Hidden Key Literacy Specialists

Did it make me think? Yes. Did I finish the book and wonder why I read it? Also, yes. Not bad, just …. Different!

Yes, I have a full box of “vintage” ooshies, and I use them ALOT with some of my younger learners.

Here are some simple ideas on how to incorporate Ooshies into learning, helping to inspire your children to engage!

1. FIND MY HOME. Set up whiteboards or use pieces of paper to have either sounds or numbers in different locations around the room. When you say the sound or numbers, the child then races to place the Ooshie in the right ‘house’.
2. GET COMPETITIVE. Line the Ooshies up and make it a competition for who can earn the most Ooshies … if they get the question right, they keep the ooshie and if they get it wrong, you keep it. This can also be used to help them to complete their chores!
3. SOUND BUTTONS. Instead of drawing dots and lines under sounds, you can use the Ooshies to help distinguish the number of sounds in a word!

The options are limitless, so get creative. Just remember that kids like to have fun, so if you can incorporate things that are of interest to them, they will be more willing to buy in!

Sometimes, you just can’t go past the classics!

I’m not going to lie .. I was a tad disappointed. Did I hate it? No. Did I love it? Also, no.

SHOW YOUR WORKING!
I encourage even my youngest of learners to always show their working when completing a maths question! This is incredibly important because it demonstrates their understanding to the marker (which means if they make a calculation error, they can still get partial marks), prepares them for high school where it becomes compulsory to obtain full marks and also provides an opportunity for feedback on their understanding.
You can support this at home by encourage them to show their working and not to rub anything out!

It is great to teach your kids a range of techniques to help them regulate their emotions. However, when your child is deregulated … there is a big chance that they will not remember those techniques. Which is why I created this strategies flip chart!

Have your child’s favourite strategies within view to help remind them of what to do as they start to feel those big feelings, instead of struggling to regulate from the top!

Proud to be continued to be supported by SPELD QLD.

Hot take … despite this being one of THE most talked about books of the year … I didn’t like it! I think that this book was completely over-hyped … should I be turning off my comments section, or do you agree? Haha

Another amazing day at the Education Fair - QLD. Thank you to everyone who stopped by to say hello or to discuss our products and services. Also a huge thank you to the amazing Mel for helping today!