Children’s education (teaching, revision and exams) over the last 2 years or so has taken a big hit. Lots of face-to face teaching has been missed, leaving children playing catch-up. Whilst there has been lots of online learning, it just isn’t the same as being taught by teachers in a classroom. Schools are trying to get lessons and teaching back to some normality now and trying to find ways to help the children catch up and get them to where they need to be at this stage of their educational career, but it is not just a problem for schools to solve. Parents and carers need to do their bit at home and get involved where they can, especially as having an extra 30 minutes added on to the school day has been widely rejected by parents in the UK, favouring more after school activities that will also help with social skills (which have also taken a big knock with being isolated and school bubbles).
We are very big on education in our house and love finding new ways to help the children with not just their homework but in learning new things and supporting and understanding what they have already learnt. There is so much out there to help with various subjects.
For those parents are carers are worried that due to interruptions in their children’s education over the past two years and are looking for ways to support what they are learning at school without piling on lots of added pressure, Oaka Revision Packs are great – we have been using them for Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3 and they are fun and easy way to support not only what they are learning at school but helping to reinforce and understand better what they have already learnt.
Oaka Revision Packs are topic packs designed to help all pupils, including dyslexic and SEN pupils, making curriculum-based topics accessible for them, even if their reading or comprehension skills are weak. They are perfect for visual learners and children that want a more engaging and interesting way to boost their knowledge. Suitable from Key Stage 1 (ages 5-7) through to Key Stage 4 (GCSE) they use three simple techniques (Read, Engage and Learn) to promote learning, increase the long term memory recall needed for exams and presenting the information in a clear, engaging and easy to understand format, making it fun and enjoyable whilst helping children retain knowledge.
- READ – The first step is to read the topic booklet in a pack. Fully illustrated, with short and concise bullet points makes the points clear and easy to follow.
- ENGAGE – The Active Learning Game/Map is a fun and engaging way for your child to learn and remember facts or key historical events. Includes Q&A Flashcards or Character Cards.
- LEARN – In the Write Your Own Notes Booklet, your child will be prompted for answers that they will have learnt from the topic booklet and Active Learning Map/Game.
Using Oaka packs, pupils will understand and remember topics more quickly, giving them valuable time for catching up on life in general, whilst keeping up academically.
There is a wide selection of packs available covering History, Geography, Sciences (Biology, Chemistry and Physics), Maths and Languages (French). Oaka Books Topic Packs are active learning packs for all pupils, irrespective of reading ability. They cost £7.97 per pack, including booklet, workbook and active-learning game. Suitable for KS1, KS2, KS3/CE, KS4/GCSE they have been produced following guidelines from the British Dyslexia Association. We tried out a selection of five of their topic packs, covering different subjects and topics and for KS2 and KS3, and also a revision tips guide. The packs we tried were:
- [MATHS] Fractions (Part 1): The Basics & How to Simplify Fractions, suitable for KS2 onwards
- [MATHS] Fractions (Part 2): Adding, Subtracting, Multiplying and Dividing Fractions, suitable for KS2 onwards
- [HISTORY] Henry VIII, His Wives & The King’s Great Matter, suitable for KS3 and CE (Common Entrance)
- [HISTORY] Elizabeth I & The Elizabethan Settlement, suitable for KS3 and CE (Common Entrance)
- [SCIENCE] Physics: Forces, suitable for KS3 and CE (Common Entrance)
The topic packs are full of useful information based on the school curriculum with examples and activities to complete, all presented in a visual way (illustrations, larger print, character cards etc.) – the history packs with push out character cards and plastic card holders that could be placed on maps and relevant places is an excellent way of actually getting the kids involved, engaged and actually helping them retain the information that they were learning.
We have been using these topic packs for a couple of weeks now and they have gone down great with not just the children but the adults as well. They are all laid out extremely well including glossaries of keywords and terms, memory maps, and other tools to aid memory, illustrated in full colour without too much text filling a page and not too many pages to overwhelm the child studying. The way the information is visually presented (larger print, full colour and excellent illustrations) really does help the children with learning and actually understanding the topics (the fractions books worked very well for this as seeing how fractions worked and what they were doing in the examples gave the kids a much better understanding of how they worked and were able to grasp the concept much quicker and easier).
All the packs we used followed the same READ, ENGAGE and LEARN format, first you READ the topic revision guide, ENGAGE and actively learn or revise using the map or game that comes with the packs and then use the revision booklet to show what you have LEARNT and that you understand the topic. Because they are using different ways of getting the information across, these revision packs cater for the different ways that children will learn and help them retain the information – there is no one way that children will learn, and these packs recognise that and present different options.
For any of the activities that the children complete, there are answers in the back of the books for parents to check.
Overall, we think these packs are fantastic. They are simple to use, laid out extremely well and not overwhelming. The children actually enjoy using them and have even asked to use them. The fractions topic packs have really helped both children actually SEE and UNDERSTAND how fractions work and are helping make the subjects much less daunting.
The Oaka Revision Packs are very engaging and make learning fun and are doing an excellent job of not only helping to understand and learn new information but to actually retain it. The revision tips guide is an excellent way to teach children HOW to revise, manage revision times and breaks etc.
If you are looking for ways to give your children that bit of extra help with their education, whether as a way to help catch up, support what they are learning in school, supplement their knowledge or just to get them more prepared for their exams then we think that the Oaka Revision Packs are an excellent way to help.
Rating: 5/5
Price: £7.97 each
Each Topic Pack contains:
1x Topic Booklet
1x Write Your Own Notes Booklet.
1x Active Learning Map or Active Learning Game.
1x set of Pop Out Characters or Question and Answer Flashcards.
For more information or to buy, visit www.oakabooks.co.uk.
