Spring has now sprung in Victoria, the days are getting warmer and longer and my little learner and I are spending more time outside exploring. We did have some time to look at the second lot of resources that I received from Origo Education though and today I am reviewing the Poster Book set. This review is about the Australia resources, for more details on the US resources, please click here.
Above are the new Maths resources recently released by Origo Education for Early Learners. To read my other reviews on these resources, please click on the links below.
Origo Early Learning Big Books
Origo Big Poster Books
Origo Big Cubes and Cards
Review 2 – Origo Early Learning Poster Books
I was intrigued by the Poster Books from the moment I opened the box. The 12 Poster Books arrived in a study, practical box, perfect for long term storage. The Poster Books had a black and white cover, I really had no idea what to expect so started to pull the cover out of the box. What unfolded was a 4 frame, bright and colourful Poster Book about colour!
The Poster Books are made from sturdy card making them perfect for whole class reading. With the right care, these resources could stay looking new for years to come. 11 of the Poster Books are A3 size and Poster Book 11 is A4. To quote Origo Education “The unique design allows educators to share each story as a book, then expand the pages to display it as an eye-catching poster.” Hence the name Poster Book.
Each Poster Book is a short story that teaches a maths concept and can act as a stimulus to learning or a whole lesson. Like the Big Books, there are tunes to accompany the Posters Books on the Slate Online Platform. The books are very engaging and children will love the intrigued as it unfolds to tell the story. I can imagine inviting children to come hold a section of the poster book as we read and discuss. Even though there are lesson plans to accompany each book online, as simply a stimulus to promote discussion, these books would be fantastic.
Each Poster Book has bright, colourful and simple pictures that promote discussion about the topic. There is clear text for those little learners who can follow along.
Like the Big Books, the Poster Books link to the Australian Early Years Framework and have a solid base in developing verbal skills, listening skills, developing maths terminology and working collaboratively. All three resources (the Big Books, Poster Books and Big Cubes) can work independently of each other, or can be used simultaneously to teach a topic. Although they are designed for Early Learners, I can see them being beneficial in Primary Schools for children who come to school require additional consolidation of basic concepts.
Topics covered
Poster Book 1 (4 frames) – Colour
Poster Book 2 (6 frames) – Size
Poster Book 3 (6 frames) – Counting 1 to 5
Poster Book 4 (6 frames) – Movement and Direction
Poster Book 5 (8 frames) – Data
Poster Book 6 (6 frames) – Counting 1 to 10
Poster Book 7 (6 frames) – Capacity
Poster Book 8 (8 frames) – 2D Shape
Poster Book 9 (8 frames) – Ordering numbers 1 to 10
Poster Book 10 (4 frames) – Time
Poster Book 11 (10 frames) – Counting back from 10
Poster Book 12 (8 frames) – Adding to and taking away
On initial glace, it may appear that some of the topics are a little difficult for Early Learners, however, the stories themselves are simple, with no technical words included, and are simply used to introduce children to that topic.
Slate Online Platform & Tunes
Slate, the Origo Education online platform, is free (for 12 months) to organisations who purchase the set of Poster Books and can be accessed through the Origo Education website. All information is sent to the main contact when a purchase is made. Slate is very easy to navigate and use, with everything organised by title and clearly displayed. One little thing that appealed to me was that when I log out, when I log back in again, it automatically loads the last page I was on, perfect for teachers who like to get organised for online activities ahead of time.
When I logged into Slate, I selected “Big Poster Books for Early Learning” and had access to teacher notes, lesson plans and tune to go along with the book I had selected. There are between 1 to 4 activities for each Poster Book. Activities covered in the lesson plans are a little more basic than the Big Books and would be absolutely perfect for Pre-schools.
Like the Big Books, I am thankful that I am able to print the lesson plans out for each Poster Book. Simply store both resources together or other teachers to use.
To accompany each Poster Book is a tune, easily located with the lesson plans on Slate. Each tune was fun, upbeat and engaging and the words were the same in the Poster Book to in the song. As a teacher who is always forgetting the words to songs, I love that I can read along as the children sing and dance. I can see children loving these songs and wanting to sing and dance to them daily. They are obviously great at teaching the concept too!
Like the Big Books, I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to review these amazing new resources of you. The Poster Books are only available as a set and at $249 they are a big investment for your school, but a purposeful and engaging one. If you are interested in finding out more information about these Poster Books, please head to the Origo Education website.
Thanks again for reading along. Please ask any questions about these books in the comment section or via Facebook. My final blog post will be about the Origo Education Big Cubes and Cards box.
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