Holiday Science Fun

Am planning to try this out with my niece and nephews. ( 5,7,9)

I bought these tiny rainbow beads online - (you can also use the silica beads that come with trainers ) a couple of pounds for thousands of them.

All you need to do is pop them into a container of water

These have been in for a couple of hours.

Simple activities can include counting , how many different colours, holding the container up to the light.

Pop a hand in:

How many am I holding? Two?

Fabulous! The clear beads are so difficult to see when in the water. Lots of fun to try to guess how many there are and then take out one by one.

Further activities can include timing how long they take to grow, if different colours take more or less time. Can also see how long they take to return to normal size.

How about trying a salt solution? Or pop some food colouring in.

Lots of potential for measuring , weighing and if you have a torch handy see how the light is refracted by the spheres. See what happens if you hold one above some writing.

If you've tried this, let me know how it goes.

**Important** don't throw these down the drain when finished with..they can be dried and reused over and over . If they must be thrown away they'll need to go in the general household waste.

Have fun!

Internet safety and our children

Since reading this article  posted by a fellow tweecher earlier in the week, I have been unable to stop thinking about the importance of education  regarding internet safety.

.http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2234956/Internet-porn-rape-suspects-aged-TEN.html

Along with the majority ( I think)  of teachers , I am a "digital immigrant" having been born and educated at a time pre social networking and internet access . Today's school children and students could be described as " digital natives" having been immersed in the super technological world we live in today.

Don't get me wrong; I am certainly not against social networking,  blogging (I would be somewhat hypocritical if I was!) and the use of the internet in schools. I am looking forward to a time in school when ICT is fully integrated into every aspect of my teaching. ( As it already is in many schools)

The article highlighted the dilemma we face in schools: to filter, or not to filter?

There are plenty who say not to filter because it is our role, as educators, to ensure that children are taught how to use the internet appropriately.http://ianaddison.net/flexible-filtering-in-school/ and http://www.josepicardo.com/2012/05/why-schools-must-teach-social-networking/    are most interesting reads and present a case for not filtering and embracing the use of social networking.

On the other hand there are those who say that we must act to protect the children we teach , so must block/filter web sites. http://www.esafety-adviser.com/blog/2012/08/31/a-pragmatic-view-of-internet-filtering-from-the-perspective-of-school-and-la/


I agree with both sides of the argument.
HOWEVER  I see the issue as a far wider one than we can deal with in schools. Yes, we can run parent workshops, we can send home guides, invite police and CEOP in...but that only works for the 'worried well' and certainly not everyone.

Children are accessing the internet from earlier and earlier ages ,http://www.childwise.co.uk/media/CHILDWISE%20MONITOR%202011-12%20press%20release.pdf

and are often more knowledgeable about the internet than their parents,  http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/security/3283597/uk-kids-spend-42-hours-a-week-social-networking/



So, how DO we protect our children?

In my opinion we should be teaching children how to use social media safely, yes in primary schools too- children are using facebook and other social networking sites and not talking about it isn't going to stop it.

What is as (if not more) important is that  parents need to be taught how to help their children to be safe online and how they are responsible to monitor what their children are accessing.



This is a bigger issue than we as teachers can deal with.

In my opinion, this is something that needs to be tackled by the media which is accessed by the vast majority of the population. Nadine Dorries was mistaken in thinking that her time on , "I'm a celebrity" would get her message across . It is widely known that most of what goes on in "reality shows" never makes it past the editing room floor. However, she did have a point in so far as more people vote on these shows than in elections...http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-20441840

Viewing figures for soaps are at similarly high levels- is there a reason why they cannot do a public service and demonstrate safe and appropriate internet use as part of the "day to day life" they show. Not in wall to wall shock tactic storylines, but in a way that shows parents having open discussions with their children,

I am not suggesting that this will suddenly turn the situation around, but surely it would be a step in the right direction? As a primary school teacher I worry about the internet content that children can access. Have my hands tied about what I can and cannot teach them in schools.

I know that many schools and LAs have relaxed their filters and that this has worked well for them. How we can address the issue of what children are accessing at home I am not sure. I shall continue to follow developments through the news, twitter and education forums and remain optimistic that internet safety will be given a higher priority both within and beyond the education system.

Another year...

Two more weeks with my class until they move onto their next class... Two more weeks of talking to parents that I have built up a partnership with before the summer break and return to new children.
It's a strange time of year; children feeling all sorts of feelings , teachers too. Why is that? We teach children to challenge themselves, meet new opportunities, look for the positive... But that sometimes falls on deaf ears.


I told my class that I had finished their reports and given them to the Head to read and comment on. Their faces fell, one or two put their heads in their hands. What was going on? I abandoned plans and went straight into a circle time to address this. My class looked at me in disbelief when I said that I had enjoyed writing their reports (bear with me) as it was a great opportunity to celebrate all the things they had done well over the year. Still one or two looking anxiously at me. "There wont be anything I havent already told you in them!" I continued. One of the boys piped up, "You're always telling us what we do well..."
 Another, "and we know what we need to get better at..." (Hurrah)
 "Exactly!" I replied, and went on to explain how the reports are for their parents to have an overview of the year. The discussion carried on with children talking about things they had achieved over the year and we made a start on the child report comment.


What this made me stop and think about was, with all the changes we have made in schools, all the technology, some things have not changed at all- there are still children (and parents?) who have a built in fear/dread of reports. Where does this come from? We try so hard to build a positive learning environment, celebrating achievements, having clear learning goals...So why do children still worry about taking the end of year report home? And how can I overcome this?


Well, next year I am going to talk to the children much earlier about reports and maybe ask them to write their own in the style of the school one. Our reports go home really late- last week- get them out earlier so we can talk about them in class (if they want to ? or just go for it?)


I felt that somehow I had missed a trick when I saw this response; not for the first time. Talking to colleagues it seems that many children respond similarly. I would love to know how others have dealt with this; are reports looked on in this way widely? And how can it be changed if that's the case.


I suppose it can be compared to a teacher having performance management. "Tell me what has gone really well this year." Much foot shuffling and fidgetting; we spend so much time looking at ways to improve that it seems self indulgent to talk about successes. Maybe this is the issue here, and something to look at how to change.


Target setting, assessments, top tips; all dwell on what needs to be done. I think I need to spend more time asking children to focus on the things that they can do really well. We have celebration assemblies, reflection time...but maybe celebration time is missing.  Something to think about over the summer and see where to go from now...


Next summer I don't want anyone in my class looking alarmed at the prospect of receiving their report . (And I WILL look my head right in the eye and say what I have done well too :) )