In Oak class (KS1), we have been capturing the children's interest to engage them in learning. The children love Lego, so for the last two weeks, we have been using Lego in all areas of our learning. For example the class have designed and built a new Lego town and then described what they could hear, see and smell in their ‘Bricksburg’. This has encouraged them to think about their senses and encouraged the use of adjectives and action words. Throughout the week, they have also taken part in a series of fun mini challenges, such as, can you follow a pattern? Can you build a 3D shape or can you build a famous landmark? 

All Lego play is a learning experience, whether your child is following the instructions to build a new model or constructing something from their own imagination and letting them follow their interests and curiosity is fantastic. But there are lots of other ways to use Lego at home to give your child’s learning a boost. It's a great tool for dyslexia learners who respond to a hands-on experiential learning style.Here's some ideas to try at home:

For younger children:

• Write letters on individual bricks with a permanent marker so your child can build words.
• Use bricks in ‘float or sink’ experiments.
• Use them in classification exercises (e.g. sorting by colour or size).
• Write upper case and lower case letters on individual bricks and get your child to pair them up.
• Encourage free play to develop children's motor skills and imagination.
• Build a child's growth mindset by using fail and learn challenges. 'Can you build a Lego bridge that would take the weight of this toy truck?' If it breaks - how can you make it stronger?

For older children:

• Use them in arrays to help children learn times tables.
• Build models and ask your child to work out their perimetre, or to identify all the right angles.
• Use them as a physical representation of a bar chart.
• Set fun building challenges, e.g. to build a hovercraft or a catapult.
• Ask your child to build a model that sums out how they feel. If you are building something too alongside them then this can be a great opportunity to talk about the week and how your child is feeling.

This week Mr Cotter taught KS4 the concept of "yes and..." in his drama lessons as part of their ongoing improvisation topic. Everyone particularly enjoyed playing some well know improvisation games such as ABC, where in pairs you have to start each sentence with the next letter in the alphabet and a game called Half Life, which involves pairs playing out a short scene and then repeating it, but this time changing the emotion of the scene or even location. This made for some very funny scenes especially between Lucas and Reuben who's father and son beach trip turned into a Shakespearean comedy!