KS2

Lucky Gecko: a subscription box that encourages children to think differently

You know when your child comes out of school every afternoon, and you ask him what he did that day, and he replies “Nothing much.”? Of course, you know he doesn’t mean it. You know he did the usual, literacy and maths, maybe some PE. He might even have done some science, and it will trickle out of him under your feet as you cook tea later. What’s really going on when he delivers his stock 3.15 answer is a need to switch off from the routine of the classroom. And if yours is one of those children who is switched off …

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Teen Fiction: Possessed

Teen fiction - Possessed

Teen Fiction Rising out of bed, as if in a trance, Poppy slowly staggered over to the door; slowly, but purposefully. Reaching out for the doorknob, she turned it and proceeded down the stairs. Not acknowledging the frantic shouts from her parents’ bedroom, she unlocked the front door and stepped outside into the frosty night. The darkness wrapped around her while she trudged down the icy pavement. Suddenly, her soot black eyes focused on a curved dagger resting against a wall. With her eyes sparkling with danger, she stretched out an arm to retrieve it, while the bitter winds swirled …

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Travel Books for Kids: review and giveaway

The Travel Book is one of Lonely Planet Kids new travel books for kids

I met my husband on holiday. We bonded over gluwein and ski-runs, and never looked back. Always forward, to the next trip. And we’ve had some great trips over the years. Dubai, the Maldives, California, Aspen, Cape Town and Turkey are just some of the places we’ve ventured. When children came along we stayed a little closer to home, but not for long. Our wanderlust and love of new experiences has us back out there now that the kids are a little older, and they’re proving themselves to be very enthusastic travel companions in their own rights. Lonely Planet introduces travel …

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School: Inspiring Teachers

  The power of inpsiring teachers I’m posting this image because I’m hugely self-indulgent. I’m indulging myself because this short piece of work came home with J this week as she signed off from Year 5, and I confess it caused a small tear. It caused a tear because though I’ve always known she was capable of good writing, it’s only this year that she has found within herself the motivation to actually prove it to herself. This was written by the girl who, aged 6, in Year 2, scribbled all over her work in frustration when asked to improve …

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Wot So Funee? Pandora’s Box

The transition to Key Stage 2 and Junior School has been fun, but hard work. I have loved it, relishing the challenge of something new, enjoying learning so much about the ancient Greeks, earning house points for my appreciation of mythology, focusing on the weekly value – respect, ambition, enterprise, teamwork… It has, however, been a very long half-term. At parent’s evening last week my teacher detailed to M&D what a pleasure I had been, how helpful, supportive, hard-working, and willing to have a go. But 8 weeks is a long stretch; it is something that Daddy dismissed as nonsense …

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