Lively Learners

Here is a game we've been enjoying in our online classes this week. This one helps practise vowel sounds. There are 3 levels of difficulty, and three different speeds, so plenty of options to customise for your child.

(I have to confess I spent longer than is probably reasonable playing this one!)

Coconut Vowels - Arcademics Spelling with double vowels

If spelling homework fills you with dread, try this website for something a bit different. Input your child's words and pick an online activity to help them practise these. The game called 'Spelling Practice' also helps keyboard/typing skills, so that's two jobs done for the price of one!

Free Online Spelling Training & Games for Grades 1, 2, 3 and 4 Fun interactive spelling games for kids in early elementary years (grades 1, 2, 3 and 4). Type, listen and learn English – preparing to your spelling test can be as simple as that! A free online website.

My last post was aimed at secondary learners but, as luck would have it, Corbett Maths also have a primary website. It's aimed at the English Curriculum, but the concepts are the same north of the border, and this website offers video explanations (really useful to avoid homework battles) and plenty of additional practice questions.

From about P4 onwards, try the '5 a day' - a mixed bag of questions to keep knowledge and skills fresh in your child's head.

Corbettmaths Primary Primary 5-a-day, videos, worksheets and more

This is one for our slightly older learners. We're currently working on Nat 5 maths in our house (G.C.S.E. equivalent for my English friends; Standard Grades or O-Levels for followers of a certain age 🙈) and this website has proved invaluable for helping with revision. I have a Higher in Maths, but it was so long ago, the rust has long since set in 🤯. This website offers video explanations, worksheet practice, problem solving and much more. It really is worth a look if you have a young person in secondary school.

Corbettmaths Welcome to Corbettmaths! Home to 1000's of maths resources: Videos, Worksheets, 5-a-day, Revision Cards and much more.

This beautiful, 2 minute long animation from the BBC looks at a WW1 Battlefield through the eyes of the animals there. Although it's aimed at younger children, I find older ones really enjoy watching this, and the discussion it provokes is amazing. Any time I have the opportunity, I share this clip with children and young people.

Poppies A beautiful animation following a young rabbit through the poppy fields.

Not X.

Here is another - super simple - game to practise times table multiples. It's called 'Not X' where X=12 times whatever table you're working on. So if we're working on the 4 times table, the game is 'Not 48', if you're working on the 6 times table, it's 'Not 72', and so on.

Players take turns to write the next 1, 2 or 3 multiples, and you don't want to be the person to write the 12th multiple (48 in this game). It's really quick (so it doesn't feel like homework) and involves a bit of strategic thinking too (always a bonus!).

Inspired by Playful Learning Games, this 'seasonal' activity has been popular with my lively learners over the last couple of weeks. We've been using it to practise multiples, but it also works really well for younger learners counting forwards and backwards (particularly crossing those tricky tens).

Start with a basic star outline and decide which times table you're going to focus on. Roll the dice, add that number of parts to make a web and then populate the multiples of whichever table you picked. Your partner does the same - they carry the web on from where you left off, but write in their own multiple sequence. On your next turn, carry on the multiples from where you left off. Once you reach 12x your number, go back to 1x (or you could challenge yourself and keep going).

We had great fun with this game, and lots of chat about which numbers appear in several different times tables.

Many schools are stopping for the October break this week. Term 1 has passed in a flash, but a holiday is always welcome! Thank you to all my families for their continued support, and to my students for another term of fun and learning. Whether you have a weekend, a week or a fortnight off, have a relaxing break.

I came across this website by accident - unbelievably, it's been created by a 14 year old! It contains games to help develop maths and problem solving skills. I particularly like 'Nomber Man', which helps consolidate multiplication facts. Sadly I wasn't very good at it (!) but I spent a very happy half hour trying it out.

The Game Box

Nessy have some excellent resources to support children - and not just those with an identification of dyslexia. Dyslexia friendly resources can benefit ALL learners. This month, they have some free training, which is well worth a look.

Dyslexia Awareness Month 2024 Celebrate Dyslexia Awareness Month 2024 with Nessy!