Children often know more about science that we think; sometimes they just donʼt have the skills to write down their ideas. I wrote this book because I have a strong belief that all children, whatever their literacy levels, should be given the opportunity to share what they know about science. Over the years, Iʼve developed a range of alternative recording methods that allow children to express their knowledge and learning. These have been tried and tested in the classroom. This book outlines these methods, gently guiding the reader through each one. I cover what each recording method looks like, the reason behind using it, some ideas on how to incorporate it into a lesson and how to use it to assess children. My hope is that this book will show teachers that there are ways to record and assess science that are fun and creative and that generate enthusiasm in the classroom. Most importantly - they donʼt involve an exercise book. By using these methods youʼll find that children, particularly those who lack the ability to get things down on paper, will demonstrate an amazing science understanding. They just needed to be given the chance to express it their way! This book was written for primary Teachers but the ideas can be used in secondary schools as well.

The ’Treasure box of feelings’ is one of the resources from our Well-Being and Mindfulness programme that we’d like to share with you. This activity encourages the children to think about their feelings, what causes them and how they affect their behaviour. When completed the each child will have their own box of feelings that they can pick positive affirmations from whenever they feel the need.

A fun-filled game pack containing a set of 40 cards jam packed full of fascinating scientists and their often wacky inventions! Each set of cards has a 'family' of inventions that are all connected in some way, e.g. the Microbiology family. The children's job is to collect a set and then find out who created them and how they are connected. This pack can be used by all age groups and is an original way to start a lesson, or focus in on a scientist whilst having fun!

If you want to see what Education Guru's progression & Assessment Tracker for knowledge looks like before you buy it, then this free resource should give you a taster. Have a go at filling in some of your children's data to see how the grid number crunches the data. It also shows you how the NC objectives for Science fit into the statutory Teacher Assessments for Science which are in bold at the start of each grid. This makes it easy for the Year 2 and Year 6 teachers report on each child's progress. This assessment tool also allows you to identify which objectives need more work through the columns at the bottom of each table, as it reports on how many children have achieved the objective and how many need some more input. As the grid passes up with the cohort it allows the next teacher to identify which areas need more work and allows them to identify where an individual may need more support. The example shows just one biology teacher assessment for Key stage 2 . The full resource for Knowledge is spilt into Key stage 1 or Key stage 2 pack or they can be bought as a bundle. There is also a tracking system for the Working Scientifically Teacher Assessments which follows the same format. When you purchase the Tracking systems the full instructions are included.