A while back 3m Post-it Notes challenged us to get crafty, which we did with alacrity; this time they wanted us to come up with some uses for their new Full Adhesive Super Sticky Notes, a product which sounded great as I love the ordinary type but often get annoyed by them flapping if I want to use them for planning. The new ones have just a small edge for pulling them away easily and lots of stick so they can be moved and replaced lots.
With a year 11 teen in the house, the small ones got grabbed instantly and taken off to be used in the never ending revision onslaught.
She made herself a series of question tests on different subjects with answers underneath so she can test herself as the big day gets closer. Using different colours and a variety of ways to revise is ideal as it helps different fact groups and topics stand out in your head. Fran is a very visual learner and all her revision is colour coded, with shapes on posters and test sheets to help her recall what she needs. This is fun and may even encourage sisters to test her!
On a similar vein, I made Josie a test sheet for times table practise as she isn’t getting as much maths time now she’s at school and some of her speed recall of times tables is falling away (sigh; it shouldn’t be that way round, should it?)
I think she will probably quite enjoy this as there are some wrong answers to avoid and explain why they aren’t in the 6x table. It’s self checking in as much as the full table is written on the back but a younger child could have a similar chart written out in order with answers and questions to one side until they gain confidence.
We use 3m Post-it Notes at work quite a lot to plan out the layout of new websites or lay out a series of problems or goals and move them into ‘to do list’ groups, ‘similar issues’ or problems that have to be fine in order to be solved. Sometimes they are just nice to plan out a colourful action plan and tick it or remove things when they are done.
This is an example of how I might work on a new section of a website using top level groups and then spreading my brands across it. Adding detail like numbers of products to each brand square would help me check the brands are balanced and each area well filled and will also allow me to see if something obvious is missing.
The last one is a visual representation of something that already happens in the house, tweaked to encourage certain slackers in the establishment to partake more fully 😉 Our ‘Friday Tidy’ is a regular occurrence where all the girls help to get the house straight for another week. This is not ‘rewarded’ as such because as members of our mini community (and chief makers of mess!) they are expected to do it. Nor is pocket money dependent on it, although being truly unhelpful might get you a penalty. Anyway, this chart involves some if the jobs that often don’t get done every week or need doing additionally through the week. It serves as a little reminder that if everyone did 5 jobs through the week, the house would stay clean and tidy and that anyone who uncomplainingly gets in with 10, might earn themselves a little treat 🙂
We shall see what happens!
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I love Fran’s revision idea – what a kid! I have college students who would achieve far better results if they could acknowledge the different ways in which they learn and think about how best to approach they’re own learning. The difficulty most of them have is in making material their own. By scribbling on sheets, or doodling ideas, or creating a whole new way of organising the notes, they make the material theirs as opposed to the teachers. This way they ‘own’ it and can remember it and draw parallels more easily. Fran has already learned that ( and not at school I suspect).
Did you ever see the documentary about literacy on Channel 4 a few years back? Can’t for the life of me remember what it was called, but a woman approaching mid- life, who couldn’t read or write, became confident in both because the lecturer realised she was a visual and tactile learner. They made letter shapes on the floor from foam so that she could ‘feel’ the letter sounds and that was all it took. She was off.
And you did make me chuckle with your comment about Josie not getting much maths time now she’s at school!
I am blushing at my ‘they’re’ / their debacle in line three. Staying behind after school for that one. 😉