Month: July 2015

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JIGSAWS- A POWERFUL LEARNING TOOL!

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I have always loved jigsaw puzzles.

Children learn so much by the manipulation of shapes to create pleasing images.

Recently I watched children complete a simple, colourful jigsaw about the farm.

To complete it they had to think logically and find 4 right-angled corners, border pieces, keep checking the picture and go from large picture to small details. They had to concentrate fully and commit to actually completing the puzzle. So much learning took place!

There were various times when it wasn’t going so well and they had to problem solve and cooperate. There were some cross words as they disagreed on various methods. (It was a large and difficult puzzle for a 3 and 5 year old!)

Finally I watched their increasing concentration and mounting levels of anticipation and excitement as the gaps decreased and the picture came together.

And finally it was done!

One child wanted to rebuild straight away, the other wanted to just enjoy. We are all different!

Then the teacher in me kicked in.
We talked about the content and colours. We counted the animals and talked about the theme of the picture.

It sat on the floor for hours. A proud testament to their ability to stick at something,

Jigsaws are also good for adults. Studies have found that active adults who regularly complete jigsaw puzzles and crosswords experience longer lives and have less chance of developing Alzheimer’s, memory loss, dementia and other problems related to old age.

Dopamine production (crucial for learning and memory) is increased when we do jigsaws. They also increase our concentration, develop creativity and helps us to visualise, lower breath rate, reduce heart rate and blood pressure.
What’s not to like?
Start a jigsaw today!

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KIDS NEED TO TALK!

Funny child in eyeglasses standing near school chalkboard as aI am reading Maxine McKew’s book: CLASS ACT: Ending the education wars.

What a great honest, hopeful look at education. And what fantastic innovations in schools and amazing principals and teachers highlighted!  http://www.maxinemckew.com.au/

It is a grittily truthful (sometimes brutally so) book that offers a real look into BEST PRACTICE for education and cuts through so much of the meaningless claptrap that surrounds the whole subject of reforming our schools and giving our children the BEST rather than the cheapest and easiest educational practices!

I am at the JOLLY PHONICS conference at the moment and so read with interest the timely reminder from Canberra academic, Misty Adoniou (Quoted by McKew):
“Australia’s scores in international literacy tests aren’t dropping because he students who sit those tests don’t know their sounds. They are performing poorly because they cannot comprehend what they are reading. They have poor vocabularies and cannot follow sentences that employ more complex language structures. They cannot read between the lines. Our low achieving students share one, very telling characteristic. They don’t speak “school English” or standard Australian English, at home. They may speak a language other than English, Aboriginal English, or a creole, or “bogan” English ……But it’s not school English: it isn’t how the teacher speaks and it certainly isn’t what international tests or NAPLAN reward.”
“Adoniou goes on to make the point that it is the schools job to teach standard English so that everyone can participate in the learning that is meant to take place at school, but she notes that many teachers struggle to help the underperformers because of their own limited training in the fundamentals of linguistics- phonetics, semantics, morphology and syntax”.
This is really important as it points the ever-increasing need to make oral language the lynch-pin for literacy in ALL countries. I think our race to teach decoding and basic phonics might at time cloud our judgements here. We need to get these kids TALKING so all this literacy “stuff” can MEAN something. Time for reflection and meaningful examination of classroom practices?

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FUN SCHOOL by Charlotte 7 years

fun schoolWe should have a cafeteria so we can pick the food we like and and not have to eat yucky sandwiches.
Teachers should not give kids work that is too hard to handle.
We should have a choice about what we do.
We should learn the way we want to learn.
There should be less sport and more fun stuff like puppets and soft toys.
we need teachers who are nice and don’t yell.
I rate my school at 6/7 out of 10.

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