Inspired by Sir Isaac Newton

“Truth is ever to be found in the simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things.” 

― Isaac Newton

“You have to make the rules, not follow them” 

― Isaac Newton

I was watching a television program last night called 'Science Britannica', which is hosted by Professor Brian Cox. The series introduces British science heroes from the last 350 years and this episode was about Sir Iaaac Newton. Something stuck me when Brian Cox talked about Newton's methods; how he observed aspects of the world, came up with theories to explain them and then tested them with experiments. Newton was incredibly curious, as all scientists are, and he was fascinated with the workings of nature. He believed nature could be best understood by observation and experiment. Cox concluded that 'science is about simplifying the complex world around us, creating controllable and repeatable experiments to test hypotheses and then transferring understanding to the complex world outside the laboratory.'

It got me thinking about what I'm doing with Sam and I realised that I am taking a very similar approach. I'm observing the workings of Sam, developing theories about how he learns, and experimenting with strategies to test my theories. Not all my experiments work and not every theory is proven correct, but a good many of them are and that is really exciting. Sam's learning difficulties are complex, but Sam needs simple solutions that will help him learn. Hopefully in time, by working together, Sam and I can create enough simple, but effective strategies that will enable him to achieve his learning potential, cope emotionally and help his teacher when he returns to the classroom. 

Today both Sam and I were not 100%, so I tailored our lessons and when he ran out of steam we called it quits. 

Hanging out in the park this morning. We were sat on the swings singing songs and chatting about stuff. It was fantastic for me when he spoke about things we had been learning over the last few weeks. He could tell me what day it was today. Then I asked him what day it was yesterday and tomorrow and he got it right. He saw some ants on the ground and I asked him where they live...he said 'tunnels' and the birds live in 'nests'.

Today I wanted to assess how many letters of the alphabet he actually knew by sight. I said a letter (out of order) and asked him to show me where it was? When he got it, we used my 'magic' pen (a bingo pen)  to check it off. There were a few he was not able to get without help and I marked them with an *. They were - E, F, G and Y.

Then we cut out some small pictures for the next activity. Some pretty nifty cutting there Sam.

Sam's hands get tired and sore very easily, so I made him stop regularly, stretch his hands and give them a good shake.

This activity followed on from the letter recognition test. We talked about the sounds each letter makes. So, I would say "A says..." and he had to find the picture to match it, in this case it was an ant. Then he had to glue the picture of the ant next to the A.

We then read all the letters again, made their sound and said what the picture was, E.g. A says /ah/ for ant.

Great job Sam. He got a stamp and chose a sticker.

We finished our first home session with an activity about short 'a'. Just like with the long 'a' activity, I asked Sam what the pictures were and then we repeated it and I pointed at the word. The ones with a tick he was able to get on his own.

Then we played a matching game with the short 'a' word and picture cards I had made. Sam's deep in thought here.

We read the short 'a' story book. Just like the long 'a' activity, I had used words from this book when I made the activity sheet.

When it came to starting our second home session, Sam was really tired and rather grumpy. It was just not going to happen. So I let him play with a fun learning game on the computer, which he enjoyed. Then we called it a day.