Good online resources to help a five year old child (Scottish curriculum)

[chipchopchip]

I have realised I need to do a bit more to help my child with spelling and sounds but without adding any pressure to him. He is in Primary two. Are there any good online spelling games you could recommend for example? I think online games would appeal to him the most. I want to help him but I want to make it fun too as I am concerned about the amount of work young children have to do at schools these days. He enjoys numbers more so perhaps some number games to get him started might appeal a bit more in the first instance so any recommendations on those too would be really helpful

Thanks!

[LittleBairn]

Could it be that he needs to practice his phonics more?
I agree with the heavy work load. I'm an recently ex-nanny and all my charges loved educational games on my iPad.
Anyway their favorite games were MathTown you go in and out of houses collecting jars of fireflies you need to collect numbers and do maths question to move in and out of rooms. The loved this game.

PocketPhonics is a good British phonic app they enjoyed too.
Build A word Express was good for practicing spelling too.

[chipchopchip]

littlebairn thanks very much for that information. I will look into all three of them. I agree that focusing on phonics a bit more may well indeed help with his reading in general. I just need to keep it fun. The good thing is that giving him 'fun' books just for him to look at/perhaps even read a word or two on a good day (!) does seem to have generated more interest in reading in general which is great. I really would rather these were things he wants to do rather than me putting more pressure on him.

[LittleBairn]

Glad to be of help. If you are looking for fun books HarperCollins do a book app with some free books that are much better than usually kids reading books.

[chipchopchip]

thanks!! I feel much better now that I have something to move forward with! x

[Ferguson]

I was a primary TA / helper for over twenty years, and would suggest you give these a try, in a relaxed, casual way (to start with, at least):

An inexpensive and easy to use book, that can encourage children with reading, spelling and writing is mentioned in the MN Book Reviews section. In “Children’s educational books and courses”, the Oxford Phonics Spelling Dictionary presents words by their initial SOUND, unlike a ‘normal’ dictionary, which is always in alphabetical order. Thus, in the ‘S’ section are words like ‘cinema’ and ‘cycle’, which have a ‘S’ sound, even though they are spelt with ‘C’.

The Dictionary is colourful and amusingly illustrated, and can be used by children on their own, or with adult support, from Reception age right up to the start of secondary school.

The review has a link to view sample pages, and purchase if you so wish.


For Numeracy, this is my standard advice, and the web sites at the end are very good and cover all you might need:

?QUOTE:

Practical things are best for grasping number concepts - bricks, Lego, beads, counters, money, shapes, weights, measuring, cooking.

Do adding, taking away, multiplication (repeated addition), division (sharing), using REAL OBJECTS as just 'numbers' can be too abstract for some children.

Number Bonds of Ten forms the basis of much maths work, so try to learn them. Using Lego or something similar, use a LOT of bricks (of just TWO colours, if you have enough) lay them out so the pattern can be seen of one colour INCREASING while the other colour DECREASES. Lay them down, or build up like steps.

So:

ten of one colour none of other
nine of one colour one of other
eight of one colour two of other
seven of one colour three of other

etc, etc

then of course, the sides are equal at 5 and 5; after which the colours 'swap over' as to increasing/decreasing.

To learn TABLES, do them in groups that have a relationship, thus:

x2, x4, x8

x3, x6, x12

5 and 10 are easy

7 and 9 are rather harder.

Starting with TWO times TABLE, I always say: "Imagine the class is lining up in pairs; each child will have a partner, if there is an EVEN number in the class. If one child is left without a partner, then the number is ODD, because an odd one is left out."

Use Lego bricks again, lay them out in a column of 2 wide to learn 2x table. Go half way down the column, and move half the bricks up, so that now the column is 4 bricks wide. That gives the start of 4x table.

Then do similar things with 3x and 6x.

With 5x, try and count in 'fives', and notice the relationship with 'ten' - they will alternate, ending in 5 then 10.

It is important to try and UNDERSTAND the relationships between numbers, and not just learn them 'by rote'.

I am sorry it seems complicated trying to explain these concepts, but using Lego or counters should make understanding easier.

An inexpensive solar powered calculator (no battery to run out!) can help learn tables by 'repeated addition'. So: enter 2+2 and press = to give 4. KEEP PRESSING = and it should add on 2 each time, giving 2 times table.

There are good web sites, which can be fun to use :

//www.ictgames.com/

//www.resources.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/index.html

UNQUOTE

[chipchopchip]

Ferguson thanks so much for that help!! Really helpful. I am sorry I only read it today!