PETAA is the Primary English Teaching Association of Australia and is a not-for-profit organisation that supports primary school educators in the teaching and learning of English and literacies across the curriculum. Here’s the perfect opportunity to get hold of those classic texts for teaching English K-6. Hop on to the PETAA website before Thursday 30…
Under the ‘umbrella’ of us all liking a good story, experts from a variety of organisations have come together to share their knowledge to affirm ‘the value of quality literature in classrooms’. This is a great resource to explore for our own learning, and to share with colleagues. The benefits will flow directly to our…
Classrooms are gradually developing a new ‘normal’, where time is still short and too many so-called ‘assessments’ – read tests’ – are requiring completion. In between, we carry on. One of the most rewarding, interesting, challenging and useful strategies for teaching history/geography/maths/etc, and the potential for addressing the vast majority of the outcomes in the…
Now this could start a HUGE debate, but I love Brussels sprouts! I didn’t like them as a child, perhaps due to how they were cooked, but I’ve come to love them as an adult. They need to be fried or baked until crispy, with lots of oil (and maybe some butter). They are even…
Learning is fundamentally and profoundly dependent on vocabulary knowledge Mackenzie 2017 Katherin Cartwright – Images are a wonderful way to launch a mathematics lesson, especially if they are full of intriguing or ‘explorable’ mathematical ideas. Kath regularly draws attention to the importance of looking and noticing in building mathematical ideas – see ‘A picture is…
‘A picture is worth a thousand words’ is the classic adage interpreted to mean that multiple ideas or concepts can be expressed often by a single image. Or that an image may be a better way of explaining or expressing a complex idea than using words (verbally). For me, a picture is worth a thousand…
Recording our thoughts and ideas, plans and hopes, onto a surface seems to be a necessary part of the human condition. We have certainly been doing it for long enough. Reasons to write We write for so many reasons – I have a list that I have explored and added to over the years. I…
It is so good to be back with face to face learning with PETAA, and a vocabulary workshop that I love working with. It seems almost natural that our teacher minds, our training, our interest in learning steer us into a deep interest in words. Some of the most interesting words and word ideas that…
It’s the school holidays! Well, at least here in NSW it is, and I think this is a perfect time for mathematics. Now I know that not every child (or parent) would be excited about the idea of doing ‘more maths’ in the school holidays, but we need to change maths’ reputation! Mathematics is important,…
It’s WORLD POETRY DAY, Monday 21 March 2022 – Hooray! This is the best excuse (if you ever need one) for spending the day with words and meaning. For yourself, revisit the poems you remember from your own childhood – the ones that moved you, the lines you keep in your head somewhere, the vague…
