Setting Targets

First of all I must apologise for the lack of posts on this blog - I will get writing again! As most of the country's children return to school for a new term and will be being set targets, I thought a post about setting targets and setting myself some would be a good start for posting again.

So, what is a target and why are they set? The Compact Oxford Dictionary defines a target as "an objective or result towards which efforts are directed" and the The Standards Site (for the Department of Children, Schools and Families) says that "Setting targets for pupil achievement puts standards at the centre of school planning, and helps staff focus on practical ways of raising them".

To be effective, targets need to be SMART targets. This means they should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable and Realistic, and set against an appropriate Timescale

Children are likely to have targets relating to the stage they are at: some might be "learning the sounds the letters make", "learning the times tables", "writing the letters the correct way round", "counting to 5", "recognising the numbers to 10", "reading the key sight words", "remembering finger spaces" - the list is endless. If your child is struggling with a particular target - check out some of the resources at Littlesheep Learning that might help!

Adults set themselves targets too - my husband is currently trying to reach his fundraising target and then next Sunday will be trying to complete the London Marathon in his target time, I have friends going back to college / university to work towards qualifications to help them in their careers and to be honest my to do list each day is a target!

So back to this blog and my (Specific) targets:

By the end of April (Timescale) I will have written five blog posts (Measurable) - (Achievable (hopefully!) and Realistic (one every other day should be manageable).

By the end of May I will have developed a routine for posts in themes eg new products, teaching and learning ideas, product reviews or news.

By the end of June I will be posting five posts a week.

I am intending a series of posts relating to different areas of children's learning and the targets they might be being set - so watch this space!

What are your targets?

Hot Cross Buns, Currant Buns and other cakes!

Today is Good Friday or "Hot Cross Bun day" as my five year old has declared it (they are one of his favourite foods so I think he is planning on them for breakfast, lunch and dinner!).

Whilst thinking about hot cross buns (the spicy fruit buns that have a white cross on the top traditionally eaten on Good Friday) the little rhyme popped into my head - don't forget to share it with your children today.

Hot cross buns!
Hot cross buns!
One ha' penny, two ha' penny,
Hot cross buns!
If you have no daughters,
Give them to your sons
One ha' penny,
Two ha' penny,
Hot Cross Buns!

So thinking about rhymes and cakes then reminded me of the five currant bun song and song mitt puppet that is a favourite in our house... This is also a great song for teaching counting skills.

Five currant buns in a baker’s shop.
Round and fat with a cherry on the top,
Along came a boy with a penny one day,
Bought a currant bun and took it away.

Four currant buns in a baker’s shop.
Round and fat with a cherry on the top,
Along came a boy with a penny one day,
Bought a currant bun and took it away.

Three currant buns in a baker’s shop.
Round and fat with a cherry on the top,
Along came a boy with a penny one day,
Bought a currant bun and took it away.

Two currant buns in a baker’s shop.
Round and fat with a cherry on the top,
Along came a boy with a penny one day,
Bought a currant bun and took it away.

One currant bun in a baker’s shop.
Round and fat with a cherry on the top,
Along came a boy with a penny one day,
Bought the currant bun and took it away.

If you wanted to keep the song Hot Cross Bun themed you could change the words to Round and Fat with a cross put on the top.

Other songs including cakes are: The Queen of Hearts, Pat-a-Cake and Little Jack Horner... let me know if you need the words - and please share any other cake songs you know!

Spring A-Z Quiz – Win £10 M&S Voucher

Hello Everyone... here is a little game to keep your children entertained in the Easter holidays! The rules are simple – fill in as many of the gaps in each category as you can with an item starting with that letter.

If you want to make a £2 donation to my husband's marathon fundraising target for the NCT (you can donate using the JustGiving pages (include Gift Aid if you want) please indicate in the comments your donation is for quiz entry http://www.justgiving.com/Andrew-Lambe).

Return your lists to me (by email is fine to elaine @ littlesheep-learning.co.uk ) by the 25 April 2010 (the day of the London Marathon).

You will score 1 point for every answer that is correct (judges decision final!) and 2 points if it is unique answer; the winner is the one with the most points.

Name and contact details _____________________________________________________

Name Vehicle Clothes Food Spring
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z

Have fun

Happy St Patrick's Day

Down's Syndrome Awareness Week 2010

This week (15th-21st March) is Down's Syndrome Awareness Week - I have blogged about it in previous years, but thought this week was worth mentioning again to raise awareness especially as 2010 marks the 40th anniversary of the Down's Syndrome Association which provides help and support for people Down's Syndrome and their families. They have lots of information available here.

Also Antonia Chitty has got a new book on Down’s Syndrome coming out in June and the publishers are making a special pre-publication offer to tie in with Down’s Syndrome Awareness Week. Instead of £8.99 the book is available for £5 from 15th to 21st March. Buy it here if you want to be one of the first to use this practical guide. Please note: post and packing is included, so £5 is all you pay, but you will only get the book on publication – at the start of June.

World Book Day... or World Disney Day?

In previous years I have blogged about World Book Day and have suggested some really simple costume ideas.

There are hundreds of children in books - Charlie or Lola, Harry (with his bucket of dinosaurs), Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk, the Famous Five or Secret Seven, the Baudelaire children (from A Series of Unfortunate Events), Pippa Longstocking, Milly Molly Mandy, Poppy or Sam (Usborne Farmyard Tales) - I am sure you can think of even more...

So today is World Book Day - is your child dressing up?

I read parenting forums / see comments on facebook and think that the whole spirit of dressing up as a book character has been lost in the commercialism of character dressing up clothes.

I hear reports of schools full of little girls in Disney princess dresses (yes I know some of them existed in books before Disney got their hands on it but they didn't wear identikit Disney designed outfits) or going as Hannah Montana and boys going in their favourite football strip, Spiderman, Powerrangers and so on and wonder whether it is all a waste of time.

I suppose I can sit here a bit smug as we haven't had to dress up today so I haven't had any stress... what was your playground like this morning?

How to hold a pencil?

We have been trying to encourage our five year old to hold his pencil properly with the correct triangular grip but he prefers to hold it with his middle finger and thumb rather than his index finger.

So what have we tried?

In the Reception class they were told to use "tweeting" fingers to hold their pencil - so "tweet" like a bird with the index and thumb and then pick up the pencil - the novelty wore off! He recently came home with a paper aeroplane and worked out that it was the same fingers he needed to hold the pencil with so that might be another good exercise for children needing to encourage their index finger and thumb to work together.

We have tried triangular pencils but because his grip is only slightly off this doesn't help, ditto the triangular grip. The grippy pencil grip looked promising to start with - it did make him hold the pencil correctly but he found it awkward to position by himself each time he needed to pick up the pencil. Lastly, we tried the tri-go grip this has three clear spaces for the fingers and he could position is fingers independently and most importantly it did improve his grip.

What works best now? Telling him if I see him holding his pen incorrectly I will tell Miss B he needs to have more handwriting practice!

How have you encouraged your children to correct their grip?

New Products: People Who Help Us Glove Puppets

We are pleased to announce that Littlesheep Learning now stock even more of the popular flat people who help us glove puppets adding the postman, keeper and farmer to the range, plus the bargain people who help us complete set of nine puppets.

These simple flat glove puppets are a fantastic resource for both role play and teaching about occupations / jobs people do and are great for inclusion in story sacks. Size 28cm tall.

Other Spelling Help

From comments posted onto the Facebook link to yesterday's post about texting helping spelling it appears people are still sceptical!

If you would like a more traditional way of helping your child learn take a look at these Orchard Toys Spelling Puzzles now in stock at Littlesheep Learning. These lovely jigsaws have between three and five pieces and contain a lovely illustration with the word written underneath with each piece having one letter and a part of the picture. Children will enjoy completing the puzzle whilst learning to spell the word.

Older children might like the spelling game Pass the Word where they need to race against the timer to put together a word, trying to be quick as when the time runs out the letters have to be passed on to the next player.

Does Txt Speak Help Spelling?

Well according to a new report it does! These latest findings of an ongoing study at the University of Coventry contradict any expectation that prolonged exposure to texting will erode a child's ability to spell and instead suggests that pupils who regularly use text language - with all its mutations of phonetic spelling and abbreviations - also appear to be developing skills in the more formal use of English.

Children who are heavy users of mobile phone text abbreviations such as LOL (laughing out loud), plz (please), l8ter (later) and xxx (kisses), are unlikely to be problem spellers and readers, a new study funded by the British Academy has found. The research, carried out on a sample of 8-12 year olds over an academic year, revealed that levels of “textism” use could even be used to predict reading ability and phonological awareness in each pupil by the end of the year. Also, the proportion of textisms used was observed to increase with age, from just 21% of Year 4 pupils to 47% in Year 6, revealing that more sophisticated literacy skills are needed for textism use. The study conclusions will come as a surprise to many who believe that textisms are vandalising the English language.

The theory behind the research, carried out by Dr Clare Wood, Reader in Developmental Psychology at Coventry University, relates to one of the early developing skills associated with (and believed to underpin) successful reading and spelling development. ‘Phonological awareness’ refers to a child’s ability to detect, isolate and manipulate patterns of sound in speech. For example, children who can tell which words rhyme, or what word is left if you remove a letter, have particularly high levels of phonological awareness.

The forms of text message abbreviation (or ‘textism’) that are used when sending messages include:

• Shortenings: cutting the end off a word, losing more than one letter, e.g. bro = brother.
• Contractions: cutting letters, usually vowels, out of the middle of a word, e.g. txt, plz, hmwrk.
• G Clippings: cutting off only the final g in a word, e.g. goin, comin, workin, swimmin.
• Other Clippings: cutting off other final letters, e.g. I’v, hav, wil, com.
• Symbols: using symbols, including emoticons, and x used symbolically, e.g. &, @, ;-), :-p, xxx.
• Initialisms: a word or group of words is represented by its initial letter, e.g. tb = text back, lol = laughing out loud, gf = girlfriend.
• Letter/Number Homophones: a letter or number is used to take the place of a phoneme, syllable, or word of the same sound, e.g. 4, 2, l8r, u, r, c.
• Non-conventional Spellings: a word is spelled according to legitimate English phoneme-grapheme conversion rules, but not the conventional one used to spell the word, e.g. nite, cum, fone, skool.
• Accent Stylisation: a word is spelled as it is pronounced in casual speech, e.g. gonna, wiv = with, av = have, wanna, elp = help, anuva = another.
• Missing Apostrophes: left out either in possessive or traditional contraction form, e.g. dads, Im, Ive, cant.

So what do you think does txting help or hinder spelling?

New Products: Counting Song Mitts

Just a quick blog post to let everyone know the popular counting song mitts - 5 little ducks, 5 little speckled frogs and five little monkeys are all now back in stock at Littlesheep Learning AND we are now stocking the teaching song mitts for the favourite rhymes 5 little men in a flying saucer, 5 currant buns in a bakers shop and ten green bottles standing on the wall.

These puppets are great to assist children learning about numbers, counting, songs and rhymes - helping them to develop communication, imagination and fine motor skills and by providing a visual aid which makes songs and stories more enjoyable. They are fantastic as a material for acting out stories / the demonstration of different situations and role play scenarios and for including in story sacks.

Snow!

According to the news reports thousands of schools across England, from the north to the south, face closure and disruption in the cold weather but ours was open despite the snow so it was business as usual here at Littlesheep Learning.

Apparently at school today there were about 30 of them in the nursery, reception and year one (all combined into one class due to the absences of staff and children stuck in the nearby villages) and the curriculum included lots of outside play time (they made several snowmen and big snow balls), making hot chocolate for the whole school (including having squirty cream and marshmallows on top!) and lots of fun was had. It might not sound much like learning but they worked out how many people they were making hot chocolate for, what ingredients they would need - and wrote a list, some of them went to the shops to get the ingredients (money skills) plus of course lots of gross motor activity.

Whatever the weather at Littlesheep Learning we dispatch your parcels as soon as possible (usually next day) - you might want to take a look at this special weather game if you want to help your children learn to dress appropriately to the climate!

Money Lessons for Children

I was just reading this article about how primary school children are going to be given lessons on managing debt from next year. Ed Balls, the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families has disclosed details of the new programme, which starts with lessons on how to save money in a piggy bank and continues through primary school with lessons about current and savings accounts and how to budget.

At Littlesheep Learning we have several products to help teach children about money. The Magnetic Money Chart, Money Snap, Pop to the Shops and Piggy in the Middle, all help children learn to start to learn the value of coins, money 'sums' and budgeting in a fun way.

January Sale Now On!

The January Sale is now on at Littlesheep Learning.

Save up to 30% on a range of books, games and fine motor activities.

Our favourites items are Fine Motor Fishes (reduced from £15.50 to £10.50), the Going to School book (reduced from £2.50 to £1.50) and the Timestables Lotto game (reduced from £9.99 to £8). What are your favourites?

All items subject to stock availability and the sale will end on 31st January 2010!

If there are any other Mumpreneurs / WAHMs who want me to promote your sale - please do add the details in a comment!

Writing Thank You Letters

Hopefully everyone will have had a lovely Christmas and everyone will have received lots of presents. Now we are in the new year in many families thoughts turn to writing thank you letters. I can remember sitting as a child handwriting my missives to the friends and family who had given us presents and now it is me trying to persuade my reluctant writers to carry on the tradition.

With the advent of computers into family life it is sometimes easier to get our eldest to type his messages as until recently writing was not something that he enjoyed. Typing a letter onto a computer is less personal if it is just the name and present details that are changed and it doesn't show the child's developing handwriting (although we did leave in the creative spellings!) but it does get the job done.

Having done our letters and felt proud that they are all in envelopes ready to post I then stumbled across this link on Filth Wizardry about a website where you can generate a font of your child's handwriting. You download a printable template for your child to write each letter of the alphabet (plus the common punctuation marks), scan it in and upload the image and wait for your font which you can then use in all of your documents. As I said - we haven't tried it yet but there are some great examples on the Filth Wizardry post so you can see how it works. I think we will try this for the birthday thank you letters later in the year - so watch this space!

Stocking Fillers

Check out our Stocking Filler Guide for Gifts under £5

Happy Christmas

Happy Christmas to all our readers

We would like to wish all our readers 10% off their Christmas shopping at Littlesheep Learning - Quote Christmas2009 at checkout (offer ends 20th December 2009)

Ethical Christmas Gifts

As readers of our blog will know, we recently posted about Crash Bang Wallop being featured in The Green Familia Christmas Guide as a suggested stocking filler for children.

We are pleased to announce that What a Performance -was also rated on Day 28 - gifts under £20 AND Bus Stop was featured on Day 29 - gifts under £10.

So why are Orchard Toys winning recommendations in Ethical Christmas Gift Guides - they are just games right? WRONG! These educational games have ethical credentials because they are made in Britain AND they are made from durable recycled board. They are hardwearing, long lasting and most of all fun!

Check out the rest of the TGF Ethical Christmas List to get lots of Christmas gift ideas.

Put on a Panto!

The pantomime is a great British Tradition and this Robsinson's Put On A Panto site contains a fun game that takes children through the steps of putting on their very own pantomime at home - from planning, to practising to performing.

It takes you through everything you need - first choose your favourite pantomime (Snow White, Peter Pan, Cinderella or Aladdin), then you can print the script, follow directions to make your own costumes and props, add your details to print out your poster or invitation. The site even takes you through practicing (younger children could mime along to this script rather than having to learn their lines!) with some fantastic special effect sounds.

Plus, it even features the chance to enter a competiton to win tickets to your local pantomime up to the value of £250. Oh yes, it does!! (Sorry - couldn't resist). Entering the competition is simple;

1. Simply take or dig out a photo of your favourite panto costume


2. E-mail the photo before 30th November 2009 to amodernmother (at) gmail (dot) com with PUT ON A PANTO in the subject line. The winner will be selected by a third party before 4th December 2009, and the winning entry gets tickets for 2 adults and 3 children to a 2009 local pantomime (or equivalent) worth up to £250.

Good luck (for full details see A modern mother).

If your children would rather put on a puppet show using the Cinderella script Littlesheep Learning have fairytale puppet sets including Cinderella (and lots of other ones too!).

Great Toy Guide Top 100 Toys Under £10

We are pleased to announce that Doodlebugs has been reviewed and placed in the Great Toy Guide Top 100 Stocking Fillers in the pre-schooler (3+) category.

The article states that Doodlebugs is a great game that helps kids learn about colours, shapes and numbers.

See here for the full review.

The Orchard Toys Doodlebugs Game is simple but very exciting, game to match the same colour or quirky 'doodlebug' character cards to the last card played. Take a look and get your award winning stocking filler game today.

Top Parent Bloggers

We are pleased to announce that our blog has jumped a massive 38 places to number 49 in this months Tots100 index - we suggest you go and take a look at all the blogs listed there are some great reads!

British Mummy Blogger Carnival

We are very pleased that our post on Preparing for a New Baby has been added to this weeks BMB carnival - Thank you Yummy Mummy Tips. This weeks carnival has a birth / birthday / rebirth theme and there are lots of great posts there to read - so take a look.

Friendly Baby Competition

If you sign up to receive the Friendly Baby monthly newsletter before the end of December you can win two Usborne first experience books from Littlesheep Learning.




Friendly Baby is the simple choice for cloth nappies, and natural and eco baby products.

Featured on Family Friendly Working

I am pleased to say I have been profiled as the Mumpreneur behind Littlesheep Learning on Family Friendly Working - do go and take a look there are a lot of very inspirational Mumpreneur Profiles on there - Mums at all sorts of different stages of their business careers.

While Shepherds Watched

'While Shepherds Watched' sell Handmade Children’s Nativity Costumes and today they opened for the 2009 Nativity Play season.

Lucy, who started the business in 2006, says "I am so pleased to be able to offer tunics made from Fairtrade Organic Cotton for the first time this year. After working closely with Bishopston Trading I now have a 'limited edition' range of Fairtrade certified cotton tunics that are just perfect for Shepherds, Joseph, Mary, Inn Keepers - just about any traditional Nativity role! I team these with appropriate head dresses and head bands, and you have distinctive, unusual and beautiful costumes for your little star. The quality of these skilfully made outfits is unrivalled, which means the costume will last and last."

'While Shepherds Watched' has always aimed to be the best place to buy affordable, great looking, handmade Nativity Costumes. Let them take one of the worries of the festive season away, and leave you free to enjoy seeing your little star shine!

Driving my Tractor

Spooky Recipes for Halloween

Featured in the TGF Christmas Gift Guide

We are pleased to announce that the Orchard Toys game Crash Bang Wallop has been featured in The Green Familia Christmas Guide as a suggested stocking filler for children
Do take a look at the rest of the list too - and keep checking back for the rest of the TGF Ethical Christmas List to get lots of Christmas gift ideas.

Fine Motor Skills - Finger Rhymes

I was reading Melitsa’s blog post about finger rhymes and it reminded me how finger rhymes and action songs can help children develop their fine motor skills. Copying finger movements will strengthen muscles, increase dexterity and help children develop control of fine motor movements.

From as young as six months babies will love action rhymes like Round and Round the Garden, Pat-a-Cake, or This Little Piggy Went to Market. These songs and rhymes are great for encouraging interaction and whilst they are starting to hear these songs and see the actions they will start to join in.

One of the easiest motor actions in songs and rhymes is clapping and one of the most popular songs is "If Youre Happy and You Know it" which also incorporates the gross motor actions of stamping feet and nodding your head. Other songs which involve clapping are Clapping song, We All Clap Hands Together and Open, Shut them. Other favourites action songs and rhyme, Insey Winsey Spider and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,

Songs that can include a multitude of actions eg Copy me are great for introducing new motor movements as the repetitive nature of the song makes it easy for children to learn and then they can use imitation skills to practice new motor skills.

Other favourite ones with small children are Two Little Dicky Birds, One Finger One Thumb, Tommy Thumb, and Two Fat Gentlemen, and as Melitsa says bigger children might like the finger play Here is the Church.

What are your favourites?

Personal Customer Service

One of the things I like about owning a small business is that when you get a request from a customer - for example "If there is any chance of any of the order being yellow, great. It is my little boy's favourite colour! Any incentive to write is good!" as the note accompanying an order for triangular pencil grips we can usually fulfil our customers wishes.

'Suitable' home education review

My home educating friends have alerted me to yet another review challenging their way of life and I thought it was worth writing a post about it.

The government is to commission a review into what a "suitable" and "efficient" education means for home educated children in England. Contrary to popular belief there is no legal obligation for children to attend school - but there is a responsibility of parents to provide an education that is suitable for their age and aptitude. The government has now decided in response to a report into home education, that they need a clearer definition of what is required.

I think this seems crazy - how do you prove whether something is suitable - what are the outcome measures? Is there actually any proof that HE children receive a less suitable education than those same children would have received in school and does anyone actually assess whether a child in school is actually in the most "suitable" and "efficient" school for them (rather than the one their parents have picked for their convenience) - and actually as it is the parents responsibility to provide it why do the government really care?

New Article - Sensory Play in Autumn

We are pleased to announce that an article we have written about Sensory Play in Autumn has been published at TreeHugger Mums - do take a look and tell us what you think.

Children's Book Week

This week (5th-11th October) is Children's Book Week. Children’s Book Week is a celebration of the enjoyment of reading for children of primary school age. Schools, libraries and bookshops all over the UK hold events and activities aimed at encouraging children to view reading as a source of pleasure, explore libraries and bookshops and even start writing themselves.

The aim of Children’s Book Week is to celebrate reading for pleasure. Designating a special day or week for book-related activities can help children to see reading as pleasurable and fun, stimulating them to discover new books, extend their reading choices, discuss and share books, explore libraries and bookshops, and do their own creative writing.

Road Safety

In our School Newsletter there was a plea for us to make time to enforce the "stranger danger" message to our children and make use of this link http://www.personalsafetyadvice.co.uk/what-stranger-danger.html so I thought I would share the request!

There is also a feature on the Keeping Healthy, Staying Safe DVD-Plus about Safer Strangers which is well worth a look and you can role play with our People who help us puppets.

Spooky October Offer

October is the traditionally the month for all things spooky and whilst most of the things we sell at Littlesheep Learning do not fall into this category we are delighted to announce that our Magic Cauldron Game is our featured product for the month so you can celebrate Halloween with spooky sums and save a third off the usual price!

This Orchard Toys Game is a unique way to make learning addition and subtraction exciting! Fill bubbling cauldrons with weird and wacky ingredients as you solve the sums. Check the answers by rubbing the heat sensitive 'ghost' patches on the cards to see if you are right. For 2-4 players. Ages 5-8.

Scottish Class Sizes

Fiona Hyslop the Education Secretary in Scotland has announced that Local Authorities are to be given the legal protection they require to limit P1 class sizes to 25 - this is in comparison to the England and Wales legal limit of 30.

The right of children to more time and attention in the classroom and delivery of improved literacy and numeracy in early years are at the centre of the Scottish Government's decision to introduce new regulations, which will allow local authorities to tackle the largest classes and help drive down P1 classes towards 18. The Scottish Government plans to introduce regulations to establish a maximum class size for primary one from the start of the next school year. This is the first time since devolution that legislative action has been taken to limit the number of children in primary one.

Ms Hyslop also announced the Scottish Government is establishing a Class Size Review to examine the variety of rules and regulations governing individual class sizes across primary and secondary levels, and how to make them more coherent, giving consideration as to whether primary legislation is required.

So how many children are in your childs class? do you feel it makes a difference?

My children are lucky to go to a small school - there are about 25 in each class, but I am aware that this causes other issues in terms of the school budget as a bigger proportion of the funding per child needs to go on teachers.

Award Winning Products

We are pleased to announce that the Child's Eye Media DVDs People Who Help Us 1 and People Who Help Us 2 as stocked at Littlesheep Learning won the 2009 Overall Winner Gold Award in the Practical Pre-School Awards (Multimedia section). Well done to everyone at Child's Eye Media.

Healthy Kitchen Competition

Primary school children in deprived areas get free school lunches

All primary school children in two areas will from today get a free, healthy lunch every day throughout the school year as part of the Government’s action to reduce childhood obesity and improve the health of all children.

The start of the free school meal pilots in Newham and County Durham comes a week after new research by the School Food Trust (SFT) finds that one in five parents on low incomes are not checking if they are eligible for free school meals. In Wolverhampton more children at both primary and secondary schools will be entitled to free school meals this year.

Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families Ed Balls said:

“Eating a nutritious meal at lunchtime from a young age can help improve the behaviour of children in school and at home – that’s why these pilots are so important. Healthy school meals are vital to helping children do well at school and to prevent obesity.

“I encourage all families who are entitled to a free school meal to claim this valuable support. For those who are not eligible school meals are still a great deal and give parents good value for money. We know from recent research by the School Food Trust that parents with two children could save over £1,000 in a school year if they chose school meals – as well as the reassurance that their children are eating good quality, healthy food.

“We want to make sure that children are getting a healthy, balanced meal at school which is why we have introduced the new nutrient standards. Teenagers are the hardest group to reach but that doesn’t mean giving up, we must simply work harder to encourage them away from the take-away and into their school canteen. The Government is creating a legacy of healthy eating in children from a young age so by the time they reach secondary school they are more likely to want to eat a school meal.”

Andy Burnham, Secretary of State for Health said:

"Obesity is the biggest health challenge this country faces. There are currently 1.5 million children who are overweight or obese, leaving them at an increased risk of developing conditions such as type 2 diabetes, cancer, heart and liver disease later in life.

"Nutritious school lunches can make eating well a healthy habit for life. The measures announced today are an important part of our work to tackle childhood obesity, alongside the national Change4Life movement and our new ambition to move from 'relegation candidates to play-off contenders' in the international physical activity league tables."

Last week the SFT launched their new campaign ‘Bringing down the Barriers’ that will target pupils and parents to show them how much money they can save per year if they claim their free school meal, which is especially vital in the current economic climate. The campaign will also continue to work with schools to make sure they don’t stigmatise children on FSM, for example, 34 local authorities are using the £100 million government funding for dining rooms and kitchens to install swipe card systems so that FSM pupils cannot be identified.

Judy Hargadon, Chief Executive of the School Food Trust said:

“The nutrient standards are key to ensuring all children have access to a healthy and nutritious lunch at school but they will only be beneficial if children take up the meals on offer. Recent research highlights that there could be as many as 300,000 children currently missing out on the opportunity of a free school meal. Reasons behind this are complex, but parents tell us that stigma and not knowing whether they are eligible or not can put them off signing up.

“We are working with schools and Local Authorities to promote free school meals and make sure parents have all the information they need in order to claim them. As the recession bites and unemployment rises, families will want to be making all the savings they can so we would urge any parent to check with their school or local council and if entitled, start claiming this great benefit for their children.”

Newham Mayor Sir Robin Wales said:

“Everyone knows how important school meals are and here in Newham we pride ourselves in having some of the best. This pilot means we can make a huge difference to the lives of our pupils and our families, particularly those on the breadline. We are one of the country's poorest boroughs and many families have felt extra pressure on their budgets during the recession. This is a great way of both putting money in their pockets and of improving children’s health and fitness - one of our top priorities - to boot. We are with them every step of the way."

So should this be rolled out nationwide? What do you think?

Research - Professional and parent attitudes to dietry intervention ASD

I've been sent details about a study into parents' and child health professionals' attitudes to dietary intervention and I thought some of my readers might be interested in participating - so here are the details:

The study

Researchers at Newcastle University would like to find out about parents'and child health professionals' experiences of autism research and their attitudes to the use of the gluten- and casein-free diet as an interventionin ASD. We are carrying out two web-based surveys; one for parents/carers and the other for child health professionals who support children with ASD and their families. The results of these surveys will help us plan thedesign of UK research studies into biomedical and complementary andalternative therapies for children with ASD. ParticipantsParents/carers of pre-school or primary school-aged children with a diagnosed autism spectrum disorder, and child health professionals who support children with ASD and their families, are invited to take part.

What happens next?
If you are interested in taking part, please visit our website: http://www.ncl.ac.uk/cargo-ne/PADIA.html. When you follow this link, you'll go to a web page that tells you more about the study, and will ask you to enter some details. We will then send you a letter of invitation with a unique ID number and the link to an information sheet. This information sheet has the link to the web-based survey.

If you would like any more information about this study, please contact: Professor Ann Le Couteur.

Going to the Dentist

We've just had a family trip to the dentist so I thought a post about preparing children for 'going to the dentist' would be a good idea.

So - how do you prepare your child for visiting the dentist? Here are our top dos and don'ts

Do

• make the trip enjoyable
• let the child bring a favourite toy along to show the dentist / hold in the chair
• show by example, brush your teeth daily at the same time as your child
• play at dentists, show your child how the dentist will examine their teeth and then allow them to do the same to you
• read children's books about the dentist for example, Going to the Dentist the story of a brother and sister who go to the dentist which explains most things that happen at the dental surgery
• watch DVDs about Dentists for example People Who Help Us 2 in which you can see Amy have a check up and look after her teeth at home, join Amy as she becomes a dentist for the day at the surgery, follow Amy as she explores the dental hospital and watch children role playing dentists in school
• always answer truthfully any questions your child may have about the dentist
• encourage your children to role play being a dentist using their dolls / teddies or other soft toys as patients - you could use this glove puppet as a dentist

Don't

• allow your child to hear any negative dental stories from other people
• use the dentist as a threat or punishment, but also do not use bribes in order for the visit to happen
• use words that may instil fear in your child such as needle, pain or hurt
  

Our trip wasn't too bad (the baby didn't open his mouth though!) how did your last trip to the dentist go?

Starting School

It's that time of year again when talk on education / parenting blogs turns to the issue of starting school or going back to school - we've written here in the past about planning for starting school / class transitions.

So what are our top tips for preparing for school?

• Encourage your child to speak clearly and ask for what is needed, using ‘please’ and ‘thank you’
• Check they can go to the toilet alone and flush the toilet
• Get them to answer the question "what is your name?"
• Practice tidying up toys after use and sharing things and taking turns
• Leave them in the care of others for a few hours
• Make sure they answer questions with words rather than shrugs and nods
• Practice doing up and undoing fastenings on clothes (buttons etc.)
• Check they can open their lunch box / unwrap food or use cutlery
• Share lots of stories - get them to sit and listen to a story and encourage them to handle and enjoy books
• Start to get them to hold a pencil / crayon and do 'mark making'
• Encourage your child to know the names of lots of everyday items and understand their uses
• Talk to your child whilst things are happening and encourage your children to ask questions
• Tell stories about what you enjoyed at school and the fun things you did.
• Use colouring activities like these printable school colouring pictures on Netmums to encourage your child to start thinking about school.
• Build a school with your child from cardboard boxes or play-bricks, and role play schools (or get them to teach their teddies)
• Read some books about starting school, including Topsy and Tim Start School, Starting School, First Experiences: Going to School, Do I have to Go to School? and (the ever popular Charlie and Lola) I Am Too Absolutely Small for School
• Walk or drive to school together so your child gets to know the route (note how long it takes so you leave in plenty of time on the first day!)

Is your child starting school this year? Please comment and tell us about your experiences.

99 British Mummy Bloggers on Twitter

We have just found out that we are listed as number 43 in the list of - 99 British Mummy Bloggers on Twitter.

Do you want to follow us too?

New Product: Wipe Clean Alphabet and Numbers

We are pleased to announce the arrival of the My First Wipe Clean a-z Letters and 0-9 Numbers boards at Littlesheep Learning.

These sets are great for encouraging children to write their letters and numbers and are also a great resource to teach children the alphabet / letter sounds and numbers.

The sets contain a sturdy white 30x25cm board with pre-printed dashed letters or numbers on a wipe clean pen (and a spare) and a clip to keep the pen and chart together!

Special Offer: First Experiences Books

At Littlesheep Learning we have the remainder of our old priced First Experiences books on special offer. These titles now RRP at £2.50 each but whilst stocks last you can get them for the old price of £1.50 each. So if your child is starting school, you are having a new baby or moving house or planning a trip to the doctor, dentist or hospital - take a look.

Questions

I know my children ask a lot of questions and I feel fairly confident to answer most of them, but a news report on the BBC website says that four in five UK parents have been stumped by a science question posed by their children, a poll has suggested.

The top three most-asked questions by children were: "Where do babies come from?", "What makes a rainbow?" and "Why is the sky blue?" (have your children asked you those ones yet?) and more than half of the 1,002 parents surveyed thought their children knew more about science than they did.

The survey of UK parents with children aged five to 16 was carried out to mark the launch of a new website by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. The website - Science: So what? So everything - gives information to parents on answering those tricky questions from children, as well as downloadable activity sheets and ideas of places to visit.

How to answer about where babies come from? The website explains that babies are created when a cell from the mother and a cell from the father join together or "fuse". After the two cells fuse, the site goes on, they divide over and over again to create a ball of cells called an embryo that goes on to become a baby that grows inside the mother for nine months.

The website explains how a rainbow is made from light and water - with help from the sun.
And the sky is blue, it says, because the sun produces white light which is made up of all the colours of the rainbow.

But a clear, cloudless day-time sky is blue because molecules in the air scatter blue light from the sun more easily than they do red light.

So if you are stuck for the right answer and want another resource - take a look at Science: So what? So everything

Left Handers Day

Today (Thursday 13th August) is the annual Left-Handers Day for 2009 and is a chance for left-handers everywhere to celebrate the advantages of being left-handed and raise awareness among righties of the daily frustrations for left-handers living in a right-handed world. The Left Handers Club are people to create a Lefty Zone in their home, office or club where all tasks must be conducted left-handed – an interesting experience for right-handed friends and family!

Left-Handers Club spokesperson Lauren Milsom explains: “Many of us appreciate how awkward it is for left-handers having to use right-handed implements, or develop a good writing style, but few people are aware of the many advantages to being left-handed, and the outstanding achievements and successes of left-handers in a variety of fields. Left-Handers Day is the ideal opportunity to celebrate those advantages.”

The Left Handers Day website and has lots of ideas on how to celebrate the day, free posters to download, a left-handed quiz and loads of information about being left-handed.

At Littlesheep Learning we stock a range of adaptive scissors including those for left handers - if your child is showing signs of being left handed these standard left-handed scissors as used in school classrooms are ideal to help them learn cutting skills.

Get your children to use their left hands today and see how easy or hard they find it to do their usual daily activities - and let us know their experiences.

Benefits Threats

A friend has just sent me the link to the Benefits and Work website and a information about disability living allowance cuts and as this affects lots of parents with children with special needs I thought it was worth spreading the word here so more people can contribute to the consultation.

The Shaping the Future of Care Green Paper published by the DWP and the Department of Health on 14th July sets out government plans to get rid of attendance allowance and, depending on public reaction, also leaves the way clear to end the care component of DLA. The consultation period for the green paper ends on 13th November and if there has been no significant outcry against the plans by then, it is possible that whichever party is in power after the next election will take the opportunity to cut public spending by over a billion pounds a year. Unfortunately, only a few agencies are speaking out in spite of the fact that a report in November 2008 by the Institute for Social and Economic Research warned that taking DLA and AA from claimants and making it part of a ‘personal budget’ administered by social services will leave millions of disabled people worse off and with less independence.

The lack of protest is caused at least in part by ministers deliberately choosing ambiguous terms for their plans. The green paper refers only to cutting ‘disability benefits, for example Attendance Allowance’. Benefits and Work state that some organisations with predominantly younger members believe that because DLA isn’t specifically named, it isn’t going to be cut but they believe the reality is that if the government was intending to axe only AA it would have said so clearly, instead of deliberately and repeatedly using the term ‘disability benefits’ to cause uncertainty and confusion.

Benefits and Work have launched their own campaign to save these benefits and are looking for one thousand people to sign up for our No More Benefits Cuts campaign. All you need to do is provide them with your email address and first name and be prepared to give up a few minutes of your time once a week to send an email or post on a forum. So, if you think that DLA and AA are benefits worth fighting for, then please join their campaign. You don’t need to be a claimant – you might be a carer or support worker, for example – and you don’t need to be a subscribing member of Benefits and Work. You also don’t have to send any emails if you choose not to and you can remove yourself from the list at any time you wish (and they promise to never pass your details on to anyone else under any circumstances).

There is a summary of the proposals and the National Autistic Society's statement here so if you have a child with autism - please also contact them and give them your feedback.

Please share your opinions and add a link to any other organisations that have asked for feedback - get your voices heard.

Play Day

Today is Playday - the annual celebration of children’s right to play. Now in it's 22nd year Playday is a national campaign where thousands of children and young people get out and play at locally organised events.

Playday events range from small-scale neighbourhood get-togethers to large-scale public events organised by local authorities and national organisations. Anyone can organise a Playday event or take part in celebrations. Your Playday doesn’t have to be a huge public occasion, you may prefer to organise a small residents-only street party or celebrate with a group of friends and family.

Each year Playday has a campaign theme, this year it's Make time! The campaign is calling for everyone to make time for play. From parents, carers and teachers, to policy makers and planners - everyone can make time to support children’s right to play. Find out more about the Make time! campaign here.

Make time to play with your children today - outside play here is going to be wet and puddle splashing!