Storytelling to stretch young minds

scameron — Thu, 19 May 2011 15:48:09 +0100

Storytellers in ancient, preliterate cultures could remember word-for-word epic tales that might take several evenings to recount. They would store the entire tribal history in their minds and retell it at celebrations and ceremonies.

Writing stories down in books and reading them again liberates the mind from these feats of memory. But traditional storytelling still has a role to play and is a skill worth cultivating.

Storytelling as an enrichment activity

scameron — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 16:51:23 +0000

Day two of the Derby gifted and talented storytelling workshop begins with a fast round of BillyBong, a delightfully silly game with lots of shouting and jumping up and down. It is designed to wake everyone up, get rid of inhibitions and make people listen carefully to what others say. A second game involves miming. We start with realistic things such as skipping and painting, moving on to eating a frog or painting an alien.

Enriching primary maths

scameron — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 10:13:16 +0100

I had really hoped that the renewed Primary Framework of 2006 would have addressed the issue of enriching mathematics in the classroom, as it had intended. Enrichment has been addressed by more confident and creative teachers, but in many classrooms there seems to have been little change so far.

A-Z of G&T education (8): Gifted and talented

scameron — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 16:42:01 +0000

What exactly do we mean by ‘gifted and talented’? Dictionaries give us the following definitions:

gifted:

having natural talent or aptitude
highly intelligent (children)

talented:

G&T activity to stimulate creative thinking

scameron — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 14:03:49 +0000

Activity: Odd One Out
Subject: Any
Key Stage(s): 1, 2, 3 & 4.

Dragon's Den for G&T students

scameron — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 11:43:36 +0000

Anyone familiar with the television programme Dragons’ Den will be aware that marketing an idea is not for the faint-hearted, particularly when the judges have a financial interest in the outcome. However, maintaining a calm demeanour under intense scrutiny is one of the more challenging, but useful life skills: so any chance to practise it within a safe environment has to represent a good opportunity for young people.

Leaders of the future: G&T leadership skills

scameron — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 15:35:31 +0000

As a G & T coordinator or leading teacher, how would you describe your leadership style? If you have been part of a programme of continuous professional development such as the NCSL ‘Leading from the Middle’ programme, you will undoubtedly have been asked to consider your own leadership style and how it affects the contributions of others around you; but have you considered how this learning could benefit the experiences of those able, gifted and talented students you support?

Integrating enrichment activities

scameron — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 18:18:25 +0000

One of the well-documented limitations of many enrichment activities is the danger of presenting a ‘one-off’ experience divorced from the curriculum and/or delivered out of context. Freeman (1998) points out that enrichment is not a ‘supplementary diet’ but should always be integrated with whole-school provision for the very able, indeed for pupils of all abilities: she also believes that enrichment can lack clear goals if the activity is ‘decontextualised’.

Identifying primary G&T pupils in sport

scameron — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 17:55:47 +0000

A cricketer’s career

When he was 13, cricketer Nasser Hussain was well on the way to becoming an international leg spinner. But within three years, he had undergone a growth spurt and in the midst of this physical development his bowling fell to pieces.

Enrichment Activities: Space travel and satellite communications

scameron — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:21:44 +0100

This week’s primary enrichment activity looks at the future of space travel and asks pupils to consider what the priorities should be for the European Space Agency.

This week’s secondary enrichment activity looks at satellite communications and asks pupils to consider what would happen if the world’s satellites stopped functioning.

***Primary Enrichment***

Enrichment Activities: Entertainment in the summer holidays

scameron — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:21:44 +0100

This week’s primary enrichment activity explores activities that pupils could become involved with in their summer holidays.

This week's secondary enrichment activity looks at the safety of underage users playing violent video games.

***Primary Enrichment***

Holiday bumper fun

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Enrichment Activities: Sportswear design and the use of slang

scameron — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:21:43 +0100
This week's primary enrichment activity looks at slang and asks pupils to develop and use their own private language.

This week's secondary enrichment activity explores the potential psychological effects and competitive advantages of new developments in swimwear.

***Primary Enrichment***

KS 2: Modern Foreign Languages (MFL)

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Lesson plans for key stage 2: Olympic Island

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:47 +0100

In 2008 there was a great deal in the media about Beijing and the accompanying human rights issues. Closer to home, the 2012 London Olympics are generating lots of debate on sustainable regeneration v capitalist exploitation. Sport has always been a great vehicle to engage the interest of young people and the Games have the added bonus of a background that goes beyond athletic achievement, encouraging the development of a sense of social justice and moral responsibility, as enshrined in the citizenship curriculum.
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Thinking skills: Thinkathon

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:42 +0100
In Flora Thompson’s novel Lark Rise to Candleford a school inspector asks why a boy is ‘idling’. ‘I was only thinking what to say,’ is the boy’s reply. Thinking might have been seen as idleness in late Victorian England, when this scene is set, but we now know that it is a skill that can be developed, and supporting this process has become a major part of the teaching strategy in many UK schools.

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Activities for overcoming fear of number

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:42 +0100
Go straight to the activities or read on for preparation and background understanding.

Numbers are beautiful things and the manipulation of number can offer the mind the opportunity to experience intellectual elegance, combined with the pleasure of achieving pragmatic solutions to the problems of everyday life.

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Numeracy lesson plan: probability key stage 2

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:42 +0100

Go straight to the lesson plan or read on for background rationale.

I’ve always enjoyed teaching probability, largely due to the many opportunities for playing a variety of games with pupils, often using dice. However, in the rush to look at fractions, probability space diagrams (tables) or the rules of probability, I have often skipped over the section on handling data, which considers developing the language associated with probability .

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Pirates ahoy! A literacy lesson plan

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:30 +0100

The most difficult aspect of making good provision for gifted and talented pupils can be planning appropriate learning opportunities within a whole-class context. It is one thing to plan a ‘one off’ event for a group of able pupils, but quite another to ensure that there is appropriate challenge built into each and every lesson, every day, every week of every term. Some teachers are experts at this of course, knowing instinctively how to pose a probing question, encourage pupils to see things from a different angle, or tailor a task in a way that makes it more exacting.
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Enrichment activity – primary to secondary transition

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:11 +0100

When Hungarian children leave their primary school for secondary school they each are given a small felt bag, a little bit like a shoulder purse. The bag is made of felt with the national plant – paprika – printed in red against the soft creamy, oatmeal colour of the felt bag. The bag has a little shoulder string that allows the child to carry their bag over their shoulder if they wish to. The bag is also printed with the dates that they attended the school; the one I was given in Hungary has 1980-1988 printed on the bag flap.
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Enrichment activity – values and ethics

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:06 +0100

The legends of Noah or Utanapishtim may or may not be true, but we are all interested in the future and protecting that which we think is of value. The Norwegian government is to build a giant vault to store up to 2m crop seeds, keeping them safe in case a serious disaster jeopardises seed stocks and, therefore, food supplies. The vault will be built in the mountains on the island of Spitsbergen, about 600 miles from the North Pole.
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Enrichment activity – vocabulary, empathy, insight

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:05 +0100

Most masks offer an alter ego to the world: wild, wonderful, magical, fearsome and at times angelic. Our face can be a mask that we use to present a view we wish others to see.
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Enrichment activity – missing vowels

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:05 +0100

James Thurber wrote some wonderful books including The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. One book in particular unwittingly predicted predictive texting. The Wonderful O introduces the reader to a man named Black who disliked the letter ‘O’. He refused to use the letter, or rather, he refused t use the letter r rather…
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Telling tales and smart thinking

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:19:54 +0100

Choosing what you read
When it comes to reading, people seem to fall into three distinct groups:
1.Those who read one book at a time: the serial readers.
2.Those who have eight books on the go at once: the parallel readers.
3.Those who reserve their reading for the beach: the Binchy-Clancy readers.
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A starry approach to enrichment

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:19:28 +0100

Rosalind Scott of Tilbury and Chadwell Excellence Cluster and Ann Nelson of Havering Excellence Cluster describe the experience.

The Tilbury and Chadwell experience

Rosalind Scott
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Gifted and talented - primary enrichment

Storytelling to stretch young minds

Storytelling as an enrichment activity

Enriching primary maths

A-Z of G&T education (8): Gifted and talented

G&T activity to stimulate creative thinking

Dragon's Den for G&T students

Leaders of the future: G&T leadership skills

Integrating enrichment activities

Identifying primary G&T pupils in sport

Enrichment Activities: Space travel and satellite communications

Enrichment Activities: Entertainment in the summer holidays

Enrichment Activities: Sportswear design and the use of slang

Lesson plans for key stage 2: Olympic Island

Thinking skills: Thinkathon

Activities for overcoming fear of number

Numeracy lesson plan: probability key stage 2

Pirates ahoy! A literacy lesson plan

Enrichment activity – primary to secondary transition

Enrichment activity – values and ethics

Enrichment activity – vocabulary, empathy, insight

Enrichment activity – missing vowels

Telling tales and smart thinking

A starry approach to enrichment