We are delighted you are considering investing in Oaka topic packs to help your child at home. All our topic packs have been written by subject teachers and SEN specialists and are designed to provide you with easy-to-use resources that are linked to the UK curriculum. Our resources are bing used by over 5000 families. You can read some of our users comments here.
Oaka topic packs help children learn, process and remember information using three different learning techniques – reading, writing and active recall of information. Our games are a fabulous way to include ‘stealth learning’ at home in a fun format.
It is this repetition of the same information in different formats that make the packs and games so effective.
We suggest the topic packs are used in the following way:
Read the Topic Booklet
The booklets give key facts laid out in a clear, easy to follow format. Each point is supported with an illustration, helping those with weaker comprehension and processing skills.
Benefit: Many less competent children will be able to work independently but still complete the task with a good degree of understanding. The images really do aid understanding and help link ideas and concepts in a visual way as they are consistent throughout the book, workbook and games.
Write Your Own Notes
The workbook that comes with each topic pack requires children to go back over the information they have read in the topic booklet to complete the workbook. This can be done either from memory, using the word bank to help, or even by referring to the topic booklet.
The pages are the same as the topic booklet with the same images to give pupils a visual prompt and help embed information connected to an image.
The whole point is that the stress caused by a blank sheet of paper is removed and children are enthused by their ability to actually ‘do it’.
Benefit: Your child will (often) be able to work independently and they can gain confidence by being able to complete the task.
Active Learning Games and Maps
History topic packs generally contain an Active Learning Map with character cards.
Other packs contain an Active Learning Game with Q&A cards.
Your child can use the active learning maps to re-enact historical events, working individually or with you/siblings/friends/family to retell the story, each taking a different role. They can add accents, rhymes to help them really engage with the events and aid memory recall.
Q&A cards in our science, geography and French packs are a great way to test their knowledge in a fun, stress-free way. These games also give you the tools to help them practise spaced information retrieval which is so vital for moving information from their short term to their long-term memory.
Benefit: Active Learning Games can be used to help both you (and them) understand how much they have remembered of each topic and to practise ongoing information retrieval. Grab a set of question cards and spend 5 minutes going through them – you will be amazed how much they are remembering!