What’s for Dinner Mr Gum? is the 6th in the series by Andy Stanton and it’s full of the usual nonsense, adventure and wordplay. This one includes and random chapter from a different book (funny), a missing chapter that you can go online to find (not so funny) and a bonus story at the end about what Jake the dog had been up to the whole time and why he wasn’t in the story.
As usual the story centres around something awful that Mr Gum and Billy William are up to and how Polly and her friends save the day. This time though, Mr Gum and Billy are at way with each other and Polly’s gang have to find a way to intervene and bring peace back to Lamonic Bibber.
As ever, love saves the day, and love comes in the form of Thora Gruntwinkle. The pin-up butcher from Olde London Town. Although, the path to true love didn’t quite go as the heroes had planned, we still ended up with a positive resolution.
Tom, age 11, says: “I really liked the book and my favourite bit was when Friday said, ‘cropper in the flopper.’ I’m not sure why, but it did make me laugh a lot. The Mr Flamingo chapter that was accidentally printed in the book by mistake was also very funny.”
Bella, age 9, says: “My favourite character was Philip the Horror, CHATTER CHATTER CHEE!”
Discover more brilliant books for Key Stage 2 children below…
Full disclosure, the boy and I are both massive Arsenal fans so we were probably always going to feel favourably about a book co-written by Ian Wright. I idolised Wrighty when he played for Arsenal in the 90s but I tried not to let that inform my opinions of the book too much.
The story centres around Jerome Jackson, a 13-year-old boy with an exceptional talent for football and a dream to make it to the very top. Jerome doesn’t have the easiest life and is struggling to get noticed for the right reasons until a chance encounter with Ian Wright sets him on a path to future stardom. It’s not all plain sailing for Jerome, but his mum, Wrighty and other members of his community are there to support him when he needs it most.
As a kids book about football it’s very good. The action described on the on the pitch is exciting and believable and the coaching advise that Jerome (the main character) is given is insightful and genuinely useful. Despite his faults, the reader really wants Jerome to do well as he progresses along his footballing journey.
However, Striking Out is much more that just a kids book about football. The story also addresses some substantial issues in a child-friendly way that opens the door for important conversations at home or at school. Domestic violence, racism, bereavement and peer pressure are among that issues raised in Striking Out which led some great conversations with my son.
Music also plays a key role in the book. Ian’s frequent cameos in the story often come with a musical recommendation for Jerome and the reader. Personally I’ve recently discover the music of Kirk Franklin and I Smile has become a singing assembly song, thanks to this book.
Tom, age 10, says:“This is different to other books I’ve read because it’s about a boy who has a very different life to me and about how hard it is for him. It’s interesting because it’s about Jerome’s journey to become a footballer and how he’s seen by scouts and seen as having potential. I like the way they describe the football in particular. I liked it when Ian first saw Jerome score a goal at Hackney Marshes and another favourite part was when he got accepted into St Joseph’s.”
Discover more brilliant books for Key Stage 2 children below…
I nearly didn’t write this post because there isn’t really anything that hasn’t been said about this book, so I’ll keep it brief.
Holes is a classic. Far more significant people than me have loved and recommended Holes, not least Malorie Blackman (on the cover) and Phil Earle (who wrote the forward for this edition). However, for what it’s worth, I am offering my – admittedly, very late to the party – thoughts.
If it’s possible to have a ‘hot take’ on such a widely adored book, mine is this…it reminds me of Catch-22. Both deal with dark subject matter with great humour. Both jump forwards and backwards in the timeline of their stories. Both are exceptional examples of the written word and are to be considered classic works of literary art.
Holes is magnificent and is well worth a read, regardless of your age. As mentioned in the forward by Phil Earle, ‘It tackles themes so meaty that Shakespeare would be jealous: crime, punishment, curses, revenge, retribution, redemption…the list could go on and on.’
If you fancy checking out some other books written for Key Stage 2 children (but enjoyed by all) check out the page linked below.
Roz is the only surviving robot when the cargo ship she is being transported on sinks during a storm. She adapts to survive and learns to thrive on an island uninhabited by humans (or other robots).
As great as this book was to share as a bedtime story, it’s even better for sharing in school. The learning is everywhere. From exploring and learning about the natural world, along with Roz, to the greater life lessons that can be taken from the robot’s approach to discovering new things and building relationships with new creatures.
Charm and good manners don’t come naturally to Roz (well, nothing comes naturally to Roz as she’s a robot) but she soon learns the benefits of being kind and friendly. Roz needs to adapt to her surroundings and finds out that her chances of survival are significantly improved when she is helped by the, initially reluctant, animals who inhabit the island.
The Wild Robot is a great book for many reasons and for many children, but it’s particularly poignant for neurodivergent readers. They may relate to Roz’s struggle to understand the world around her and how she feels the need to ‘act’ to conform with the norms of those around her.
We were thinking this book would make an excellent film, then we learnt that it has been made into one and it’s due to be released in October 2024. Here is the trailer, it looks wonderful.
The Wild Robot is a heart-warming, epic adventure and a bit of an emotional rollercoaster. Sort of everything you’d want in a book for 7-11 year olds, really.
Tom, age 11, says: “I enjoy the adventure that Roz goes on. I really like the message about the importance of family and friendship and helping each other. My favourite bit is the dramatic robot battles at the end when all the animals come to help Roz. My favourite character is is Chichat because she chats a lot, like me.
Discover more brilliant books for Key Stage 2 children below…
This book is a must read for all year 6 teachers and children. It’s a very modern classic and, after teacher/education social media went crazy for it in the autumn of 2023, we had to get a copy.
The Final Year is all about the final year of primary school and touches on all of the big events that 10/11 year olds go through. The residential, SATs, transition day, the leavers assembly and much more besides. These are all covered from Nate’s perspective and written as short poems.
Nate has a fairly challenging life and experiences some pretty tough events through the year, but with the help of his friends, family and excellent teacher (Mr Joshua) he gets through it all, learning and growing along the way.
This book has been pretty well hyped but, it turns out, with good reasons. We both really enjoyed it and related to much of what Nate was experiencing (broadly speaking). It’s well worth reading with your Year 6 classes and it’s handily pretty quick as well. Perfect.
Tom aged 10 says… I like that it’s all about the final year of primary school and the transition in to secondary school because that’s what I’m going through right now. It’s written like a diary entry with poems and I’ve never read a book like it before. The main character, Nate, is the eldest of three, and loads of really hard events happen to him, like when Dylan, his youngest brother, has a heart problem and goes unconscious for a while. Also, at the start of the year, he loses his best friend PS to Turner, the class bully, which is really quite difficult for Nate to swallow. Overall I’ve really enjoyed the book, so much so that I’ve given a copy to my teacher and he’s going to read it with the class.
Discover more brilliant books for Key Stage 2 children here…
The Invention of Hugo Cabret is a novel come picture book come graphic novel come historical fiction. It’s inspired by the films of early French cinema pioneer, Georges Méliès, and he (and some real aspects of his life story) features in the book.
After Hugo loses his father to a fire, he goes to live with his uncle at a train station, where his job is to keep all of the clocks at the station running to the correct time. The uncle goes missing and Hugo keeps the clocks running on his own by sneaking around the station, evading the attention of the station master so he doesn’t become homeless. The novel is the story of how Hugo restores an old machine that his father had previously worked on and discovers the secrets that it holds.
The Invention of Hugo Cabret is a beautifully illustrated book with the hundred of pictures helping to tell the story. It’s a really intriguing mystery with loads of twists and turns along the way and we really enjoyed making predictions about what was going to happen.
I’m not entirely sure if the invention the title refers to is the mechanical device that he salvages and mends, the magician he becomes or simply Hugo himself. I guess it could be all of them.
Tom aged 10 says… I really liked this book. I enjoyed the adventure side of it and the mystery of what was going to happen and everything that Hugo had to go through. I also liked that it was recounting things that happened in real life. My favourite part was when it all cam together and the automaton drew the picture and signed the name. My favourite character has to be Hugo because he’s a good engineer and he’s clever in what he decides to do.
Jo Simmons writes brilliant books with brilliant titles that entice the reader in. All have great humour with leading children who, although they go on fantastic adventures, are also realistically written.
The Dodo Made Me Do It – Jo Simmons
I’ve only recently discovered the books of Jo Simmons and I’m really enjoying them. I let the year 4/5 class I’m working with pick which one I read to them and they went for I Swapped My Brother on the Internet, which is hillarious. While my son picked The Dodo Made Me Do It.
TDMMDI is a charming book about a boy called Danny who spends his summer holiday in a small village on the west coast of Scotland with his Granny Flora. He is looking for adventure to liven up an otherwise tedious summer. Adventure comes along when he finds a dodo. Danny spends the next few weeks learning how to look after the dodo at the same time as trying to hide it from everybody else in the village. Much heatwarming hilarity ensues.
We have really enjoyed this story and very much look forward to reading more from Jo Simmons. Her characters and their capers really spark the imagination and draw the children in.
I Stole My Genius Sister’s Brain – Jo Simmons
One of the things Jo Simmons does particularly well is come up with names for her books. As ever, with a title like this, the children are keen to choose it and find out what happens. Another thing I like is that, even though I start to think I know where the story is going, it takes a whole different turn, and is far from predictable.
The things the children do in Jo’s books are always extraordinary, but the children themselves are always relatable and likeable. The siblings at the centre of the story have a great relationship. They disagree about things and fall out occasionally, but there is really warmth between them and they support each other to be better. The parents on the other hand are rubbish. Almost too much. But they just about redeem themselves in the end.
Keith may not succeed in stealing his sister’s brain, but he certainly improves his relationship with his family and makes them better people. This is a very funny book with some extremely likable characters, not least the wonderful Keith and his lovely grandad.
Tom, age 7, says: “It was exciting and very, very funny. I definitely can’t wait to read the next Jo Simmons book, I hope it’s good. My best bit was when Keith’s fans went into his garden and started chanting his name. I highly recommend this book.”
My Parents Cancelled My Birthday – Jo Simmons
My son and I were instantly hooked with this one because the opening chapter is: very funny; sets up an intriguing story; and leaves you really wanting to read on. It left me with the feeling that I had discovered a book I really wanted to tell people about, like the first time I read Mr Gum. I did then spend the next few days recommending the book to loads of people. I really liked the fact that it was funny and a little close to the bone (WARNING: do not read this book to a child who has recently lost a beloved pet, especially a dog).
It’s not the first Jo Simmons book we’ve read (see below for The Dodo Made Me Do It) and we’ve come back to her because I’ve really been enjoying her writing. Particularly that she doesn’t go for the lazy stereotypes that some celebrity children’s authors tend to favour. I enjoyed the relationship between the brother and sister in the book because it’s real. Yes they have their fall outs, but on the whole they really love and care for each other, like most actual siblings do.
The title is great and made me start to guess why the birthday had been cancelled. My assumptions were all wrongs and this book had many more layers to it than I had imagined. Brilliant for children aged 6-11.
I Lost My Granny in the Supermarket – Jo Simmons
Another humorous and intriguingly titled book by Jo Simmons. Her last few books have centred around four friends and this time it’s the turn of Harry to be the focus of the adventure. Harry desperately wants a puppy and his mum agrees that if he earns enough ‘puppy points’ by doing chores, his dream will come true.
In order to receive a large chunk of ‘puppy points’ to push him tantalisingly close to the required total he has to do one (not so) simple task – look after his Granny. The problem is that she doesn’t want to be looked after, or do any of the things she is meant to be doing.
To be honest, it’s all a bit daft for the most part. However, when Harry finally catches up with Granny and they have a heart-to-heart, the story becomes a lot warmer and sentimental.
Tom, age 8, says: “It’s a really funny book. Harry is trying to look after his Granny, but she keeps escaping from him. The funniest time is when she went to the theme park and Harry ended up as a chipmunk. The book would be good for children aged 6-11. All of the other characters from Jo Simmons’ books are in it too. I think Harry can go on all the rides at Fun Valley now that he works for them and he’s definitely tall enough.”
I have been struggling with the bit in the computing curriculum where it talks about ‘controlling physical systems’. I can see the importance of applying the coding skills we’ve be learning on Scratch and the like, to something with a more physical presence. Something tangible. But I don’t want to spend loads of money on something that will only be used occasionally and require a lot of staff training.
First we researched RaspberryPi as they do seem to have a vast range of applications across the curriculum.
It is a single-board computer the size of a credit card. You can get a starter kit for around £50 from Amazon, and this means a whole class set is certainly reasonable. For early computer science, RaspberryPi looks very good. But it all seems a bit complex for the majority of our ks2 pupils and I worry the staff would also require a lot of training and support. It is something I may well return to further down the programming line, as the children’s knowledge and expertise has developed and they need the next challenge.
They had a big, shiny stand at BETT so we had a look. It’s certainly a brand our children have heard of and connected with themselves. This would no doubt help with engagement. The two stumbling blocks as I see it are that it is bloomin’ complicated and can be expensive to get some of the better, more interesting kits. As with RaspberryPi, Lego Education is great for those children who have an interest or some talent in coding, but when it comes to whole class engagement I worry it might be ‘a bridge too far’ for some. Both would be great for a ‘Computing Club’ though.
It’s essentially a programmable ball. It’s controlled using a tablet via Bluetooth. We are lucky enough to have iPads in school and these do seem to have the better apps currently available to download. As there are so many apps available, differentiation is quite straight forward and it can be used in ks1 and ks2.
Potential Benefits…
It’s instantly engaging, with wide raging applications across the curriculum, particularly in Maths.
The ‘Tickle’ app offers coding in a familiar format to those familiar with Scratch.
Differentiation and progression is straight forward given the range of apps available.
It’s relatively cheap. Around £90 a go on Amazon. While the apps I’ve used so far are all FREE to download.
Potential Problems…
10-15 robots being controlled by Bluetooth could well lead to a drop off in connectivity and lead to confusion.
As apps like ‘Tickle’ are currently not available on android, you do need iPads to get the most our of Sphero.
This will not stretch our more able year 6 pupils when they become more proficient with coding over the next few years. This is when we might need to look at the other options previously discussed.
Our story so far…
I ordered one for school at the end of the Summer term and took it home to experiment with over the summer. I found it straight forward to use and when I shared it with children of friends and relatives aged between 5 and 15 I got very positive responses.
Learning journey.
Begin using the original Sphero app as a remote control to allow the children to see what is possible. Set challenges and get to grips with the controls.
Use the Drive ‘n’ Draw app to instruct the robot what you want it to do.
Use the Tickleapp to programme Sphero to follow paths, complete mazes, etc…
What next?
Order 10. I wanted 15. We compromised. When these arrive I will introduce them initially to Coding Club. This will allow us to iron out any teething troubles we may encounter and mean that many classes across the school will have pupil experts able to help out when they are used in lessons. We can also try out a range of the many apps available, to see which ones are best suited to our needs.
By January I will have trained the staff how to use them and hope to see them being used to across the curriculum. By the end of the year the whole school will have completed a module in controlling physical systems. I best get planning.
Wideo is a free on-line tool for making videos. You can use their templates or start from scratch to create your own animations. It is possible to upload backdrops and different objects to animate, enabling you to make your videos specific to your needs.
This term in ICT we have been learning how to use Wideo to make animated movies of firework displays as part of our ‘Firework Maker’s Daughter’ topic. A simple black background is used with a variety of firework we found on google images layered over the top.
Through teaching and exploring Wideo I began to see other possibilities for using it in school. We are currently rehearsing ‘Jack and the Beanstalk‘ as our Christmas production and so I had a go at creating the set using Wideo. It took a bit of playing with timings and it was important to keep the animation to a minimum, but it was brilliant to see the beanstalk grow while the action takes place on stage in front.
There are short tutorial videos available on the site and youtube as well as hints and tips to help you along the way. All this makes it very easy to use for my year 5 class and the results are slick and most pleasing.
Due to it’s ease of design and format Wideo can also be used for any number of lesson and staff meeting presentations, helping to engage and inspire.
The catch is that it is only free for Wideo animations that are 45 seconds or shorter. Perfect for our firework display but obviously this can be quite a limitation. We have also experienced problems using the site with the whole class as too much traffic can cause the site to freeze. This can be frustrating but is a good opportunity to teach the children about patience!
Naturally my first thought was, ‘what’s the catch?’ So I investigated further.
It turned out that MySchoolCD were offering to give away a class set of African percussion instruments if you sign them up to come and record an album at your school.
Encouraged, I booked the recording and it all went rather well. Later I moved schools and have just repeated the process of recording an album with my new school.
In this blog post I aim to share my experience and the benefits of recording a whole school CD.
So what’s in it for them?
Once the album is recorded, they sell it. Your school (or school charity) gets at least £1 for every CD sold and they get the rest. The price you can sell it for depends on the quantity you sell. Suggested selling price is £7.99. There are 3 different options you can sign up for, but on both occasions I went for the ‘Zero Risk’ option. Mainly because it meant I wasn’t tied down to selling any guaranteed quantities. Basically I’m not too comfortable with risking school funds and being left with CDs that I can’t shift. If you are willing to commit to more sales then you can get a better deal overall.
What’s in it for you?
Firstly we got a class set of African percussion instruments. Useful. Especially if your topic is Africa.
Secondly, you hold a whole school art competition to design the album cover. In our school this was judged by some member of the senior leadership team and we gave the winner a copy of the finished album as a prize.
Thirdly you get to meet a large part of the music curriculum while giving the children purpose for their work and a very memorable experience.
We practised in whole school assemblies and each year group had their own songs to sing. It gave the children a real reason to work hard at improving their singing as an ensemble and listening to each other as well as the music.
Recording
The day of the recording itself is pretty straight forward so long as you have rehearsed and communicated clearly with the rest of the team so they know what what is going on.
The engineer arrived by 10am and was set up within 20 minutes. We recorded most songs in 2 takes (so allow 15-20 minutes for each one). The engineer on both occasions really useful. He was keen to do a good job and was happy to record as many takes as was needed. I was really struck by the fantastic behaviour of the children. It was obvious they were completely engaged with the process from the moment they walked into the hall and saw the microphones set up. They sat straighter, listened more intently and sang better than I had heard before.
Overall I found working with MySchoolCD to be a positive experience and one the children will remember for a long time to come. While the percussion instruments were a welcome bonus, the main benefit was the sense of purpose it gave to our singing and music within the school. The children and staff all upped our game considerably because we had something to work towards that we can now listen back to and be extremely proud of.
