Maths Wrap

For children, learning their times tables can be repetitive and boring – now thanks to the Maths Wrap, counting numbers is a whole lot of fun. The kinesthetic element aids memory and could be used at home or as a great mental warm up to a numeracy lesson.

Maths Wrap looks like an ipod and feels like a game, yet is a powerful tool for building confidence and helping children to understand the process of multiplication. The ipod-sized device has numbers notched down one side, and a cord attached. It comes with 12 cards to test different tables.

Many children learn best when they are physically engaged and doing something with their hands as it helps them to process information. The ‘doing-and-seeing’ method also helps children recognise patterns of numbers in the tables they are learning. Chilren, who are confident with multiplication, may find it easier to master complex problems such as division and algebra.

End of National Straegies

The government is to abandon the most significant education reform of the New Labour era in order to end the centralised control of schools and grant headteachers more powers, the Guardian has learned.
In a totemic break from the Blair years, next week's education white paper will signal the end of Labour's national strategies for schools, which includes oversight of the literacy and numeracy hours in primaries. The changes will strip away centralised prescription of teaching methods and dramatically cut the use of private consultants currently employed to improve schools.
They will give schools more freedom and establish new networks of school-to-school support to help drive up standards in what will be described as a "new era of localism".

Flashcards

Flashcards or Flash Cards. Either way they can be a great way to encourage children to learn and lots of fun for children and adults to play together. The Oxford Reading Tree Read at Home Flashcards are a fun way for children to learn common words used in English. Playing the word games will help children to:

1. develop memory and concentration skills
2. match letter and word shapes
3. recognise many common words by sight
4. build sentences

FIRST SKILLS FLASH CARDS introduce young children to letters of the alphabet, common colours and shapes, numbers 1 - 20 and maths symbols, important concepts which are the foundation of their future learning.

SAY AND SPELL FLASHCARDS are a fun way for children to develop their early reading skills.

Using the cards will help children to:

1. Match letters to picture
2. Match letter sounds to letter shapes
3. Sounds out letters in words
4. Blend letters to make words
   

All school Sats tests 'might go'

Experts looking at testing in England's schools have said formal Sats tests might eventually be replaced by teachers' assessments of their pupils.

As taken from the BBC website

Wear Valley Food Festival

The Wear Valley Food Festival is the largest food festival in the North East, attracting in excess of 20,000 visitors last year. This award winning event is held at the historic Auckland Castle, the ancestral home of the Prince Bishops since the 12thC.
Enter the grounds through the Clock Tower Gate and you will find an avenue lined with a wide selection of stalls. As you wander further into the grounds, there are more stalls waiting to be discovered, selling quality local and regional food and drink. In the Kitchen Marquee you will see numerous cookery demonstrations. The Northern Rail Marquee is full of all kinds of Arts & Crafts. Inside the Castle itself, take a moment to visit St Peters Chapel, one of the largest private chapels in Europe, before entering The Gentleman's Hallway, lined with more stalls.
Meander up the staircase and into The Throne Room that has been transformed into a magnificent Tea Shop serving a wide range of refreshments to tempt the palate, before finally reaching The Long Dining Room, lined with even more stalls and of course the home of the world famous Francisco de Zurbaran paintings.

Come and visit me in the marquee, where I will be exhibiting with Phoenix Cards and lots of educational resources from Education Takeaway. Ann Clement from Bush Essentials, a traditional skincare range developed using the age-old recipes of generations of pioneering Australian women, will be exhibiting in the castle so why not stop by and say hello to both of us.

Shortlisted for The North East Digital Awards

Imagine my surprise when I opened an email on Monday evening entitled Did You Make it? I nervously opened the attachment and scrolled down the page to the catergory I had entered. I had been shorlised, along with another two, in the catergory Best e-commerce Website. The others shortlisted in the same category are The Card and Gift Company and FiFieFoFum.
So on Wednesday 25th March I'm off to Newcastle for the Awards ceremony. Not being a native Gordie and wanting to kill two birds with one stone so I'm doing some networking over lunchtime, followed by shopping and then off to the awards a 6.00. So all in all a fun packed day, wish me luck.

Who's the most important person to love today?

Who's the most important person to love today?