will be distributed across the country.

There will be a special launch party taking place at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, featuring pirates, stories and games, and an appearance by the Bookstart Bear Pirate and thousands of families from across the UK will be invited to take part in a range of activities in bookshops, libraries and a range of venues, to highlight the fun of book-sharing. These will include rhyme times, appearances from the Bookstart Bear, pirate-themed adventures as well as song and story-telling sessions. This year, National Bookstart Day supports the National Year of Reading, who shares their aims of encouraging a love of reading in all its forms, from a young age.

Rosemary Clarke, Head of Bookstart said “National Bookstart Day is about reminding every family to make book sharing a regular part of their daily routine. Enjoying stories, songs and rhymes is a wonderful way to encourage children to be confident communicators and eager learners and children who enjoy books every day do far better when they start school. All the family can join in, including dads, and share the fun that books can bring."

This is the seventh annual celebration of the book-gifting programme, which gives three packs of free books to every child in the UK. The website http://www.bookstart.org.uk/ enables parents to enter their postcode to look up National Bookstart Day events taking place in their area.

Bookstart works with libraries, health visitors and early years professionals to give the gift of free books to every child at around eight months, toddlers and pre-school at around three years of age, along with guidance materials for parents and carers. Bookstart seeks to promote the importance of books and the benefits sharing books with babies, such as parental bonding and promoting emotional intelligence, as well as building good communication and listening skills, and helping to lay the foundations of early literacy. Bookstart also aims to foster a love of books through a range of fun activities like Bookstart Rhymetimes and the Bookstart Book Crawl.

Book Time

New research reveals daily reading to children diminishes as pressures on parents increase Children now spending more than twice the time watching TV versus reading with parents or carers. It is widely acknowledged that one of the most important things a parent or carer can do to help their children's learning and development is to inspire a love of books and reading. But independent new research* commissioned for Booktime and Booked Up published today reveals that it is harder than ever for parents and carers to find the time to read with their children.

Findings include:

• Daily reading aloud with children has decreased over the last two years. In 2006, 43% of parents of young children read to them daily but this figure has now dropped to one in three in 2008.
• 23% of parents never or rarely read aloud with their children. For those who do, just one third of parents read with their offspring on a daily basis.
• Mum takes the lead reading role: Mum is still the chief reader (64% of mums of 4-5 year olds say that they are the principle ‘reader' with their child compared to just 12% of dads). Among parents of 11-12 year olds, mums still dominate, with 46% stating that they are the principle reader compared to just one in 20 dads.
• Time and tiredness stopping parents reading more: Top three reasons why parents/carers do not read more with children include: too much else to do (35%), tiredness (30%) and busy cooking dinner (25%).
• Age of parent determines who reads the most with children: The older the mum, the less likely they are to read most with their child. Conversely, the older the father, the more likely they are to read most with their offspring.
• Poetry reading not popular with the Scots but a hit with Londoners: 47% of Glasgow parents state that they never read poetry with their offspring. However, poetry is still a much loved genre among many Brits including London parents who claim the highest rate of weekly (or more) poetry reading with their children.
• Poetry classics stand the test of time: The research also reveals the nation's favourite poet in 2008 is First World War soldier Wilfred Owen, narrowly ahead of late comic Spike Milligan and English Romantic poet William Wordsworth. ‘If' by Rudyard Kipling is the UK's favourite poem of all time.
• Book time loses out to TV: The average four to five year old spends twice as long watching TV compared to reading with parents (and six times more than reading and looking at books by themselves). There has been a decrease in the amount of time spent sharing book time (a 10% decrease year on year from 3hrs 25mins in 2007 to 3hrs 4mins in 2008).
• One in five of all children say that they don't read enough with their family and friends. This rises to 40% of 7-8 year olds and is highest regionally in Bristol and Newcastle (30% each respectively).
• Time spent on household chores overtakes time spent reading for older children: The average 11-12 year old spends 4hrs 14mins surfing the internet compared to just 41 minutes reading with their parent/s. In 2008 Britain, they actually spend more time doing household chores than reading with mum or dad!
• More poetry reading wanted: One third of all children said they would like to read more poetry or have more poetry read with them.

It's not all bad news though. While some parents unfortunately struggle to find time to read to their children, others don't: Sheffield and Liverpool have the highest rates of ‘daily parental reading' where four out of ten (mostly mums) read aloud with their child everyday. Plus, the research uncovered an additional benefit for parents in reading with their offspring, with 78% agreeing or strongly agreeing with the statement that ‘reading with my child(ren) is a good way for me to get away from everyday worries'.

* Booktime and Booked Up 2008 research: 1,507 UK parents of primary school aged children (representative of UK population) took part in the independent research between 12 Aug 2008 and 8 Sept 2008, conducted by Tickbox.net via an online and telephone survey.

The research also explored parents' views on reading poetry with their children:

• Poetry reading with children strong in major cities: Poetry is still a much loved genre amongst many Brits. London (17%), Birmingham (14%), Sheffield (14%) and Liverpool (13%) have the highest rates of weekly (or more) poetry reading
• Children's enjoyment: Parents and carers stated that the main benefits of reading poetry is that children enjoy the ‘rhythm and rhyming' (62%), humour (36%) and that the repetition and sounds of the poem aids a child's memory (34%).
• Poetry saves on story time for some parents: 9% of parents (rising to 12% of dads) say reading poetry with their children saves them time.
• The benefits of reading poetry were also explored as part of the research: 39% of parents say reading poetry sparks the imagination; 26% like doing it as it's enjoyable/fun; 25% say reading poetry reminds them of happy memories and childhood days; 22% believe it expands their language and vocabulary; 22% of parents say reading poetry represents the perfect escape from the stress of modern life; 18% say it helps them feel better; 7% say it helps them to understand life and the world more.

To help encourage a lifelong love of reading - both stories and poetry - over two million free books will be given to schoolchildren across the UK. These will be given to every reception-aged pupil and Year 7 pupil in England this term through two programmes from independent charity Booktrust, supported by the Department for Children, Schools and Families and education and publishing company Pearson.

The Booktime programme will give children aged 4-5 years across the UK a copy of Harry and the Dinosaurs go to School by Ian Whybrow, illustrated by Adrian Reynolds (both of whom have waived fees and royalties). The packs will also contain a guidance booklet for parents and carers to encourage sharing books with children. The Booked Up programme will give children aged 11-12 a book from a list of 12 carefully selected titles, encouraging independent reading. Both programmes promote reading for pleasure at important transition stages in children's learning and development. Plus, for the first time, free poetry anthologies will be given to both age groups in England. Reception-aged pupils will get a special Booktime edition of The Puffin Book of Fantastic First Poems, while Year 7 pupils will be able to choose a copy of Read Me and Laugh: A Funny Poem for Every Day of the Year (Macmillan) as part of the Booked Up programme.

Model and TV presenter Nancy Sorrell, herself a mum of two children and this year's Booktime and Booked Up Celebrity Ambassador, comments: "It's such a joy to snuggle down with the girls and a book to share in fantastic adventures, faraway worlds and meet exciting new friends. I'm proud to be supporting these two reading initiatives that provide free books for five year olds and 11-year-olds to enjoy. It's a brilliant way to keep children interested in books as they make the move from nursery to ‘big school' and from primary to secondary. Plus, the fact that it's free and available to everyone makes it even more appealing!"

Viv Bird, Director of Booktrust, says: "These wonderful quality books that children will be receiving through Booktime and Booked up will provide many hours of fun for them to share with families and friends. Booktrust is very grateful to Pearson and the DCSF for their generous support."

Marjorie Scardino, CEO, Pearson, adds: "We started Booktime because we wanted every child in the UK to have a book of their own as they started school, and we're proud to be working with Booktrust, DCSF and a group of very talented authors to make that possible again this year. We hope Ian Whybrow's story of Harry's first day at school plus a first taste of poetry through Puffin's fantastic poems will be the start of a lifelong love of reading."

For more information on see http://www.booktime.org.uk for more information and if your child has just started school look out for their special pack.

New Products: People Who Help Us Puppets

These lovely People Who Help Us Glove Puppets are a fantastic resource for both role play and teaching about occupations / jobs people do. They are simple flat hand puppets which can be used by adults or children. Doctor, Fireman, Lollipop Man, Nurse and Policeman available now!

New Products: Fantastic Fairy Tale Puppets

We have now added four new sets of story puppets - Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk and The Three Billy Goats Gruff to our range of puppets.

These fantastic puppet sets are come with a detailed story card to help you tell the story of the fairy tale and contains the main characters you would expect to find in the enchanting favourite story.



These puppet sets are great for children learning traditional tales, beginning role play activities and are ideal for giving as a gift coming in it's very own see-through PVC handy bag / carry case. They are also a great for inclusion in story sacks.

We also now have all of the other story sets: Three Little Pigs, Goldilocks and the Three Bears and Little Red Riding Hood back in stock.

The Communication Cookbook

BT and the children's communication charity I CAN have developed The Communication Cookbook, a resource book of activities to support children’s language and communication development.

The Communication Cookbook it focuses on 5 essential ingredients that support children’s communication skills, and contains simple recipes to help parents and teachers to develop these in skills in children.

These five essential ingredients are:

• Attention and Listening
• Vocabulary
• Building Sentences
• Story Telling
• Conversations

Download your copy of The Communication Cookbook here and find out how to help your child learn to communicate.

New Product: Magnetic Fractions Set

The second featured new product is this set of Fraction Magnets.

These colourful Magnetic Fractions are a fantastic resource to help children learn about simple fractions.

Children can play with the magnets on stuck on the fridge (or a special magnetic whiteboard) dividing up the red whole unit stick into halves, thirds, quarters, fifths, sixths, eighths, tenths and twelfths and visually see the equivelant values.

New Product: Magnetic Money Chart

We've just taken delivery of the first of our new products ordered at the Autumn Fair - this includes the Magnetic Money Chart.

The Magnetic Money Chart is a fantastic resource to help children learn about money. The set contains a printed chart, 20 coin magnets, 6 note magnets and 1 wipe clean pen.

You can use the wipe clean pen to write a sum of money in the small blank box and ask your child to use the money magnets to get to this amount. See if they can make the same amount in different ways! Or do the reverse activity - you put out the money magnets and ask your child to work out how much money is there.

For children just starting to learn about money the coin and note magnets can also be used for basic money recognition as well as matching to the value space.

Check out Littlesheep Learning for this and other Money teaching resources.

Playdough

Another term, another town, another 'Stay and Play' group! We went to a new toddler group today and the 'take home idea' was play dough.

Playdough is great for children to play with and learn new skills at the same time. Play dough is:

• good practice for sharing / turn-taking
• soothing / calming
• good for releasing tension
• good for strengthening muscles / developing motor skills
• good for developing language
• creative
• multi-sensory
• fun!

Recipes

Cooked Play-Dough

1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
2 tablespoons cream of tartar
1 tablespoon oil
1 cup water
food colouring

Mix dry ingredients and mix wet ingredients and then stir together.
Stir constantly over a medium heat until the ingredients change from a lump paste into a more rubbery blob.
Turn out onto a working surface and knead the dough.
Store in an airtight container.

Cooked Play-Dough

1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
1/2 cup water
food colouring

Mix flour and salt, add water and food colouring.
Turn out onto a working surgace and knead the dough to make a clay consistency.
Store in an airtight container (doesn't keep as long as the cooked version though).

Other ideas:

Add:

• glitter
• spices
• mint
• herbs
• cocoa powder
• yeast (makes a stretchier dough)
• raisins
• pasta
• ginger
• lemon juice
• curry

Use a variety of tools to play with the dough, for example;

• lolly sticks
• fir cones
• toy cars
• cutters
• rolling pins
• paper cases
• straws

Play dough is suitable for children over a year old. Make sure that you supervise the play and use protective coverings for the floor, clothes and surfaces. Some children may try to eat the play dough but because it is so salty after a few tastes children will discover that it is much more fun to play with than eat!

Please feel free to share more playdough recipes / activity ideas.

Autumn Fair

We've just got back from an exciting day at the Autumn Fair at the NEC. We had fun meeting up and networking with other WAHMs (the people behind Delicate Dreams, Stork Gifts, Knot Just Jigs, Funky Dory Party Bags, Kiddymania and Perfect Presents - shout if I've left you out?) and have placed orders for some great new lines. Keep reading this blog to find out about the new products and ranges at Littlesheep Learning!

EYFS - Early Years Foundation Stage

From the BBC News website:

Under-fives get 'learning goals'

New welfare guidelines including 69 "learning goals" for the under-fives have come into force in England.

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) sets out expected standards of care in registered childcare settings.

The "toddler curriculum" includes being able to count to 10, spell their names, understand stories, know right from wrong and be able to dress and undress.

Ministers say the EYFS will help stop disadvantaged children falling behind in educational attainment.

The guidelines have provoked a worried reaction from some childcare workers who believe increasing levels of associated paperwork could put them out of business.

'Best start'
Others fear children will be required to start formal learning too early and that it could set some of them up for failure at a tender age.

So England's Children's Minister Beverley Hughes announced that learning goals requiring children to be able to write their own names and begin using simple sentences by the age of five, sometimes with punctuation, would be reviewed to see if they were suitable.

But in a joint letter to the managers of England's 3,000 children's centres Schools Secretary Ed Balls and Ms Hughes said their guidelines would help make sure that all young children had the chance to engage in stimulating play.

Children's centre staff would be able to use it to engage mothers and fathers, to make sure these experiences are built on at home, they said.

Mr Balls added: "I am driven by a determination to make sure that the most disadvantaged children get the very best start in life.

"We want to give all children a level playing field and help all parents get the best care and support for their children.

"I believe that every child in this country is entitled to the benefits of learning through play as set out in the EYFS and that their parents are entitled to the reassurance that their children will be well supported and cared for by high quality childminders and nursery workers."

Developmental milestones
Research shows that gaps between advantaged and disadvantaged children can affect them from the age of 22 months and are likely to get bigger as they age.

By the time they take GCSES, children from poorer backgrounds are half as likely to get five good grades as their wealthier peers.

The EYFS applies to all formal childcare settings for children under five and is based on the idea that children need to learn through play as they begin to understand the world around them.

Childcare providers are required to keep parents up to date with their children's progress and will be encouraged to be involved with their early education.

Profiles of each child will be completed by nurseries and childminders, recording the developmental milestones the reach.

These are intended to provide an accurate picture of a child's development for parents and primary schools when they reach them.

However, ministers are keen to stress that the youngsters will not be tested on the goals included in the guidelines.

They also argue that as the framework is a combination of two existing sets of guidelines they should not place extra burdens on those working in childcare.

In Scotland, what and how children learn in pre-school nurseries is set out in the Curriculum for Excellence which is currently being rolled out. It does not apply to childminders.

In Wales, a new Scandinavian-style Learn through Play nursery and infant curriculum is being introduced for three to seven-year-olds, which moves away from the more formal classroom based lessons.

For more information on the contents of the EYFS, please see our article.

Happy Customers

Like all businesses, at Littlesheep Learning we love hearing from satisfied customers; here is an excerpt of an email we received this week:

"Just a quick email to thank you for sending my order so quickly - I noticed the message about you moving premises and thought it might delay new orders (especially if you had a backlog to clear) but my books and pencil grips have arrived already! My son has been a little reluctant to put pen(cil) to paper but after I had a go with one, he was very keen to try his new 'toy' and has written quite a few words today. Here's hoping he's still as happy tomorrow.... Thank you for selling these singly and not making me buy a 'class tub' too!!"

If you have a reluctant write - check out the full range of triangular pens, pencils and pencil grips available at Littlesheep Learning - all available individually!

Catching Up

Just to let everyone know that normal service is resuming at Littlesheep Learning following our relocation. We still need to completely restock but orders are now being despatched normally.

Look out for new products, offers and competitions coming soon.

Learning whilst Playing

With all the lovely hot and sunny weather the chances are that your children are busy playing outside and you may be thinking that there is no time for learning.

At Littlesheep Learning, we have the solution for children learning colours, shapes, numbers and letters with our range of learning beanbags. These can be used in the garden and children can learn whilst they are playing and probably not even realise it! Take a look here for lots of bean bag learning ideas and have fun.

Order your colour, shape, number or letter beanie bags today and save 10% in our special relocation sale (offer ends 31st July 2008).

Moving Sale

At the end of the month Littlesheep Learning is relocating, therefore we have a special sale to reduce the amount of stock we need to move! Items are available whilst stocks last and offers include lots of educational games which are great for keeping your children entertained during wet days in the school holidays and getting them to learn and practice skills without realising it.

Offers end on 30th June and no orders will be despatched from 1st-10th August whilst we settle in and complete a stock take. Unfortunately this move means that some items will be out of stock for longer than usual, please contact us if you need something that is out of stock and we will try and let you know an expected restocking date.

Building Self-Esteem

I have a friend who has a little boy with autism and she has had a great idea for building self-confidence. For the last few months she has been taking photos of him doing things, things he found difficult, was worried about or things he's just good at and enjoyed. We've stuck them in a book called 'I Can Do It' book. There is so much in every day life he finds hard, so many things we take for granted that he struggles with, makes him anxious or has to learn from scratch so thought it would be a nice idea to celebrate all the things he can do. He is a technophile so she has also made this photo montage of the photos in his book and set it to music. Shine is his favourite Take That track though the lyrics are quite appropriate too! Here it is:



If you like this idea and make your own books - please share them with us here - we'd love to see them.

The Queen's Birthday Honours (Part 2)

Ever since browsing the Queen's Birthday Honours recipients after seeing that Mr Tumble (Justin Fletcher) was given an award I've been meaning to post about the awarding of an OBE to Virginia Bovell. I like most others who have been involved in ABA will have heard of / met / been supported by Virginia - she is a truly inspirational woman and this award is very well deserved.

Virginia Bovell, is one of the Advisers and a member TreeHouse school’s governing body, and she has received an OBE for “voluntary services to autistic children”. TreeHouse is the national charity for autism education.

She said: “The OBE is a real honour but I feel that anything I’ve done is because of team work with a brilliant group of colleagues – not just TreeHouse and the National Autistic Society but hundreds of parents, some very dedicated MPs and professionals, and of course the inspiration offered by the children themselves. I see the OBE as recognition of the importance of children with autism, an incredibly marginalized group.”

Virginia’s work as an autism activist began when Danny, her son who is now 15, was diagnosed with autism just before his third birthday. Having been told that early educational intervention was the best way Danny could unlock his potential, Virginia found that there were no such services on offer. Together with three other parents in similar situations, TreeHouse was founded. Over the past ten years it has grown from a special school for four founding pupils in a room in the Royal Free Hospital, into the national charity for autism education. TreeHouse’s school in North London now has 62 children and the charity actively campaigns for better services and provides training and consultancy in the field of autism on a national scale.

But the story does not end there. Virginia has been involved full-time in the autism movement, helping parents to campaign across the UK; writing and speaking about autism; and also being involved in a range of academic and Government autism initiatives.

Virginia went on to say: “In the past 10 years the recognised prevalence of autism has risen to 1%, so autism will touch most people directly or indirectly – every school, every street, is likely to have a child with autism. Awareness has improved but there is still so much to be done. Nearly a third of children with autism are excluded from school at some point in their youth, largely because autism is still very much a misunderstood condition and most teachers are still not getting anything like the necessary training. My hope is that one day everyone with autism, children and adults, will access the support they need without having to fight for it, as valued and fulfilled participants in society.”

Congratulations Virginia

Speech Testing

I've just been reading sbout the government-commissioned Bercow review of speech and language services which says improving communication skills is key to raising educational standards. The report suggests that all children should be assessed for speech problems at the start of primary and secondary school.

Up to half the children in some areas of England have significant problems, but many have to fight for support. Ministers accepted the points raised by the review and announced a £40m package for the training of early years staff and a further £12m will be spent on implementation and a plan would be published in the autumn, says the government's response.

Conservative MP John Bercow's review of services for children and young people with speech, language and communication needs suggests about 40,000 children, or 7%, are starting primary school in England each year with significant difficulties with speech and or language, but the rates are much higher in areas of social deprivation, with up to 50% having speech and language skills lower than expected for their age, the report says. Without the help they need these children will do worse at school, could develop emotional and behavioural problems and may descend into criminality, it argues. Mr Bercow said families faced a "postcode lottery" of provision and shortages of speech experts in most areas of the country. He said communication skills that were essential to life were not being prioritised in schools, especially in the early years. "This is severely hampering children's ability to develop the necessary life skills to participate in and contribute to society when they get older," he added. Experts argue, however, that with early intervention and the right support most communication problems can be overcome. Ministers accepted that more surveillance and monitoring of children's language skills were needed, but suggested extra training of early years staff would enable them to better pick up language problems.

The report also suggested that Sir Jim Rose should be asked to see how a speech and language focus could be put into primary schools as part of his review of the primary curriculum.
Children's secretary Ed Balls said it was clear that local services needed to improve and that he was convinced improvements could now be made.

The report also makes recommendations on how services best be provided. It finds that there is a lack of strategic planning and oversight of what is needed in many local areas, this should be better organised, so it suggests a named person should have the responsibility for commissioning communication provision in each local area. It also calls for a communication champion or tsar, charged with driving things forward, to be appointed and a communication council be established to develop over-arching policy and ensure the implementation of the review. There should be a significant national campaign on the issue building up to a national year of speech, language and communication.