Summer is a great time for students to pick up and get lost in a fabulous book! 

 

Here we have listed some books that promise an exciting read for students around year 5 and year 6. These books will also help boost students' vocabulary! 

 

Happy reading! 

One reason many parents come to us for tuition is to help develop their child's writing skills. Writing forms a part of the English curriculum for all year groups and schools focus on grammar, creativity and different writing styles and techniques to help children build their skills in writing. 

 

Helping children enjoy and develop a flair for writing early on will lay the foundations for later years when they will be expected to use more sophisticated language and writing techniques and write longer pieces at school, such as essays. However, writing is by no means limited to the school environment, most people will need to use writing skills in their daily lives, whether that includes writing an email, a letter or a CV. 

We are into week 7 of lockdown now and many of us will have experienced feelings of boredom, fatigue and a lack of energy. Mental health has also been adversely affected for many people. While we all understand the benefits of keeping physically active (Joe Wicks daily challenges anyone?) it is also extremely important to keep our minds stimulated and engaged, particularly for children who are being home educated at the moment. 

Reading comprehension is an important part of any student's education. Students need good reading comprehension not just for the regular reading comprehension tasks and tests they will face in literacy, but perhaps more more importantly, in order to absorb, process and understand anything they read across any subject. 

 

Many of the students we work with struggle with reading comprehension and parents don't always know how to best help. Luckily there are a number of tips and methods that we have found useful in improving students' comprehension skills! 

Millions of school children across the UK have been staying at home for the past few weeks due to schools closures imposed by the government during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Parents and carers of school children are therefore suddenly shouldering the responsibility of not only caring for their children during these difficult times, but also managing their children's education. This poses a challenge for many, particularly for those parents who are also trying to manage their own workload. 

On the 11th March 2020, The World Health Organisation (WHO) categorised COVID-19 as a pandemic, with Europe declared as the new epicentre of the outbreak. As a result of this, counties across the world, including here in the UK, are experiencing closures to their schools and workplaces. Since these drastic closures have never been experienced before, the majority are understandably left worried about the impact this pandemic will have upon their child’s education. With school cancelled for the foreseeable future and uncertainty ahead, it is important to maintain normality and routine to your child’s education as much as possible. But the question remains, how can we ensure the well being and education of our children are not compromised? 

All throughout September to December children have a plethora of exciting celebrations to enjoy. First comes Halloween and Bonfire Night, then the whole of the Festive Season, which brings freedom from school, later bedtimes and the sweetest of all diets! However, to children this period of excitement seems to be over in the blink of an eye and it’s back to school in January already. Without another celebration in sight, all that’s left is two months of cold, dark and miserable weather. Sounding familiar to you? Yes, that’s right, children can suffer from the, very common, January Blues too. Therefore, it is important we help our children ease into ‘back-to-school’ life as smoothly as possible. Here at Marvellous Minds, we understand how difficult the transition back to school can be, so we have put together a short guide to help your children thrive this New Year! 

For those who celebrate Christmas, it is perhaps the most exciting time of year for children. A break from school, the excitement of all the festive cheer and quality time spent with friends and family. Most children do not want to think about their Maths homework, or the English essay that is due the first day back to school! Not to mention the children who have their 11+, or mock GCSE exams in January! And who can blame them? We all want to relax and have fun at this time of year. So, is it possible to educate your children and allow them to enjoy Christmas in full, at the same time? 

In 2019 we send texts and emails to communicate, use our smart phones as personal diaries and rely on our computers to type out our work. As such, we are losing touch with the art of handwriting and spelling. As our children increasingly rely on technology for their education, it becomes ever more important to ensure that they efficiently develop their handwriting and spelling skills. 

With summer coming to an end, and the new term starting, students and parents can expect the familiar demands of homework yet again. Homework can be stressful, and research shows that parents can struggle supporting their children with homework. If homework is the cause for tension in your household, then read on for some helpful tips.