090: Enchanted Wanderers with Emmy & Taran
Two primary school teachers from Devon, Emmy and Taran, make up the Enchanted Wanderers. At their core, they just want to help children to grow; grow with self- confidence and self-belief in their own voice and ideas and to use this to empower their future learning.
Contrary to the serious tone of this statement, they to do this in a way that is fun and creative for all involved. With stories and storytelling as the root, the Enchanted Wanderers use art, circus, music and drama to produce a space that immerses children into new worlds. A space in which children can be themselves and express their ideas in ways that suit them best. A space that inspires children to create and combine, learn and grow.
Within the workshops, children learnt how to make their own pieces of magical art, conjured up circus tricks that led them through pivotal story moments and added musical accompaniment to deepen the mood and atmosphere of their stories. Throughout the day, the children got to experience new activities, solve problems, make friends, tell stories and be the leaders of their own learning. It all ended with the opportunity to share their stories, creations and/or circus skills in a child led show for the parents.
Following their first tour of workshops around Devon and Somerset, the Enchanted Wanderers had acquired a plethora of stories from children who had been inspired to write and they felt that more should be done with these stories to really show the children that what they create is valued and important.
Soon followed the next branch of Enchanted Wanderers who have created a platform for children’s stories to reach the world. Teachers, parents and children can all send stories and Emmy and Taran will re-tell them on their YouTube channel. As YouTube’s importance grows, stories need to remain relevant and accessible.
There is more to come from the Enchanted Wanderers with books, new workshops and a few extra little secrets sprouting some roots.
Schools in Australia are encouraged to contact Enchanted Wanderers throughout 2019 to book their workshop. Schools in England are encouraged to get in touch about availability in 2020. While schools all across the world should email about availability to have their children’s stories read online by these international storytellers.
https://www.enchantedwanderers.com
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_SxNfXTRRkJc_8ew9cw0_w
www.facebook.com/enchantedwanderers
www.instagram.com/enchantedwanderers
Show sponsor
National Association for Primary Education
Details about Christian Schiller and his work
089: Planet Poetry & Xientifica SOS with Daniel Phelps
NEW BOOK USES STORYTELLING AND POETRY TO SHOW CHILDREN THE BEAUTY OF SCIENCE
Xientifica SOS was written by University of Winchester Researcher Daniel Phelps, and features illustrations by Beth Gibbs, a student at Winchester School of Art. It follows five schoolchildren, each with different gifts, who are thrust into a fight for survival that tests their minds, bodies, courage and teamwork.
Aimed at 8-12 year olds, Xientifica SOS looks to inspire children to engage with science in a creative way, embedding over 50 scientific concepts, ideas and facts into the story.
Daniel Phelps said: “This is not a science book, it is a children’s adventure story which has science in it. Children learn best whenever they are interested in something and enjoying themselves. That is what Xientifica SOS aims to do – to create such a learning environment. Children might not get excited about science facts when they read them in a science text book, however, they really do love fascinating and amazing science facts about the world around them.’
The book is unusual in that it combines learning with poetry, riddles and narrative.
“This approach helps children learn, with the context of the story providing a ‘scaffold’ to support their understanding of scientific concepts,” Daniel said, “Ultimately, this helps them see why science is important, which is key.”
Xientifica SOS can be read for pleasure or used as educational aid in schools or homeschooling to encourage learners to ask questions and conversations about science.
Daniel Phelps is a Researcher at the University of Winchester. He is currently undertaking a three-year evaluation into the provision of support for young carers across Hampshire. Alongside his role at Winchester, he is also a children’s author and poet. He runs Planetpoetry.co.uk, a website hosting modern children’s poetry, and his poetry has been featured on the BBC’s CBeebies channel and is regularly published in school anthologies.
Xientifica SOS is available for purchase from Amazon in both ebook and paperback form. Find out more about the novel here: www.xientifica.com
Planet Poetry – Quality, modern children’s poetry
Daniel’s poems have featured on the BBC’s CBeebies, many top British publishers and in digital content for Daydream Education.
https://www.planetpoetry.co.uk/
Twitter:
@xientifica
@planetpoetry
Show Sponsor
National Association for Primary Education
Our aim is to achieve a higher priority for the education of children from birth to 13. High quality learning in the early years of life is vitally important to the creation of an educated society. Young children are not simply preparing for the future, they are living a never to be repeated time of life and the best way to learn is to live.
088: Tagtiv8 with Bryn Llewellyn
Ideas, resources, support and training that energise learning in Mathematics & English.
Tagtiv8 Word is far more than ‘an active version of a world famous word game that uses tiles’. Players collaborate or compete as individuals, pairs or small groups/teams in various active games that develop an understanding of phonics, spelling and more.
According to a Key Stage 2 pupil at Oakdale Junior School in London, Bryn is ‘a genius’. However, his friends and family know the truth.
Bryn worked in various UK schools for 25 years as a Teacher, Deputy Head and Acting Head.
In 2012, he founded Tagtiv8 Ltd. His pioneering approach to Physically Active Learning (PAL) provides an enjoyable alternative to classroom based learning and also promotes physical activity – crucial when we all face the increasing problem of sedentary lifestyles.
Research by Leeds Beckett University demonstrates that his PAL solutions tackle inactivity & obesity levels. Not only that, the PAL approaches impact positively on standards and academic performance. Tagtiv8 are now working with over 65,000 children and teachers across the UK and abroad. Teachers respect the pedagogy and children love the games.
Contact details
https://www.facebook.com/Tagtiv8/
Instagram – tagtiv8_active_learning
Resources mentioned
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/supermovers
For more fun math activities check out Ryan & Christin Howard at https://smartparentadvice.com/fun-activities-math/
Click below to download this weeks FREE English resource from TeachingPacks.co.uk
087: LitFilmFest English & Literacy Season 6 Launch
Welcome to the first episode of the new season Education on Fire – English & Literacy.
We have a great selection of interviews for you over the coming weeks which I hope will help and inspire you in your teaching.
As a special thank you for listening every week I will give you a FREE English resource from teachingpacks.co.uk for you to download and use in your classroom. See below.
On todays show I chat to Dominic Traynor from LitFilmFest
LitFilmFest helps future-proof young learners. Our award-winning projects accelerate progress in Primary English and develop the 21st century skills needed for success in the future.
What is LitFilmFest?
We create classroom projects which help schools future-proof young learners. Our award winning resource accelerate progress in English and develop leaders of the future with the 21st century skills needed for success. Our process is simple:
- Choose a LitFilmFest literacy project matched to the National Curriculum
- Download the resources and teach, improving writing progress and increasing pupil engagement using video making
- Share your literacy with your community, and with us, to give writing purpose
Why use LitFilmFest?
Our projects won the Institute Of Education’s EDUCATE award for improving KS2 English by 3.75 times the UK national average rate of progress. We also won the Teach Primary award for our Pupil Parliament project and the COBIS Member of the Year award for LitFilmFest Luxembourg.
Find out more:
Social Media Information
@litfilmfest
To celebrate our English & Literacy season TeachingPacks.co.uk have generously given you the opportunity to download some of their wonderful resources for FREE. During each week of this season I will add a new resource for you to use in your class.
This week:
Introduce a new word to your class every day with our ‘word of the day’ posters. Share the posters on your interactive whiteboard or use them on a classroom display. Can you challenge your children to use today’s word in their writing? 125 words are included.
To download the pack please click the link below.
Mark Warner from Teaching Packs has given Education on Fire a coupon code for you to join their membership of Teaching Packs Plus for just £19.50.
Please click below for details.
Show Sponsor
National Association for Primary Education
Our aim is to achieve a higher priority for the education of children from birth to 13. High quality learning in the early years of life is vitally important to the creation of an educated society. Young children are not simply preparing for the future, they are living a never to be repeated time of life and the best way to learn is to live.
Thank you and keep inspiring,
Mark
Creator/Host Education On Fire Podcast Network
086: Round up and catch up
Todays episode is a round up of the Primary Music on Fire Membership Site launch season and a catch up of what else is available on the Education on Fire Podcast Network.
The English/Literacy season starts in two weeks time and we look forward to exploring this new topic with you.