Here’s a poet – Michael Rosen
Michael Rosen is a poet who makes words and ideas accessible – often with deep truths, and with themes and ideas that are familiar. And, frequently, very funny.
Join us! The maths community for everyone
This is not a scam! But it is a shameless cross-promotion! I’ve been a member of MANSW (The Mathematical Association of NSW) for most of my teaching career. Even before I was really into mathematics as an area of passion, I joined MANSW. It was an opportunity to learn more about mathematics education and mathematics…
Getting some important things together for 2023
It’s almost the end of November. This is often the ‘cut-off’ point in our thinking too heavily about our classroom work. It is also the cut-off point for some amazing offers for us as we prepare to put EVERYTHING to do with school away for a couple of weeks. Making the most of collecting what’s…
It’s Book Week!
EVERYTHING you need to know about Book Week is at the CBCA website with the list of all the winners and Honour books for 2022 (and previous years too). As well, PETAA (Primary English Teaching Association Australia) has Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) guides, and there is a link to teaching units of work…
EOFY Recommendations
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…
Words & pictures, or vice versa
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…
Motivation to write
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…
Writing in lockdown
“When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it.” ― A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh Brief, focused writing activities are suitable for including…
Statement from the Heart
Things have been a bit awry this year, with major disruptions to almost every one of our usual activities, and events have been cancelled and postponed, many to the hoped-for normality of 2021. I wonder what the key words and terms from this year will be the ones that represent and encapsulate 2020. NAIDOC Week…
Sharing the pleasures of the kitchen, with clauses
Having a look at the way recipes are written. As with most instructions, they work best when composed of short, single clause sentences.