In a unique collaboration, educational publisher Ransom has teamed up with Portsmouth FC and ChildLine to launch Goal! – a series of 48 football-themed books especially written for high interest age, low reading age students., now availiabe from Keen2learn.
The series desinged for priamry schools children who are reluctant or struggling with reading which launched at […]

In the space of 10 years the world as we know it can change dramatically. The schooling content seen as essential at the start of a decade can be almost irrelevant at the end. So are we programming the right curriculum for our children as they start their 10 year schooling journey and making the […]

Back to school! A fearsome thought for teachers, children and parents. The start of a new academic year, new class, new school, new teaching resources. Welcome back, the educational games have just started.
If you’ve been anywhere near the shops over the summer you couldn’t fail to notice the constant “back to school” promotions. They seem […]

The flood of joy, tears and recrimination has emerged with the GCSE level results. This annual trauma generates a philosophical dilemma as we seem to fail to learn from previous results.
Targets and points appear as the driving force. Concern  that too many easy subjects are pursued to gain points that universities discount; that languages are […]

The assiduous onset of global warming, reducing oil stocks conspire to threaten the world that will ultimately pass to future generations to resolve. Our school children need teaching resources to be groomed on the significance of alternative energy sources, and receive our apologies for getting it so wrong.
The International Energy Agency projects that the world’s […]

August is a crazy month. The outcome of years of blood sweat and tears of schooling are revealed in the exam results that tumble through the letter box. But it’s not just the kids that are on the receiving end, teachers, schools and the entire educational system are judged by the verdict.
Our teaching resources, education […]

Over the past 15 years, we have raised the question, “Why do you use educational games?” to our clients and workshop participants. From their feedback we have constructed a list of the ten very best reasons for using learning games. We hope these 10 descriptions will remind and stimulate you to consider learning games as […]

The SAT’s are out along with the knives. If you listen to teachers, as I do, you hear frustration, concern and despair. These are the voices of the professionals at the sharp end dealing with systems and procedures that don’t have their full support. The teach to test syndrome is leaving children beached as they […]

The cry of anguish from a Mother. “My daughter hates homework and it’s a struggle every week to get her to do it. I work 4 nights a week so I am limited to how much I can help in the evening. My husband has to be forced  to help her when I am at […]

There is an army of five million adults in the UK that can’t read or write properly and of critical concern is this alarming number is growing. Children continue to finish their primary or secondary education unable to read or write.
The new TV documentary highlights the dilemma. Accepting the inevitable slant TV puts on many […]

The parent homework help dilemma; do you intervene with too much help or just make sure they do it?  What sort of help is best for the children and the school?  Why the worst option is to do nothing and how fun homework can using maths games and other  educational games can come […]

A growing concern voiced by many teachers is the level of disruption occurring in the average class. Ranging from the severe to a simple case of horseplay at the start of the lesson it has a dramatic effect in draining the teaching resources  as well as impacting on the development of children in the class […]

‘Research has shown that the effect of parents and what they do at home to support learning can account for 80% of a child’s academic success. This compares to school being directly responsible for around 20% of factors leading to academic achievement’. ( PTA magazine Summer 07)
The learning triangle is carefully balanced with three equal […]

The UK government is championing what teachers have always said –children learn more and have greater fun in learning when they are taken outside the classroom and allowed to explore the practical application of the theory. It gives relevance to the text book and entices children to seek solutions.
The learning time in a classroom is […]

School days are becoming a daily grind.  The curriculum and performance targets conspire to narrow the scope of our children’s learning in preference of techniques that lead to better results. Whilst the measure of success is all that is subsequently recognised there is a downside. Bernice McCabe, head of North London collegiate school, said recently […]

Dads are abandoning the essential task of reading to their children. Seven steps to overcome the fear of most Dads in a simple guide to encourage them to read bedtime stories to their children and turn story reading into an educational game. Recognised as a key ingredient to a child’s reading development this enjoyable task […]

Paddington bear popped home yesterday, not to Peru but keen2learn.  Bet you thought he was born in Peru and resides in Paddington.  Well he does, but the bedrooms at Home Farm in Burghwallis, now the base for keen to learn, echo to bedtime stories read many years ago by Shirley and Eddie Clarkson.  […]

The Ice Journey book is an interesting blend of fact and fiction, which could be used effectively in several different ways. One of the stated aims for the author is to encourage and enable grandparents to participate in their grandchildren’s education. Many grandparents have an active part in caring for grandchildren today and this book […]

My daughter is 9 and has been home educated from the age of 4. Throughout this time, I have tried to make learning fun. I not only think that this is best way to learn but also makes learning memorable. We all remember the things we enjoyed doing. Consequently I have always looked […]

Fractions, Decimals and Percentages Are Just Coded Maths Games
I always found math to be a difficult subject to learn at school.  I put most of my failing down to the fact I sat too close to an old fashioned pot-bellied stove.  This provided a great source of warmth but also destroyed my concentration. At […]

They say education is a lifelong journey. Difficult to comprehend when you are at school slogging through lessons and exams but learning can be greater fun when turned into an educational game. Take a practical application and apply as many subjects that have been learned in the classroom.
This morning I took a shower, a frequent […]

The English language being an amalgam of many other languages is possibly the most adaptive in the world. With complex and changing content the tricks you can play with English has made it one of the best games in education. But although  the constantly changing  “rules” refreshes the fun it can trip the unwary and […]

The English language, an amalgam of an incredible number of other languages, is by its nature highly adaptable. You can play some great English games with word structure format and spelling. One such example that is a fun educational game is to analyse where a word came from, and then write a sentence or paragraph […]

Learning to read; the essential foundation of all learning doesn’t come easy to all of us. But the onset of broadband technology has provided a fantastic new reading support opportunity that helps children to learn to read. MightyBook stories, in the classroom and bedtime stories at home take on a wonderful extra dimension.
When I was […]

The idea behind Storyteller is simple, with the emphasis on oracy and imagination. Sets of pictures help you tell a story, with the computer recording all you say. True, the more ICT literate could have done this before, but not with so little effort and so instant a result.
A quick-start guide, manual and on-screen tutorials […]

Does anyone else have a dread of the recent announcement that parents will be able to call in the Ofsted team into a school?
Considerations;

Have we slumped to the point that parents have to act as the police force when Ofsted are surely charged as the invigilator?
Have Ofsted lost their “bottle”, concerned at the frequent condemnation […]

Keen2learn has just signed an exclusive arrangement to market MightyBook in the UK. MightyBook’s award winning animated electronic books help schools and parents show their kids how much fun learning to read can be. Internet technology has been used to create on-line animated musical sing and read-along children’s books complete with voices and […]

Traditional parents’ evenings are becoming less popular and schools should consider other ways to communicate with families, the schools secretary, Ed Balls, said today, 7th May 2008
Speaking at an event today on the government’s Parent Know How programme, which aims to develop new and innovative ways of helping parents access information and support, Balls said […]

The vital role of dads in bedtime reading is under threat, new research by the National Year of Reading reveals less than half of dads (42 per cent) say they regularly read bedtime stories to their children, while mums are twice as likely (76 per cent) to do so, despite bedtime reading being one of […]

The role of a modern teacher is not easy. The objective to impart knowledge, instil a learning ability, an interest in learning and ultimately groom their students towards examination success posses many challenges in modern schooling. The expectations of parents, educational authorities, the schools inspectorate and changes in society are a growing challenge to the […]