ofamily learning together

Free Times Table Booklets

Posted on February 28, 2019 by ofamily

I was recently searching for some times table resources for my son and I found these times table booklets on the Teachit Primary website which are free to download. I have downloaded 3 different ones and they are all in the same format so I thought I would share some photos and links of what is included. (I will list the links of each individual booklet at the end of the post).

Each booklet is 11 pages. Oh course once you download the booklet you can always just print out the individual pages that you want.

It starts with a page where the kids can trace over the times table sums and then it goes onto a hundred square where the kids can practice their skip counting by shading in the correct numbers.

Page 4 are the times table sums set out but with a visual representation of what it means – so dots showing the different groups. I like this page because it is important that the kids get the idea that 3 x 6 is 3 groups of 6.

Then it is followed by a page of sum practice and a page where the sums are depicted in an almost flower.

Pages 7 and 8 are matching the sums to the correct answers (my son always likes these types of pages when it comes to maths practice).

Then another circle page for the kids to complete and a straight forward sum page. The final page in the pack is a times table crossword.

If you are looking for times table practice pages I think these are very useful.

Here are the links for the individual booklets

A note about the Teachit Primary website – if you set up a free account you can download all the PDF documents. We have the free account. I have no connection with the website we just use some of their resources as part of our home learning.

Posted in maths ideas | Tagged educational resources, free printables, home ed, home education, homeschooling, maths activity, Times table | 1 Comment

Get Mapmaking Book for kids

Posted on February 26, 2019 by ofamily

I have mentioned a few times that my son is fascinated by maps. He loves creating maps for fantasy lands to go along with stories they are reading or stories / games that they have created. And I have loved watching him create his maps and really want to encourage it but at the same time keep it fun and creative for him. So I started searching for creative map activities on educational sites and then in book form. And I must admit I did not find that many that really jumped out at me until I spotted the Get Mapmaking: How to get Creative with Maps.

I was interested in this book because of all the unusual maps they use. So I requested a review copy and as soon as it arrived both my son and I were thrilled. It really is an original, creative take on maps.

Yes they do have some of the more “traditional / expected” map activities – like map your bedroom – but that is the first map activity and honestly for kids who have not done a lot of map drawing before it is a very good way to get started. And there are a few more of the expected maps – like a treasure island and a garden. But they combine the more traditional map activities with more creative maps and with totally never thought of that as a map activity before maps.

They have included a plumbing map, a map of the electric wiring, a crime scene map, secret tunnel maps, archaeological maps – there are so many different types. The variety included is incredible and it actually made the kids start questioning what makes a map, a map. (We have had some fascinating discussions about this)

For each map activity there is 1 page for the kids to practice on. But as I have 2 kids I actually gave them grid paper and they recreated their maps on the grid paper. Which also meant the kids could recreate multiple versions of the maps.

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We really love the creative map side of this book but the book also has a lot of practical pages too – pages about a compass, drawing to scale, contour maps, using map legends, weather symbols, even different ways you can portray ground.

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They have managed to include a wide number of interesting topics all under the great big umbrella of drawing your own fun maps.

We have not complete every single activity in the book (although I am sure we will) but we have been so impressed with this engaging map book and are enjoying it so much that I really wanted to write a post so we could HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT !

As I mentioned above I requested a review of this book because I thought it was the best available fun map activity book out there. All opinions expressed are mine and my two testers.

I do include Affiliate links. If you follow an affiliate link and go on to purchase that product, I will be paid a very small commission, however your cost will remain the same. I only include affiliate links for products that we use and love.

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Posted in Homeschooling | Tagged children's book, home ed, home education, homeschooling, kids geography, learning resources, maps | 1 Comment

The Secret Dinosaur – Giants Awake !

Posted on February 22, 2019 by ofamily

Last week we unexpectedly received the first of the Dinotek Adventure Books in the post (I had requested an Anglo-Saxon book from the publisher and they included the Dinotek book as an extra). Now I had never heard of or seen this series before but as soon as I opened the parcel and realized it was about metal dinosaurs that come to life I handed it to my son – He loves Dinosaurs.

He started reading it and immediately informed me that it is about a young boy who discovers some metal dinosaurs while out on a school trip. Only 1 of the dinosaurs works – although after a quick chat that 1 working dinosaur goes to sleep and does not wake up. So the boy (Marlin) starts trying to fix the dinosaurs. He loved this a boy around his age, helping metal dinosaurs to come back to life – WOW!!

Now just from that I knew this was a winner, dinosaurs in a modern setting who talk – the perfect hook for young kids.

And as it happens the day after the book arrived we were out walking around a park and my son started pointing out “clues”. Like a broken fence or a branches that had been snapped off. He informed me that he was looking for clues that the Dinoteks might have been in the park – at the end of the book there is actually a section which highlight clues that the kids can look as evidence that Dinoteks are in the area – Loved this. The simple idea of looking for clues inspired my reluctant writer to actually start creating his own story about discovering a Dinotek in his local park – I was blown away.

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And for me this is when books become really powerful – when the kids don’t just read it but they talk about it, they are inspired by the storyline and then expand on the story in their own way – could be by making up a game about the book, drawing pictures or even writing their own version. And this book has done just that for my son, he has not just read it and put it down he is thinking about it, talking, expanding on it in his own way. It really has sparked his imagination.

The story is 106 pages and has short chapters with good illustrations. I would class it as an early chapter book probably suitable for around 7 years – 8 / 9 years (depending on reading ability). There is a villain in the story but he is more a bad person than someone creepy or scary. I don’t think this would give nightmares. It is very much an adventure story.

And I have searched online for the next books in the series – if you are in England I have found them at our local library (I managed to reserve the next 2 in the series), otherwise you can also get them from Amazon – The Secret Dinosaur 1: Giants Awake. (The Dinotek Adventures)

Oh and another thing I like about this series is they have created a Free to download teacher resource pack to go with it here – Dinoteks resources.

My son and I highly recommend this book.

As I mentioned above we were given this book but that has in no way affected my son’s enjoyment of the book or this review that I have written

Posted in Book Ideas | Tagged children's book, Dinosaurs, English books, fun early chapter books, home ed, home education, homeschooling | Leave a comment

Converting Body Measurement Worksheet

Posted on February 20, 2019 by ofamily

Our measuring animal activity went so well that I thought it would be good to try to build on that (especially for my youngest) so I had a quick search on the different websites that I use for another fun measuring activity and I found this – Converting Measurements activity on Twinkl.

Two reasons why it jumped out at me – firstly the activity required the kids to measure some unusual body parts like the length of an ear and nose and I immediately knew my son would love this. (And he really did, he wants to redo the measurements with his dad this weekend)

Secondly I like the way they have set it all out.

In a Grid, with the place value columns and a very clear Decimal Point. I think this is a very visual way of helping the kids get that converting between cm and mm is x 10 so the numbers just need to move one place value to the left and when they divide by 100 it is two place values to the right (ie convert from cm to m).

It definitely helped my son.

And there is a nice summary table for the kids to complete at the end

It was a great way to reinforce what my son had been working on when he was measuring out the lengths of the different snakes and creating his animal measurement fact cards. And it was also a great revision activity for my daughter

The worksheets I mention in the post are part of the Twinkl Resources paid for Classic subscription.

Posted in Homeschooling | Tagged home ed, home education, homeschooling, maths activity, measurement, metric units, Twinkl | 1 Comment

Measuring Animals

Posted on February 16, 2019 by ofamily

Last weekend my son started using his tape measure (we gave him a tape measure together with a few other items in an “explorer” backpack as a Christmas present) to show me the lengths of different snakes.

It was a brilliant moment as he suddenly needed to convert between cm and m and he still finds that a bit confusing. So I suggested we unroll some art paper that I have (I have big rolls of paper to use in our art activities – you can get them from Ikea). And that way he could measure out the lengths and then make a note of which snake it was so he could have a visual way of comparing them. He was thrilled with the idea and immediately started.

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He worked on this for 2 days. He wrote out the lengths for over 30 different snakes, for some he even included the average size and then the maximum size. He had to keep switching between cm and m so he quickly become very good at converting between the two measurements and he even started noticing patterns between some of the snakes.

It was such a good activity that I suggested we try the same thing with his sister but with her we just compared a bunch of general animals like deer, zebra etc. She also commented that after she had completed her sheet of animal measurements she felt a lot more confident with switching between cm and m.

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The only problem with the large sheets of paper is the fact that they are large (over 4 m each when unrolled) so we need to roll them up when they are not being used. But my son wanted a way of keeping these length facts at hand. So we decided to make our very own mini fact cards. Nothing fancy. I cut some card up and the kids started creating their own fact cards – they drew the pictures and they found the stats (we stuck to length, height and weight – oh and sometimes wingspan).

These cards were fun to make but they also reinforced a lot of what my son had been working on with his measuring snake activity – he was yet again converting between cm and m and now he started to include kg and g. The measuring cards are also great because it is an easy way to order the animals – based on height or weight.

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To go with all their measuring activities I made the kids a quick poster showing the different metric units for measurement.