Half Term Halloween Cooking

We are nearly at the end of half term - are you bored yet? If so you might want to try some Halloween Cooking ideas.

If those recipes are too complicated - try decorating your cupcakes for halloween by adding a spider to the top (a chocolate button with legs drawn with an icing pen) or a jelly worm - or just add green food colouring to the mixture before cooking to make green cakes!

Parent's Evening

This week along with many other parents (judging by friends Facebook and Twitter statuses) we had parents evening. Thinking about parents evening reminded me of the poem "Parents' Evening" by Allan Ahlberg which describes a family and teacher waiting for parents' evening. I think this poem sums up parents evening for a lot of us.

We're waiting in the corridor,
My dad, my mum and me.
They're sitting there and talking;
I'm nervous as can be.
I wonder what she'll tell 'em.
I'll say I've got a pain!
I wish I'd got my spellings right.
I wish I had a brain.

We're waiting in the corridor,
My husband, son and me.
My son just stands there smiling;
I'm smiling, nervously 
I wonder what she'll tell us.
I hope it's not all bad.
He's such a good boy, really;
But dozy - like his dad.

We're waiting in the corridor
My wife, my boy and me.
My wife's as cool as cucumber;
I'm nervous as can be.
I hate these parents' evenings.
I feel just like a kid again
Who's gonna get the stick.

I'm waiting in the classroom.
It's nearly time to start.
I wish there was a way to stop
The pounding in my heart.
The parents in the corridor
Are chatting cheerfully;
And now I've got to face them;
And I'm nervous as can be.

Luckily our experiences this time weren't bad - our boys are meeting age related expectations, behave well and enjoy learning... we have been set more targets for them so look out for more posts about these and how we are supporting them with these at home.

Favourite Toys

It was interesting to read this article today about a survey by World's Apart's Dreamtown website that says children only play with five per cent of the toys they own. According to the survey of 3,000 parents, the typical child owns 238 toys in total but play with just 12 'favourites' on a daily basis making up just five per cent of their toys.

Is this true of your children?

Sadly, I think it is true of mine...

I can think of toys my children own that stay (almost permanently) in the cupboard, those that come out intensively for a few days at a time (e.g. they get a jigsaw or board game bug and do them non-stop for a day or two and then they go back into the cupboard for a month or so) and those there are two that I would say are firm favourites that are out all the time.

1) wooden train track (we have lots of BigJigs Rail from PlayMerrily)
2) Duplo (and slowly moving onto Lego)

What are your children's firm favourites?

Messy Play Learning

We have blogged in the past about messy play but saw that The Play Academy are looking for messy play posts for the end of October so thought we would write a new post on this theme.

Judging by the four year old's school uniform he has been doing a lot of it at school so I asked him about his five favourite messy play things and have added some learning!



1. Shaving foam
Very simple and very messy - squirt on the table and then spread out with the palms of your hand and draw shapes, patterns and pictures or write letters, numbers and even words. This is a great activity for children who don't really like writing as they are too busy drawing to realise they are practicing and developing these fine motor skills!


2. Paint
He likes paint (claims he hasn't done it this week but someone has because there was green paint on his school shoes this morning)... He then talked about rolling marbles in paint to make patterns and mixing colours.


3. Finding Buried Treasure
Hide coins in a sandpit (doesn't matter if the sand is wet or dry - wet is messier though) and dig for them - you can use spades or spoons, sieve for them or just find them with fingers.


4. Noodles
He still remembers this from Chinese New Year - a big tray of cooked noodles to stir, pick up with large tweezers (trying chopsticks if you are brave!)

5. Playdough
Probably one of every preschoolers favourites - blogged about before with recipes - lots of learning opportunities. This week they have been thinking about birthdays and have been making playdough cakes.

Book Week

Ooops I nearly missed Children's Book Week - it seems to have passed our school by...


Children’s Book Week (the first full week in October) is an annual celebration of reading for pleasure 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.

Have you taken part? What have your children been doing?

Today's Target: Spelling (Look, Cover, Write, Check Method)

The "Look, Cover, Write and Check" spelling method is an easy activity for learning new spelling words.

First, write the list of words to learn onto a piece of paper.

Look
Get the child to "Look" at the word. They should really study the word - taking the time to say it out loud, looking at the whole word, saying the letters aloud and looking for identifiable patterns or shorter words inside the bigger word. During this step they are looking for anything that will help commit the word to permanent memory. Before moving on to the next step encourage your child to close their eyes, picture the word and to try spelling the word from memory and then opening their eyes to check accuracy. Looking at the word one last time before attempting to spell it on their own can be of help.

Cover
Now they need to "Cover" the word; they can a hand, a bookmark, or another piece of paper so that the spelling is hidden from sight.

Spell
The "Spell" step is self-explanatory - they need to write the word down on the paper

Check
The final step is to "Check" the accuracy of what they have written. This is done by comparing it letter by letter to the original. If they use both hands they can simultaneously point to each of the letters in the word to make sure they notice any mistakes. If there are mistakes, the process should be repeated from the beginning until the word is spelled correctly.

We found using the Reception Key Words Whiteboard a really useful tool for the learning these words as it saved having to write a new list each time we wanted to practice.

Why do Elephants help spelling?

BECAUSE

Big Elephants Can Always Understand Small Elephants

 

 

So there you go - a simple mnemonic from the 6 year old...

 

Mnemonics are sentences or phrases in which the initial letters of the words spell out a word which many people find rather tricky to spell. He was really proud of remembering this - do you know of any others that he can learn?

Today's Target: Spelling High Frequency Words

We have now managed to read the high frequency words and we have moved on to learning to spell them... here are ten ways we tried with varying levels of popularity / success.

1. Traditional spelling test - me reading the word, him writing it down on paper
2. Using magnetic letters
3. Copying the words, saying each letter as he wrote it
4. Typing spelling test - as above but typing the answer on the computer
5. Writing silly sentences of target words
6. The look, cover, write, check method (more about this method on another post but we found also found some games online - have a search)
7. Backwards spelling - I said the letters and he had to work out what the word was
8. Using the letters from Pass the Word
9. Oral quizzes - "how do you spell..." This was great when driving or waiting for appointments
10. Correcting my spelling (for words I knew he knew - not good for learning!)

Farm Animals

Old Macdonald is once again a firm favourite in our house and if I hear e-i-e-i-o once more...

Anyway, it reminded me that I blogged before about learning about farm animals so I won't repeat myself - but thought it was worth sharing these finger puppets with you. Hope your little ones enjoy making them as much as mine.

We have also had fun playing Old MacDonald Lotto; a game which encourages you to make lots of noises and actions as you find the farm cards to match the pictures on your playing board.

Altogether now... Old MacDonald had a farm, e-i-e-i-o!

Talk Like A Pirate Day

Today is 'Talk Like a Pirate Day' so whilst it isn't a real "Jobs People Do" it is one that a lot young children wold say they want to do when they grow up - so I thought that it was worth a post.

Maybe you could have a pirate learning day?

Here are some ideas:

• make maps (art skills plus try coordinates)
• counting treasure (either make simple circles of gold card or practice real money skills)
• treasure hunts (writing, reading and solving clues)
• singing pirate songs
• reading pirate books

Today's Target: Reading High Frequency Key Words

Over the last week we have continued to work our way through the learning to read high frequency words... here are the top five ways we have practiced reading them:

1. Reading books together and seeing which ones we can spot
2. Matching pairs (using two sets of word flashcards - read as you turn over)
3. Find the word (we printed a sheet with them on in a wall arrangement and coloured the bricks)
4. Fishing (a paper clip added to the word flashcard and a magnet on a string for a rod) - read the word when you pull it out)
5. Quick reading lists - list ten-twenty of the words in a list, how fast can you read them all correctly

How have you been practicing these words?

We have started learning to spell them too - look out for a post on that next week!

Special Offer: Half Price Numberball

Does your child have the target of learning their times tables? If so this special offer is just for you!

A HALF PRICE Numberball: a great aid for learning basic multiplication.

The set includes two giant tactile eight-sided dice, as well as counters, number grids and timer.

Numberball is a fun and colourful way to help memorise the basic multiplication tables - the colour coded Numberballs and chart make finding the answer easy, and remembering it too!

There are many different ways to use Numberball; playing 4-in-a-row, using the timer, filling in the blank chart, or placing counters on the squares all of which help children remember the times tables. Suitable for 1 to 4 players.

Today's Target: High Frequency Key Words

Children in Reception / Year 1 and Year 2 have a list of high frequency words that they need to learn to read and spell. Our eldest has been given the challenge of ensuring that he can read and spell them and he is very excited about ticking them all of his list! So over the next few weeks that is what we will be doing and I will blog about the different ways we do this. If you have any great ideas please let me know!

First of all we have dug out the set of Magnetic Reception High Frequency Words and they are stuck on the fridge so we can check the reading of them by making sentences - I will leave some there for the boys to read in the morning.

I think he can read all of these and probably spell most of them but it makes sense to start with checking the reception words before tackling the list of Year 1 & 2 ones.

Fairy Tales for Boys?

Over the holidays we went to Warwick Castle and went into the Princess Tower. They have warning signs that it is "not for boys" but boy #2 wanted to go in the Princess Tower so we did.

The story goes that Princess Tower is home to Warwick Castle’s very own fairytale princess, Princess Arabella and that preparations are underway for her wedding. Children go into one of the castle rooms and meet a princess who tells them all about Princess Arabella's forthcoming wedding to Prince Toby and along the way she shows the children various things from other fair tales. So they meet a frog (who she kisses to see if it will turn into a prince), Sleeping Beauty's spinning wheel, the bed from the Princess and the Pea, one of Cinderella's old ragged dresses and help to chose the fairy tale outfit to go with Princess Arabella's dress. Then they go into another room and dress as princesses (with boys dressing as knights as a bit of an afterthought) before going onto the room of wishes where they write their wish in the book.

All in all it would seem a great introduction for children to fairy tales - so why then is it all "pink" and why are they discouraging boys from getting involved?

Surely, all children need to know traditional tales not just girls? and is it any wonder that boys are not achieving the same results in literacy if they are not being given encouragement at even this most basic level.?

Back to School

I had been meaning to write a post about starting school and transitions - but I had written about that before in these posts about starting school and transitions and I couldn't really think of much to add. I had plans for blog posts that didn't work out for various reasons but today we are "Back to School".

Tara's prompt for this week's Gallery is Back to School - and here are my two big boys going back to school.

For Littlesheep Learning this "Back to School" means a few less children at home during the day, more time to focus on the business and a new year with new plans - watch this space!

Autumn Fair

Today I went to the Autumn Fair to see what new things my old suppliers have and see if there are any new suppliers that have nice things I want to stock at Littlesheep Learning.

As usual I came away a bit overwhelmed with lots of catalogues and ideas. Now the hard work starts trying to choose what to add to our range. Lots of planning to be done over the next few weeks.

When I have blogged about it before I have managed to meet up with some other mums in business but sadly that wasn't the case this weekend - maybe next time!

Incidental Learning – But I didn’t teach them that!

How often does your child demonstrate their knowledge and you sit there thinking – how on earth does he know that, I’ve not taught him it? I know it happens a lot in our house. We don’t sit around all day with colour, letter and number flashcards (although we do have some that they play with from time to time!) yet somehow; maybe through osmosis, children seem to manage to learn this and so much more.

So how do children learn acquire general knowledge? The answer is simply by their observational skills and being given the opportunities to see things, ask questions and have information shared with them. All of this learning is incidental so they don’t realise they are doing it, as far as they see it they are going to the supermarket, watching television, having a bath or sharing a book but in reality they are doing so much more.

This post gives some ideas of how you can incorporate these incidental learning opportunities into your day.

First, make use of clocks! When your children wake for the day show them the time it is – talk about the big hand being on the (whatever) and the small hand being on the (whatever – preferably after seven!) or read the numbers on a digital clock. You’ve immediately started teaching telling the time / number recognition and you are still all in your pyjamas! You can repeat this activity throughout the day pointing out lunch time, bath time, bed time etc and telling them that at certain times things will be happening.

Breakfast and getting dressed give a whole host of opportunities. Labelling foods and clothes, colours, counting as you do up buttons, reading labels on food packaging plus developing the self-help skills related to eating and dressing.

Moving onto the household chores; sorting washing is great for learning colours – and the sooner you can get your child to pair up the clean socks the sooner it’s one job you can pass on! Tidying toys is an excellent opportunity to teach categories – all the animals in one box, musical instruments in another and the cars in a third. Cooking is a fantastic activity for incidental learning. Not only is your child learning the culinary skills, they are also reading (following recipes), measuring and counting, developing fine motor control – stirring, rolling, spooning, cutting etc, plus increasing their general knowledge by talking about food labels, where ingredients come from, plus all the describing words for example; dry, powdery, wet, lumpy, hot, cold, smooth or my son’s favourite ‘gungy’! Again a trip to the supermarket has a whole host of possibilities; colours, labels, counting, writing and reading lists (very small children can use picture lists) and money skills.

Of course children’s toys all have educational potential too. Whilst building with blocks talk about their shapes and colours. You can count the carriages on the train when playing with train sets and talk about where the people are going. Dressing up activities provide opportunity to explore topics such as people who help us through talking to your children about what they do, where they work, the vehicles they use etc, and role play with pretend food and plates / cutlery means you can talk about sharing, counting and even meal planning and healthy eating. Games can teach turn taking, matching, counting and many other skills.

Then at the end of the day, counting the stairs to get upstairs reinforces counting and bath time provides another great learning opportunity, the simplest of bath toys – a set of stacking cups is a brilliant for learning colours, sizes, measuring volume and pouring. Lastly bedtime is a lovely time to share books snuggled up together – rhyming books help with phonic development, counting books are good for teaching numbers and all books provide the opportunity for learning to read simple words, talking about the plot, the characters, predicting what comes next and a whole host of other things.

Lastly, there are lots of reports about television being ‘bad’ for children – but a few well chosen programmes can enhance their knowledge base (and yours!). For example, at three my son was telling me about the sewage treatment process thanks to Come Outside and Something Special has taught us all lots of signs and helped the children with their language development. Again, programmes such as the Numberjacks, Fun with Phonics and Alphablocks introduce numeracy and literacy skills without children really thinking about them.

So, in answer to the question – how did they learn that – the answer is you probably taught them without even thinking about it, what you see as a simple discussion about the weather will stick in a child’s head and before you know it they are telling you about the seasons, or even the water cycle!

British Mummy Bloggers Carnival

The August British Mummy Bloggers carnival is now live: http://www.playingbythebook.net/2010/08/31/british-mummy-bloggers-carnival-books-and-play/ and we are pleased that one of our blogs have been included.

Please pop by and have a read of Zoe's fantastic blog (where you can find lots of ideas linked to reading books). Read the carnival, follow the links to have a look at the other posts and get playing with books.

Independence

This week in the Gallery, Tara asked gave us the theme: One Day in August - not any day in August but more specifically Sunday 29th August... it could be a photo of anything just it had to be taken on that day. The reason for this challenge is that on that Sunday threee UK parenting bloggers Josie, Sian and Eva flew to Bangladesh for a week to help raise awareness of the work Save the Children is doing with mothers and children there. 

So my photo:

This was taken as I took my eldest to Beaver camp for the first time. It was the first time he has been away from home staying with people who are not family (he wasn't a bit phased) and the first time he had responsibility for organising his own belongings for a whole 24hours! So I left him (in his uniform) with his bag of clothes and his pillow, sleeping bag and mat (and teddy). He now has to organise the independent living skills or self-help skills as they are called for himself; he needs to dress (buttons, zips and velcro - I wasn't mean enough to make him learn to tie his laces!) himself, he needs to brush his teeth, wash himself (ok so I am not entirely sure little boys at Beaver camp do that!), comb his hair and of course I am hoping he eats using his cutlery!

Anyway, I have written about dressing skills before and maybe I should teach him to tie his shoelaces sometime soon.



On Wednesday take a look at the Gallery and see the other posts and photos we will all have taken part in one giant Blip for that day - a journal for a Sunday in August.

Does Cooking with Children = Mess or Learning?

There is an article on the BBC website If flour + sugar + children = mess, why let them bake? written by Katy from I Can Cook which got me thinking about cooking with children.

Of course cooking with children is messy but it also has a whole host of learning opportunities.

First, you need a recipe. Finding a recipe using cookery books, shows the use of non-fiction books and gives the opportunity to use an index or you could use a computer search engine. We have found using an internet search for a recipe interesting to see variations of the same recipe and deciding which one works best for us.

Then reading the recipe - older children can read it for themselves, younger ones will need help. This shows that reading is a useful skill and demonstrates the use of instructional text. If your children like cooking get them a notebook and help them make their own recipe book. This helps them practice writing skills (don't forget to add photographs or illustrations of the finished product). They can copy in favourite recipes but also make up their own simple ones for their favourite things like cheese on toast, home made ice lollies or popcorn, which gives them practice at writing instructions.

Next we need the ingredients (learning through shopping is a whole other post see summer holiday market shopping or super maths for supermarket for some ideas). Have you got everything you need or do you need to make some substitutes (strawberry jam for raspberry jam, sultanas for raisins (or chocolate chips!). Looking at the ingredients gives the opportunity to increase vocabulary and general knowledge - what is oregano? where is butter kept? how is tomato puree made? what are raisins made from? where do bananas come from?

Measuring out ingredients using both weight and volume is a great practical maths lesson, what is bigger a teaspoon or a tablespoon? How many cups of flour do we need - can you count them?

Then the making part - this involves many fine motor skills; pouring, scooping, cracking eggs, stirring, whisking, cutting, grating, spooning, kneading, rolling, squeezing, sprinkling, spreading - every part of the making process using motor skills (which in turn will help them improve their handwriting!).

Recipes that involve cooking (or freezing) also teach patience / time telling as you can't eat them immediately!

Some of the things we have made recently...