Teaching Strategies, Tactics, and Methods

To find out the answer to ‘what is the highest common factor,’ we need to know what a factor is. So we also need to know what a common factor is and how to discover the highest common factor.

Firstly, a factor is a number that divides into another number exactly without leaving a remainder.

Secondly, a common factor is a factor that is shared by two or more numbers. For instance:

• A common factor of 8 and 10 is 2, as 2 is a factor of 8, and 2 is a factor of 10.

Finally, the highest common factor (HCF) is found by calculating all common factors of two numbers and choosing the largest numerical value.

Simply put, the highest common factor of two, or more, numbers is the highest whole number that is a factor of both.

Examples of finding factors

A factor is a number that is multiplied to get another number.

For example, 6 and 2 are both factors of 18 because they can be multiplied by another number to reach 18.

• 6 × 3 = 18
• 2 × 9 = 18

You can see by these two equations that 3 and 9 must also be factors of 18.

So now we know that one number can have many factors. 18 has 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, and 18.

All these can be multiplied by another number in the list to get 18.

How do I find the highest common factor?

Typically, for problems where you find the highest common factor, you will be given two numbers.

There are a few methods that you can use to find the highest common factor:

Listing method

To find the highest common factor of these numbers, list every factor of both numbers in their respective lists, then compare the two lists of factors to find the highest number they have in common. For example:

Find the highest common factor of 15 and 60

Elements of 15: 1, 3, 5, 15

Aspects of 60: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, 30, 60

The highest common factor of 15 and 60 is 15.

You may also have to find the highest common factor of more than two numbers. For example:

Find the highest common factor of 18, 120, and 42

Factors of 18: 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, 18

Factors of 120: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 15, 20, 24, 30, 40, 60, 120

Factors of 42: 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 14, 21, 42

The highest common factor of these three numbers is 6.

Prime factorization

The second method you can use to find the highest common factor is prime factorization. To use this method, you must carry out the following steps:

Step 1: List the prime factors of each of your given numbers and note the ones in common.

Step 2: Multiply the common prime factors together, and then find the highest common factor of those numbers.

Let’s break this down through an example:

Find the highest common factor of 40 and 60.

Step 1: List the prime factors of each of those numbers.

40 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 5

60 = 2 × 2 × 3 × 5

Now that we have the prime factors of each number listed above, we can easily identify the common prime factors.

The common prime factors of 40 and 60 are 2, 2, and 5.

Step 2: Multiply the common prime factors together.

2 × 2 × 5 = 20

So, the highest common factor of 40 and 60 is 20.

Division method

You can also use the long division method to know the highest common factor of two numbers.

You need to divide the larger number by the smaller number, then divide the smaller number by the remainder until there is no longer one.

For example, 504 ÷ 318 gives us 1 with a remainder of 186. Next, we’ll divide 318 by the rest of 186, which provides us with 1 with a remainder of 132.

We continue dividing 186 by the remainder of 132, which gives us a rest of 54.

By dividing 132 by 54, we get 2 with a remainder of 24. Finally, we divide 54 by 24 to get 2 with a rest of 6.

24 divides perfectly into 6, so our final answer is 6.

What is a rainforest?

A rainforest is a dense area of tall, mostly evergreen trees found in tropical regions with consistently heavy rainfall. These forests are rich in biodiversity, which means they are teeming with incredible plant and animal life that is crucial to ensuring their ecosystem stays balanced and healthy.

Rainforests are the oldest living ecosystems on Earth; some have been around for at least 70 million years. Of course, the world’s largest and most famous rainforest region is the Amazon. Still, they can also be found in western India, Southeast Asia, New Guinea, Australia, and Africa in central and South America!

So in celebration of these great African ecosystems, we’ve put together this list of fascinating facts to engage children with the topic.

6 African Rainforest Facts for Kids

1. Africa has the second-largest rainforest in the world 

The Congo rainforest, found across the west and central part of Africa, is the second-largest on the planet, next to the Amazon. It can be found in the Congo ‘basin’, an area of land where all the water drains into the Congo River, one of the longest rivers in the world.

Other smaller rainforests in Africa include the Guinean forests that span from Sierra Leone to Cameroon in the west, the Afromontane forest that runs from Ethiopia to the south of the continent, and the coastal forests that run from Kenya to Mozambique. There are also island forests on Madagascar and the Indian Ocean Islands.

The Congo rainforest spans six African countries, including parts of Cameroon, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and parts of the Central African Republic.

2. Africa’s rainforests are quite dry

The nature of a rainforest means there is often heavy rainfall, but the forests in Africa are quite dry compared to others around the world. In Africa, rainforests can receive between 63 and 78 inches (1600 and 2000 mm) of rainfall yearly, whereas the Amazon has a minimum of 80 inches (2032 mm) annually.

3. More than 400 species of mammals live in the African rainforest

The Congo Basin rainforest is renowned for its rich biodiversity. Over 400 species of mammals, 1,000 species of birds, and 700 species of fish live there, among many other creatures. Some of its most famous residents include chimpanzees, gorillas, hippos, and elephants, and they have a really important role in shaping its characteristics.

For example, trees in African rainforests are generally taller, but there are fewer small trees compared to those in Central and South America. This is because large herbivores such as elephants and hippos eat all the small trees, meaning the tall trees have less competition and can grow taller!

Chimpanzees

The rainforest chimpanzee (also known as the common chimpanzee) can be found in equatorial Africa’s central and western parts. Although they are the most abundant and widespread member of the ape family, they are listed as ‘endangered’ because there has been a significant drop in their population over the past 30 years due to habitat loss and poaching. Unfortunately, this reduction in numbers is expected to continue.

Hippopotamus

There are two species of hippos in the African rainforests — the common hippo and the smaller pygmy hippo. After elephants and white rhinos, hippos are the third-largest land mammal. They are semi-aquatic, meaning they spend time on land and in water, so the rainforest’s swamps, rivers, and wetlands are the perfect home for them. Unfortunately, they are subject to hunting, and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, their numbers have declined by 95%.

Elephants

The African forest elephant is found in the humid forests of West Africa and the Congo Basin. They are smaller than African elephants found in the savannah. As human populations expand, the areas where elephants can roam are getting smaller, and they are subject to the effects of deforestation and poaching like so many other species.

Okapi

The Okapi (or forest giraffe) is another fascinating resident of the Congolese rainforest. It has stripes like a zebra but is most closely related to the giraffe, although its neck is not as long. Only discovered by the western world in 1901 and now endangered, this rare and mystical creature can only be found in the Democratic Republic of Congo and is almost impossible to spot in the wild.

Lowland Gorillas

The Congo Basin is home to two types of gorillas – mountain and western lowland gorillas. All gorillas are endangered, but the western lowland gorilla is critically endangered due to poaching and disease (including the Ebola virus). As a result, their numbers have declined by 60% in the last 25 years. Smaller than mountain gorillas and with a brown coat instead of black, it’s very hard to spot these elusive creatures in the forest as they tend to rest hidden away in densely covered areas but can occasionally be spotted playing in the trees.

4. The Congo Basin rainforest contains 70% of Africa’s plant cover

There are approximately 10,000 species of tropical plants in the Congo Basin. The wonderful biodiversity of the rainforest’s plant life accounts for 70% of plant cover in Africa. There are up to 600 different species of tree, which include:

Cinchona Tree

Two important chemicals can be found inside the bark of the cinchona tree – quinine and quinidine. Both of these are used in medicine that can be used to treat malaria.

Strangler Fig

This plant plays an important role in the Congo rainforest as it provides a crucial food source for many animals that live there. It’s called the ‘strangler’ fig because it attaches itself to a tree which it slowly kills off as it grows to the top of the canopy.  Once the tree has died, the strangler fig is left alone.

Moabi Tree

The Moabi Tree is another important food source, particularly for humans, as its fruit can be eaten, and oil for cooking can be extracted from its seeds. This seed oil is a precious commodity as it is very valuable.

Kapok Tree

This giant rainforest tree can reach up to 230 feet and grow up to 10 feet in diameter. It’s covered in spikes to protect itself from animals.

5. Humans have lived in the Congo rainforest for more than 50,000 years

It is believed that human inhabitants have made the Congo rainforest their home for more than 50,000 years. Today, there are around 150 different ethnic groups who live a traditional hunter-gatherer lifestyle in the forest. Communities such as the Ba’Aka, BaKa, BaMbuti, and Efe, among others, rely on the forest for food, medicine, water, shelter, and raw materials and have an incredible knowledge of the forest and its animal and plant life.

6. African rainforests are disappearing at an alarming rate

African rainforests are important for many reasons, and their destruction has many environmental, social, and economic implications. Firstly, rainforests are home to a diverse range of animal and plant life that is at risk of extinction; forests provide raw materials which boost the global economy; an estimated 25% of the world’s medicines are derived from rainforest plants; plus, as the ‘lungs of the earth’ we need rainforests to regulate the amount of carbon dioxide that’s released into the air, so they are crucial to preventing global warming.

Africa is home to 18% of the world’s rainforest, so deforestation has a big impact. For example, almost 90% of rainforest in the coastal area of West Africa has already been destroyed, and deforestation in the Congo Basin has doubled since 1990.

Luckily, the rainforest in the Congo has not seen the same amount of deforestation and decline as in other parts of Africa and the world.  This may be because there has been lots of political unrest here, with poor infrastructure and instability, which means the rainforest has not been under as much threat. However, this could change with new investment and the increase in the industry.

A tributary is a small stream connecting a water source to a much larger body of water, like a lake or river. It carries vital minerals, nutrients, and chemicals that different species of vegetation and animals in the water and on the banks need to survive. They also manage watersheds in their path, carrying the contents of surrounding drainage basins, such as rain and snow. Most rivers form from a nearby tributary that’s gathered more water and expanded in size on its path.

What does a tributary do?

While you’ll know by now that tributaries are mainly responsible for transporting water from the initial source to the larger mainstream body of water, there are other vital aspects to a tributary’s role.

One especially important part of tributaries are the habitats they provide for various species. These include plants, semi-aquatic and non-aquatic mammals, fish, and birds. The fast pace, cold streams often found in tributaries offer the ideal living environment for many of these animals and freshwater plants. The water from the branch also helps the soil on the banks to grow.

Tributaries are also very important when it comes to the surrounding watersheds. This is because they carry the runoff from This excess water is important for the river cycle as it ensures that large bodies of water stay full and impacts the erosion of the banks.

Where can you find a tributary?

You’ll find a tributary partway between a primary water source, such as a spring up in the mountains, and a mainstream, such as a river or a reservoir. Tributaries transport water downhill between these different bodies of water, so they’re often found on high ground levels.

Often, multiple tributaries join together from different places before meeting and reaching the confluence, where they make contact with the mainstream body of water. These are also known as ‘forks’ and are referred to as either North, South, East, or West. The direction of the current can also identify what they’re carrying in, either to the left or right when looking downstream, known as the ‘Left Bank’ or the ‘Right Bank.’

So, where tributaries are found is important when identifying which fork is which and exactly which mainstream body they will connect to.

Famous Tributaries Around The World

Wherever there is a river system, you can be sure there will be tributaries nearby. So here are some of the most famous arms in the world that you might be interested in.

• The Missouri River
• Piney River
• Gunnison River
• Blue River
• Plateau Creek
• Eagle River
• Roaring Fork River
• Fraser River
• Indus River
• Jhelum River

Fun Facts About Tributaries

Now that you know the key facts and general information about tributaries, you might like to find some more random interesting bits of knowledge about this topic! Take a look at the list of fun facts about arms below.

• The opposite of a tributary is a distributary. They are similar to branches but continue off on their path instead of leading to a larger body of water. They’re also referred to by the term ‘delta.’
• Tributaries can vary greatly in size. Some are tiny little streams that could easily go unnoticed, while others are on the scale of large rivers.
• Another term for tributaries is ‘affluent.’ This is also similar to the word ‘confluent’ we use to describe the arms meeting with a large body of water.
• The ‘Madeira River’ is the largest tributary in the whole world, with a record-breaking volume of 1,100,1000 cu ft/s. However, while this tributary wins for the book, the longest tributary known is The Irtysh.
• The Amazon River has the most tributaries, with 1,100 to date.
• Much like the entire river cycle, tributaries are built up from water sources that flow into them. As the flow of water escalates and two small water streams collide and join, a branch is formed at some point.

What is handwriting?

Before we jump straight into the features of good handwriting, what is writing?

It might sound a bit self-explanatory, but handwriting means the ability to write using a writing instrument, which could be a pen or pencil.

Children may or may not be taught a specific handwriting style, such as cursive, where the letters are all joined together. In many cases, though, children will develop their unique handwriting style as they write more and more. So, while there isn’t a specific right or wrong form of handwriting, a child’s writing should be legible and easy to read.

What are the 12 Characteristics Of Handwriting?

So, what are the 12 major characteristics of handwriting? Several factors make up handwriting. By reading through these, you and your pupils will be able to recognize the features of good writing:

• Letter spacing: Some people space their letters out while others write letters close together. There should be equal spacing between letters in the word, with a finger space between individual words.
• Pen lifts: This refers to letter separation and joins when writing by raising the cell of the page or keeping a continuous flow. Children must know when to lift the pen off the pen and when to join letters as part of cursive handwriting practice.
• Pen pressure: This is the amount of weight the pupil puts on the paper. Some learners can have very light pen pressure, resulting in shaky or faint writing. On the other hand, some learners can struggle with putting too much pressure on the page when concentrating on paper, which can damage the page and cause extra strain on their wrists.
• Line quality: Line quality refers to the thickness, consistency, flow, and strength of the pen line creating letters. Similarly to pen pressure, learners will differ in how they draw lines. Line quality can also indicate the speed children are writing.
• Diacritic placement refers to the order of the finishing touches to letters. For example, where are the crosses on t’s and dots on i’s? Are the t’s crossed? Is the cross on the t at the top, middle, or bottom of the letter? Are the appropriate letters dotted and crossed? If so, are they spotted to the left, the center, or the right of the ‘I’?
• The size, width, and height of letters are all key features of good handwriting. Lowercase letters should be equally sized, but uppercase letters are typically taller. Wider letters may indicate lower concentration and faster writing, while cramped and small letters might indicate slower writing.
• Extra embellishments: Do your pupils add any embellishments to their letters? These are all those pretty swooshes and swirls you see added to various parts of letters or words, and they can indicate that a pupil has more of a creative personality.
• Line adherence: Line adherence refers to if your pupil’s writing remains on the line, floats above the line or sinks below the baseline. In the classroom, children should be taught to begin all of their writing on the baseline of the page.
• Letter joins: Letter joins are the small marks and pen strokes that connect the individual letters into words. Children should learn how and when to associate letters with letter joins.
• Letter slant/ italics: This can be called writing in italics, which refers to how letters lean. Some say you can tell something about a person’s personality or writing style by whether their letters slant backward or forwards or if they write letters without a slant.
• Letter formation: One of the key features of good handwriting is whether children can form complete letters. Fully-formed, recognizable letters will be easier to read than partially-formed ones!
• Handwriting style or font: Typically, the child is writing in printed, pre-cursive or cursive handwriting styles. Check out our printing and cursive handwriting wikis to learn more about these styles.

What can affect these 12 characteristics of handwriting?

Now that we’ve broken down 12 features of good handwriting, a few factors can affect writing. Knowing them will help you support your child’s handwriting development. These include:

Dominant hand: Left-handed Pupils may struggle to form clear handwriting and master features of good handwriting for many reasons. Research has shown that around 10% of the population is left-handed, which means you’re sure to have some children in your classroom who write with their left hand. They may struggle in this mostly right-handed world.

For example, it’s common for their writing to be unclear because their hand smears the ink or pencil as the child writes across the page. The indicator also gets in the way of reading directions and examples in the left-handed margin.

Writing tools: Children can’t master these important features of good handwriting if they struggle to use the right tools. For example, most children prefer to learn handwriting skills using a pencil, which can support lighter pressure and can be easily erased when they make mistakes.

The size of their writing tools can also affect their handwriting in the classroom. If your child struggles with a regular pencil, try a smaller or shorter, kid-sized one. Also, ensure their pencil has a good

A conjunction is a word that holds a series of talks, clauses, or phrases together. There are three types: coordinating conjunctions, subordinating conjunctions, and correlative conjunctions.

As your child goes through school, they’ll need to understand and form a range of sentence constructions using the different conjunctions to make their writing more interesting and develop their grammar knowledge.

What are examples of coordinating conjunctions?

There are seven coordinating conjunctions: for, and, nor, yet, but, so, and or.

They’re used to join simple sentences into compound sentences.

A compound sentence is when a connective or coordinating conjunction joins two main clauses. The main clause is something that makes sense on its own.

For example:

• Samira likes football, and Ben likes basketball.

In this example, both ‘Samira likes football’ and ‘Ben likes football’ are main clauses because they make sense on their own; ‘and’ is the co-ordinating conjunction because it joins the two main clauses

• Ben works hard, but he finds spelling difficult.
• The sun was hot, so the children put suncream on.

What are examples of subordinating conjunctions?

Subordinating conjunctions are: if, since, when, although, while, after, before, until, because, and as. These introduce a subordinate clause in a sentence, which is followed or preceded by the main clause.

A subordinate clause doesn’t make sense on its own.

For example:

• Before they left the house, they ate a huge dinner.

Here, ‘before’ is the subordinating conjunction that introduces the subordinate clause.

• They played happily downstairs until it was time for bed.

In this case, ‘until’ is the subordinating conjunction, which presents the subordinate clause.

 

What are examples of correlative conjunctions?

Correlative conjunctions include pairs such as ‘both/and,’ ‘not/but,’ ‘either/or,’ ‘neither/nor,’ and ‘not only/but.’

Both of them need to appear in the sentence. In addition, sentences with correlative conjunction must be balanced, meaning the words that follow them must be in the same category.

For example:

• She loved to play both tennis and cricket.

In this sentence, ‘tennis’ and ‘cricket’ are nouns. ‘Both’ and ‘and’ are correlative conjunctions.

• Not only did he excel at maths, but he also shone in English.

In this example, ‘excel’ and ‘shone’ are both verbs. ‘Not only’ and ‘also’ are correlative conjunctions.

• They found the meal at the new restaurant neither tasty nor cheap.

Here, ‘tasty’ and ‘cheap’ describe words or adjectives. ‘Neither’ and ‘nor’ are correlative conjunctions.

Making predictions is an important reading strategy that encourages students to use details and clues from the text to anticipate what happens next in the story. This prompts them to actively think ahead while reading to help them better comprehend the text.

Prediction is an ongoing process as the text develops as readers confirm or reject their assumptions.

Why is Prediction Important?

Prediction can keep children engaged in the story and helps readers to make connections between their prior knowledge and the text. In addition, it ensures that the child can understand what they are reading as they try and make logical and reasonable assumptions about what could happen next.

How to Make Predictions?

The best way to encourage readers to make logical predictions is by prompting them to look at what has already happened in the text. This will help them to extract what the characters may have hinted is coming up or what may have been implied by the author’s use of language.

What is Foreshadowing?

Foreshadowing is a literary device in which the writer gives an indication or advance sign of what will come later in the story. While predicting is done primarily by the reader through gathering information and processing it with their knowledge, foreshadowing is done primarily by the author through deliberate hints to help the reader develop expectations about upcoming events.

Who is Predicting Pip?

Predicting Pip is a clever dog that is part of the Pawsome Reading Gang – a team of canine characters who each help with one of the KS2 reading content domains.

Pip helps with reading content and uses her crystal ball to help children see into the future to predict what might happen next.

A question mark is a punctuation point used following a question in a sentence. It is both an indicator of a question and a full stop at the verdict.

What is a Question Mark?

Question marks are common punctuation marks used in language to indicate a question.

Question marks are one of the most important types of punctuation that your little ones will learn. After all, without question marks, we’d miss out on all kinds of things: interesting questions, invitations, inside jokes, and so much more!

They always appear at the end of sentences in the place of a full stop. The main purpose of a question mark is to indicate that a correction is a question. Direct questions often (but not always) begin with a wh-word (who, what, when, where, why).

They change the tone of a sentence, similar to an ellipsis or exclamation mark.

What are the uses of question marks?

Question marks can be used in direct speech but are not used in indirect speech. Check out the difference between how questions are written in natural speech and indirect speech below:

Direct

‘Have you done your homework?’

‘How much did those shoes cost?’

‘Why were you late to school?’

Indirect

He asked me if I had completed my homework.

I was asked how much my shoes cost.

My teacher asked me why I was late for school.

Question Marks and Quotation Marks

Mixing different types of punctuation can seem tricky to your students. However, the rules for punctuating questions within quotation marks are quite simple:

• If the question mark relates to the entire sentence instead of the phrase inside the quotation marks, put it at the very end and outside the quotation marks. For example, ‘the reporter wondered, “what did she mean when she said ‘It’s a free country’?”

• On the other hand, you should keep the question mark inside the marks if the question applies to what is enclosed in the quotation marks. You’ll often see this in written dialogue. For example, ‘” where did you hide my books?” she said’.

Question Marks and Brackets/Parenthesis

Now we’ve mastered question marks vs. quotation marks; it is time to move on to brackets and parenthesis. The guidelines for question marks and parentheses are related to the rules for question marks and quotation marks.

If a question mark relates to the parenthetical info, place the question mark inside the parentheses. Alternatively, if the text inside the parenthesis/ brackets is simply additional information, the question mark must be placed outside the frames.

Check out these examples to see this rule in action.

• I saw the chicken (or was it a bird?) crossing the road.

• Will the chicken cross the road again tomorrow (May 3)?

A conclusion generally means the ‘end’ of a result or the last part of something.

A conclusion can have many definitions based on the subject you’re talking about, but it generally refers to the last part of an essay or text.

How to Write a Conclusion

Writing a Conclusion in KS2

Writing a good conclusion is an essential part of any text. It’s the last idea that the reader is left with once they’re finished reading, so you want to leave a good impression.

The conclusion briefly restates the main points of the writing and makes sense of any results obtained.

To write a good conclusion, you can keep these points in mind:

• Summarise the points made in the body of the text. Then, try to write these differently from how they were written in the body.
• Provide insight. Tell your audience what conclusion you have come to based on the information you’ve provided.
• Provide a solution or ask open-ended questions. Give your reader something to think about after they’ve finished. Is there a solution to the issues raised? Is there further thought and action that could be taken? Are there broader implications?

In general, a good conclusion makes the reader think. It causes them to reflect on what they’ve just read and consider how this affects them or the topic they’ve read about.

It’s important to remember that the type of conclusion needed will depend on what you’re writing. For example, a text discussing the results of a science experiment will have a different ending to a piece of persuasive writing.

A conclusion to a persuasive text will have more bias since the writer tries to steer the reader to agree with their opinion and findings.

A scientific text might have a more balanced conclusion, objectively weighing the results.

What is a conclusion in logic?

In logic, a conclusion is a judgment or decision – the final idea after considering the information provided.

Jumping to a conclusion

To jump to a conclusion is a phrase used when a judgment is made about something before all the information is presented. This is often because of a preconceived bias that is held.

If somebody jumps to a conclusion about a certain person, this could mean that they were too critical of them or decided that something must be true or false about them before truly knowing them

Drawing a conclusion

If someone were to use all the information given to make an inference or logical judgment about a story or a mystery, they’re ‘concluding.’

Concluding implies that thought and time have been put into the decision instead of jumping to a conclusion, which means that a decision has been made irrationally and quickly without further study.

What is a conclusion in storytelling?

In storytelling, a conclusion is the end of a narrative. This is where the results of the plot points are exposed, and the loose ends are tied up.

A good narrative conclusion is somewhat similar to a decision in non-fiction texts. It summarises what has been discussed so far (the themes), pulls it all together, and encourages the reader to think or take action.

Teachers build towards the independence of their students. And they do this by systematically adding to what students already know to gain confidence as they go along and competence with what they are learning.

The main way they do this is by tackling the subject in small manageable chunks first, and under guidance from a skilled instructor, they are supported to make connections for themselves as they work through the issue. Thus, it is more of a facilitator model than with traditional working model.

Vygotsky first coined the concept of scaffolding in learning and teaching in 1978 in his investigations of child learning and pedagogy.

Why is scaffolding learning important?

Scaffolding learning is important because it creates an environment where students are encouraged to be more independent and not constantly look to the teacher for answers and instruction.

Effective and appropriate scaffolding of learning ensures that students have some safety net to work with but can still work through the different stages themselves.

How do you do effective scaffolding for learning?

For scaffolding of learning to be truly impactful, teachers must know their students’ zone of proximal development. This term describes the distance between what the students already know and what they have yet to learn.

To make learning accessible to students, you must make sure that you pitch the work at the right level. It must be difficult enough that it provides a challenge to all the students in the room, but it must still be accessible to the students to find a starting point with the work in which they feel confident.

How do you implement scaffolding of learning in the classroom?

One way of scaffolding learning is by starting with some modeling. Show your students what they are aiming for first. Share with them the intended outcome of the project or work.

For example, this could be achieved by showing students a complete model of a bridge that you want students to replicate, or it could involve sharing a full story with the students.

Another way to implement scaffolding of learning is to use a thinking-aloud process. For example, while you share the model with the students in your class, a teacher can share their thought processes as they complete each stage. This would work particularly well with solving a maths problem or if you are designing a project.

Essential to successful scaffolding is involving the students by tapping into their prior knowledge. Encourage them to discuss their experiences and ideas about what you are studying. Sometimes they will be able to make connections themselves between the different stages.

How do you use scaffolding in literature analysis?

Using scaffolding in literature analysis is a highly effective way of getting children to engage with the texts they’re reading. Literary analysis lends itself to a scaffolding approach because the aim of scaffolding in teaching is for students to learn more independently. Furthermore, as literary analysis is so personal to the reader, it helps if children have a framework to make them feel more secure, especially when they’re just starting to analyze literature. In addition, scaffolding enables them to conclude the text, giving them the confidence to present their original ideas.

So, how can teachers use scaffolding when teaching literature analysis?

Explain what literary analysis is

As its name suggests, scaffolding needs to be a framework for children to build their learning. This is why it’s worth starting at the beginning. First, explain to your class what literary analysis is, its objectives, and how it works. This enables children to know what they’re doing and why. It also helps keep everyone on the same page in their method, although they’ll hopefully feel assured enough to conclude.

Make the text relatable

When analyzing literature, one of the most important pieces of the puzzle is identifying the text’s themes and how they relate to people’s lives. This can be difficult for younger learners, particularly if you’re studying a text set in the past. However, a scaffolding approach encourages children to share their prior knowledge, discussing how the characters’ situations might be similar to their own life experiences in some way. This helps your students build a picture of the text’s key themes and makes it relatable.

Use visual resources

Children learn in many different ways, and many are visual learners. Visual teaching resources will help keep your students more engaged with the text. You could let your class watch a film adaptation of the text, for example, to bring it to life for them. Alternatively, you could display posters of the characters and settings in the classroom or show your learners a PowerPoint presentation about the text. These resources will help children build a visual picture of the literature they’re studying, enabling them to understand the themes and subtext.

Encourage detective work

Good literary analysis always includes citations and quotes from the text to support the student’s argument. However, many children forget to include this core evidence; if they have it, they don’t explain how it strengthens their point of view. You can ensure they remember to do these things by encouraging detective work at the beginning of the lesson, reminding them to pick up on clues as they read, and writing them down, so they don’t forget to include them in their literary analysis.

Use different types of text

Children need to feel confident analyzing different types of literature. Therefore, if you’re using scaffolding in your literature analysis teaching, giving them varied source material to work with is important. As well as novels, include poetry, factual texts, play and film scripts, and even advertising texts in your lessons to ensure children can understand their meaning. This approach will help your students to analyze every type of literature they come across.

How do you scaffold children’s creative work?

Visual aids are another useful tool for scaffolding children’s creative work. Pictures and charts can help children to understand what they are doing. This can be useful as it helps prompt students to make connections for themselves. Visual materials will be especially effective when helping students with creative work such as art or technology.

You can also help students plan a longer creative writing work through scaffolding. One technique for this would be the Pause, Ask Questions, Pause, Review method. This starts with the teacher sharing the discussion topic. Then everyone is allowed a pause for thinking time. Next, the teacher asks a strategic question. And finally, there is another pause.

It is important during the quiet stages to hold out even when the silence becomes uncomfortable so that everyone is given time and space to do some real thinking.

Why is scaffolding learning important in early childhood?

Scaffolding learning represents a more student-centered learning practice than other traditional teacher-focused methods.

The main goal is that, eventually, these scaffolds can be completely removed so that the children can complete the tasks or projects entirely independently.

This is particularly important in early childhood because it teaches children to solve problems for themselves early and to build personal resilience.

The three elements

There are three essential elements of scaffolding learning. The first is that the communication and interaction between the student and teacher should be collaborative. What does this mean? Essentially, it means there should be input from both sides. In practice, this means that students should be asked to share their ideas and their own experience as they engage in the task.

The second feature of effective scaffolding is that the work is built around the student’s zone of proximal development, as discussed above.

And the third feature is that the guidance set in place by the teacher is removed gradually over time in recognition of the students’ growing competence in the subject.

Removing your child from school

To begin homeschooling, you must remove your child from school if they’ve already started. This can be done by contacting the headteacher and requesting your child be removed from the register. If your child has yet to start, but you have a place accepted at a school, this must be given up and can normally be done by filling out a form from a local authority.

You are not required to inform your local authority that you are homeschooling your child, but they may enquire about their education when they see they are not enrolled at a school.

There are home education groups you can join if you would like support and advice from others with more experience.

Homeschooling vs. Home Education

When we speak about teaching from home, there are two main terms that you will hear: ‘homeschooling’ and ‘home education.’ ‘Homeschooling’ is the term most commonly used in North America, and ‘home education’ is more widely used in the UK and Europe.

How to teach your homeschooled child

There are different ways to teach a homeschooled child. Tailoring it to suit you and your child is generally the most effective way to do things.

Structured learning

is formal, uses timetables for lessons, and has a curriculum of subjects. This is good for a child that has been in school before or intends to return to school at some point, as it has a similar structure. If your child plays sports or other extracurricular activities, this is ideal for structuring lessons.

Autonomous learning

is flexible and lets the child decide what they want to learn based on their interests and when they want to have lessons. This is useful for children who struggle in a structured school system.

Devise a work scheme

This is good for deciding how to teach a topic in home education.

• What are your aims?
• What do you want to produce?
• What resources will you need?
• How long will it take?
• What are your ‘teaching hours’?

What equipment and tools will you use for homeschooling your child? The library and museums are great places to learn. Technology can also be used, like computers and tablets.