Holiday reading

Every so often I write a post about the books I have been reading and thought it was about time I wrote one again (well I thought it was about time I wrote any post actually...). I don't write in-depth reviews, they take too long and I am lazy. These are just brief synopses of some of the books I have enjoyed, with no plot spoilers and with the intention that you are not influenced by my views (I save them for book club). They are all, in my opinion, good books.



Elizabeth is missing by Emma Healey

This was a quick read that really struck a nerve. Alzheimer's affects many people and this book made me think often of my dear granddad. It is written from the viewpoint of Maud and weaves together her childhood and the disappearance of her sister, with the disappearance of her friend Elizabeth. The characters were believable, easy to relate to and I actually felt humbled by the patience of Maud's daughter (so much like my mum) and the determination of Maud. It made me laugh, it made me cry and was enjoyable even though it worried me (lots of books with realistic themes worry me).

Bone Clocks by David Mitchell

I am a big fan of  Cloud Atlas and have about four of Mitchell's books on kindle waiting to be read. At the moment my eyes are preferring real books though. Bone Clocks starts in the eighties and, like Cloud Atlas, has reality mixed with 'believable' fantasy, in both characters and events. I enjoyed it because I could relate to the teenage angst of Holly in the eighties and I like fantasy fiction. It was gripping from start to finish, with only a few 'what?!' moments (I liked the end chapters, but got lost/annoyed somewhere before that). The reader is reminded of global issues such as terrorism, war and what might happen in a dystopian future society (food, electricity rations, no communication systems etc, which always freaks me out). The characters are great and believably written, from the obnoxious Crispin Hershey to the charming Hugo Lamb. I am in awe of Mitchell's imagination and storytelling and would love to have a book club chat with anyone who has read it! (Though I finished it a few weeks ago now and find that stories often float out of memory.)

Dirty Teaching by Juliet Robertson

I bought this one for school. A great book to dip into for any fan of learning outdoors, it has great ideas that support our school curriculum.

The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan

The name of this book was taken from a famous work of Japanese literature (one of the many things I learned from reading this) and is essentially about the building of the Thailand-Burma railway during World War II. It is harrowing and at times difficult to read. I am glad I read it. I wept many times because of the shocking conditions that these soldiers were in and the reality of how 300 soldiers can be treated so appallingly (and acceptingly) by the few in command. It brought back my psychology studies and a trip to a memorial in Borneo. It is a harrowing read. I sobbed uncontrollably twice. Once because of the compassion shown by a Greek man and his chip shop (I don't want to give anything away) and also the unbelievable, but true, part about the vivisections. There is a love story woven throughout, but this does not lighten it. I needed to talk to people about this whilst reading it, because I found it so incredibly disturbing.  A must read, even though I'm not sure when the best time to read it is - don't expect to sleep easily afterwards.


The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton

A quick and easy holiday read. I enjoyed it for that very reason - it was light relief after the previous book. It has a slight fantasy feel to it, though I thought more could have been made of that. On amazon they liken it to The Goldfinch and Girl With a Pearl Earring, but it is not really in the same league as either of those. It does have believable characters and a good storyline, but lacks the depth of the former and the atmosphere of the latter. That is not intended to be criticism - I repeat that I really enjoyed reading it!

The Children Act by Ian McEwan

This book has a similar theme to the some of the others I have read of McEwan's, in that a significant event has a massive impact on one of the key characters. The central character is Fiona, a high court judge who deals with family law and is having a bit of a crisis in her personal life. There are many cases that she deals with that make up this story, but the main one is about a 17 3/4 year old Jehovah Witness (Adam) who has leukaemia and is refusing treatment. It is not a lengthy book, but I didn't read it quickly as I found myself really thinking about the issues in the cases and in her personal life, which I think McEwan captured well. I wasn't entirely convinced about Adam, but that's more about my experiences with teenage boys than anything else. Well worth reading (and again I would really like a book club chat about it!)

Looking back at my past book club post, I realised that there are many other good books I have read in between that one and this one: We are all completely beside ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler (very different from anything else I have read and took me back to my psychology studies too); The Rosie Project by Don Tillman (loved it - much more so than other book clubbers - and laughed aloud a lot); Knight's Shadow by Sebastien de Castell (the second of his fantasy romps with a bit of a musketeer feel); Assassin's Apprentice and Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb (not as in-depth as other fantasy novels, but that makes it an easy and enjoyable read when your mind is on other things at work); The Girl on the Landing by Paul Torday and The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield were both good book club reads that I wouldn't have chosen myself.  I have read more, but some were not so good ...

I am now returning to my favourite genre of fantasy fiction, with Queen of Fire by Anthony Ryan, which I am loving. Ryan has cleverly written this in a way where I am reminded of previous events, without him repeating anything or making the links between past books and present forced.  I also have The Skull Throne by Peter Brett to finish. I started reading it as soon as it was published, but decided that I needed to read the three previous books again before finishing it (my shocking memory was not helping me understand parts of it!)

As always, I value your recommendations, though I do have a pile of new books to get through (thanks to my boot sale addiction and the generous vouchers from parents and work colleagues).

Here are some of the books my friends are reading. I'm sure they will inspire you! I love how Amanda has separated her piles. I tend to borrow 'work' books from the library, then forget to read them until they are due back...

Amanda Cockburn's

 

Jo Neale's 

Becki Jennings'

Teachmeet East Harling

This evening we hosted our very first teachmeet at East Harling. It really was a 'back to basics' teachmeet, with no live-streaming and no tweeting during the presentations. I make no apology for this and actually think that it made for a better event as everyone was concentrating on what was being said - and joining in with the more interactive parts. I tried to liveblog, but my ipad decided to have keyboard failure, so that was that!

Thanks to our generous sponsors, all attendees got a great swag bag with lots of goodies inside. We had delicious cakes and sweets on the tables to keep us going. The note books and pens came in very handy for all the top tips we learned throughout and our new hot mugs are much appreciated. 

Here is a flavour of the brilliant presentations.

Up first was @AmandaCockburn who took us through a series of activities and actions to support fine motor skills development. Funky fingers and finger gym activities are completed daily in her classroom. Amanda has a huge collection of resources in her classroom to support fine motor development. Her inspiration comes from @tishylishy on Pinterest where you can find other brilliant ideas.

We had a great bit of audience participation with dough disco! 

Next up, @AmandalYates shared story bags for RE, for creative and reflective responses to story telling. Using the props and the ideas from given scripts in the Bible Storybook, you can build up a story from the bible, ensuring that children are given lots of time for thought and reflection. Through this, children explore a range of ideas, thoughts and feelings.

Matt shared some great websites to use in maths for primary aged children. They can be found on the class blog. Favourite ones include maths sticks and transum.

Next, @beckijennings shared with us how films can be used to inspire writing. She has a fantastic Pinterest page where you can find a lot of these films.

I can vouch for My Morning Jacket - If you Touch Me ... as I have used it three times with year two children as a big writing stimulus, with incredible results. Try it yourself!

Next to come up on the fruit machine was @JenniH68 who talked us through the benefits of using solo taxonomy as a great method of assessment for learning. Jenni also explained how clearly it can show progress in a lesson, or across lessons, to any visitors in the classroom. She shared the lego film which explains nicely the principles of solo taxonomy, then showed how she uses it for self assessment by asking children to circle where they are on the learning objective / marking slips that go in their books.  

Next up, Lisa talked us through how she has used the inspirational book, The Arrival by Shaun Tan. She has used it in many different ways, but generally as a resource for PSHE. She shares how, as a book with no words in it, it levels the playing field for all children. It provides a great stimulus for thinking through a range of ideas, problems and dilemmas.

Lisa also shared the great video she has used that has been created by Frederik Vorndran. It really is a book that every school should own as there are many opportunities for PSHE, writing and drama that can be gained from it. 

Next up, Tessa (who used to take my yoga class and is utterly brilliant!) showed us how to use yoga in the classroom to help children maintain focus when they have been sitting for a while, like after assembly. She explained how she scatters bits of yoga throughout the day as a kind of brain gym, and as we all had been sitting for a little while we had a bit more audience participation!

After a spot of yoga, Melissa had a bit more audience participation with her spaghetti marshmallow maths! Why use art straws when you can have fun with food. There were rules though, like 'no licking!'

 I'm ashamed to say that I forgot to take pictures of some of the marvellous creations around the room, but you can see some of the class maths on their blog. 

After a bit of maths @jenniH68 showed us how to get some quality writing by slowing it right down with slow writing. This is another great free resource that really can help children produce quality writing, by following the prompts on screen and having thoughtful discussions with their partners. Try it! It's fab!

Back to maths with Laura, who showed us how you can use something in the news, like the sugar content in our drinks, to cover percentages in maths. You can see more on her class blog where her year 5 children participate in a think before you drink investigation. A super way to use maths in a meaningful context. 

Emma talked us through Osiris effort levels and how she uses these in class. By holding fingers up at children you can give them immediate feedback about where you think they are, or you can ask them to self assess where they are. Effort level 1 means you are distracting others, 2 letting yourself getting distracted, 3 is that kind of not brilliant effort place, up to 5 where you are putting best effort in. A simple but effective way of giving feedback and getting children to self assess.

I may have presented next, but there is no photo as I was using my iPad. I shared thinking blocks and lots of lovely computing resources for primary, which of course you can see on this blog by following the computing link. 

 Last but not least, @seeman_paul shared maths garden, which he learned about on a trip to the Netherlands. It is a whole school maths resource that has a huge benefit - it changes difficulty level according to where children are. You can track progress easily and they have found it to be a useful school resource.

The presenter raffle was much appreciated at the end - I will blog about this tomorrow!

Learn to Code

I have long been a fan of the Rising Stars Switched on ICT units because of the way that they cover ICT in a creative way, supporting teachers who have low confidence in covering he curriculum. With the move to the computing curriculum, Rising Stars have responded quickly, with a set of Learn to Code books, written by Claire Lotriet @ohlottie. 

When I first saw them I was impressed with the way that the units are set out in easy to follow steps and that they can be used progressively through KS2. Our ICT coordinator felt the same and that they would be a useful addition to the resources that we have in school. 

Exploring Kodu

The fact that the activities are based on free resources means that it can be a cost effective way of covering the computing curriculum, especially for less confident teachers. There is a great variety too! The programs in the unit cover sequence, selection, and repetition in programs; working with variables and various forms of input and output. I was pleased to see Kodu and Thimble included and impressed that it moved on to things like Python and AppInventor. 

Ensuring the Scratch instructions work!

It was important to find out what our children thought though, as they often have different opinions from the teachers!  So my year 5 code club (which includes some digital leaders) have spent the last couple of weeks reviewing some of the activities (they selected the ones they wanted to try out). The thing that stood out was that my children were generally able to follow the instructions and investigate independently. There is a range of ability within this group and the normal range of personalities, from those who quietly persevere, to those who prefer to work in pairs and others who are motivated by other's successes. The children who have the least stamina were given the easier tasks from the first books.

Lightbot explorers

I did my usual observing and questioning and when they did get stuck I encouraged them to return to the last instruction and try again, which they did! They have learned essential computing skills, such as using logical reasoning and debugging as well as perseverance. They have thoroughly enjoyed using them – not just the more familiar resources like Scratch, Lightbot or Snap and the creative enticement of Kodu, but relishing the success they felt when they have managed to create a script and program a turtle using TouchDevelop. Drawing a square with a turtle using this unknown resource was a huge coding achievement for one child.

Amazing perseverance with TouchDevelop

I think this is a great scheme for helping primary aged children (and early secondary) develop their coding confidence. If you lack confidence as a teacher to deliver the computing curriculum, you won't go far wrong with these. 

NB Depending on the experience of your children, you may want to use books meant for lower year groups with your children.

Successful resources for the computing curriculum

Last Thursday #DLChat focused on successful resources that have been used in the computing curriculum. I started a gdoc to crowd-source these successes and to show how digital leaders have supported delivery of the computing curriculum. Many of you will know how passionate I am about digital leaders, the benefits to them as students and the impact that they can have in school. It is great to see how schools have benefited from their skills. 

 This differs in the crowd-sourced computing document as it is not just ones that are known, but ones that have been used.  I have blogged about many computing resources and am proud to say that there are very few that I haven't tried in school - and this is mostly because they are new, not appropriate for KS1 and I only have an hour a week with my code club so haven't got round to them yet. Please add any that you know of that haven't been listed. There are lots of valuable ideas in the #DLChat story below too. 

Bugs and numbers

This is another lovely EYFS/SEN app made by Little Bit Studio. Like Bugs and Buttons, the graphics and the music are appealing and of high quality. There is a range of games to play, to enhance early maths skills from counting and adding to time and fractions.

As with the last app I reviewed, there is a handy finger to give you a hint should you need it.

The first game I played was number recognition and ordering to 100. If you get the order wrong you get an 'oops', but then continue from where you were, which is good.

At the end you get a score, which I would then encourage children to try and beat.

The next game I looked at was a sequencing game. It shows you the order of the xylophone, which you then shake up before replicating. A nice matching/sequencing game. 

The time game is a simple match the analogue to digital time. I only played this briefly so it may go past hour times. It scaffolds learning by showing the time as you move the small hand, then the train chuffs away if you match the time correctly. 

The adding game uses ants as visual, which I know will appeal to children. It is a great game for independent work for a child with SEN in my class as I know he will experience lots of success with it-which it more important than challenge at times. 

The music is appropriate for each game, with a lovely Italian favour during pizza fractions! 

The measuring lab had suitably scientific kooky music too. If you weren't watching your child at play, you would know exactly what they were doing.

There is also some lovely humour too - during game show addition and subtraction (level 1) I was told that I am a super genius! ☺️ That's what I tell my children all the while!

I haven't played all the games in the app, but from the ones I have played I would recommend it as another quality app for early years education. I will definitely be using this in class.

Bugs and buttons

This morning I am exploring some more apps that are great for EYFS and children with SEN in ks1. Little Bit studio have made a range of 'bug' apps that look beautiful, because of the brightly coloured high-definition graphics. They definitely feel like the high quality resource you would want to be using in the classroom. 

Learning and exploring through play is key for our youngest children and Bugs and Buttons 2 lets children do this. There are 18 games within the app, with different environments for your child to explore. It covers a range of skills, from counting and sorting to manipulating and early computing (computational thinking) skills. The latter happens as children have to think about what they need to do to be successful within the games. It's nice that the games don't get too hard, too quickly, but that is a bit frustrating for me as a reviewer, so I have bought it for my favourite little beta tester to trial too (thanks Ruby!) I will share her views once I have them. 

A quick snapshot of some of the games

The first game I played was a simple match the button to the trolley game. I realised quite soon that you could speed it up by adding more buttons to each trolley, then got it wrong when I was matching by colour, but not by button. Early computational thinking. At one point it seemed quite frantic (in a good way) as I was trying to put all the buttons I had on screen into the trolleys before they rolled away. A nice matching game.

The next game I played is a 1:1 correspondence game, whereby you have to give the right dish of treats according to the number of bugs. It has nice background music for an app- well it didn't irritate me like some have! Before starting the game there is a helping hand to give a hint about what to do. 

This game is a lovely manipulation game that I shall try with a child in my class. (If you use your personal ipad in class it is important that you lock it to the one app so that they don't go wandering.) In this game you pinch the screen to create an elastic band, to bounce the buttons so that they don't hit the bugs. Lovely! 

I will be having a look at the other games, but for just over £2 I really don't think you can go far wrong! Here are the other games that you can play.

I will add my beta testers reviews once I have them, so come back and check them out soon - or subscribe to updates. If you have any thoughts, please comment below!

Another free computing app: Tickle

My good #DLchat friend @clcsimon recommended this app to me during #dlchat a couple of weeks ago. You can use it to program air drones, connected toys and smart home devices, such as Philips Hue lighting system. If you don't have any of these devices you can do like I do and use it to program Orca. There are some 'courses' on their website that you can use ( https://tickleapp.com/courses/) or you can create your own.

Other creatures are available within the app, which is free. It's another one that is as easy to use as Scratch and Hopscotch, but the different 'sprites' will appeal to different children. It also has some quite funky music. The fact that it's free means it is definitely worth getting your digital leaders or code club members to explore and review it. It's their opinions that really count isn't it? I shall add my code clubber's thoughts when they've had a play.

If you've already done that, please share blog posts or your thoughts in the comments. Thank you!