Daily Archives: 11/03/2016

Play

How can you offer your pupils a new and exciting playtime experience – each and every playtime?

Each pupil has their preferred playtime activity – talking, playing football, reading, or joining in with whatever the latest craze is in the playground. But for some, there is only so much talking, playing football, reading, and joining in with the latest craze that they can do.

Which is why Edventure has devised a Playground Pack, complete with 2D Boules, Big Hand Tennis, Catchtails, Cats Cradle, Flipsticks, Foam Flyers, French Skipping, Hoop a Peg, Koosh Balls, a Scoop Set, Plastic Stilts, a Shuttleball, Skipping Ropes, Soft Wall Balls, a Starball, a Springy Ball Game, and Twirling Ribbons.

So that you can offer your pupils a new, exciting, and varied playtime experience (each and every playtime) and create an environment where a different kind of learning takes place as they practise to perfect and broaden their skill sets.

Furthermore, we have also produced a free downloadable Game Guide to Starball so your lunchtime supervisors can be confident in introducing the new game to your pupils.

More free downloadable Game Guides can be found to accompany our playtime games, activities, and equipment at www.edventure.co.uk.

As always, you can place an order with Edventure in a variety of ways, including:

  • on the website www.edventure.co.uk/
  • by faxing us to 01323 50 10 41
  • by calling us on 01323 50 10 40
  • by emailing us at sales@edventure.co.uk
  • by post to Edventure Ltd, Hargreaves Business Park, Hargreaves Road, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN23 6QW.

If you quote HH0515 on your order delivery will be free. Without quoting the code the charge is £3.95.

Special Needs

Understanding what dyscalculia is can allow schools to help sufferers improve their maths and obtain reasonable results in their examinations

It is a strange but true fact that while most of us working in schools have come across dyslexic children and adults, many teachers have not had direct contact with anyone who is dyscalculic.

And yet dyscalculia is not only a genetic issue, as is dyslexia, it is also as common within society at large as dyslexia.

So why is it that we don’t come across dyscalculic children as often as dyslexic children?

The reason is probably that many schools recognise that they have a small number of children who are poor at maths because they have missed some schooling or failed to grasp specific lessons.

The nature of the subject, which is of course utterly cumulative, means that some children fail to grasp certain concepts simply because they failed to grasp what went before.

This is, of course, utterly different from English, where the fact that I might not be able to spell “was” does not mean I won’t be able to learn “because”.  In maths, however, if I can’t do division I will struggle to understand fractions.

Furthermore there can be social reasons why children do poorly at maths.  Missed time at school can be more detrimental in maths than in most subjects, and there seems to be a greater tendency for parents to suggest to their children that they never understood maths at school, so it just “runs in the family”.

In short there are many reasons why dyscalculia might not be seen as a special need but rather as a consequence of parenting, poor attendance, etc.  As a result specialist tuition and support may not be given as early as it might be with dyslexia.

Understanding Dyscalculia: An Introduction for Schools examines the five main causes of dyscalculia and sets out the methods of working available which can help pupils overcome their dyscalculic problems. The book contains short sections which can be photocopied to give out to other members of staff in school, to worried parents, and to governors, so that everyone can share in the awareness of what dyscalculia is, and how it can be tackled.

Above all the book shows that once we understand and accept the causes of dyscalculia we can adopt appropriate methods of teaching to overcome the problem. Research suggests that most children who gain appropriate help in school can overcome their dyscalculic difficulties and achieve an acceptable grade in secondary school examinations, thus allowing entry into further and higher education.

The book, which is available in copiable form so that it can be shared with colleagues throughout the school, is published by the Dyscalculia Centre, a leading provider of teaching materials for dyscalculic individuals. The Centre also publishes a range of books for special needs teachers working with dyscalculics, and provides on-line testing facilities for pupils and students who are thought to be dyscalculic.

There is a sample chapter available on-line at http://pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/dyscalculia/T1628.pdf

Cat No: 978 1 86083 614 5;  Publisher reference no: T1628emn

Prices

  • Photocopiable report in a ring binder, £24.95. plus £3.95 delivery
  • CD with school-wide rights: £24.95 plus £3.95 delivery
  • Both the Ring Binder and the CD £31.94 plus £3.95 delivery
  • Prices include VAT.

You can purchase the book…

Maths, Primary

Practice Papers in Written Arithmetic, complete with National Standard Guidelines and Class Record Sheets

In written arithmetic, once a mathematical concept has been grasped and rehearsed, it is time to move onto the next one. But there is a problem.

For it is not always possible to know if a pupil has grasped a concept thoroughly enough for them to be able to recall it from memory a day from now, a week from now, a month from now, a year from now, and so on…

Which is why it is so important to systematically track pupils’ progress – so that you can instantly identify which pupils are ready to advance and which pupils require more practice.

Thus we have developed a comprehensive series of Practice Papers in Written Arithmetic for pupils in Year 2 to Year 6 (prepared specifically for the 2016 syllabus), complete with National Standard Guidelines and Class Record Sheets.

The resources will not only support your pupils’ learning, increasing their understanding of written arithmetic and thus preparing them for the more advanced concepts to come, but, at the same time, they will enable you to effortlessly measure your pupils’ performance.

Each book contains six photocopiable test papers, similar in style to the new government tests for 2016, which are available as printed copies within a book, as PDFs in an e-book, or as a download from our website.

Answers are provided, along with assessment score indications at the levels of:

  • Below National Standard
  • Towards the National Standard
  • At the National Standard
  • Above the National Standard
  • Mastery of the National Standard

We have also produced the Weekly Written Arithmetic Questions series in support of the practice papers so that your pupils will not only be confident in sitting the tests, but will also be confident in the answers that they give to the questions.

Each volume in the series contains 30 pages of carefully graded arithmetic questions, each with their own full page answer sheet, and covers topics such as, number, calculations and fractions.

The price for the books depends on the format required: Paper book (£17.95), PDF e-book (£15.95 + VAT) or as a download from our website (£13.95 + VAT).

As always, you can order any of our resources in the following ways:

www.topical-resources.co.uk
sales@topical-resources.co.uk