Teaching Strategies, Tactics, and Methods

What is a rhyming couplet?

A rhyming couplet is a pair of successive lines that rhyme. It’s the last words at the end of each line that rhyme. They’re also typically the same length and have the same meter or rhythm.

Rhyming couplets that don’t have the meter are known as uneven couplets.

What are some rhyming couplet examples?

Now that we know a little about them, let’s explore a few rhyming couplet examples. Rhyming couplets can be found in many forms of literature, from classic plays to poems and even nursery rhymes!

A famous example of a rhyming couplet is:

Double, double, toil, and trouble;

Fire burns and cauldron bubbles.

In this rhyming couplet example, ‘trouble’ and ‘bubble’ have a rhyme. The lines are written in the same meter with a consistent rhythm.

Here’s one of the most well-known rhyming couplet examples that you may be familiar with:

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall

As we can see from this example, the lines are of equal length and feature the rhyming words ‘wall’ and ‘fall’ at the end. It gives it a natural rhythm, which might be why this nursery rhyme is still so well-known today!

What poetry forms use rhyming couplets?

We’ve seen how rhyming couplet examples look, but how do they fit into a more powerful poem? Well, several poetry forms use rhyming couplets. Here are just a few:

Sonnets:

A sonnet is a short rhyming poem comprised of 14 lines. The 14th line is traditionally a rhyming couplet.

A classic Shakespearean sonnet follows the rhyming pattern ABAB CDCD EFEF GG, consisting of three quartets and an end opening. One of the best rhyming couplet examples is in one of Shakespeare’s best-known sonnets:

– Sonnet 18, ‘Shall I compare thee to a Summer’s day?’ Lines 9 – 14 by William Shakespeare.

This final rhyming couplet contains two lines that start with ‘so long’ and feature the words ‘see’ and ‘thee.’

By using a couplet with two rhyming lines, Shakespeare effectively brings the poem to a close and summarises one of its key ideas: that the beauty of nature, and the person that Shakespeare compares it to, will be immortalized in his lines of verse.

Limericks:

A limerick is a funny five-line poem with a rhyming scheme of AABBA. The first, second, and fifth lines rhyme, while the third and fourth form a rhyming couplet.

In some cases, the final word of the fifth line will be the same as the last word of the first. It is a common feature of the famous nonsense poet Edward Lear:

Rhyming Scheme and Rhyming Patterns

Now that we’ve looked at some rhyming couplet examples and the forms in which we might find them let’s take a look at how they relate to rhyming schemes and patterns.

We describe rhyme schemes and patterns with letters of the alphabet. The letters correspond with the final word of each line of a poem, and phrases that rhyme is assigned the same letter.

For instance, this poem by Dr. Seuss consists entirely of rhyming couplets.

– The Grinch who stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss

The rhyme scheme would be AA BB CC DD to represent the rhyming couplets in this example. This consistent rhyme scheme makes it easy and fun to read along to!

Why is it essential to teach rhyming couplets?

While learning rhyming couplets and other poetry terms isn’t mandatory for pupils in key stages 1 and 2, it’s still important to make children aware of literary and poetic devices in the poems that they read.

Many famous poets have used rhyming couplets over the centuries – Shakespeare, John Keats, Emily Dickinson, and Robert Browning, to name a few!

Understanding these famous poets’ techniques will help us analyze and understand their poetry. It’ll also help when it comes to writing poetry independently. That’s why it’s essential to comprehend rhyming patterns, such as rhyming couplets, and showing your pupils some rhyming couplet examples can help with this.

Reading is the method of looking at printed symbols and letters and understanding their meaning of them.

Sometimes, it can be possible to decipher the meaning of writing without identifying all the words; this is most common when reading someone’s handwriting, which might be messy. You can still make out the main point of what they’re saying, but it’s difficult or impossible to recognize some words.

You can also identify words without understanding their meaning of them. It can happen when you encounter a new term that you’ve never seen before. It’s possible to decode it and sound it out, but the only way to make meaning from it is to look at the context in which the word is used or to look up the definition of it in a dictionary or on the Internet.

Reading fluency brings word recognition and comprehension together. It’s the last primary skill that’s needed to be able to read. Fluency allows you to read smoothly without getting stuck on your words. It can take a lot of time and practice for many readers to become completely fluent. Some teachers may use echo reading to help children develop stronger fluency. Even then, some texts can take advantage of our need for fluency by adding extra spaces that make us pause.

Overall, reading involves using the skills of word recognition, comprehension, and fluency together.

Why is Reading Important?

Reading is a receptive skill that allows us to receive information. So as you’re reading this now, you should (hopefully) be receiving information and learning something new (or reinforcing what you already know).

Reading gives you access to a wealth of information that wasn’t accessible before. As a result, you can learn and discover new things and widen your vocabulary.

Reading also allows us to access stories from around the world. Stories help shape children (and adults), and they’ve proven to make us more empathetic. Reading stories lets us step into somebody else’s shoes and show us a new perspective of the world that we might have never seen or even considered.

Reading isn’t just crucial for enjoying literature (though being able to read novels and poems is a benefit!). It helps in every aspect of life.

For children in school, reading is essential for every subject, not just English. For example, in maths, reading is vital to understanding word problems. In science, you need to be able to read and comprehend the instructions before you begin an experiment.

Beyond education, reading is essential for everyday life. We read all the time without even realizing it. We read road signs, instructions, and packaging on food; words are everywhere!

How Can Children Learn to Read?

Children can learn to read as young as three or four. Then, of course, they build up their skills of word recognition, comprehension, and fluency as they grow, but what exactly does this involve?

Word Recognition

Word recognition is the first reading skill that children learn, usually through phonics and the DfE’s Letters and Sounds program.

• Children learn to break apart words and sound them out into phonemes. For example, the term ‘cat’ has three phonemes: c-a-t.
• They learn about the relationship between letters and sounds, such as which letters make which sounds when we say them out loud.
• Next, they learn how to decode words. Decoding is when children encounter a new term and sound it out to learn how to pronounce it.
• Children also learn to analyze words and recognize spelling patterns (or graphemes) to help them say longer words. For example, the term ‘sunflower’ contains the words ‘sun’ and ‘flower.’
• Sight vocabulary is also developed at this stage. It is the number of words that children can recognize automatically. These are usually short words that are used often, such as ‘the’ or ‘and.’

Comprehension

Comprehension builds on the foundations of word recognition. Now that children can read and recognize words aloud, they need to understand what they mean individually and when used in conjunction with other words.

• Understanding context can significantly help with reading comprehension so children start to develop their background knowledge of various topics. For example, ‘I go to school where there are teachers and other children.’
• A crucial part of comprehension is developing a wide and varied vocabulary. Children should learn the meanings of as many words as possible and how they link together. For example, they might discover a variety of words for describing the weather: sunny, snowy, windy, rainy, stormy.
• Comprehension also involves learning about the types of texts that we might read and how we identify them. Traditional tales, for example, often begin with Once upon a time and end with a happily ever after.
• The various purposes of reading are learned at this stage too. For example, children will learn that if they want to know facts about Ancient Egypt, they should pick up a fact file or non-fiction history book.
• Finally, children will learn how to construct meaning from a text and what to do if they can’t. For example, if they finish reading a passage from a book but don’t quite grasp what they’ve read, they’ll learn to slow down and reread the passage. They’ll also know to look up new words in a dictionary to find out what they mean – expanding their vocabulary further.

Fluency

Fluency comes with practicing and polishing all the skills they’ve learned. To be fluent, children should:

• be accurate with their word recognition;
• develop a large vocabulary of sight words;
• learn to read at a faster pace while still maintaining comprehension;
• add expression when they read aloud.

Because reading fluency takes a lot of practice, children need to be motivated and shown what reading can do for them.

Fluency and Accuracy in Reading

Fluency comes with practicing and polishing all the skills they’ve learned. To be fluent, children should:

• be accurate with their word recognition;
• develop a large vocabulary of sight words;
• learn to read at a faster pace while still maintaining comprehension;
• add expression when they read aloud.

Because reading fluency takes a lot of practice, children need to be motivated and shown what reading can do for them.

As well as this, there are some strategies you can use to help children build fluency and accuracy in their reading. Here are some tips we’ve gathered that will guide you and inspire you.

• Pay attention to Phonics: This point is key to children developing a fluent, accurate way of reading. Phonics breaks words down to the individual sounds of each syllable, phonemes. Children can see how the sounds work together by looking at words and the sounds they’re made up of close up like this. Once they understand this, they can step back and think about how all the words in a sentence should flow together; this is how fluent reading will develop over time, as children become comfortable and familiar with the sounds that make up words.
• Strengthen decoding skills: This is one of the basic skills that, when fully strengthened, will help your child read fluently and accurately; this builds on what we’ve already said about Phonics, as children need to be able to understand all the small sections of each word and attach a sound to them; this is what decoding is all about. You can help your child improve their decoding skills through activities like air writing, matching images with sounds, and working on spelling.
• Read out loud: Another significant way of developing fluency with reading is to read out loud as much as possible. Not only will this help you monitor how your child is progressing with reading, but it will also help children experiment with things such as expression, intonation, speed, and volume, all critical factors that influence fluency. In addition, reading aloud encourages fluency to develop, as it’s a more tangible way of practicing reading than simply reading in silence.

• Try out audiobooks: This is a convenient idea to have up your sleeve! Audiobooks are everywhere and more accessible than ever, meaning that even if you don’t have a spare moment to read with your child, their fluency and accuracy skills can still be strengthened. With audiobooks, you can also choose short sections to replay so your child can focus on a short piece of whatever they’re reading.

• Use echo reading: This is a beneficial guided reading strategy that can help a lot with children’s fluency and accuracy; this gives you a chance to model what fluent reading sounds like for your child when you first read the book. Try first to read the entire book so that children aren’t focused on the story when they come to practice. Then, choose shorter sentences or phrases to read aloud to them, making sure you point to where you’re reading. Once you’ve finished a particular section, ask them to copy you exactly; this gives children a precious opportunity to model your example, giving them insight into how things like expression, intonation, speed, and volume can help them read fluently and accurately.
• Emphasize phrases: Something that many children struggle with when it comes to fluency is too many pauses between words, or even sometimes not enough! Children will begin to develop a natural reading rhythm by placing lots of emphasis on phrases. For instance, if the first part of a sentence is before a comma in the middle, then the words at the beginning of the sentence would need to be grouped. There would be fewer pauses between these words as they rely on each other to make up the phrase. Where there is a comma, you can take a more extended break. By reading in terms of words like this, you can model things like intonation and speed that contribute to fluent reading.

How to encourage students to read

For some children, the passion for reading develops at a young age and never leaves them. Others may enjoy reading at a young age but begin to pick up a book less as they get older and find other distractions. And many, they’re not afraid to say they don’t enjoy reading!

More often than not, however, children who say they do not like to read have been put off in some way or another by a bad experience of reading.

1. Fill their world with books
   The more books and different genres you have available for your children, the more likely they will find something that interests them! You can ask your class what books they like, and if they say “none,” do not fear – ask them probing questions about their interests.
2. Be a reading role model
   To encourage students to read, we must lead by example and show them what a good reader looks like. So when you set a reading hour with your class, join in with them! They need to see how enjoyable and enriching reading can be, and you can use this time to share your thoughts on what you’re reading and encourage them to do the same.
3. Embrace World Book Day
   Chances are your school already celebrates World Book Day, so this is an excellent opportunity to take your class to town and inspire them to love books and reading! Encourage dress-up and plan activities that help throw your pupils into their favorite fictional worlds.
4. Implement movement in your reading hours.
   It can be difficult for children to sit quietly for long periods, and forcing this on them is less likely to make them suddenly enjoy reading. So why not offer a chance of movement to break up quiet, independent reading hours by asking them to act out critical elements of a book chapter? It is an excellent way for students to analyze chapters and pick out important information.
5. Invite students to socialize around reading.
   Book clubs and reading groups provide excellent opportunities for students to communicate with each other about what they’re reading and share their thoughts and ideas.
6. Assign a reading log.
   When you encourage students to read, it can be a good idea to ask them to keep track of their reading and progress. Then, you can encourage them to write down any questions they stumble upon while reading, and you can invite them to air these questions with their class in a mainly allocated slot. It is a great way to open up a dialogue about reading.

What are Thinking Skills?

Thinking skills include theorizing, predicting, evaluating, memory recall, and thought organization. Everyone has them, but not everyone knows how to use them effectively. Developing practical thinking skills comes with time. We use them when solving problems, making decisions, organizing events, or processing information.

How Are Thinking Skills Important In Education?

Thinking skills enable us to process information, recall facts and apply knowledge to various situations. At a higher level, this can involve problem-solving and analysis, which are both helpful in education.

We can apply the same thinking skills in all subjects across the curriculum.

“He who thinks little errs much.”

Leonardo da Vinci

What is Cognitive Learning?

Cognitive learning involves vital teaching strategies, such as repetition, imagery, organization of facts, summarizing meaning, and contextualization to help us learn.

Different Types of Thinking Skills

There are many types of thinkers and many ways to approach learning a new skill.

Here are three examples of common thinking skills:

• Analytical – methodical and structure-focused, analytical thinkers tend to examine individual parts of a problem before tackling the whole.
• Creative- approaching a problem from a different angle, creative thinkers tend to follow an unconventional process that involves asking a lot of questions.
• Critical- critical thinkers favor a careful, detailed, and open-minded evaluation of a problem.

What is Metacognition?

Metacognition involves developing an awareness of your thought processes and learning strategies.

It involves using your initiative to plan how to approach learning about something new, as well as being able to monitor your understanding.

It is also a vital part of strategizing and problem-solving.

“Thinking is learning all over again how to see, directing one’s consciousness, making of every image a privileged place.”

Albert Camus

What’s the Difference Between Problem-Solving and Decision-Making?

The difference between problem-solving and decision-making might not be evident initially, and people often use the two terms interchangeably. However, although problem-solving and decision-making can typically overlap, some key differences exist.

Problem-Solving

Problem-solving is a mental process used to assess an issue and identify potential solutions. Typically, when you’re solving a problem, you have the desired outcome in mind, but you’re also faced with a challenge that could prevent that outcome from being achieved.

Therefore, you use problem-solving to find a solution to the challenge and ensure you get the desired outcome. However, problem-solving is a complex, analytical process and often requires you to use other skills, like decision-making.

Decision-Making

So, where problem-solving is about finding the right solution, decision-making is about making choices. When you’re making a decision, you’ll be in a situation where you have multiple options. That situation won’t necessarily include a problem – you might just be deciding which flavor of ice cream you want!

Even though they tend to work for hand in hand, the difference between problem-solving and decision-making is that problem-solving focuses on finding the most appropriate solution, and decision-making focuses on deciding between multiple options.

How Can I Develop Children’s Thinking Skills?

An excellent way to help children develop thinking skills and metacognition in the classroom is to focus on one area, such as problem-solving or decision-making, depending on the subject or topic being taught.

For example, focus on decision-making if children are working on creative writing.

Or, if children are reading, get them to practice theorizing and predicting what will happen in the narrative or ask them to evaluate decisions made by certain characters.

Math lessons provide an excellent opportunity for children to practice problem-solving. Check out our range of maths problem-solving resources for ideas.

“The thought process can never be complete without articulation.”

Stephen King

Critical Thinking

How can I develop critical thinking skills for children?

Critical thinking is the ability of children and adults to analyze facts and establish a judgment based on logic and reason. Children need to develop this skill as they move through school to better their social interactions, discuss topics more deeply, and be able to work with points of view that may differ from their own.

Critical thinking encompasses many skills your child will need to access the primary school curriculum and, more so, the curriculum of their later education. These skills include inventing, making analogies, formulating hypotheses, and recommending alternatives. In addition, critical thinking skills help children filter the information they take and select which pieces are most relevant to the task.

Here are a few ways that you can promote these skills in your children:

Encourage agreement and disagreement

A sign of children’s thinking is whether they can agree or disagree with something. For example, you can encourage children to give reasons or examples as to why they agree or disagree with a topic. Pushing children to expand on their answers will help them think more deeply through their points of view.

Ask your children:

‘Do you agree?’

It will encourage them to evaluate someone else’s claim or idea.

You can also ask children whether something is right or wrong, true or false, OK or not OK – in other words, have them take a position, evaluate the information and either alter their point of view to fit the new information or discard it.

Question sequentially

Please help your child work through their reasoning by going through a series of steps.

• Check for general principles (always/never/sometimes)
• Listen out for counter-examples
• Then test the concrete example

Top Critical Thinking Skills

There are many ways we can exercise critical thinking, as listed in the examples below. Here are the five essential skills that play a part in critical thinking:

Analysis

Being analytical is a massive part of critical thinking. But what does being analytical mean? To analyze something is to carefully examine it, understand it, and then pass on information about it to someone else. We can explore anything, be it people, objects, problems, texts, or something else.

Here are some practical applications of analysis:

• Asking questions
• Researching topics
• Interpreting a text
• Questioning evidence that you’ve been presented with
• Recognize patterns in data

Communication

The second skill in this list of critical thinking examples is communication. Communication is a super important skill for kids, as it will benefit all areas of their lives. This skill will also serve them throughout their life and career. For kids, communicating well with their peers will help them with group activities, conflict resolution, and sharing their ideas effectively.

Here are some of the practical applications of analysis:

• Active listening involves giving someone your full attention, understanding what they mean, and reflecting on and responding to what’s been said.
• Collaborating with others
• Clearly and effectively explaining things
• Interpersonal skills
• Presenting information in a way that’s clear and easy to understand.
• Having good verbal and written communication

Creativity

This skill may shock some people, as creativity does not often come up in discussing critical thinking examples. However, creativity is a big part of critical thinking. Thinking does not have to involve making songs or drawing pictures; it can be thinking outside the box and spotting patterns where others may not.

Here are some of the practical applications of creative thinking:

• Flexibility in terms of thinking
• Coming up with new, outside-of-the-box ideas
• Being curious and also seeking further information
• Always looking for new ways to do things
• Imagination
• Predicting patterns and trends

Open-Mindedness

To be effective in thinking critically, you have to be open-minded. Being open-minded means putting any preconceived ideas or judgments that you may have about a subject, person, etc., and looking objectively at the information you’ve been presented with. This way, you can analyze the report without bias swaying the outcome.

Here are some practical applications of open-mindedness

• Being fair
• Exercising humility
• Encouraging diversity
• Being inclusive
• Looking at things objectively
• Being observant of your surroundings and reflecting on what you see

Problem-Solving

The last up on our list of critical thinking examples is problem-solving. This skill begins with effectively analyzing a problem. Once you have performed an initial analysis of the problem, you must use problem-solving skills to devise a solution and put it into practice. The last step in practical problem-solving is to step back and assess your solution’s effectiveness.

Here are some practical applications of problem-solving:

• Paying close attention to detail
• Being able to make decisions quickly and with assurance
• Evaluating problems
• Identifying patterns between issues
• Being innovative with new solutions

Temperature measures the warmth or coldness of an object or material. Temperature is the expression of thermal energy.

What’s the science behind it? The scientific definition of temperature involves energy, which makes temperature different from measuring heat. Temperature is a measure of the kinetic energy of particles in an object. Particles constantly move; the faster/higher the energy, the higher the temperature. So with temperature, higher equals warmer.

What is Used to Measure Temperature?

Temperature is measured using a device called a thermometer. The most common type uses a long thin tube filled with liquid mercury or sometimes alcohol. Why are they used? Mercury and alcohol will remain liquids over a broader range of temperatures than other liquids. Therefore, mercury will rise when the temperature is warmer and fall when the temperature is colder. So, say a room is warm, and the temperature causes a slight change in the volume of the liquid used in the thermometer. It causes the to rise the tube, now reflecting a higher temperature.

How is Temperature Measured?

Temperature is measured with three different degrees.

• Celsius: The most common form of measuring temperature in day-to-day situations. The Celsius scale is used to measure temperature in the UK.
• Fahrenheit is the less common form of measuring temperature, although some countries (the United States) use this scale as their central temperature unit.
• Kelvin: Kelvin is used in extreme heat or cold cases – most often in scientific environments. 0 Kelvin is also known as absolute zero. Theoretically, this is where particles are not moving at all, although this would never be observed naturally.

What Happens in Lower Temperatures?

In lower temperatures, particles move slower and have less kinetic energy, causing less friction and lower heat. The material will also usually shrink, harden or freeze in lower temperatures, with many substances changing state. For example, liquid water will freeze to become ice in temperatures below zero degrees Celsius as there will be no thermal energy.

In many places on Earth, during the winter months, we experience colder temperatures at both poles of the Earth. It is because the Sun is further away at these points/times.

What Happens in Higher Temperatures?

In higher temperatures, particles move faster and have higher kinetic energy, causing more friction and heat. Depending on the structure, the material may begin to break apart, melt or expand.

In hot temperatures, water will change state, turning into gas and evaporating. t is why deserts are typical around the equator of the Earth – the warmest parts of the world.

Temperature and the Human Body

Temperature affects several physical processes; it’s essential to keeping our bodies healthy and functioning correctly.

The average temperature of the human body is 36.5–37.5°C. At this temperature, bodies can function normally.

When our temperature rises, this can be an indication that we’re unwell – this is called a fever. It is because our bodies are working harder to fight off an infection. Your levels of white blood cells increase to fight the condition, affecting the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus is the part of the brain that controls several things, including temperature.

What Happens to Our Bodies in Warmer Weather?

As temperature rises, our heart rate increases, blood flow increases, it’s pumped to the skin’s surface, and we begin the sweat; this is our bodies’ way of cooling us down, and as the sweat evaporates, it takes the heat with it.

If our body temperature rises too high, our muscles begin working slower, and heat exhaustion can occur. Above 41°C, our bodies can start to shut down as chemical processes that occur in the body are affected.

What Happens to Our Bodies in Colder Weather?

Our bodies will begin to shiver in colder weather; this is our muscles acting to warm us up by generating heat. If our body temperatures drop too low, our heart rate slows, and our regular body functions can’t work usually. It is called hypothermia.

Fun Temperature Facts

Do you want to know what some of the hottest and coldest things in the world are?

• The core of the Sun can reach 15 million degrees Celsius!
• A lightning bolt is 27,727°C.
• Earth’s core is 5,377°C.
• 100°C is the boiling point of water.
• The highest recorded temperature on Earth was in Death Valley, United States, where it reached 56.7°C in 1913.
• -15°C is the melting point of ice cream.
• Earth’s core is 5,377°C.
• 100°C is the boiling point of water.
• The highest recorded temperature on Earth was in Death Valley, United States, where it reached 56.7°C in 1913.
• -15°C is the melting point of ice cream.

Sound is all around us, but most people don’t know much about it. Here are some fun facts about sound to get you started!

1. Sound travels much slower than light, whether in the air or water. Light travels 186,000 miles per second, while sound travels 770 miles per hour. As a result, you often hear things after you see them – for example, you see the lightning before you hear the thunder!
2. The sound of a baby’s cry is hard to ignore. It is because it alerts a particular part of the brain.
3. The fear of noise is called Acousticophobia, and the fear of music is called Melophobia.
4. We measure sounds humans can hear in ‘decibels’ (dB). Sounds above 85dB can be considered harmful to human ears. For example, Normal conversation is
5. Sound waves need particles in the air because they bounce off the vibrations and can travel from one to the other. It is why there is no sound in space – there are no particles from which the sound can bounce!
6. Sound volume (how loud a sound is) is measured in bels. Bels are named in honor of Alexander Graham Bell, known for inventing the telephone.
7. One of our favorite facts about sound waves is that when they bounce off a surface, the vibrations are reflected, and you can hear them again; this creates an echo.
8. Scientists use sound waves to measure the depth of the ocean. They use a machine called a SONAR (Sound Navigation and Ranging). It sends sound waves and waits to see how long it takes for the waves to return. Ships and submarines also use SONAR to navigate the ocean.
9. Dogs can hear much higher sounds than humans, and bats and dolphins can hear sounds much lower than humans.
10. The three smallest bones in our bodies are in the ear, and they help us to hear sounds! They are called the hammer, the anvil, and the stirrup. Together, they are about the size of a pea!
11. Usually, animals with more prominent ears can hear much better than smaller ones – and flies cannot hear at all!
12. The scientific study of sound is called acoustics.
13. A tribe in Africa – called the Maabans – live in such quiet conditions that they can hear each other whispering across a baseball field!
14. The eruption of Krakatoa in 1883 is believed to be the loudest sound in human history. It was heard across roughly 8% of the whole world!
15. Some fighter jets can travel faster than the speed of sound, called breaking the sound barrier.
16. The human ear can’t hear some sounds, but they still affect our bodies. Some horror films use these sounds as they cause people to shake and feel nervous!
17. Dolphins can hear sounds underwater from up to 15 miles away.
18. The three loudest cities in the world are Mumbai and Kolkata in India and Cairo in Egypt!
19. Most cows produce more milk if they are given music to listen to. Scientific experiments have looked at how different types of music can also affect how much milk they produce.
20. Sound can travel around four times faster in water than in air.

Negative reinforcement is taking something away that the child doesn’t like in response to good behavior. One of many examples of negative reinforcement could be a parent removing a chore due to the child having a great day at school.

What is Reinforcement?

Reinforcement is a way of molding and promoting particular behaviors in humans and other living creatures. This reinforcement usually takes place over a long period, i.e., over a school year. Reinforcement seeks to understand what is ‘acceptable’ behavior and what is ‘unacceptable.’ It also strives to encourage expected responses and reactions in its target. People giving the reinforcement usually aim to create a healthy balance of positive reinforcement, positive punishment, negative reinforcement, and negative punishment, emphasizing positive reinforcement wherever possible.

What is Negative Reinforcement?

It’s a common misconception that negative reinforcement is the opposite of positive reinforcement. Many believe that whereas positive reinforcement is giving rewards, negative reinforcement is giving punishments and sanctions. However, this is not the case. Negative reinforcements can feel just as rewarding to a child as favorable reinforcement. Positive reinforcement is giving a child something for their excellent behavior, such as a chocolate bar or toy. Negative reinforcement is taking something away that the child doesn’t like in response to good behavior. One of many examples of negative reinforcement could be a parent removing a chore due to the child having a great day at school.

There are, however, punishments known as positive punishments and negative punishments. For example, a positive sentence would give children more chores in response to negative behavior. On the other hand, a negative sentence would be to take away a child’s gaming time.

What is More Effective, Positive or Negative Reinforcement

By comparing negative and positive reinforcement examples, scientists have concluded that positive reinforcement in isolation is better. However, a combination of the two overall has the most significant effect. Here we shall go over some examples of negative reinforcement.

7 Amazing Anglerfish Facts for Kids

Ready for some fun anglerfish facts for kids? Let’s dive in.

1. Anglerfish come in all shapes and sizes.

The term anglerfish describes a variety of fish families that belong to the order called Lophiiformes, including:

• Seadevils
• Frogfish
• Handfish
• Sea Toads
• Batfishes
• Monkfish

As you can tell from their names, anglerfish are pretty gruesome! We think they’d fit in well at a deep-sea Halloween party.

2. All anglerfish have an appendage dangling from their heads.

All anglerfish have at least one thing in common – an appendage dangling from the front of their heads known as the illicium.

The illicium is a dorsal fin found on most types of fish. However, the anglerfish has adapted its dorsal fin to protrude and dangle in front of its mouth. It’s used to lure in prey, just like bait is used to draw in fish on the end of a fishing rod.

It is where anglerfish get their name: Angler is a common term used for people who enjoy fishing with a rod as a hobby!

3. Anglerfish are predatory creatures.

Anglerfish are carnivores. It means they prey on and eat other fish and crustaceans as their primary food source.

The primary hunting technique of an anglerfish is to stay in one spot on the ocean floor to conserve energy. However, their illicium attracts fish or crustaceans passing by and lures them close to the anglerfish. The anglerfish will strike and consume its meal when the prey gets close to its mouth.

While anglerfish commonly eat small fish and crustaceans, their large jaw also allows them to eat prey up to twice their size if they get the chance.

4. They aren’t fussy eaters!

Anglerfish certainly aren’t fussy when it comes to finding their next meal. They don’t turn their nose up at any old dead fish or other dead matter that they find lying around on the ocean floor. Most forms of marine life sink to the ocean’s depths after dying, including fish, seabirds, and sea turtles. The anglerfish sees this as a tasty buffet of free food!

They’re also known to slurp snails and other mollusks on the ocean’s bedrock. Yum.

5. Some anglerfish can produce their source of light.

The deep sea is always very dark, as light from the sun doesn’t reach down there. So, some anglerfish produce their light source from the end of their illicium. It is called bioluminescence and can be used to attract both mates and prey.

Anglerfish produce light through symbiotic bacteria. However, scientists still don’t entirely know what biological mechanisms anglerfish used to acquire these bacteria. It’s commonly thought, however, that the bacteria are absorbed from the seawater through the illicium.

6. Male anglerfish depend on females to survive.

Male anglerfish are much smaller than females. Therefore, when a male anglerfish reaches maturity, it must find a female to latch on to. Otherwise, it will die. The male latches on to a female by biting her, like a parasite, and attaching itself. The male will then rely on the nutrients in the female’s bloodstream to survive.

7. We’re still in the dark about the anglerfish’s habitat.

Anglerfish are deep sea creatures. They can live very deep down, far from the ocean’s surface. And there is still so much we must learn about this deep-sea habitat.

At its deepest point, the sea is over 36,000 feet deep! That’s much deeper than Mount Everest is tall – the highest mountain in the world is a little 29,029 feet in comparison.

Because of its great depth, there are many challenges when exploring the ocean. For example, extremely high pressure and total darkness.

So far, humans have only actually explored around 5% of the world’s oceans. It makes the anglerfish’s habitat the habitat we know least about!

It’s thought that many species of deep-sea creatures are still undiscovered. So can you imagine what kind of deep sea creatures we might discover in the future…?

What is procedural writing?

Procedural writing is simply any text that provides instructions in a simple, step-by-step format. The name comes from the fact that the reader must follow a procedure to carry out the instructions. A procedural text is a great way to teach someone something new, from how to ride a bike to how to get from one place to another. Procedural writing is an excellent example of a non-fiction text your children might encounter.

What is the purpose of procedural writing?

The main thing that unites different types of procedural texts is their purpose. All procedural writing examples are informational and directional, aiming to instruct the reader and help them towards a specific goal.

What are some examples of procedural writing?

Procedural texts are everywhere, and your child will likely have encountered forms of procedural writing from a young age. It might include formats such as:

• A recipe – how to cook something;
• Directions – how to get from one place to another;
• A how-to guide – for example, how to tie your shoelaces;
• Rules – for example, of a board game;
• Safety procedure – telling you how to stay safe, for instance, if there’s a fire;
• Craft instructions – such as how to make a paper chain;
• Instruction manual – how to use a new toy.

There are plenty more types of procedural writing out there – these are just a few common examples. So why not get your class to see if they can think of any more specific examples they have encountered recently?

Standard features of procedural writing

While they might have different formats, procedural writing texts are all connected because they have the same aim: to instruct the reader. Because of this, many features of the genre are standard, including:

• An introduction that clearly states the purpose of the text to the reader – this could be as simple as one sentence or could be a whole paragraph with a little bit of backstory;
• Numbered instructions – this will help the reader to know the order they must follow and will also help them keep their place if they’re carrying out the instructions as they read;
• Imperative commands, such as “mix the ingredients” or “do this,” – are verbs that specifically tell the reader to do an action at that moment;
• Second-person language (“next you mix in…”) – this reinforces the fact that the reader is expected to carry out the instructions;
• Time phrases to signpost instructions, such as “first,” “next,” and “then”;
• Present tense – as the reader is likely to attempt the steps while they read or very soon after;
• Vocabulary specific to the procedure – for example, baking-related terms in a recipe.

Not all procedural texts will have every one of these features, but they are familiar. Knowing these typical features of procedural writing are an excellent way for your class to recognize the genre when they encounter it.

How to write a procedural text

If you’re writing a procedural text, there are a few simple steps you can follow to make it as good as it can be:

• Explain your aim in the title. The whole point of a procedural text is to explain how to do something. Your title should let the reader know what this is – for example, How to boil an egg.
• List all the equipment. If you’re describing a procedure that requires equipment, you need to list all this equipment clearly at the beginning of your text. It means the reader can be prepared. An excellent way to do this is to add a ‘You will need’ subheading. Then, list the items in the order the reader will need, just in case, they don’t get all their equipment together before starting the procedure.
• Keep things in the correct order. When writing a procedural text, you must think very carefully about the steps you take to carry out the procedure you’re writing about. For example, in what order do you perform these steps? You must write down all the steps correctly so the reader can get the procedure right.
• Write it as a list. It would be best to tell the reader what they need to do step by step. Write the steps as bullet points or a numbered list to make the sequence as straightforward as possible. You can also use sequencing words such as ‘first…’ and ‘then…’ so the reader can follow the steps in order more efficiently.
• Use simple language. You aim to help the reader complete this procedure without making any mistakes. To achieve this, you need to keep your language straightforward, so they can easily understand it.
• Include diagrams and pictures. Lots of people learn visually. So including diagrams and photographs is a great way to help your reader understand what you’re helping them to do and what the different steps should look like. In addition, your graphs should be labeled so the reader can see how they should use the equipment. If you can include a video, too, that’s even better, as many people find video more accessible to follow than written text.
• Explain the outcome. The reader needs to know what the finished result should look like or what they should have achieved at the end of the procedure. It means you need to write a clear explanation of the outcome. It should come at the end of your procedural text after you’ve listed all the steps.
• Read it back. Once you’ve finished writing your procedural text, it’s essential to read it back thoroughly from start to finish. Would you be able to complete the procedure based on what you’ve written? It is where you can see if you’ve missed any steps or forgotten to include a vital piece of equipment.

What is pollution?

Pollution is the process of substances being introduced to an environment that are potentially dangerous or toxic/harmful. There are lots of different types of pollution and even more potential pollutants.

What are the different types of pollution?

There are three significant types of pollution: air pollution, water/ocean pollution, and land pollution. In addition, the main types of pollutants are noise pollution, thermal pollution, light pollution, chemical pollution, and plastic pollution.

Let’s delve a little deeper into each of these types of pollution.

Plastic pollution

Plastic pollution is one of the most significant environmental issues humans face. It threatens our environment and the wildlife within it. So put, plastic pollution is caused by the fact that plastic is highly durable and hard to break down safely, and incredible amounts of plastic products are produced yearly. As a result, used plastics are being found in all sorts of places, including in the ocean, on beaches, lakes, and rivers, and even in some of the most remote parts of the world. Discarded plastics also pose a considerable threat to wildlife and ecosystems.

Plastic production also uses natural resources/fossil fuels that we run out of at incredible speed. Natural products such as coal, crude oil, and natural gas, which are extracted from the earth, are needed to make these products. The manufacturing process also releases harmful gases into the air, contributing to global warming and air pollution.

Plastic is also tough to dispose of. As it is not biodegradable, it can take decades to break down. It also can’t be burned, as this releases toxins into the air. So, discarded plastics often end up buried in landfills, floating in bodies of water, or littering the sides of the road.

Did you know more than 300 million tonnes of plastic are produced yearly? That’s not far off the total weight of the human population on Earth! By the end of the century, it is estimated that 30 billion tonnes will be produced. The impact on the Earth will be huge.

Ocean pollution

A significant contributor to ocean pollution is plastic, particularly single-use plastic. These materials pose a considerable threat to marine life. It is thought that over eight million tonnes of plastic find its way into the ocean yearly. It can be anything from plastic bags to food wrappers and even glitter.

Plastic bags are one of the biggest culprits. For example, a plastic bag floating in the ocean can look like a jellyfish, which is what sea turtles like to eat. Different plastics also release chemicals that make them smell like food to seabirds, so they often accidentally eat plastic instead of real food.

Did you know… ​​8 million tonnes of plastic waste ends up in the ocean yearly?

That’s not all the ocean has to deal with, either. Ocean pollution includes oil, toxic metals, chemicals, petroleum, agricultural runoff, sewage, etc. Humans use these substances and often end up in the ocean for several reasons.

Air pollution

Air pollution is the presence of a harmful substance in the air. Air is a mixture of various gases, including oxygen, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and nitrogen. When a dangerous substance is introduced to the Earth’s atmosphere, it can cause diseases, damage to living organisms such as plants and animals, and even death in humans. Unfortunately, cities are familiar places for air pollution to be present.

Some sources of air pollution in cities include:

• Construction industries and factories produce dust, dirt, and smoke;
• Transportation;
• Generators;
• Indoor cooking;
• Waste burning.

Air pollution can come from familiar household sources, including:

• Perfumes;
• Products like cigarettes;
• Wall paints;
• Spray products such as bleach, cleaning sprays, and washing machine detergent;
• Pesticides.

Land pollution

Land pollution is harmful solid or liquid waste materials on land or underground that can contaminate the soil, causing unsightly, foul-smelling, or threatening public health.

It is one of the most visible forms of pollution. Mountains of rubbish on landfill sites or discarded on the side of roads can ruin beautiful landscapes and interfere with wildlife and habitats. Factories can leak chemical waste into the soil, destroying habitats and harming wildlife. Toxic soil can also cause human diseases, skin conditions, and cause cancers.

Chemical pollution

Chemical pollution is the introduction of toxic contaminants. Artificial products generally introduce chemical pollutants. Typical causes of chemical pollution are pesticides, fertilizers, detergents, oil, sewage, and industrial chemicals.

Chemical pollution is particularly harmful to the ocean. Toxic chemicals often end up in streams and rivers that eventually flow into the sea. Chemicals such as fertilizers are used because they are great for helping plants grow. However, as practical as they are, if they get blown away, it is easy for them to make their way into the ocean and can cause algae to grow. It isn’t good because too many algae will absorb vast amounts of oxygen from the area, making it uninhabitable for most marine life.

Light pollution

​​Light pollution is caused by artificial light, such as street lamps. While street lighting and other forms of artificial light can be highly beneficial to humans, they can harm the environment, particularly the ocean.

Artificial light beneath the water’s surface can hurt marine life. For instance, small fish can become more visible, meaning their predators can see them as more accessible. Artificial light can also affect the natural circadian rhythms of fish, disrupting their feeding patterns, reproduction, and more.

Noise pollution

Noise pollution is simply disturbing or unwanted noise that is harmful or interferes with humans or wildlife. Unlike most other pollutants, noise is invisible and can’t be tasted or smelled. It can be dangerous, though. For example, dolphins and whales use sound to communicate with each other and navigate underwater. So, when artificial noise interferes, it can affect communication, migration, hunting, and reproduction patterns.

A guide to powerful adverbs

Looking for a handy way to improve your vocabulary? Try some powerful adverbs! Adverbs are a valuable part of our language tool kit, giving us a chance to describe an action fully.

They’re also a significant next step for children to learn about when they’ve got the hang of more basic word classes like verbs, adjectives, and nouns.

Adverbs are also a fun way to boost vocabulary, teaching children about the subtle differences between words while expanding how they can respond in their speech and writing.

There are five basic types of adverbs. These are:

• Adverbs of time
• Adverbs of manner
• Adverbs of degree
• Adverbs of place
• Adverbs of frequency

Adverbs can be super effective in a range of settings if used correctly.

What makes a powerful adverb?

For an adverb to work in a sentence, it has to have a clear purpose. For example, it could describe how an action was done, it could add another description to a noun and adjective, or it could be used to add emphasis.

Powerful adverbs add punch to a sentence by underlining the point you’d want to make. However, it’s important to note that too many weak adverbs can harm writing more. It is valid for more general adverbs like ‘really’ or ‘actually,’ which can feel like filler words. Take the following sentences:

“The car was prolonged.”

“The car was uncomfortably slow.”

“David sang very well.”

“David sang hauntingly.”

In these two examples, the bottom adverb has more tone and personality, thanks to the specificity, making them powerful.

Powerful adverbs to modify verbs

The ability to modify verbs is perhaps the first thing you think of when it comes to adverbs. Adverbs are great for describing how an action happened. It can give a sense of tone to a character’s actions if we’re writing a story or painting a more precise image in the listener’s mind during the conversation. Here are some adverbs that modify verbs and examples in a sentence.

Powerful adverb	Meaning	Example in a sentence
Angrily	In bad temper	The boy spoke angrily
Cautiously	To do an action carefully or with hesitation	Sarah cautiously crossed the road
Gracefully	To do something with sophistication and elegance	He danced as gracefully as a swan
Enthusiastically	When something is done in an excited manner	We all enthusiastically sang along
Lovingly	With care and affection	Mum lovingly spooned her soup into my bowl

Powerful adverbs to modify adjectives

Adverbs also have the power to make a description more specific and evocative. Want to make it clear just how big something is? Adverbs have you covered. Wanting to say just how cold you were? There’s an adverb for that. Here are some powerful adverbs that you can use to modify adjectives:

Powerful adverb	Meaning	Example in a sentence
Unusually	Not typical	Sarah was unusually tall for her age
Surprisingly	Shocking	The test was surprisingly easy
Wickedly	Devious	The singer is wickedly talented
Often	In regular occurrence	My hands are often cold
Slightly	A small amount	I am slightly tired

Powerful adverbs to modify other adverbs

So. Many. Adverbs. Sometimes one won’t do it! It is especially true for common adverbs, such as adverbs of frequency and location, which might not be detailed enough on their own. Here are some adverbs that can modify other adverbs:

Powerful adverb	Meaning	Example in a sentence
Incredibly	Similar to amazingly	The race was finished incredibly quickly
Happily	With joy	The trophy sat happily atop the shelf
Silently	Without any sound	Our dog sits silently behind us
Unexpectedly	Similar to surprisingly	The meeting finished unexpectedly early

A list of powerful adverbs

To round off the focus on vocabulary, here’s a handy list of powerful adverbs that you could use to inspire your students.

• Angrily
• Anxiously
• Brightly
• Cautiously
• Cheerfully
• Courageously
• Crossly
• Cruelly
• Defiantly
• Doubtfully
• Elegantly
• Enthusiastically
• Excitedly
• Foolishly
• Frantically
• Gently
• Gladly
• Glumly
• Gracefully
• Happily
• Harshly
• Hungrily
• Loudly
• Oddly
• Sternly
• Stylishly
• Tactfully
• Tightly

These are all words that add a bit more pizazz to a sentence. It’s also important to note that overusing adverbs can be harmful. So, before writing, think about whether these words could be expressed as a verb or adjective first.