Resource links

Children love technology and are very adept in their use of it. Only recently we have seen how one child's fascination with the online game Fortnite ended up with him winning almost one million pounds. He had been a fan of gaming since he was six-years-old, and began playing Fortnite when it was released two years ago. His mum Lisa Dallman admitted not being well-versed in the world of computer games, and was “quite against” her teen son gaming. Reports in the media quoted her saying: “I’ve actually thrown an X-Box out, snapped a headset, we’ve had a nightmare.”

It is a tricky balancing act, whilst most children won't go on to be gaming millionaires, they do get deeply immersed in their Ipads, Kindles and tablets. Technology won't go away and will become increasingly more prevalent both at home and in the classroom. So as a parent, if you were to try to channel their screen time safely, then where should you look? Here I've compiled a selection of links and apps that will tie in with their classroom learning. Click on the red hyperlinks.

Oxford Owl is a one-stop destination for Reading, English and Maths for children aged 3-11. There is a large selection of ebooks which cover all genres of reading. A phonics section includes guides for parents and videos to help practise the 44 letter sounds. The English section contains lots of tips on how to promote and help your child with their vocabulary, spelling, grammar, punctuation, handwriting and creative writing. The Maths area of the website has tips and ideas to promote understanding in all areas of maths plus there are fun games and video tutorials too.

Topmarks is a great website that covers all areas of the curriculum. Search by subject area and age group for lots of fun activities and games. There's even a resource area for parents containing lots of articles and videos about how best to support their children.

Look Cover Write Check from ICT games lets children practise spellings all the way up to Year 6. Choose spelling patterns or banks of tricky words.

Sky writer from ICT Games shows animations of letters to help your child form cursive letters.

Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar from BBC Bitesize has games and guides to help your child consolidate work from the classroom.

Hit the button is a fun interactive game covering doubling/halving, multiplication/division, number bonds and square numbers.

Problem Solving from BBC education has games and video clips to help children in their use of partitioning and number bonds.

Teach Your Monster to Read is a phonics game with great graphics and gameplay.

Stem (science, technology, engineering and maths) encourages children to find out how things work through fun, hands on work. Choose from a range of fun, hands on activities, that encourage creativity and exploration.

White Rose Maths is a fantastic online hub with advice and resources, with many of these free to parents. It is widely used in schools so your child will be very familiar with the format.

If there are any other resources you would like to suggest then please the use the comments section below and I'll do my best to add more.