FOCUS ON LEARNING Voice Magazines recently had the pleasure of chatting to Sandra Smith, a secondary school maths teacher of 29 years standing. Sandra, who hails originally from Nottingham, has created a series of exercise books aimed primarily at 11 to 16 year olds but also suitable for a younger age range. We asked her what had inspired her and how these books could help children succeed both at school and in life. Talking to Sandra it is crystal clear that she is absolutely passionate about teaching and helping children to learn and grow…this is her WHY, her driving purpose and is what led to the creation of the books. The original idea of blank books with a contents page at the front, came to her back in November 2015 after she had asked the class she was teaching to locate a particular piece of work and saw how difficult that was for the children. Sandra jotted down that germ of an idea in a notebook, but it was November 2019 before she began to think about it again, and this time she realised that adding simple motivational quotes to each page would make the concept even stronger. In her own words, “it only takes one word or key phrase to inspire a child and sow the seeds for them to take charge of their own learning.” Focus Learn Book Company was born out of Sandra’s desire to get the exercise books published, printed and out to the people who need them children. So what exactly are these exercise books, and how can they help children towards success?
with your children at home could help them to stay on track, as Sandra’s experience has shown that children respond in an overwhelmingly positive way to the design, layout, and motivational quotes, and actually enjoy using the books which helps the learning process. Currently available in Maths, Science and English, there are plans afoot to increase the range and Sandra’s dream is that one day every child will have access to the books, and they will be readily accessible in our high street bookshops.
COMPETITION TIME WIN a set of Focus on Better Learning exercise books (Maths, English & Science)
They are very different to the traditional plain exercise books children currently use to write up their work, being A4 in size with striking covers, a contents page to enable the pupils (and teachers) to keep track of their work, and lined pages to assist with handwriting. The pages feature inspirational and motivational quotes such as, “Simple little daily habits create big success.” and “It’s OK to make mistakes, you can learn from them.” Sandra has used the books within her own teaching and says they make the children want to learn.
To enter simply email the answer to the following question to info@voicemagazines.co.uk with the title ‘Focus Comp’, including your name and telephone number.
As we are all too aware, children have missed a lot of classroom time over the past year or so due to COVID-19, and many schools will probably be providing children with ‘catch up work’ to do over the summer holidays. Using these exercise books
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What subject does Sandra Smith teach?
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These articles are researched and written by Laura Billingham, a local content writer and author.
Laura moved to the Peak DistrictTeam several years ago to pursue passion for writing. To advertise please call the Voice on 01773 549her 035 To find out more visit www.landgassociates.co.uk or contact Laura on 07736 351 341
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