* Don’t be afraid to adapt TV games to consolidate classwork. For instance, the number puzzle presided over by Carol Voderman in Countdown can be easily adapted for children. Give them one larger number, with several smaller numbers from which they can make the larger number. You can tailor the digits and the instructions to the abilities of the pupils and the computational skills you wish to re-inforce (i.e. “You can only use + or ”). Pupils also enjoy setting their own puzzles for others.
* A common complaint of parents who come into schools is, “I didn’t know that”. This is because their children never bring home letters about school events. One way to make sure this doesn’t happen is to pick a specific day of the week to always send them home,i.e. Wednesday - and don’t forget to let the parents know. This way they will automatically look in their children’s bags on that particular day.
Ofsted Inspector from Edingale, Tamworth.
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