The World around us is a vast and interesting place! There are so many people, cultures, customs, foods, animals and languages to learn about.

Having had a love of travel and learning about other countries since I was was young, I have always incorporated learning about the World into my classroom program.

I’ve found time and time again that even the newest 5 year old is excited to learn about the World around them! Feedback from parents has been really positive and many have commented they wished they had done this kind of learning at school.

So let’s look at some fun and effective ways I’ve found to help my classes learn about the wider World…

A child enjoying writing a story can be a tremendously powerful thing – not only for that child’s continued development, but equally for a parent or teacher wanting to support the child. 

This is true whether the child is writing a story in a school classroom, or in their home.

It is through writing stories that children can build on their love of reading, helping improve literacy and use of language, while taking advantage of the wellspring of imagination and wonder that children have from an early age.

Learning to read and write can be an exciting part of starting school for a 5
year old! It feels like you’re a big kid when you can recognize words in a book and write some down all by yourself.

Sometimes though, these things can be a bit challenging for some and we need to find ways for these children to have success. I have found repetition and presenting the learning in a fun way has been most successful.

Also, explaining to the children why they are learning these words. E.g. We are learning these words so that when it comes to writing time you will be able to use them.

Teaching my class to read

Recently in my class of 5 year olds I have been working with a group who needed a boost with their sight word recognition to help their reading progress and some spelling work so that they could attempt to write independently.

Very often in life, whether as an adult or a child, I believe it is a human connection with someone which leads to a deeper understanding in a particular area or world view.

Something which can limit this of course is that we often spend the majority of our lives surrounded by people very similar to ourselves – usually people living in our immediate vicinity – often sharing the same native language, similar way of life, and so on. I’m sure you’re familiar with this concept.

An example of this is a child growing up in an affluent suburb in an English speaking first-world country, who has many opportunities in education and lifestyle, but might not have any direct connection with children in a very different location and circumstance.

The good news is that using free technology it is now more possible than ever before to put your students in direct contact with a class of students in a far away country, and watch their understanding and curiosity about the wider world grow in leaps and bounds!

I’ve had direct experience of this, and it is wonderful to see the engagement and enthusiasm from the kids, who just can’t wait to speak with their new found friends in another country – exclaiming as they learn about the wild animals that live nearby, and the everyday things which seem so very foreign and interesting.

Today I interview Christina from Empatico about who they are, and what makes them tick!
Read More

I’m sure you would have seen that in the classroom there are few things more captivating for children than a story full of adventure (and ideally, animals)!

Going beyond the written word, I’ve found that there are many fantastic engaging uses for online interactive stories – especially stories which are full of great characters and sounds to draw in even the least enthusiastic readers.

Today I’m going to show you some of my go-to interactive stories for my primary school students, and how I love to make the most of them…

Read More

It’s time for you to take my free spelling quiz, and see how you do!

We have here 20 words and their common misspellings.

Share with your friends and colleagues how you do and challenge them! (I made the quiz and only got 19 right – see if you can beat me!)
Read More

You and I both know that getting our students engaged in what we are teaching is the most important thing we can do.

Without engagement, the kids just don’t learn.

When it comes to technology and students, we are competing with a massive number of distractions… YouTube, Social Media, and a never ending fountain of information and entertainment.

One of the most powerful methods for engaging students I have found is bringing that technology into the classroom in a meaningful way.

Today I’m going to take you through an amazing Global Learning and Communication tool called ePals, and show you how it can be used every week to build excitement around learning about the world and it’s people…

Read More

TED talks have become something of a phenomena over recent years, bringing together interesting speakers to talk on a wide variety of interesting and thought provoking topics.

We’ve put together 14 inspirational teaching TED talk videos, from some wonderful teachers around the World.

I’m sure you’ll find them energizing and full of ideas for teaching techniques that you can bring into your classroom, to help capture your students attention and enthusiasm! Let’s take a look…
Read More