Are the School Holidays too Long?

Everyone in the UK is used to us having an academic year that starts in September with three terms (September-December, January-March/April and April-July) of 10-14 weeks with a half-termly holiday week in the middle - October, February and May, two weeks holiday at Christmas and Easter and a six week summer break, but The Institute for Public Policy Research has said studies suggested pupils' reading and maths abilities regressed because the summer break was too long. Instead, the think-tank said the school year could have five eight-week terms, with a month off in the summer and two weeks between the rest of the terms. You can see more details here.

I'm not sure where I stand on this - I can see the point that a six week break is a long time if children are left to 'stagnate' but this is assuming that children only learn at school and we know from experience with pre-school children and those who are home educated that learning can occur anywhere at anytime.

There are always books, educational toys and games available to support children's learning in fun ways during holiday times and although the article suggests that children from disadvantaged backgrounds do not get the same opportunities during the school holidays I think that better advertising and targetting of the 'free' activities / resources that are available to everyone through libraries (both the traditional type offering books, DVDs and computer programmes plus toy libraries where you can borrow toys, games and other play equipment), plus local councils often run subsidised playschemes and activities during the summer holidays.

Another practical reason for needing a six-week summer break is family holidays, if the Government are going to continue their crack down on parents taking children out of school for family holidays reducing the 'window' in which families can take a holiday will mean that the 'peak' holiday price will increase, employers will have to juggle more employees wanting exactly the same two weeks off to go away and children will spend less time at home learning about local atractions and taking part in local activities.

Lastly I'd be concerned that having a ten week block without a holiday break would be exhausting for younger children. They are often becoming ill and tired towards the half-term / end of term especially when it is an eight week half term so parents may end up spending the whole of the 'holiday' weeks looking after an exhausted / ill child - not much fun for anyone.

What do you think?

Spring Competition Winner

Thank you to everyone who entered Littlesheep Learning's Spring Competition to win a set of 10 in the Bed Song Mitts - it certainly seemed popular.

The answer to the question "What number is shown on the dice?" is Five

And the lucky winner is - Ruth from Chesterfield.

Look out for more Competitions coming soon.

Spelling

It doesn't take many words to demonstrate how tricky the English language is when it comes to spelling; try: accommodate, commitment, bureaucracy, diarrhoea , psychologist for starters. Then there are all the words with similar sounds spelled in different ways for example, the 'eez' sound (breeze, cheese, knees, fleas, tease, these, seize) and the words spelled the same way but sounding different, for example the 'ough' letter combination (bough, cough, dough, enough, though, through).

Spelling is not just a case of identifying sounds in a word and being able to relate them to letters, though this is a big help in many cases.

Being a good speller also involves:

• breaking words into component parts and writing each one correctly
• remembering some spelling rules
• being able to see the word in your head and 'read it off'
• learning some 'word families'
• having good visual recall and being able to tell if it 'looks right'

There are many ways to help children learn to spell:

• encouraging them to 'have a go' if the word they want to use is regular: 'Well let's see, there are five letters in that word let's put five dashes on this bit of scrap paper. I'm sure you know what the first letter is..'
• supporting them to build up the word as appropriate; the middle bit is often the tricky part − fill in this part for them if necessary
• praise for trying 'that's nearly right, well done'
• providing the word straight away if its irregular and can't be 'built up' eg 'two'
• give a visual model of the word rather than just spelling it out verbally , then encourage him to do LSCWC (Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check) to help them remember the word next time
• encourage children to look at the words carefully − 'take a photo' in your head; notice its shape and any double consonants, or any small words inside the bigger word
• say it aloud − using a mnemonic for tricky words can help
• identify word families; for example, fight, light, might, night, sight, tight
• make use of word banks, use a (spelling) dictionary / word book or other dictionary and look it up
• play word games for example, hangman, wordsearches, crosswords or games such as Pass the Word

3 - Stories, Songs and Rhymes

Welcome back to our number rhyme series - so far we've had 1 - Hickory Dickory Dock and 2 - Two Little Dicky Birds.

Three is a bit more tricky as most of the counting songs are to five or ten, however three is a popular number in fairy tales with Three Little Pigs, Goldilocks and the Three Bears and the Three Billy Goats Gruff to name but a few stories that include three. So here are some ideas linked to those popular tales.

As with one and two, practice counting - 1,2,3! Again play with number bean bags , foam / magnetic numbers and number flashcards / number fans to help children learn to recognise the number and practice drawing / painting or chalking the number three. The number three also is great to start sequencing numbers, and investigating other properties / adjectives; for example big, medium and small.

The Three Little Pigs

Activity Ideas

• share the story of the Three Little Pigs
• building with a variety of materials
• make a three houses collage, sticking on straw, sticks and printing bricks
• make pig masks using paper plates
• play with Three Little Pigs puppets and act out the story
• huff and puff like the big bad wolf and practice blowing games - blow football, blow painting or just blow whistles!

Songs and Rhymes

• Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf (Frank Churchill and Ann Ronell)
  

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Activity Ideas

• share the story of Golidilocks and the Three Bears
• make porridge
• investigate sizes - small, medium / middle sized and big - sort them and match them
• playing with Goldilocks and the Three Bears puppets to act out the story

Songs and Rhymes

• When Goldilocks Went to The House of the Bears (listen here)

The Three Billy Goats Gruff

Activity Ideas

• share the story of the Three Billy Goats Gruff
• go for a walk and find a bridge to 'trip trap' over
• investigate sizes - small, medium / middle sized and big - sort them and match them
• play with Three Billy Goats Gruff and act out the story

Happy Birthday Littlesheep Learning

We hope that you had a good Bank Holiday weekend - we certainly enjoyed the sunshine!

Yesterday Littlesheep Learning celebrated it's 3rd birthday and to celebrate we have three special offers for you:

For THIS week only you can SAVE 10% by using the code 'happy', or you can claim FREE POSTAGE by using the code 'birthday', plus with every order over £15 (after discounts) we'll send you a FREE GIFT.

So hurry and place your orders today - all these offers end on Monday 12th May.

Triangular Pencils

Littlesheep Learning has just taken delivery of some new slim triangular pencils alongside our popular jumbo triangular pencils. We started stocking the jumbo triangular pencils as a replacement for the Berol Handhugger Pencils which unfortunately have been discontinued by the manufacturer and are pleased that they have been as popular among our customers.

Several customers with older children who still require a triangular pencil commented on the thickness of the jumbo triangular pencils which led us to look at other options and we are now pleased to stock the slim triangular pencils. These slim triangular pencils are preferred by the Handwriting Interest Group and are ideal for writing and drawing activities - they have a standard thickness break-resistant HB lead.

Case Study Requests

I have some friends who are writing a book about how to look after your relationship when your child has special needs and they are in need of people to complete questionnaires and be case-studies. Here is the full request if you feel that you can help them:

Antonia Chitty and Victoria Hill are looking for parents to help with their research for a book is about how to look after your relationship when your child has special needs.

If you have had a baby (without special needs) in the last few years, we have a short questionnaire to help us find out about the impact of having a baby on parent's relationships. Please email mail@antoniachitty.co.uk with BABY in the title.

If you have a baby or child WITH special needs, we want the book to be packed full of case studies of parents talking about their experiences, good and bad, and how parenting a child with special needs has impacted on their lives. If you don't mind sharing what you have been through, to help other parents, please email mail@antoniachitty.co.uk with SEN in the title.

Thank you very much for your help: we hope this book will be a really useful resource in a neglected area.

I hope that you can help!

2 - Two Little Dicky Birds

For the second of our number rhyme posts we are featuring the rhyme 'Two Little Dicky Birds'. This is a very short and simple rhyme - if you don't already know it, here are the words;

Two little dicky birds sat on a wall,
One named Peter, One named Paul,
Fly away Peter, Fly away Paul,
Come back Peter, Come back Paul.

Some activity and learning ideas based on this rhyme - looking at the number two, birds, walls, and the entire rhyme are featured here:

The Number 2
Now we've got past one we can start counting - 1,2! Again play with number bean bags , foam / magnetic numbers and number flashcards / number fans to learn to recognise the number and practice drawing / painting or chalking the number two.

It is also a good place to start to look at teaching children quantities in relation to the number - so look for things that come in pairs; for example, socks, shoes and gloves or just collect groups of two objects - two teddies, two cups, two toy cups etc,

The Birds
There are many activities involving birds.

Firstly spend time looking in your garden or a local park - see how many birds you can see, older children might enjoy identifying magpies, pigeons, sparrows, blackbirds, starlings, bluetits etc. You could also look at what birds eat and start having a bird table in your garden so you can feed the birds.

Draw or colour pictures of the birds you see - there is a FREE bird colouring page available at Littlesheep Learning (drawn as a robin but could easily coloured as a sparrow, bluetit, blackbird or whatever takes your fancy!).

The Wall
Build walls using different types of bricks - Lego, wooden blocks, cardboard boxes or anything else you can think of! Look at the overlapping pattern needed to stop your wall falling down.

Look at house bricks and make rubbings using paper and wax crayons.

Use a wooden block, a Lego brick or a sponge to paint a wall - dip your item into the paint and then print the bricks onto your paper - don't forget to make the bricks overlap!

The Rhyme
The rhyme is a very simple finger play - teach your children the following actions;

Two little dicky birds sat on a wall [use the index fingers on each hand to bend and flex like bobbing birds]
One named Peter [wiggle left hand finger], One named Paul [wiggle right hand finger],
Fly away Peter [put left hand behind back], Fly away Paul [put right hand behind back],
Come back Peter [bring back left hand / finger], Come back Paul [bring back left hand / finger].

Also, enact the rhyme by covering a small box with the brick rubbings / printing and stick two bird pictures on cardboard tubes and move them on and off the wall (you could use finger puppet birds if you have them).

Or just make a Two Little Dicky Birds collage by making a wall of your printed bricks / brick rubbings and sticking two bird pictures on the top.

Customer Feedback

As always it's lovely to get feedback from Littlesheep Learning's customers - I arrived back from a weekend away to an e-mail from a recent customer with this feedback:

"I just wanted to say what a brilliant service you provide. Being emailed the status of the order is a fab idea. The goods were received within a few days which is great."

Feedback like this makes it all worthwhile!

Do let us know what you think about our services or add your reviews of our products to the site.

Carnival of Family Life

This week Littlesheep Learning has had a one of our blog posts accepted into this week's Carnival of Family Life - check out this Carnival for lots of exciting links.

If you didn't already know a Blog Carnival is a blog community with Blog Carnivals typically consisting of a collection of links pointing to blog articles on a particular topic or theme. They are like a magazine; with a title (topic), editors (weekly hosts), contributors, and an audience. Each edition is itself a blog article that consists of the links to all the contributions submitted, often accompanied by commentary, remarks and/or opinion offered by the editor (host). As the title suggests, the Carnival of Family Life features family-related articles on a weekly basis.

Blog carnivals are great for discovering other blogs you might find interesting - if you have a family related blog, why don't you consider submitting your blog article to the next edition of the Carnival of Family Life.

Number 1 - Hickory Dickory Dock

Hickory Dickory Dock is a popular nursery rhyme that contains the number one so it seems a good place to start for this series of number posts.

For those of you who may be unfamiliar with the rhyme it goes like this:

Hickory Dickory Dock
The mouse ran up the clock
The clock struck one (DONG!)
The mouse ran down
Hickory Dickory Dock (tick tock tick tock)

There are lots of activities that you can do using this rhyme as a theme. You can focus on the number one, the mouse or the clock. Here are some ideas for you:

The Number 1
Obviously as this is the first number we don't need to practice counting up to 1 but it's a good place to mention that counting and number recognition starts here! Play with number bean bags , foam / magnetic numbers and number flashcards / number fans to learn to recognise the number. Draw / paint / chalk the number one - as a straight line down it's also one of the easiest numbers to learn to write.

The Mouse
Make a finger mouse puppet - make a cone from a piece of card and add ears, eyes, a tail and whiskers. Talk about mice generally - what noise do they make, where do they live, what do they like to eat etc.

The Clock
Make a pretend clock - use a paper plate or a circle of card to make the clock face, write on the numbers, make some hands to turn using some card (don’t forget the minute hand is longer than the hour hand) and attach them with a paper fastener. Look out for clocks - how many different ones can you spot?

Check out the range of telling the time items available at Littlesheep Learning if your child is older and interested in learning more about the the time.

The Rhyme
Attach your pretend clock to a box and make a grandfather clock and use your mouse finger puppet to act out the rhyme.

One, Two, Three, Four, Five - Stay and Play with Numbers

I thought I'd do another series of posts based on the Stay and Play sessions I have recently attended with my children. Last term the sessions were based around numbers so this series of posts will be looking at number songs and rhymes - I hope you find it useful and get some great ideas to share numbers, counting and other numeracy skills with your children.

Reading

I've just been reading a report about some research into the role of dads in bedtime reading by the National Year of Reading.

According to their research less than half of dads (42%) say they regularly read bedtime stories to their children, while mums are twice as likely (76%) to do so, despite bedtime reading being one of the best ways of establishing the reading habit in children. The main barrier (58%) cited by dads was work pressures including stress and long hours, while a lack of confidence meant one in ten felt the role was better suited to mums.

The study of over 2,000 adults was conducted by the National Year of Reading and YouGov as part of a campaign to raise awareness of the pressures dads face and the impact this has on children’s reading habits.

39% of dads think a better work / life balance would help them read more to their children
33% of dads think employers should do more to help parents read to their kids

A recent report conducted by the National Literacy Trust also found that while three-quarters of children said their mum encouraged them to read, only half said the same of their dad. Sadly, nearly a quarter of pupils stated that no-one in their family encouraged them to read.

Honor Wilson-Fletcher, Director of the National Year of Reading, said:
“Reading has never been more important, but we know boys lag far behind girls when it comes to reading. Boys need to see their dads enjoying reading if they are to become readers themselves as they grow up. Football programmes, blogs, newspapers and sports magazines are just as valuable reading as fairy tales. Reading is the best private investment you can make in your child’s education, it’s free and makes you feel like the best parent on earth. Just spending ten minutes a day reading something you enjoy with your children can make a real difference.”

Secretary of State for Schools, Children and Families Ed Balls said:
“Reading opens doors to everything in life, from applying to jobs to enjoying your favourite hobbies. Getting your children - both boys and girls – to be passionate about reading is something all parents can do. Reading to your children for ten minutes at bedtime is the best way of improving our kids’ chances when they get to school.”

The National Year of Reading is calling on all large employers to make their workplaces more reader-friendly. There are a host of simple, practical challenges for businesses including:

• Turn old smoking rooms into a staff reading area
• Adopt-a-book for all staff to share
• Create a book swap shelf for children’s books at work
• Encourage staff to join a library
• Encourage night shift workers to pre-record bedtime stories for their children

For more information about the Year of Reading, and to find out more about how your business can support reading both at work and at home, visit: http://www.yearofreading.org.uk

New Articles!

I've written another article for Treehugger Mums, this article is about the use of puppets to support children’s learning and how to make some of your own.

There is also a new article at Littlesheep Learning. This article is the first in a series of new articles looking at Self-Help / Independent Living Skills. The Dressing Skills article is full of helpful information and tips to help you help your child learn to be indpendent in the task of dressing themselves.

Our top suggestions for encouraging your child to learn dressing skills are:

Start with simple clothes without fastenings, for example jogging bottoms and t-shirts.

And Keep it fun - using teaching aids such as the Fabric Skills Book.

I hope you find these articles useful.

Spring Competition

Enter Littlesheep Learning's Spring Competition to win a set of 10 in the Bed Song Mitts.

Designed to fit an adult’s hand, song teaching mitts are perfect for using with young children and will provide hours of fun. This pair of glove puppets feature the popular counting song '10 in a bed' will help children join in the rhyme and learn counting skills.

To enter, simply email us the answer this question about one of the products sold in our shop:

What number is shown on the dice?

Competition closes at midnight on 18th May. See our Competitions page for full terms and conditions.

April's Special Offers

To celebrate the winning entry in our 'Write a Review' Competition this month's special offer at

Littlesheep Learning means you can save a third off the RRP for all the Usborne First Experiences books. Unfortunately stocks of some titles are getting low so this offer is only available whilst stocks last - check out your order today!

The collection of First Experiences stories, are fantastic for introducing young children to situations they might find themselves in for the first time. They feature Stephen Cartwright's illustrations full of things for children to look at, learn from and talk about.

Competition Winner - 'Write a Review' Competition

The winner of a copy our 'Write a Review' Competition is Stephanie, who wins a copy of The Usborne Book of Everyday Words for her review of review of the Going to the Hospital book from the First Experiences series.

Stephanie says:

"I have bought a few of these books because I do find they help my son before a new situation. He had to go into hospital for a little operation and this book helped him know what was going to happen and what to expect."

Rating: ***** [5 of 5 Stars!]

Learning to Tie Shoelaces

Our nearly four year old was helping me sort some parcels the other day and he spied the Tie Me Shoe and declared that he needed it as he can't tie shoelaces yet! At the moment he has velcro shoes but as he seems keen, we are going to give tying laces a try this afternoon.

From a quick internet search it would appear that most children have the fine motor dexterity to tie their laces between the ages of four and six, but as with all skills different children will learn at different times. It is important to ensure your children learn this skill, even though alternatives are available as whilst velcro shoes and elastic "no lace" laces may be fun for your children they will need to learn how to tie their shoes eventually.

My previous post on Tying Shoelaces has a link to a site that has clear diagrams showing the different methods of shoe lace tying.

When teaching your child to tie their shoelaces there are several things that you can do to help. First, choose one method of lace tying, and teach it consistently. Make sure that everyone who may be trying to help your child learn this skill is demonstrating it in the same way otherwise they may get confused. When you are demonstrating the lace tying make sure that you and your child are side by side rather than opposite each other, that way he'll be able to copy your movements rather than mirror them. Lastly, remember to give your child lots of encouragement and praise and if they find it too difficult this time leave it for a few weeks and try again.

At Littlesheep Learning we have a range of products to help teach self-help skills including tying shoelaces - the Tie Me shoe, Tie-a-bow Book and a Dressing Skills Book.

If you have any top tips for teaching shoe lace tying please let me know!

Incidental Learning

I forgot to post the other day to highlight an article I have had published at Treehugger Mums looking at Incidental Learning - But I didn't teach them that.

Incidental learning is unintentional or unplanned learning that results from other activities and is the way many children learn whilst they are playing. The article gives ideas as to how children learn through everyday activities, take a look and see what learning you can incorporate into your daily life.


Treehugger Mums - is a website written by mums for mums with pregnancy and parenting-related information, articles and the Treehugger Mums Shop where you can buy baby slings, real nappies, breastfeeding accessories and natural toiletries.

Developing Imagination / Story Skills

I was reading a post on a parenting forum yesterday about encouraging children's imaginative development and there were some great ideas so I thought I'd share some with you.

Make sure that you spend time reading and sharing a variety of different books, stories and rhymes because the more ideas your child comes into contact with the more ideas they have to build on when creating their own stories. Ask questions when sharing stories; for example, why do you think that happened? how did he feel? what do you think will happen next?

Try to think imaginatively yourself when showing you child stories, use story sacks to develop story ideas. Gather props relating to stories for example puppets and games and use these to enact the stories. Make props such as wooden spoon puppets, playdoh food and cardboard box houses to help you.

For children who really struggle with writing / drawing / thinking imaginatively the Nonsenses puzzle. These puzzles encourage reading and building sentences; each card has a character, place or an action and by mixing the beginning, middle and end pieces you can have hours of fun as you try to compete to come up with the silliest sentences possible!

Make stories up co-operatively; depending on your child's drawing / writing ability there are several ways you can do it. The most simple way is to do it orally, you start a story and then take it turn to say a sentence or part of a sentence and see how silly it can get and how much detail you can put into it. If your child likes drawing you can make a story board by drawing squares on paper (start with just a few squares and then build up to longer ones as your child gets more confident) and taking it in turns to draw the next picture in the story. If you child struggles with drawing you could ask them to tell you what to draw and draw if for them. Lastly you can create stories by writing ideas down, take a strip of paper each and write down a character, fold it over and swap and add a location, fold and swap again and add an activity, fold and swap etc building up ideas and then open them out to see what has happened.

Draw random shapes / lines on a piece of paper and see what your child can make them become, for example a square could become a house, a circle could be made into a pig and a triangle could become the sail of a boat or the top of a rocket a wavy line could become the sea or turned into a caterpillar. This a great game for children who need to practice their fine motor and drawing skills too.

As with all learning activities the key is to keep it fun.