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"The Arts in Primary Education shows how resources already present in schools, such as picture books or the outdoor environment, can be used to develop a creative culture. With a focus on long-term initiatives including partnerships with art institutions and the training and personal development of teachers, the book also presents clear and accessible explanations of the benefits of integrating the arts across a school. Backed by research and evidence and complete with images and descriptions of artworks, this guide is ideal for helping develop a whole-school arts curriculum to enrich resources and raise attainment in all subject areas."

"Building a rich vocabulary, across the curriculum, is one of the main aims for most teachers. Not only does a rich vocabulary help to create strong writing skills, but also can help with improving access to all areas of the curriculum. In his book, Andrew Jennings explains why vocabulary should be a focus in your classroom, providing resources and inspiration to help optimise vocabulary resources. resources include a focus on SPaG facts, key vocab words that support various popular primary topics, an etymology section to inspire pupils, and looking at various grammatical features that can help build a repertoire of rich vocabulary. Throughout, the book provides other resources that can be copied for classroom use, or be used to take home to help build vocabulary skills away from the school setting."

"Usually, being able to visualise mathematical concepts to students is an important step in helping them understand techniques to illustrate connections with previous learning, helping them master maths notions to progress their skills. The importance of visualising concepts is clearly integral for Peter Mattock who has collected together a valued resource of mathematical activities that can be used with manipulative across the age and ability range."

"There's a good reason why universities have spent the last few years dedicating precious resources and time to fostering a collaborative resources environment. Students who are encouraged to participate in discussions, work cooperatively in small-group settings, and actively engage with their peers are believed to gain not only the cognitive skills needed to survive in the professional workplace but also the interpersonal ones needed to thrive. And for many, the approach seems to be working. But is it working for all students?"

"No matter what the weather is trying to prove otherwise, it is summer in the UK and time to take the learning outside. Science, geography and art are often thought about when planning outside lessons as the 'learning' of mini-beasts, ow-bow lakes and scenic landscapes, on the whole, are found outside. But what benefits are there for doing DT outside (other than keeping your classroom mess-free) or music outside (other than annoying the teacher of 5B)?"

"We are social creatures. In most respects humans are an unremarkable species without many amazing abilities, such as great strength, big teeth or flying. But we have each other, and as a result we have prospered. The same is true in the classroom. We can do great things went we work together, but that is only true went we can work independly first. Independent learning doesn't necessararily mean that you must hide away in your hermitage without the aid of the outside world, but instead means that you decide your own path and what learning you need to travel sucessfully along it."

"A superb resource for learning poets at primary schools. Record pupils reading the beautifully illustrated poems and listen back to them."

"In their new book, Debra Kidd and Hywel Roberts firmly place teachers, and ultimately their students, in a range of different locations, where the learning inhabits, offering a fantastically imagined context with prompts, ideas and illustrations helping exploration and discovery. In a fascinating resource book, which can be used in many subject areas, across most stages in schools, the authors break down each chapter destination (including a forest, castle, graveyard, ship, zoo, cave, theme park) into a story starter - introducing the location and providing provocative initial questions; key landmarks (either for primary or secondary aged students), a stopover - providing a more in-depth account of their learning journey; stepping stones - context based tasks provided to also prod your imagination, and; the bedrock - offering a debrief of the processes, helping teachers understand the justification of the processes undertaken."

"Development of technology within the classroom can aide the identification of contextual factors that may or may not contribute to effective use of technology in enhancing quality learning experiences. Factors such as organisational culture, teacher self-efficacy and their confidence and experience in utilising technology, learning and learner engagement all have to be considered to allow for an integrated approach."

"A handy blank A-Z Dictionary to support pupils learning dictionary skills, or alphabetic order."

"I was introduced to the Good/Great/Awesome techniques in some TEEP training in November last year. I immediately placed it in my "to-do right away" pile. As an intrinsically positive person, and teacher, who always strives to build students' self esteem and promote the growth mindset in all who pass through my classroom; I found the idea of offering 3 levels of positivity much more appealing that the previous wording. I implemented this strategy quickly and personally added in an overarching learning objective, so students could see each stage of G/G/F as building blocks. I coloured coded them, as is common, and occasionally colour coordinate to grades or tasks."

"When teachers are faced with 30 (or more) pupils who offer such wide a range of abilities in the plethora of subjects that are to be taught, ensuring that all the individuals in the classroom can access the learning on offer. This is where differentiation comes to play, with planning learning, content and activities within each lesson being one of the vast challenges for primary colleagues - planning is needed for pupils from one end of the ability spectrum to the other."

"I have created several posts recently about how Headteachers/Principals, teachers and librarians can work together in order to make a difference to academic attainment. If we are to effect change I do believe it has to come from the top. There are, however, many teachers out there that have never worked alongside a school librarian and have no idea what we can do for them or their students and we need to find a way to change this ourselves too. Which teacher would say no to free help and resources within their classrooms? Not many, I'm sure, so this has to be down to a lack of knowledge and understanding of what we do and this is where we can all do something. So whilst working towards change at the top, librarians need to find a way to start collaborating with those who never use the library and encouraging those who are already working with us to start sharing their best practice."

Primary school assemblies should be exciting and interesting. They should allow children to share in valuable learning experiences. Over his 30 years as a head teacher, Mike Kent has developed amazing assemblies that do just this, and he shares them in this new practical resource.

"This big, printable list of assessment strategies will help you identify new ways to check for understanding and verify what students have learned. Read more about these strategies in the associated post: "Dipsticks: Efficient Ways to Check for Understanding.""