Support Your Child's Learning at Home with Letts

Freddy 4, and Kizzy 11 are both back at school enjoying the start of a new term.  For Freddy, he is at the start of his primary school experience, where he is learning all about sounds, letters and numbers for the first time. Kizzy is in her final year of Junior School and soon will be taking her year 6 SATS exams. As a parent, I think it is very important to support your child's learning in the home by giving them the chance to explore their environment and learn through play and experience.  But it is also good to help in a more formal way by providing them with materials which support the education they receive at school.  Activity books and practice books are an excellent resource to share with your child.  They help to consolidate their skills and for older children give them the chance to extend their knowledge and nurture independent learning.

Letts is a great choice when it comes to buying educational activity books to support your child’s learning at home. Letts books are up-to-date with the curriculum, making them a reassuring purchase for parents. Plus they are fun, meaning the kids will enjoy doing them.

Letts provide an age appropriate range of educational activities and revision guides, suitable for all stages of a child's education.  Kizzy and Freddy were delighted to receive a bundle of books suitable for their age and stage of education.

Freddy is still very new to formal learning.  Until starting in Reception last September, he didn't show a lot of interest in using a pencil and wasn't very interested in books, in spite of our encouragement. He preferred playing hard and hitting things with sticks!  However, since becoming a school boy he is far more keen on picking up a pen or a book and is working hard at recognising letters and sounds.  The penny will drop for him and I'm sure he will be reading and writing very soon.  While he is at this stage, it's nice to offer him the chance to use activity books which are fun, entertaining and hold his interest as he hones his  phonics and penmanship skills.

Monster Skills Practice

Handwriting 5-6

Spelling and Phonics 5-6

Addition and Subtraction 5-6

Multiplication and Division 5-6

The friendly monster characters in the new Letts Monster Practice books bring an element of fun to younger children. These books support key maths and English skills being taught in school and contain stickers to use as rewards, which is something that Freddy always enjoys.  Each section gives the child activities to do and also gives an idea for a fun activity to extend their learning in the Fun Zone!  The back of the books features a cut out mask to add to the fun!

Letts Skills Practice

Spelling 9-11

 Mental Arithmetic 10-11

 Grammar and Punctuation 9-11

Kizzy is doing brilliantly at school and is ready to tackle her SATS in a few months.  Using practice books really helps boost her confidence and she enjoys doing them.  The layout of the books is really good, covering one particular topic then allowing the child to practice what they have been revising.  Mixed question tests help to put their new skills to work, and monitor their progress. 

                        

Letts books are published by Collins who also publish dictionaries, atlases, children's reference books, My First series books, learning books, Hello Kitty atlases and sticker books.  They give children the chance to learn whilst having fun.

Find out more at lettsrevision.com and collins.co.uk

Follow Collins on Twitter @Collins4Parents and Letts @lettsed

Readers of this blog can get an exclusive 30% discount on Collins Dictionaries, Reference Books, Atlases and Learning Books. This offer is available until 31 January 2014 and is valid with orders using promo code BOOKS30 on Collins.co.uk.

How To Help Teenagers With Revision and Exams

Revision, Exams and Staying Sane!

My daughter Ella is in revision mode for her GCSEs.  This involves lots of printed off A4 sheets, highlighter pens, folders and note making.  Across the country thousands of teenagers like her are embarking on their own preparations for the exams which are the culmination of their secondary school life.  Each will have their own approach to revision, and we as parents will need to keep calm and help them through this tricky time.

How as parents can we help our teens to prepare for these exams?

• Time management is key and it is important that our children dedicate time to each subject accordingly, thinking about their areas of strength and weakness.  Helping them to make a revision plan is a good way of overseeing just how much work they need to do and an opportunity to connect and communicate about the task ahead.  It allows them to share the load with you.  
• Sticking an exam timetable on the fridge makes sure you are all fully aware of what's coming up...plus crossing out the exams that have been done helps mark off the days until freedom! Very therapeutic and rewarding!
• Make sure that your child has a quiet place to revise and keep younger siblings away. Toddlers will love to have a go with a highlighter all over pages of diligently made exam notes, but it is not helpful! Unwanted distractions should be kept to a minimum.
• Ella regularly keeps a tab on her laptop connected to Facebook.  It allows her to keep in touch with her friends who are all in the same situation, and stops her feeling isolated in a sea of equations, quotes and facts.  As long is it doesn't become a major procrastination device and your teen can resist the urge to go off on a technological tangent, I think it can help minimize stress.  I personally won't be nagging her to carry out a social media blackout at this time...I know how much support it gives me!
• Make sure to supply an endless assortment of highlighters, post-it notes, notebooks and printer ink.   Constant supplies of drinks and healthy snacks will also be well received.  Bananas are great performance boosters!
• Don't let your teen work too hard.  Staying up all night cramming, energized by caffiene laden energy drinks does not help prepare for exams.  Regular breaks to watch a favourite TV show or just to take a breath of fresh air reward them for their efforts.
• Help out with a bit of testing!  Get involved and make it fun.  Quiz them on the periodic table or German vocabulary or reasons for population growth in the UK.  Facts are more likely to stick if they remember mum's feeble attempts at pronouncing conjugated German verbs over the dinner table. You never know, you could learn something that might stand you in good stead should you ever find yourself in a pub quiz!! 
• Keep calm and remember that it will all be over soon!

Good Luck Ella

Ella, like many teenagers, really doesn't like the actual examination process.  The soulless rows of desks and chairs, the silence and the humourless  invigilators do not make the best environment for her to perform with confidence, but with good preparation, good rest and lots of encouragement, I'm sure she will be OK.  I'll definitely not be putting her under any exam pressure, because being instrumental in an exam induced panic attack is not conducive to seeing your child achieve an A*.  I am also at this time reminded of great geniuses who did not achieve well within the confines of the education system: Richard Branson,  Lord Sugar, Einstein, Churchill and Walt Disney spring to mind!  As long as they achieve good enough results to go into the next phase of their desired future, then they have done a good job!!

Good luck to all GCSE students and their parents...here's hoping it is all as stress free as possible, and if times do get rough, just remind your teenager that Prom is just around the corner to reward them for all their efforts!!