An English lesson followed by a maths lesson this morning. I decide to introduce Class Four to bubble writing so that when they work out their heights, we’ll be able to make some sort of display. I cut sheets of A4 paper (bought by All Hallows) into strips with my medical kit scissors…a job which at home would have taken 20 seconds takes 5 minutes. The children do not know what “bubbles” are, so I make a mental note to have some fun with washing-up liquid next week. (I might let the children join in too!)

I do my Blue Peter act, illustrating the various stages of the job with lots of English…measure…pencil, choose colours, background, practice, and twenty five minutes later we have individual labels ready. Have a look at the pictures.

Now on to the maths. I have cut some string into metre lengths and I choose Lali, who stands at 1m 80 odd to mark my height on the board with string. I bring in Memusi, knee-high to a grasshopper and worth his weight in gold, to model the measuring process: first use the string, then the pencil-case rulers for the rest of the distance, counting in units of 15 cms and being sure to mark from the lines on the rulers, not the ends. The children pair up and off we go for twenty minutes meaningful learning activity (or pandemonium, depending on your point of view).

The lesson appears reasonably successful and I make a note to repeat the procedure next time with new partners, but this time recording the data. (Wow! Doesn’t that sound impressive, Mr Renouf?)