Wildlife Jack

Toppsta provided the pleasure of gifting a beautifully illustrated and written book called ‘Wildlife Jack, I want to fly!’ written by Ed Kellie.  An adventure taken by Jack with his grandfather’s ‘magical book,’ there was no better way to share this book for my son aged 6 than with his Grandad!

To add to the magic, our children’s grandparents have just relocated to be closer to us, so this image is heartwarming for us.

The book is a mix of illustrations superimposed onto photographs of the variety of birds ‘Jack’ encounters as he tries to develop the correct size and speed of wings to fly.

The story successfully interweaves facts within the story, for which I think there is an untapped niche in the children’s literacy market. I think this is perfect for children who love factual books but have not yet reached the reading level for those in-depth factual books that are widespread.  My son struggles with his phonics and reading but loves exploring outdoors with his magnifying glass and this book helps to bridge the gap!

       Putting the two together is the best of both!!

Accessible nature in the garden or city combined with exciting literacy to encourage reading.  You really don’t have to go far beyond home to find wildlife and nature, even in the city!

This book can be found at www.pavilionbooks.com or in National Trust shops.  Grandad, Elias and Mummy are thankful to Toppsta (who can also be found on facebook), for allowing us review this book.

All the content is the views of Elias and Sarah, we have not been influenced by any external parties in the writing of this blog.

Parents Evening…or Parent-Teacher consultations to be politically correct!

That time of the year when you get to see a glimpse of what your child is doing at school for the 30 hours a week that he is there.  Having found that my two eldest children learn very differently removed doubts that as parents we were doing something fundamentally wrong to hinder the progress of our eldest child, as his younger brother has taken to the word of writing and phonics very differently.  The school are very supportive and help both my sons in very different ways to develop in learning however I can not see past the huge emphasis on Literacy and Numeracy.

I totally appreciate that these form the basis of lifelong learning and are essential life skills, but when you have a child who for them these are the areas of HUGE STRUGGLE they continually get fed the message of improving but still not good enough this cannot be the healthiest message for their self confidence and worth !!

I asked my eldest who had accompanied his dad to the ‘consultation’ what the teacher had to say about your progress in sport, music, history, geography, art….I could go on!!! But no, these areas are not even given a mention.  When your child really excels in these areas of life then the bigger life skills of confidence and self esteem can shine through if they are given positive reinforcement of the good bits!!  Then, hey maybe they will be less reluctant to write and read as they won’t be embarrassed if there are spelling mistakes, they don’t understand something etc.

I feel against the tide in encouraging my son that his compassion for others, imagination, endless energy and motivation and commitment to sport are invaluable qualities.

This also frustrates me in the light of the amount of research and emphasis on the development of the ‘whole child’  and ‘child centred’ learning in Early Years Education and the celebration of differences and uniqueness that is evident in our children’s learning journey’s to then swiftly undo the positives and fluidity of this to adopt a far narrow minded curriculum and emphasis.