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There are a number of Maths dictionaries that you can buy in the shops. However, why not get your class to make their own one? They are more likely to remember the meanings of the terms if they have made the pages for themselves. The class (along with your help) can also choose vocabulary which is appropriate for their age range. Once it is made, the dictionary can be kept in the classroom as a valuable reference tool, which the children can refer to during their normal Maths activities.

Each day, you could also choose one term from the dictionary, and discuss its meaning with the class (giving examples of when it may be used).

Guidance for making a Maths Dictionary:

1) First of all, you need to decide which vocabulary to include in the dictionary. You could do this yourself, but you could also discuss the matter with the children. Below is a list of possible words that you might want to include (obviously this is not a complete list - just some suggestions):

You will also need to think about the following:

1. Variations of these words, and words which have the same meaning, e.g. Addition, Adding, Plus, +.

2. Words which have more than one meaning (e.g. square (the shape) and square (multiply a number by itself)).

3. The format / layout of the pages of the book. If there is to be a uniform layout, the children should be familiar with this. You could of course discuss the format of the book with the children, design a few different styles and ask them to choose the most suitable one. Three possible layouts are shown below.

2) Next, you need to decide which children are going to make each page (and which terms they are going to include on that page). They will obviously need to understand the mathematical vocabulary which they are going to define! As well as defining the meaning of the term, they could include examples of situations where that vocabulary can be used.

3) Once the children have made their page(s), you can put them all together to make the dictionary, which will be a valuable addition to your classroom's resources.

4) You could also look at some commercially available Maths dictionaries and compare your classes' to those.

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There are a number of Maths dictionaries that you can buy in the shops. However, why not get your class to make their own one? They are more likely to remember the meanings of the terms if they have made the pages for themselves.

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What is a percentage?

A percentage is a number or ratio expressed as a fraction of 100. When we talk about percentages, we imagine that 'a whole' has been divided into 100 equal parts.

Percentages in primary-school

Percentages are best understood in practical terms. For example:

If a park covers 5km² and 1km² is covered in grass, we know that 1/5 of the park is covered in grass. If we convert this to a percentage, we say that 20% of the park is covered in grass, because 20/100 is equivalent to 1/5.

If there are 30 pupils in a class and 15 of them have packed lunches rather than school dinners, we can say that 1/2 the class have packed lunches. If we convert this to a percentage, we say that 50% of the class have packed lunches, because 50/100 is equivalent to 1/2.

Children are introduced to decimals in Year 4 where they are taught to recognise the equivalence between decimal and fraction forms. They need to know that 0.5 is equivalent to 1/2, 0.25 is equivalent to 1/4, 0.01 is equivalent to 1/100 and 0.1 is equivalent to 1/10.

This knowledge gives them a good grounding for learning about the concept of percentages which is introduced in Year 5.

Finding percentages of numbers

In Year 5, children learn to recognise the percent symbol (%) and understand that per cent relates to 'number of parts per hundred'. They need to write percentages as a fraction with denominator 100 and also as a decimal. For example: they might be shown 20% and asked to write this as 20/100 and 0.2.

In Year 6, children move onto finding percentages of amounts:

For example, they may be asked to find: 10% of 4kg

Here, they would need to know that because 10 is 1/10 of 100, they are basically finding 1/10 of the quantity. To find 1/10 of something you need to divide it by 10. So they would need to divide 4kg (or 4000g) by 10 to make 400g.

They may also be asked to find: 5% of £5

Here, they would need to first find 10% of £5. The best way to do this would be to divide 500p by 10, which equals 50p. Since they are finding 5% which is half of 10%, they would need to halve the 50p which would give them 25p.

They may also be asked to find: 15% of 8m

Here they would need to find 10% of 8m (800cm ÷ 10 = 80cm) and 5% of 8m (80cm ÷ 2 = 40cm) and then add them together (80cm + 40cm) to make 120cm.

They may also be asked to find: 40% of £15

Here they would need to find 10% of £15 (1500p ÷ 10 = 150p) and then multiply this by 4 (150p x 4 = 600p = £6).

Percentage word problems

Often, children will need to carry out problem-solving related to percentages. They may be asked questions similar to the following:
I see a jumper in a shop window priced at £45. The next day the jumper is reduced in price by 30%. How much does the jumper cost now?

A child would need to work out 10% of £45 (£4.50) and then multiply this by 3 (£13.50).

They would then need to take this £13.50 away from the £45, which would give them £31.50.

Children may also need to compare fractions of amounts to percentages of amounts, for example:
There are 140 sweets in a jar in a sweet shop. Katy buys 2/5 of the sweets. John buys 45% of the sweets. Work out how many sweets each child buys. Who buys more sweets?

To work out what Katy buys, children would need to find 1/5 of 140 which is 140 ÷ 5 = 28. 2/5 would therefore be 28 x 2 = 56.

To work out what John buys, children would need to find 10% of 140, which is 140 ÷ 10 = 14.

They would then need to multiply this by 4 to make 40% which would equal 56.

To find the 5% they would need to halve 10% of 140 (14) which would make 7.

Then to find 45% they would need to add the 40% (56) to the 5% (7) which would make 63.

So Katy buys 56 and John buys 63 sweets, which means John has bought more.

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A percentage is a number or ratio expressed as a fraction of 100. When we talk about percentages, we imagine that 'a whole' has been divided into 100 equal parts. Percentages are best understood in practical terms. For example: If a park covers 5km² and 1km² is covered in grass, we know that 1/5 of the park is covered in grass.

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So I have a number written here. It's a 2, a 3, and a 5. And we already have some experience with numbers like this. We can think about 'what does it represent'. And to think about that we just have to look at the actual place values. So this right-most place right over here. This is the ones place. So this 5 represents five ones, or I guess you could say that's just going to be 5. This 3, this is in the tens place. This is the tens place, so we have three tens. So that's just going to be 30. And the 2 is in the hundreds place. So putting a 2 there means that we have two hundreds. So this number we can view as two hundred, thirty, five. Or you could view it as two hundred plus thirty plus five. Now what I want to do in this video is think about place values to the right of the ones place. And you might say 'wait, wait, I always thought that the ones place was the place furthest to the right.' Well everything that we've done so far, it has been. But to show that you can go even further to the right I'm going to put a little dot. I'm going to put a little dot right over here. We call that a 'decimal point'. And that dot means that anything to the right of this is going to be place values that are smaller, I guess you could say, than the ones place. So right to the left you have the ones place and the tens place and the hundreds place, and if you were to keep going you'd go to the thousands place and the ten thousands place. But then if you go to the right of the decimal point now you're going to divide by 10. So what am I talking about? Well, right to the right of the decimal point you are going to have-- find a new color-- this is going to be the tenths place. Well what does that mean? Well whatever number I write here that tells us how many tenths we're dealing with. So if I were to write the number 4 right over here, now my number is 2 hundreds plus 3 tens plus 5 ones plus 4 tenths. So you could view this a 4 times 1/10. Or you could write this as 4 tenths. Not tens, 4 tenths. Or 4 tenths is the same thing as this right over here. So this is a super important idea in mathematics. I can now use our place values to represent fractions. So this right over here, this 'point 4', this is 4/10. So another way to write this number-- I could write it this way, I could write it as two hundred, thirty-- let me do the thirty in blue-- two hundred and thirty five and four tenths. So I could write it like this, as a mixed number. So this up here would be a decimal representation: 235.4 And this right over here would be a mixed number representation: 235 and 4/10 but they all represent 200 plus 30 plus 5 plus 4/10. Let's look at a few more examples of this. So let's say I were to write the number 0.7-- and actually let me go one space even further to the right-- 0.76. So what would this be if I were to write it as a fraction? So let's just think about the place value. We have our decimal point. To the left of the decimal point is the ones place, but I have a zero there, so this is 0 ones. Now I have 7 tenths, so this is the tenths place. And then this is going to be this place to the right of that. We're going to divide by 10 again. So this is going to be the hundredths place. This space right over here is going to be the hundredths place. So this number right over here is-- we can rewrite it as 0-- let me write it this way-- we could rewrite it as 0 ones plus 7 tenths-- plus 7 tenths--- not tens, tenths-- plus 6 hundredths-- plus 6 hundredths-- not hundreds, hundredths. Or we could write this as 0 plus 7/10-- let me write that a little bit neater-- plus 7/10 plus 6/100-- 6 over 100. So you could write this-- 7/10 plus 6/100 is exactly what this is. You could say this is 0 ones, 7 tenths, and 6 hundredths. Now another way we could write this-- well look, if we wanted to write it as a fraction, or talk about it as a fraction-- I could ignore the 0, that's not going to change the value of the sum but I could add the 7/10 to the 6/100. So how could I write 7/10 in terms of hundredths? Well 7 over 10 is the same thing as 70 over 100. 7/10 is the same thing as 70 over 100. One way to thing about it is, if I multiply the denominator by 10 well, I can multiply the numerator by 10 as well and not change the value of it. 7/10 is the same thing as 70/100. And then you could add 6/100 to that-- 6/100 to that. And what will that give you? Well that's going to give you 76/100-- 76/100. So this number up here-- a lot of people will call this-- they might say 'zero point seven six' or they might call this 'seventy-six hundredths'. This is the hundredths place, this is the tenths place. But each tenth is worth ten hundredths. And you see that-- you could either view this as 7 tenths. or you could view it as 70 hundredths. So this is 76 hundredths. And you could keep going to the right. If you go to the right one more space you would get to the thousandths place and then the ten thousandths place. So you keep dividing by 10 each place you go to the right. And you multiply by 10 each place you go to the left.

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Decimal place value (video) | Khan Academy

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So I have a number written here. It's a 2, a 3, and a 5. And we already have some experience with numbers like this. We can think about 'what does it represent'. And to think about that we just have to look at the actual place values.

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How do we improve the teaching of problem solving?

Problem solving is... well... a problem. It is a skill highly prized by employers and a requirement of several of the new GCSE qualifications. However, it doesn't seem to be a skill that comes easily to pupils.

In the workplace the ability to tackle unexpected issues as and when they arrive, to strategise for your business or department and to find creative solutions for customers are all valuable attributes. They are all problem solving. We therefore need to equip pupils to use these skills when they move on from education as well as needing them to develop these skills to obtain the best exam results possible.

The ACME report on 'Mathematics in the Workplace and in Higher Education' (2010) noted the growing global trend within he UK away from low skilled jobs and an increase in those that require 'management expertise and problem-solving skills'. Their more recent report, ' Problem solving in mathematics: realising the vision through better assessment ', also highlighted the importance of teaching problem solving stating, "In the modern world, young people need to be able to engage with and interpret data and information. They need to become flexible thinkers capable of dealing with novel problems and situations and analysing their own and others' solutions to these. ACME has long recognised the centrality of problem solving in the effective teaching, learning and assessment of mathematics."

Top 5 Tips For Developing Problem Solving

Teaching problem solving can be frustrating, pupils find it challenging and uncomfortable. However, it can also be an amazing skill to nurture. It brings out the best in pupils' creativity and allows pupils to develop their own way through a subject or topic that otherwise they might lack confidence in. With various colleagues over the last 3 years I have tried to develop ways to help pupils develop these skills. There is no complete right method that works for everyone but there are some common themes.

The most important two seem to be confidence and time.

Pupils who are confident are more willing to try and solve a problem and to persevere until the problem is solved, and pupils need time to do this - it cannot be rushed. Below are some strategies that have helped build this confidence and resilience in pupils my colleagues and I have worked with.

1. Open Book Tests

We assess pupils at the end of every unit using only problem solving questions. Pupils prepare an A4 page of revision notes and have this with them in the test. They think it is cheating so love it!

From our point of view it gives us a real opportunity to assess the depth of their understanding. The confidence pupils get from having a 'cheat sheet' means they are much more likely to attempt a question.

2. Assess Problem Solving Separately to Other Skills

This year we have started to alternate our assessments between one which is heavily problem-solving based and one which assesses fluency and key knowledge. This allows us to diagnose more precisely the pupils who need extra help and support to develop their problem solving skills.

3. Free Writing

Some pupils really struggle with the unknown aspect of problem solving tasks. They don't want to start if they don't know how or if they will get to an answer. This can be particularly true for those high attaining pupils who are used to getting things right.

There can be a fear of writing something down which isn't the actual answer and so to try to combat this I regularly start lessons with 5 minutes of free writing.

Pupils write non-stop for 5 minutes about a number - anything they think is interesting ("5 is odd", "it is prime", "half of it is 2.5", "squared it is 25 and cubed it is 125"). There is no question so there cannot be a right or a wrong answer - they are simply writing something that they know.

4. Teach Explicit Strategies

This is the one tip that has more of a maths bias. We structure our KS3 and KS4 schemes of learning to include early units on problem solving.

We teach pupils about the bar model, arrow diagrams and using algebra and by teaching these as a discrete topic at the start we are then able to refer back to them and interleave these in our practice throughout every other topic.

5. Using Problem Solving as a means of Differentiation

Giving pupils differentiated tasks that differentiate by type of skill rather than content makes problem solving the top level to aim for. With enthusiastic pupils this works wonders as they want to get to the problem solving every lesson. There are some great resources out there that already do this ( Access Maths ' Feedback Sheets structures topics by Fluency, Reasoning and Problem Solving).

As with any wholesale change in focus, it is probably advisable to not try too much too soon.

The 2016 ACME report concluded that, "Changes in the assessment of problem solving should be introduced incrementally. A commitment is required across the community to the gradual increase in the quality of problem solving assessment and a reduction in scaffolding over time. An incremental approach will allow time for schools, teachers and learners to adapt to the changes."

Have a long term aim but manageable short term goals to get there.

There is no magic wand. Problem solving will continue to be a problem. However, if we put pupil confidence at the heart of strategies we adopt, we may be able to nurture those resilient individuals who can thrive in their exams and ultimately in the workplace.

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How do we improve the teaching of problem solving? Problem solving is... well... a problem. It is a skill highly prized by employers and a requirement of several of the new GCSE qualifications. However, it doesn't seem to be a skill that comes easily to pupils.

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When the government introduced the Year 6 Grammar, punctuation and spelling (SPAG) test in summer 2013, it showed a commitment to a more formal approach to grammar in primary schools.

The previous national curriculum was somewhat vague about how grammar should be taught; for example, in Key Stage 1, it simply stated that 'pupils should be taught some of the grammatical features of written standard English'. The current curriculum (adopted in 2014), however, sets out exactly which grammatical concepts should be taught in each school year, from capital letters and full stops in Year 1 right through to using passive tenses, independent clauses, colons and semi-colons in Year 6.

So how can you help your child to get to grips with grammar, and actually enjoy it?

Making grammar fun for primary-school children

1. Use actions
'Children often learn best with a multi-sensory approach, so we teach a different action for each part of speech,' says Sara Wernham, teacher and co-founder of the Jolly Grammar scheme. For example, children touch their forehead with all five fingers for a common noun (such as 'chair' or 'car'), and pump their arms backwards and forwards as if jogging for a verb (such as 'walk' or 'listen') - you'll find the full list of actions on page 11 of the free online Jolly Grammar Guide. 'Play games where you call out a word and get your child to do the correct action; it can get very silly, but it makes him think about what words are doing,' Sara suggests.

2. Get your sentences in order
For younger children, write the words of a simple sentence - such as, 'A duck swims on the pond.' - on individual slips of paper, and get them to put the words in the correct order, with a capital letter at the beginning and a full stop at the end.

3. Keep it simple
'Grammatical terms can be confusing, so it helps to simplify the terminology,' says literacy consultant John Bald, who provides free advice to parents. 'I refer to articles (a, an, the) as "companion words" - because all words need a little friend - and group adjectives and adverbs together as they both "add" something to a noun. Another thing to highlight is that not all verbs are "doing words" - it is confusing to say that they are, as the verbs to be and to have, the most common, don't "do" anything! My way of explaining this is to think of things that obviously don't do anything - for example, the dog is dead, my shirt has a hole in it - and to practise picking verbs out. It causes a lot of confusion later if children think all verbs have to do things.'

4. Read what's around you
'Grammar is all about pattern, and patterns are everywhere in the world, so use them as a starting point to talk about grammar,' suggests education consultant Geoff Dean. 'For example, the names of hairdressers' shops and the slogans on the sides of lorries can teach children a lot about language and meaning.'

5. Be colourful
Montessori teachers - and the Jolly Grammar scheme - both allocate a colour to each specific part of speech:

Nouns: black

Pronouns: pink

Adjectives: blue

Verbs: red

Adverbs: orange

Conjunctions: purple

Prepositions: green

'To help your child get to grips with parsing - analysing a sentence in terms of its parts of speech - type some sentences on the computer and get him to highlight each part of speech in the correct colour,' says Sara. You can also do this on paper with felt tips.

6. Get the stickers out
'One parent I worked with came up with the idea of getting her child to write out sentences and then stick a sticker at the end of each as a full stop,' says John - instant reinforcement as your child learns.

7. The opposites game
Help your child understand antonyms (opposites) by calling out words like hot, big, slow, easy and getting him to shout out the opposite. Alternatively, get your child to shout words that mean the same as the ones you're calling out (synonyms).

8. Three-course sentences
'A good analogy to help children with sentence construction is to think of sentences in terms of eating out,' says John. For example:

Main course: a simple sentence with a subject and a verb

Starter + main course: include a starter phrase, such as 'yesterday' or 'one day'

Main course + dessert: include a link word (a conjunction or connective like 'then' or 'because') or strong punctuation, like a semi-colon or colon

Your child can then build up sentences with starter, main course and dessert, and so on...

9. Silly sentence makers
Appeal to your child's silly side by encouraging him to make up funny sentences which still make grammatical sense. Write a selection of subjects, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, connectives etc on individual flashcards and get your child to compose crazy sentences, such as, 'The hairy baby rode to the moon on a purple banana.'

10. Tense tents
To help your child understand verb tenses, draw some 'tense tents' on pieces of paper. Write down some verbs in their various tenses - present (e.g. play), past (played), future (will play), future continuous (will be playing) and so on - and get your child to move the verbs into the correct tent.

11. Take control over sentences
'A good activity for older children is to challenge them to write sentences of at least 25 words that only contain one verb,' suggests Geoff. 'This exercise helps them to understand how to control a sentence, rather than overcomplicating it.'

12. Dictionary corner
'Learning to use a dictionary is an important part of mastering grammar,' says Sara. Build familiarity with the dictionary by playing games with it: for younger children, write down a mixture of correctly and wrongly spelled words ('toothbrush' and 'toofbrush') and get them to find the right spelling, or challenge an older child by calling out unfamiliar words and timing how long it takes him to find the definition.

13. Use online resources and games
There's a wealth of interactive games that can make grammar fun. Try:

To brush up on your own knowledge of grammatical terminology read more articles about grammar for primary-school children or look through our literacy glossary:

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13 ways to make grammar fun for children

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With all Year 6 children now required to take a spelling, punctuation and grammar test and more emphasis on the technical side of English in the new primary curriculum, we asked the experts for their top tips and practical activities to help your child engage with - and enjoy - grammar.

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What can you do to improve your child’s vocabulary? Try these tips to help your child build a better vocabulary.

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help your child at home with punctuation.

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There are many different ways to write poems as well as lots of techniques you can learn to help you improve your writing skill. Here are many of the poetry writing lessons for children that I have created to help you become a better poet, including how to write funny poetry, poetic rhythm, poetic forms and other styles of verse, as well as lesson plans for teachers and video lessons.

How to Write Funny Poetry

Rhythm in Poetry

1. The Basics

2. You Can Scan, Man

3. I Am the Iamb

4. Okie Dokie, Here's the Trochee

5. More than Two Feet

Poetic Forms

A poetic "form" is a set of rules for writing a certain type of poem. These rules can include the number of lines or syllables the poem should have, the placement of rhymes, and so on. Here are lessons for writing several common poetic forms.

Other Poetic Styles

There are many different styles of poems. These are not "poetic forms" because they don't usually have firm rules about length, syllable counts, etc., but they are common enough that many well-known children's poets have written poems like these.

Reciting Poetry

Other Poetry Writing Lessons

Poetry Lesson Plans for Teachers

Video Poetry Lessons

Poetry Dictionaries and Rhyming Words Lists

When reading these lessons, you may come across some unfamiliar words. If you see a poetic term and don't know what it means, you can always look it up in the Poetic Terms Dictionary. Poetry4kids also has a rhyming dictionary and a list of rhyming words you can use to help you write poems.

Other Useful Poetry-Writing Lessons

There are loads of websites on the Internet that offer helpful lessons for children on how to write poems. Here are a few you may find useful:

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There are many different ways to write poems as well as lots of techniques you can learn to help you improve your writing skill. Here are many of the poetry writing lessons for children that I have created to help you become a better poet, including how to write funny poetry, poetic rhythm, poetic forms and other styles of verse, as well as lesson plans for teachers and video lessons.

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Who can understand all the jargon that's being tossed around in education these days? Why is there a word for everything, and why do they have to be so confusing? Consider all the similar terms that have to do with the sounds of spoken words - phonics, phonetic spelling, phoneme awareness, phonological awareness, and phonology. All of the words share the same "phon" root, so they are easy to confuse, but they are definitely different, and each, in its way, is very important in reading education.

Phonics

Thanks to the popular "Hooked on Phonics" television commercials everybody has heard of phonics, but not everybody knows what it is. Phonics is a method of teaching that emphasizes letter-sound relationships. Children are taught, for example, that the letter N represents the sound /n/, and that it is the first letter in words such as nose, nice and new.

In addition, and this is something that most people don't think about when they think of phonics, children are explicitly taught the English spelling-sound "rules." Children are taught things like "when two vowels go walkin' the first does the talkin'" and "when a word ends in a silent-e, the first vowel sound is long." Since no letter in English, except for the letter V consistently corresponds to a single sound, these rules are quite complex. Nose, nice, and new all start with the letter N, but gnu, knife, and pneumonia certainly do not. There are spelling and pronunciation rules, and then there are exceptions to the rules, and teachers who use the phonics approach try to formally and explicitly teach both.

For the purpose of discussion here, there are two important things to remember about phonics. First and foremost, phonics is an instructional strategy - a method of teaching children to read. Second, phonics has to do with teaching the relationships between the sounds in speech and the letters of the alphabet (both written and spoken). Typically, when somebody is talking about teaching children the "spelling-sound" relationships (or to use some of that psycho-babble ed-speak, the "grapho-phonemic" relationships), they are talking about teaching some form of phonics.

Phonetic spelling or reading

This is a concept which is related to phonics, but unlike phonics, which is a method of teaching reading, phonetic spelling or phonetic reading is a behavior that young readers exhibit when they are trying to write or read. When children spell words the way they sound, they are said to be phonetically spelling - for example, the word lion could be phonetically spelled L-Y-N, or the word move could be phonetically spelled M-U-V. Likewise, a child can phonetically read words - child phonetically reading the word two may say "twah", or the child may phonetically read the word laugh in such a way that it sounds like lag or log.

Phonology

Unlike phonics or phonetic reading and writing, phonology has nothing to do with the letters in our alphabet or the letter names (spoken or written. Phonology has to do with the ability to distinguish and categorize sounds in speech. Some words in English (in all languages actually) sound very similar, and are easily confused if you are not very sensitive to the distinctions. For some children with phonology deficits, pairs of words like mauve and moth or rate and late sound identical. They can not hear the difference between certain similar phonemes (speech sounds), and as a consequence, they can not hear the difference between certain words.

Phonological awareness

Like phonology, phonological awareness has nothing to do with the letters in our alphabet - it has to do with the sounds in spoken words. And while phonology refers to the ability to hear the difference between sounds in spoken words, phonological awareness refers to the child's understanding that spoken words are made up of sounds.

This fact is obvious to adults, but children do not usually realize that, within a word, there may be other words (in the case of compound words), or that words are made up of syllables and that syllables are made up of phonemes. Children without phonological awareness do not understand what it means for words to rhyme, they do not appreciate alliteration (words that start with the same sound), and they do not understand that some words are longer than other words (the spoken form, that is, not necessarily the written form - the word area in its spoken form is longer than the word though, but in its written form, area is the shorter word).

Phoneme awareness

The phoneme is the basic building block for spoken words. In English, for example, there are an infinite number of possible words, but there are only about 45 phonemes. To make new words, we just delete or rearrange the phonemes - mat becomes man when the phoneme /t/ is replaced with the phoneme /n/, and deleting the phoneme /m/ from man leaves you with the word an.

While phonological awareness is a general term describing a child's awareness that spoken words are made up of sounds, phoneme awareness is a specific term that falls under the umbrella of phonological awareness. Phoneme awareness refers to the specific understanding that spoken words are made up of individual phonemes - not just sounds in general (which would include syllables, onsets, rimes, etc.). Children with phoneme awareness know that the spoken word bend contains four phonemes, and that the words pill and map both contain the phoneme /p/; they know that phonemes can be rearranged and substituted to make different words.

Phonological awareness is a step in the right direction, but phoneme awareness is what is necessary for the child to understand that the letters in written words represent the phonemes in spoken words (what we call the "alphabetic principle"). We spend a lot of time teaching children that the letter M stands for the sound /m/, but we rarely make sure that children understand that words like milk, ham and family all contain the phoneme /m/, or that the difference between man and an is the deletion of the phoneme /m/.

Phoneme awareness can be demonstrated in a variety of ways. The easiest phoneme awareness task is called blending - an adult pronounces a word with a pause between each phoneme (e.g. /b/ /a/ /l/), and the child blends the phonemes together to make the word ("ball"). A more challenging assessment for children is the reverse, called phoneme segmentation - the adult says the whole word, and the child says the word with pauses between the phonemes (adult says "ball," child says /b/ /a/ /l/). Even more challenging is phoneme manipulation - the adult tells the child to say a word without a particular phoneme (say "boat" without the /t/), or the adult tells the child to add a phoneme to a word to make a new word (What word would you have if you added the phoneme /o/ to the beginning of "pen?"). If the child can reliably do any of these tasks, the child has demonstrated true phoneme awareness, but a relevant point to make here is that the child doesn't need to do much more than these tasks to demonstrate phoneme awareness.

It is possible, in fact it is easy, to create phoneme awareness tasks that are exceptionally tricky, but these should be avoided rather than exploited. English contains many confusing phonemes - there are diphthongs and glides that can confuse anybody, even mature, experienced readers (How many phonemes do you hear in pay?), and there are odd phonemes that are not universally defined (How many phonemes are in the word ring or fur?), and there are clusters of phonemes that are harder to segment than other phonemes (a cluster is a group of consonants that are perceived as a unit, sometimes until the child begins spelling - for example, the /pr/ in pray, the /gl/ in glow, and the /sk/ in school). It is important for the teacher to remember that the child doesn't need to be an Olympic champion at phoneme manipulation - the child just needs to demonstrate knowledge of the fact that spoken words are made up of phonemes. It is also important that the teacher understands that phoneme awareness is not a magic bullet; it is important, and it is necessary for reading success, but it is only one skill of many that support literacy.

Summary

To recap, phonics is an instructional approach that emphasizes the letter-sound relationships (which letters represent which sounds). Phonetic reading and writing is a behavior the child exhibits that involves "sounding out" words the way they are written or writing words the way they sound (again, relating to the way letters represent speech sounds). Phonology has to do with the ability to hear the difference between different speech sounds (and has nothing to do with letters of the alphabet). Phonological awareness is a term used to describe the child's generic understanding that spoken words are made up of sounds. Phoneme awareness specifically refers to a child's knowledge that the basic building blocks of spoken words are the phonemes.

The Phive Phones of Reading by Sebastian Wren, Ph.D. Copyrighted © by Southwest Educational Development Laboratory. All rights reserved.

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Who can understand all the jargon that's being tossed around in education these days? Why is there a word for everything, and why do they have to be so confusing? Consider all the similar terms that have to do with the sounds of spoken words - phonics, phonetic spelling, phoneme awareness, phonological awareness, and phonology.

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World of Better Learning | Cambridge University Press

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Published 10 February 2017

Stories are a great way of creating a joyful learning environment! This is the first of a 2-part series, where I'll explore simple, fun and engaging story-creating activities that you can use to inspire your young learners.

Activity 1: Describe the setting

Before starting any story-creating activity, it's important to get children into the right frame of mind. Story warmers are activities that can help introduce children to the basic elements of a story, such as the setting and the characters.

For example, the teacher might announce that they are going to tell a story that takes place in a jungle. Encourage your students to describe the jungle, to tell each other what they 'see', and to imitate the sounds that they can 'hear'.

Activity 2: How do they feel?

Encourage the children to describe the emotions of characters in familiar stories. Get them to mimic or act out the actions or reactions of the characters. For example, ask children to describe or act out the reactions of the characters in these situations:

The Three Bears discovered Goldilocks sleeping on their beds.

Big Bad Wolf tried to eat Little Red Riding Hood.

Activity 3: Draw the music

This activity combines arts, music and story-making. Give the children a piece of paper, a pencil and some crayons. Then, play some music. Let the children 'feel' the music for a few seconds. Ask them to 'draw' the music. Which people, places, or events does the music remind them of? Depending on their ability, encourage them to write 2 words, a short caption or a paragraph. Let the children share their pictures with the rest of the class. This activity is great for teaching children about the notions of mood and emotion in a story. For example, happy music will elicit happy drawings and happy captions, and scary, gloomy music will result in a completely different set of feelings.

Activity 4: Mental picture dictation

This activity lets children practice descriptive languages that are necessary for story-telling. Bring an interesting picture into the classroom, then describe it to the class without revealing it. Working in small groups, encourage the children to write a short description of the picture, based on what they have heard. Each group will share their description with the rest of the class. After everyone has shared their interpretation, the teacher reveals the picture. Children can compare how close their construal matches the image.
I hope this has inspired you and your class to get creative! Always remember to partake in the children's activities ... it's a great way immerse yourself in their world. Which stories do you remember reading as a child? I look forward to giving you more handy hints next week!

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Creating stories with children #1: Using stories to create a joyful learning environment | World of Better Learning | Cambridge University Press

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Published 10 February 2017 Stories are a great way of creating a joyful learning environment! This is the first of a 2-part series, where I'll explore simple, fun and engaging story-creating activities that you can use to inspire your young learners.

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::| FREE |::| PRINTABLE |::

A MATHS DICTIONARY FOR KIDS ~ DETAILS

A Maths Dictionary for Kids is an online math dictionary for students which explains over 955 common mathematical terms and math words in simple language with definitions, detailed visual examples, and online practice links for some entries.

> ENTER MATHS CHARTS HERE <

Maths Charts is a collection of over 270 free printable maths posters suitable for interactive whiteboards, classroom displays, math walls, student handouts, homework help, introduction and consolidation of mathematical topics and other math reference needs.

These free math posters include definitions and examples covering a wide range of math topics including Numbers, Operations on Numbers, Fractions, Decimals, Percent and Percentages, Ratios and Rates, Beginning Algebra, Data and Statistics, Probability, Geometry, Measurement, Time, Money, Symbols and Notation plus handy Blackline Masters.

© Jenny Eather All rights reserved

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A Maths Dictionary for Kids by Jenny Eather| Definitions | Free Math Posters and Charts | Maths Examples | Math Words | Math Glossary | Math Terms |

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Free maths dictionary for students with over 955 common math words, math terms and maths definitions explained in simple language with visual examples. A math glossary with mathematics definitions, explanations, examples, math charts and posters for students and teachers. © Jenny Eather 2020.

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information about coding suitable for children

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Inside: A great overview of coding for kids, the learning benefits of coding and 18 best coding websites for kids.
"Mum, you have to see this really cool game I coded in IT today. I created a drawing program that allows you to change the pen colour and everything!"

My daughters have been learning to code at school for the past few years now. They absolutely love it. After all, as a kid it's super cool to see a code that you have created work as you intended it to. Hey, I would think that's pretty cool even now and I'm 40-something!

There's no denying that computer science is essential to our modern day lives. Technology makes our lives easier (most of the time!) and everywhere you turn you are surrounded by it - from your TV to your phone to your car and smart home appliances.

At this stage I have no idea if either of my children will choose to work in a computer science field once they enter the workforce but I do appreciate that children need to understand the importance of computer technology, and I think it's helpful for them to understand how computer programs work, what code is and how it works because learning to use code is really cool and it helps kids develop important thinking and learning skills that have applications far beyond the reach of their keyboard.

What is coding for kids?

Coding is the act of writing instructions for a computer to make the computer perform a task. Coding may also be called programming. A finished set of computer instructions is called a program.

Every app, game and software program we use requires a coded program to work. Many of our household appliances and even our cars also require a coded program to work.

For a program to work it must be written in a way that a computer understands. This is done with a computer language. There are different computer languages designed for different types of computer programs.

These computer languages include HTML, Javascript, C and Python. Essentially the computer language converts human generated instructions into binary code - that is, strings of ones and zeroes that tell a computer what to do.

When learning to code, children typically learn to use simplified, visual programming tools that allow them to build programs with pre-made blocks of codes that can be stacked together to form a sequence of instructions. This is commonly called block coding or block programming.

Children will then typically move on to learning to program with text-based programming languages that use words, abbreviations, numbers and symbols to create the coded instructions.

To learn to code children need to also understand how computers work, they must develop computational thinking.

Computational thinking involves a logical thought process to solve a problem, including the ability to spot and troubleshoot mistakes when a program does not work as you intended it to. Computer's only work as well as the instructions they have been given! If a program's instructions are not written correctly then the program won't work properly.

Very young children can even begin to learn the principles of coding without touching a computer. These types of coding games and activities provide opportunity for children to learn the basic principles behind coding and to develop the logical thinking sequences, or computational thinking, that are helpful once they begin to learn to code on a computer.

RELATED: Teaching coding? Check out this big collection of Picture Books about Coding for Kids and Picture Books About Digital Citizenship.

Why Teach Kids to Code?

Coding teaches kids that finding a solution to a problem often involves a logical sequence of steps or actions. It helps to develop problem solving skills such as perseverance, trial and error and understanding of cause and effect, analytical thinking and reasoning skills, as well as math and language skills.

Coding also challenges children to think creatively and to pursue innovative ideas and solutions. We Are Teachers shares a detailed article outlining the many benefits of children learning to code.

At the end of the day, kids think coding is fun and I love that it really works their brains. And if my kids are going to be engaged on a screen, I would rather they be using it to create something rather than passively consuming entertainment!

18 Best Coding Websites for Kids: Websites for Teaching Programming Skills

There are many websites where kids can learn how to code but they are not all created equal. The list below highlights eighteen of the best coding websites for kids, offering online coding lesson, tutorials and games for kids from age 4 through to 18 years. The list includes a mix of free and paid resources, useful for learning to code at home or at school.

1. CodeMonkey

CodeMonkey invites users to code with block or text based programming language to solve a variety of progressively more challenging puzzles (each level includes an additional piece of code or new function to use). Great for home and school, the website includes coding courses across a range of levels - from Code Monkey Jr for 4+ years to Coding Chatbots for 13 + years.
Get started with CodeMonkey's free 14 day trial.
2. Code.Org

For kids aged 8-16 years, Scratch is a great tool where they can learn how to code practically anything they can dream of. With Scratch coders can program interactive stories, games, and animations - and share their creations with others in the supportive online community. The system uses block programming

Scratch is free to use for all coders, and schools can access the tools license-free.
3. Scratch & Scratch Jr
Younger children can learn too with Scratch Jr, created for 5-7 year olds.

Click through to get started with Scratch.

Looking for more FREE coding for kids resources? Click through to see our choice of the best totally free coding for kids websites.

Unique to the other inclusions on this coding websites for kids list, Bitsbox is a subscription box with supporting website that provides a physical product as support for kids learning about coding. Each box includes instructional support materials that teach parents and kids about coding concepts and commands, a series of themed project cards and progress stickers, as well as a project binder and dividers to help keep learning materials organized. Kids log into the Bitsbox website and have fun coding with JavaScript to create video games, greeting cards, simulations and more.
5
Well known for its elaborate and intricate math program, Khan Academy also offers an instructive stream for kids wanting to learn how to code. The lessons are free and suitable for kids in the elementary/middle school grades. They use Javascript language and are quite detailed and a little technical. The site utilizes talk-throughs that kids can follow as they create their own programs in the site's editor panel.
Find out more about coding with Bitsbox.
Alltogether there are 40 talk-throughs, 35 challenges and 9 projects, that could take anywhere from 15 to 40 hours to complete. There are also advanced Javascript courses for coders who want to take their learning even further

This is a cool site for kids who love playing online games and want to learn how to code as they play. The games are interactive, with players writing lines of code to control the action onscreen. Players can choose either Python and Javascript languages, with difficulty increasing as coders advance in stages through the games.

Children can play the eleven CodeCombat levels online without creating a login though they will need to create a free account to save their progress through the game levels. There are also paid subscription options for further levels and paid personalized lessons for children who would like to learn more about coding. CodeCombat also offers school licensing plans with substantial teacher support materials.
Find out more at Khan Academy.
Stencyl is block coding, just like the popular Scratch, but with turbo boosted capabilities! Users can create games to be published across a variety of platforms with simple block coding. Includes tutorials and an extensive range of helpful resources, including an Education Kit for schools.

Try Stencyl for free at stencyl.com. Paid upgrades offer more game sharing options for those who wish to publish their completed games and educational licenses for schools.
Learn to code while gaming at CodeCombat.com.
For more great coding for kids ideas for your home or classroom, check out our list of Coding Apps for Kids.

Christie Burnett is a teacher, presenter, writer and the mother of two. She created Childhood 101 as a place for teachers and parents to access engaging, high quality learning ideas.

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Coding for Kids: 18 Best Coding Websites for Kids Learning to Program

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Inside: A great overview of coding for kids, the learning benefits of coding and 18 best coding websites for kids. "Mum, you have to see this really cool game I coded in IT today. I created a drawing program that allows you to change the pen colour and everything!"

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Get Minecraft Education for your classroom. Find out how using this game will take your students' learning to the next level.

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Scratch is a free programming language and online community where you can create your own interactive stories, games, and animations.

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What do children learn about plants in primary school?

A plant is a living organism. In primary school children learn about a wide variety of different types of plants including flowers, trees and vegetables.
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Plants in the primary-school classroom

Children are taught to name and identify common plants in their local environment. For example, children learn to recognise different trees (oak, maple, willow, sycamore, pine and cherry). They will be taught the difference between deciduous trees, which shed their leaves in winter, and evergreen trees, which do not.

Children will also learn to name different types of local wild flowers such as daisies, dandelions, bluebells, and buttercups.

They will learn about the structure of a plant: leaves, flowers, petals, seeds, trunk, branches and stem. Children will be taught the function of each part of the plant and how water travels around the plant (water transportation).

Children will learn about the different needs of plants; this means what conditions plants need to grow for example; water, light, temperature, soil, nutrients and space.

When are children taught about plants?

In Year 1, children will learn to identify a few different types of flowers and trees including deciduous and evergreen trees. They will learn the different parts of a plant including leaves, flowers, fruit, seeds, roots, bulb, trunk, branches and stem.

Year 2 children learn about the needs of a plant including water, light and temperature. They will begin to describe how seeds and bulbs grow into mature plants.

In Year 3 children expand their knowledge of the needs of plants to include soil and nutrients. They will recap the structure of a plant and learn the function or job each part of the plant has. Children investigate how water travels around the plant.

Year 5 children explore how plants reproduce including seed dispersal and pollination, and learn about photosynthesis (the process plants use to make food from sunlight).

How do children learn about plants in the primary classroom?

Teachers and schools will use a variety of methods to teach children about plants.

Watch and observe:
Children will be given opportunities to watch and observe plants and vegetables grow. They will plant their own seeds either in pots or the school grounds. Children will observe trees and plants growing in their local environment if possible this might be during forest school lessons, in the school garden/ vegetable patch or walks and trips to the park and woodlands depending on the school facilities. Children may use magnifying glasses to examine the parts of flowers closely.

Diagrams, photographs and drawing:
Children will draw and label plants including trees and plants. Children may keep charts, graphs and records of plant growth.

Experiments:
Children will plan and carry out investigations and experiments for example they might plan a fair test to determine if a plant needs water to grow.

Video clips/books/images:
Children may watch video clips to teach them about plants and research using the internet and book for example they might research pollination.

Photographs, charts, classification grids:
Children will use pictures and classification charts to identify different flowers, trees and plants.

Kids' books about plants

Plant learning activities to try at home:

Plant seeds and grow plants with your child at home. Cress seeds are very simple to grow in an empty yoghurt pot and also grow quickly so children can observe the growth easily. You can also grow herbs in pots, or tomatoes, carrots or potatoes if you have more space.

Become involved in any local community growing projects or visit your local allotments.

Find books about plants at the library.

Go for a walk in a woodland and look for different types of trees and flowers.

Look out for wild flowers such as daisies, buttercups, dandelions and discuss what they are called. Make a daisy chain together.

A transportation of water experiment is easy to do at home; simply put a white carnation into some water coloured with food colouring and observe how the water travels up the stem and into the petals.

Take photographs of trees and flowers or draw, sketch or paint interesting plants.

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From the parts of a plant to the seed cycle, water transportation and photosynthesis, children learn lots about the living things around us in primary school. Find out what is taught when in the primary classroom in our parents' guide.

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Absorbent - a substance that can soak up a liquid, or to take in energy and retain it.

Absorber - an absorber does not reflect or transmit particles or radiation that hit it. Aluminium foil is an absorber of alpha particles. A dark, dull surface is an absorber of infra-red radiation.

Accuracy - is a term that refers to the properties of a measuring instrument.

Acid - an acid is a chemical that will neutralize a base such as an alkali. There are many different kinds of acid. Lemons are sour because they contain citric acid. Acid in vinegar is called acetic acid. It is a substance that disolves in water to form a solution with a pH below 7. An acid contains hydrogen which can be replaced by a metal to form a salt. When an acid dissolves in water H+(aq) ions are formed. A strong acid completely ionises in water and a weak acid only partly ionises. Common strong acids include hydochloric acid, HCl, sulphuric acid, H2SO4 and nitric acid, HNO3. A common weak acid is ethanoic acid, CH3COOH.

Acid rain - is a kind of pollution. Sulphur and nitrogen oxides are produced from the burning of fossil fuels. When they escape into the atmosphe, they form sulphuric and nitric acids. Thes acids can have effects on our environment, e.g. erode stonework, lower the pH of lakes and rivers killing our wildlife, and cause damage to trees.

Adhesive - made to stick like glue.

Air - is a mixture of gases.

Alkali - is a metal oxide or hydroxide (base) that dissolves in water to form a solution with a pH greater than 7. An alkali is neutralised by an acid to form a salt and water. Common alkalis include sodium hydroxide, NaOH, potassium hydroxide, KOH, calcium hydroxide, Ca(OH)2 and ammonium hydroxide, NH4OH.

Alloy - is a metal made by melting and mixing two or more metals together, e.g. brass is a mixture of copper and zinc and bronze is an alloy of copper and tin.

Amphibians - are animals that live in water and on land. They have smooth, moist skins and lay their eggs in water.

Antennae - a pair of sensory organs found on the heads of insects.

Apparatus - are the things (equipment) needed to carry out an experiment.

Aquatic - belonging to , or living in water.

Atomic - an atom is the smallest particle (unit of matter) of an element which can exist and be part of a chemical reaction (a source of nuclear energy). The tiniest part of a substance. Atomic is the use of atomic bombs or energy.

Bacteria - are very small single-celled organisms with no nucleus.

Balance/Top Pan Balance - is an instrument which is used to measure mass.

Barbule - branches that form from the hollow shaft (Rachis) of a feather. When birds preen (groom) their feathers they spread oils over them which 're-hooks' the barbules.

Battery - a battery consists of a number of electrical cells. These cells are usually connected in series to give a highter voltage than that from a sinlge cell.

Bedrock - solid rock immediatley beneath the surface soil.

Biodegradable - is a material that can rot and decay away quickly after we have used it.

Biologist - to study biology you will need to know the 7 life processes. A memory trick to remember what the life processes are is'MRS GREN'.

M - Movement - the moving parts of an organism

R - Reproduction - Producing offspring

S - Sensitivity - Reacting and responding to the environment

G - Growth - Increasing is size to adulthood

R - Respiration - Turning food into energy

E - Excretion - Getting rid of waste

N - Nutrition - Getting food to stay alive

Birds - are animals that have feather and wings. They lay eggs with hard shells and usually fly.

Bonded - Something that is bound, fastened or joined together.

Braided - interwoven hair and thread, or other fibres and yarns.

Bulb - part of the root of a plant which resembles a ball (e.g. onion).

Bunsen burner - is a gas burner used in a lab during experiments.

Canopy - a hanging cover forming a shelter.

Carnivores- are animals that eat other animals.

Catalyst - is something that alters the speed (speeds up) of a chemical reaction or change without being used up at the end of it or permanently changed itself.

Cells - one of the smallest parts of a plant or animal tissue.

Circuit - is one or more conducting paths between the two electrodes of a cell or battery of cells.

Characteristics - the distinguishing features or quality of something.

Chemicals - are the substances used in chemistry doing experiments..

Chemist - a chemist needs to be able to identify acids and alkalis. Universal Indicator can be used to show the pH of a substance.

Classifying - is to sort things into different groups.

Climate - the weather conditions of an area (e.g. the hot Siberian desert, the coldness of Iceland).

Compound - is a substance that has two or more elements in it.

Concave - describes the shape of a lens or other object where the center is thinner than the outside.

Conclusion - things that can be worked out from doing an experiment (making a decision). To draw to a close, to finish or conclude with an explanation, judgement or opinion based on interpretations.

Condensation - is the change from a gas to a liquid or solid.

Conifers - are relating to or part of trees or shrubs that do not have flowers and their seeds are made in cones.

Consistence - a degree of thickness or smoothness of a substance.

Controlled Variable - the things that you try to keep the same in an experiment or investigation.

Corrosion - is the wearing away of the surface of a metal by chemical reactions with oxygen and water. Rusting is one example of corrosion.

Crystals - a solid with a symmetrical arrangement of faces, usually bright and clear.

Current - is a flow of electric charge. The current is a metallic conductor is due to a flow of negatively charged electrons.

Data - a collection of observations, measurements and/or facts.

Decompose - the breaking down of parts from a whole - to decay or rot, wasting away.

Dense - made up of very closely packed particles.

Dilute - is to make a liquid weaker or thinner by adding more liquid, usually more water.

Dispersion - is the splitting of white light into the seven colors of the visible spectrum - rainbow.

Dissolving - is the process that occurs when a solute is added to a solvent and the solute disappears. The particles of the solute fit between the particles of the solvent. The solute can be recovered by the evaporation process. To mix a solid with a liquid so it becomes a liquid as well. To melt, to become a liquid (ice melting, sugar disolving in hot tea).

Distillation - this is to separate a liquid from other liquids by boiling it and condensing the steam. A substance that has been through an evaporation and condensing process.

Earth - is the planet that we inhabit. In electricity, the term refers to an electrical connection to the Earth.

Ecosystem - is the sum total of all the living organisms and non-living factors in an environment and the way they interact. The relationship between the environment, its animals and its plants.

Eiderdown - Eider is a duck which has very soft feathers, eiderdown is the down (feathers) from this duck.

Element - is a pure substance made of one kind of atom. It cannot be split up into anything simpler without losing its characteristics. A substance that cannot be separated into simpler substances.

Energy - is transfered by heating by; radiation, conduction and convection. The amount of energy transfered is measured in joules.

Environment - the conditions or surroundings in which people and animals live.

Enzymes - is a substance that speeds up a chemical reaction in the body (a biological catalyst). Each enzyme works best at a particular temperature and pH.

Erosion - is the process where rocks are worn away.

Evaluating - to decide if you have done something the best way and seeing what you could improve.

Evaporation - is the process in which a liquid changes to a vapour, due to particles leaving the surface of the liquid. A liquid turns to a gas. Changing from a liquid or a solid into vapours (gas).

Evidence - is anything that gives a reason to believe something.

Expand - is when the size of a substance increases due to being heated. The particles gain energy and move further apart.

Experiment - a test to find something out.

Explosion - is a very rapid reaction accompanied by a large expansion in gases.

Fabric - any material made of fibers or yarn which has been woven or knitted together.

Fair Test - is controlling some of the things used or done in a test so they do not change. An experiment in which only one variable is changed at a time to allow a fair comparison.

Felt - is tightly matted fabric made of wool which has had the fibers worked together under pressure.

Ferns - a plant with strong stems, roots and leaves and do not have seeds.

Fertilize - to provide a plant with pollen to bring about fertilization.

Filaments - are single stands of fiber.

Filter - is to separate solids (that do not dissolve) from liquids.

Fish - are cold-blooded animals that live in water, they have a backbone, scaly skin, tails and fins for swimming and gills for breathing.

Flammable - a substance or material that easily sets on fire.

Flowering Plants- any plant that produces flowers and fruit.

Force - is a push or pull. Force is measured in units called newtons (N).

Formula - is a way of writing scientific information using letters, numbers and signs.

Friction - occurs when two surfaces move over each other. Air resistance and water resistnace are friction forces caused by the movement of something through the air or the water.

Freeze - is when you cool something to a very low temperature and it usually forms ice.

Function - is the special purpose or use of something.

Galaxy - is a group of millions of stars held together by gravity, like the Milky Way.

Gas - is a state of matter in which the particles move rapidly and are very spread out.

Gravity - is the force of attraction between any two bodies. It increases with increasing mass of the bodies and decreases if they are further apart.

Habitat - is a place where an organism lives. It is the natural home of a plant or animal.

Herbivores - are animals that eat only plants.

Humidity - is warm dampness, it is a measure of the amount of water in the air.

Humus - bits of decaying plants and animals found in soil.

Igneous - (of rock) is the matter formed as moulten (entremely hot liquid) rock cools and hardens.

Indicator - is a chemical that can show if a substance is acidic or alkaline by changing color. Color turns red in acid and blue in alkali.

Infiltration - is the passing of a liquid or gas through a substance by means of a filter.

Insoluble - this is when a solid is unable to dissolve into a liquid.

Insulator - halts the passage of electricity, heat or sound through an object or substance.

Invertebrates - are animals without a backbone, such as worms.

Investigating - is to look for clues and try to work out what they mean.

Joule (J) - is the unit for measuring energy or work.

Kaleidoscope - is a tube filled with colored paper, which is lined with mirrors placed at different angles. Turning the tube will create amazing patterns for you to see through a small hole at the end of the tube.

Keratin - is a fibrous protein found in hair and nails.

Kinetic Energy - is the kind of energy in moving things.

Larva, larvae - is an insect that is still in its caterpillar state.

Leaf - is a flat green blade attached to the stem of a plant.

Lichen - is a mutualistic relationship between a fungus and an alga (simple plant). They can be seen as crusty patches on tree trunks and walls.

Liquid - is a state of matter in which the particles are close together but randomly arranged. The particles can move over each other.

Magnetic - applies to any object or material that is repelled or attracted by a magnet. Magnetic materials include iron, steel, cobalt and nickel.

Magnetic field - is an area where a magnetic material experiences a force. Magnetic fields exist around permanent magnets, electromagnets and electric currents.

Magnification - to be magnified. To increase the size of an object to make it bigger than it actually is.

Mammals - are animals that are warm-blooded, usually have fur or hair and feed their young with milk from their mother.

Matter - is the material that something is made up of.

Melting - is when a solid changes to a liquid at the melting point by heating.

Melting Point - is when the temperature at which a solid changes to a liquid.

Measuring Cylinder - is an instrument that measures the volume of a liquid.

Metamorphic - (of rock) is a complete change from its original state caused by heat and pressure.

Method - is an orderly way of doing something.

Methodology - is a scientific study of method. A system of methods used in a particular activity.

Microbes - are very small living things, usually only one cell big. A tiny organism that can only be seen with a microscope. Some microbes can cause disease.

Milky Way - is the spiral galaxy of stars which the Earth is part of.

Minibeasts - are miniature or very small animals such as insects.

Mixture - is two or more substances mixed together without actually joining them so that they can be separated again.

Molecule - is a group of atoms joined together.

Moss - a plant that has weak roots, thin, delicate leaves and do not have seeds.

Moult - is the shedding or casting off of feathers, hair, fur and skin.

Nectar - is the sweet juice of flowers from which bees make their honey.

Neutralisation - Acids react with bases, alkalis, reactive metals and carbonates. This is called a neutralisation reaction.

Acid + Alkali -> Salt + Water
Acid + Base -> Salt + Water
Acid + Metal -> Salt + Hydrogen
Acid + Carbonate -> Salt + Water + Carbon Dioxide

Neutron - is an atomic particle found in the nucleus. It is similar in mass to a proton but has no charge.

Newton (N) - is the unit of force.

Nocturnal - active during the night.

Observations - the things that can be seem, watched during an experiment and the taking of notes to record facts based on the experiment. Try using all your senses to notice what is happening.

Omnivores - are animals that eat both animals and plants.

Opaque - does not allow light through.

Orbit- the curved path taken by an object that moves round another object like a planet around the Sun.

Organism - (of animal, plant) a section or piece resembling a living creature in behaviour or structure.

Particles - are the extremely tiny parts (substances) that scientists believe everything is made up of.

Permeable - is a material which allows water or liquids to flow through.

Photosynthesis - is the process from which plants use or changes sunlight into energy from the sun to make their own food. This energy is their food which contains oxygen and glucose. [carbon dioxide + water = glucose + oxygen] (also seephotosynthesis definitions page)

Physical Change - is when you mix two substances and their particles become jumbled up together. They do not necessarily combine chemically unless the atoms in the molecules are rearranged - this change is a physical change only. This new substance is called a mixture and can usually be separated quite easily.

Physicist - a physicist needs to get units right in calculations.

Physical Quantity S.I. Units Symbol

Length Metres m
Mass Kilograms kg
Time Seconds s
Force Newtons N
Energy Joules J

Pipette - a thin glass or plastic tube used to measure liquids.

Planet - is a large body that orbits a star.

Plates - are huge sections of the Earth's crust which float on the mantle.

Pole - in magnetism, the strongest part of a magnet. The pole of a magnet that points towards magnetic North is called its North seeking pole.

Pollination - is to fertilise by the transfer of plant pollen. The wind, birds and bees can pass pollens around.

Predator - is an animal which hunts and kills other animals for their food.

Predicting - to say what you think is going to happen in an experiment or investigation.

Process - is a number of actions for making or doing something.

Properties - are what a material or substance is like and how it behaves. Describes how a substance behaves. It can describe any piece of the material (for example if a material is strong or soft).

Protein - are nitrogenous compounds that are essential for life.

Proton - is an atomic particle found in the nucleus. It is similar in mass to the neutron but has a positive charge.

Rachis - (of feather) is the hollow shaft and network of hooks and barbules belonging to a feather.

Ray - is a narrow beam of light.

Reaction - is something that happens in response to something else.

Reaction Time - is the time that elapses between an event occurring and aperson responding to the event.

Recycled - is when something is used again in a system.

Reflect - is to bounce something back from a surface.

Reflection - is the change in direction when light or other wave motion rebounds at a boundary between two materials.

Refraction - is the change in speed when light or other wave motions passes from one material into another. The change in speed causes a change in wavelength and may cause a change in direction.

Reliable - things that can be taken to be true.

Reptiles - are animals that live mainly on land and lay eggs with soft shell. They have dry, scaly skin and crawls along on their belly and have short legs.

Research - is an investigation or study to find out facts in order to reac a conclusion.

Residue - is something that remains behind or is left over.

Result - is what happens at the end of an experiment.

Rodent - is an animal with strong incisor (cutting teeth at the front).

Rusting- is an oxidation process of iron and steel. Iron and steel rust in the presence of oxygen (air) and water. Rust is hydrated iron(III) oxide. Rust damages metal parts so it is important to try to prevent it. One way is to alloy the iron and steel with other metals which resist rust. Stainless steel is an alloy of iron wiht other metals such as chromium and nickel. Tpresence of these other metals protects the stainless steel from corrosion and allows these metals to be used as kitchen sinks and cutlery.

Safety Specs - must be worn to protect your eyes from any danger.

Scale - is the marks on any measuring instrument.

Sedimentary - the material that has been deposited by wind or water. The matter that forms at the bottom of a liquid.

Sieve - is when you separate a solid or a liquid by using a sieve.

Slaked lime - calcium hydroxide.

Soil - is the top layer of land on the Earth's surface.

Solar System - is a star and all the objects that orbit it.

Soluble - is the liquid that is produced after you have dissolved a solid into another liquid.

Solution - chemical: is the mixture of two or more substances, a solute dissolves in a solvent. The substance made when a solid disappears in a liquid. The process of solving a problem.

Specimen - is a sample of blood, urine or tissue which is used for analysis.

Spectrum - the range of colors that make up white light is called the spectrum. White light is a mixture of colors. When splitting light throught a prism you can see the spectrum of colors.

Stalactite - is a hanging formation of calcium carbonate dripping down from the roof of a cave.

Stalagmite - is the opposite of a stalactite; as it rises like a spike from the floor of a cave.

Star - is an astronomical object that generates energy due to nuclear fusion. A star gives out light and/or other forms of electromagnetic radiation.

Static Electricity - is an unbalanced charge that is not moving. A common cause of static electricity is the transfer of electrons when two objects are rubbed together. The object that gains electrons becomes charged negatively while the object that loses electrons becomes charged positively.

Stem - is the long, thin, supportive central part of a plant which bears a flower, fruit or leaf.

Symmetrical - is two halves that are mirror images of each other like butterfly wings.

Synthetic - is a substance or material which is not made up of natural substances like cotton or wool, but are man-made artifically from chemical reactions.

Tectonic plates - huge sections of the Earth's crust and upper mantle.

Temperature - is a measure of how hot or cold an object is.

Texture - is the appearance, feel and structure of a substance.

Thermometer - is an instrument used to measure temperature.

Tsunami - a large wave caused by an underwater eathquake or volcanic eruption.

Universe - is everything that exists.

Variables - are the things that can change during an experiment. Something that can vary during an experiment.

Vertebrates- are animals with a backbone.

Volume - is how much room something takes up. It is measured in centimeters (cm3).

Wasted energy - energy that is not usefully transferred or transformed.

Waterproof- does not allow water to pass through.

Wavelength - the distance from one wave peak to the next wave peak along the waves.

Weight - is a force due to gravity acting on an object.

X-rays - are used to detect broken bones. very penetrating, short wavelength electromagnetic waves.

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Kids Science word Dictionary Definitions and Explanations

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Absorbent - a substance that can soak up a liquid, or to take in energy and retain it. Absorber - an absorber does not reflect or transmit particles or radiation that hit it. Aluminium foil is an absorber of alpha particles. A dark, dull surface is an absorber of infra-red radiation.

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This collection of early elementary, kindergarten, and preschool science experiments and activities has brought us such joy in learning over the past couple years! At the age of 3, my son experimented with his first baking soda and vinegar reaction experiment. We have been in love with simple science experiments ever since!

Over the years, what started as our preschool science experiments have evolved into kindergarten and early elementary age science activities and experiments.

All the activities you find below are perfect for a wide variety of ages with more or less adult supervision as needed. So many of these science experiments can be adapted to fit your needs.

Our science activities are perfect for the young scientist. We also have science collections by the season., and Spring Science. As well as a huge collection of science activities for the major HOLIDAYS

Are kindergarten and preschool science experiments and activities easy to do with young kids?

You bet! Our favorite science experiments and activities are inexpensive, quick, and easy to set up! Many of these awesome kid's science experiments use common ingredients you may already have.

You will notice that I use the wording preschool science quite a bit, but these activities and experiments are absolutely perfect for kindergarten age kids as well as early elementary age kids. It all depends on the individual kid or group you are working with!

I always keep our early learning science experiments playful and simple. I mix in a little of the "science" as we go along. These science experiments are also great for short attention spans. They are almost always hands-on, visually engaging, and filled with play opportunities!

ENCOURAGE CURIOSITY, EXPERIMENTATION, AND EXPLORATION

Not only are these preschool science experiments and awesome introduction to higher learning concepts, they spark curiosity. They help your children develop questions, problem solve, and find answers.

Young kid's science experiments introduce a little bit of patience with quick results. Repeating these simple science experiments in different ways or with different themes is a great way to build a solid base of knowledge around the concept.
Check out how to put together a home science lab for kids!

You can also set up a DIY homemade kids science kit with tons of great ideas and easy materials!

EARLY ELEMENTARY SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS WORK ON MANY SKILLS!

Simple science tools are great for preschool science experiments. They encourage fine motor skills, patience, and carefulness. We would be lost with out our eye droppers, magnifying glasses, magnets, and some simple dollar store bowls, trays, and funnels.

Preschool science experiments do not have to come in fancy wrapped packages. Preschool science experiments begin when you open your cupboards! Kitchen science is the way to go!
NEW Outdoor Nature Science Ideas that are practical and fun!
35+ KIDS SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS AND ACTIVITIES YOU HAVE TO TRY!

Each of the blue links below will take you to an awesome preschool science experiment that my son thoroughly enjoyed. I tailored them to his interests and you can do the same for your child. That's the beauty of these simple science experiments.

Check out how water is absorbed by different materials with this simple Preschool Water Science activity. Or you can try the classic walking water science activity.

ALKA SELTZER CHEMICAL REACTIONS

Make an Alka Seltzer Rocket or a homemade Lava Lamp to check out this neat chemical reaction.

BAKING SODA AND VINEGAR CHECMICAL REACTIONS

Baking soda and vinegar is a classic experiment. We have 10 unique baking soda science activities to try it out! Well we have tons more but these will get you started! Or try an erupting rainbow.
BALLOON RACE CARS
Explore energy, measure distance, build different cars to explore speed and distance with simple Balloon cars. You can use Duplo, LEGO, or build your own car.

Gas, energy, and power! Make Go power! Set up a simple balloon rocket. All you need is string, a straw, and a balloon!
BURSTING BAGS
Definitely take this bursting bags science activity outside! Will it pop? This science activity will have you on the edge of your seat!
BUTTERFLY EDIBLE LIFE CYCLE
Make an edible butterfly life cycle activity perfect for hands on learning! Also a great way to use up leftover candy!
BUBBLES
Explore the simple fun of bubbles as a simple science activity too! Can you make a bubble bounce? We have any easy recipe for the perfect bubble solution.
CANDY SCIENCE
Play Willy Wonka for a day and explore candy science with floating m's, chocolate slime, dissolving candy and more!
COLOR MIXING
Color mixing is a science. Check out our fun frozen color mixing science activity!

Growing crystals is simple! You can easily grow your own crystals at home or in the classroom with this simple recipe. Make a rainbow, a snowflake, hearts, crystal eggshells, and even crystal seashells. NEW! Learn how to grow salt crystals!
DENSITY {LIQUIDS}
Can one liquid be lighter than the other? Find out with this liquid density experiment!

Science in a bottle. Explore all kinds of simple science ideas right in a bottle! Check out a few of our easy science bottles or these discovery bottles for ideas. They are perfect for themes too like these Earth Day ones!
ENGINEERING
Kids love building and building structures is a great activity that incorporates many skills. Plus it is a great frugal activity. Check out a variety of structure building activities.

Have you ever changed the color of a flower? Try a color changing flower science experiment and learn about how a flower works!
GRAVITY
What goes up, must come down. Have young kids explore concepts in gravity around the house or classroom.
ICE CREAM IN A BAG
Homemade ice cream is uummy edible science with only three ingredients! Don't forget the winter gloves and sprinkles. This gets cold!
ICE MELT SCIENCE
The ice melt activity is simple science you can set up in many different ways with many different themes. Ice melting is a wonderful introduction to a simple science concept for young kids!

The classic expanding Ivory soap experiment! One bar of ivory soap can be very exciting! See how we experimented with one bar of soap and turned it into either soap foam or soap slime!

LETTUCE GROWING ACTIVITY

Set up a lettuce growing station. This was fascinating and pretty quick. We watched the new lettuce grow taller each day!
MAGIC MILK
Magic milk is definitely considered a classic science activity Plus it is just plain fun and mesmerizing.
MAGNETS
What's magnetic? What's not magnetic. You can set up a magnet science discovery table for your kids to explore as well as a magnet sensory bin!
MIRRORS AND REFLECTIONS
Mirrors are fascinating and have wonderful play and learning possibilities plus it makes for great science!
NAKED EGG OR RUBBER EGG
Ah the rubber egg. You need a little patience for this one {takes 7 days}, but the end result is really cool!
OOBLECK {NON-NEWTONIAN FLUIDS}
Oobleck is 2 ingredient fun! A simple recipe using kitchen cupboard ingredients, but it is the perfect example of a non-newtonian fluid. Also makes for fun sensory play. Make classic oobleck or colored oobleck.

Make a simple pulley that really work, and test out lifting loads
RAIN CLOUD
A fun way to make a rain cloud in a jar! Playful science at it's best.
RAMPS
We use cars and balls all the time with our rain gutters! Even flat pieces of wood or stiff cardboard work! Check out a great ramps and friction post I wrote for Pre-K pages!

Planting seeds and watching plants grow is the perfect Springtime preschool science activity. Our simple seed jar science activity is one of our most popular posts during the Spring season. It is an excellent way to see how a seed grows!

Let's explore the senses! Young kids are learning to use their senses every day. Set up a simple 5 Senses Science Table for exploring and learning how their senses work! Our candy taste test and senses activity is fun too.
SHADOWS
Explore shadows in 2 ways! We have body shadow science (fun outdoor play and learn idea) and animal puppet shadow science to check out!
SLIME
Slime is our top activity here, and our simple is perfect for learning a little bit about polymers. Or just use it as a fun play recipe! We have dozens of themed slime ideas for the entire year! NEW fluffy slime!
VOLCANO
Every kid should build a volcano! Build a sandbox volcano or a LEGO volcano! Make sure to save our apple-cano and pumpkin-cano for Fall science.

Explore wet weather with rain clouds and tornados or make a water cycle in a bottle!
TORNADO BOTTLE
Create a tornado in a bottle and study the weather safely!

We made both an indoor and outdoor zip line this year. Explore science concepts through play.

WHICH PRESCHOOL SCIENCE ACTIVITY WILL YOU TRY FIRST?

The world around us in an awesome place to explore for the young scientist. Create a natural love for learning and exploring with these simple but important preschool science concepts.

Amazon Affiliate links for our favorite science tools. See disclosure.

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Preschool Science Experiments and Science Activities

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This collection of early elementary, kindergarten, and preschool science experiments and activities has brought us such joy in learning over the past couple years! At the age of 3, my son experimented with his first baking soda and vinegar reaction experiment. We have been in love with simple science experiments ever since!