A little bit about 2 Stars

Welcome to 2 Stars and a Wish.

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My name is Matthew Murray and I'm a teacher from Barnsley in the UK. I'm currently off galavanting teaching at an international school in Russia, but I used to teach Year 6 in sunny Manchester.

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2 Stars is a website that aims to help teachers use songs and poetry to help children improve their reading skills.

 

The activities on this website are aimed primarily at upper KS2 but I'm sure that they could be adapted to suit a lower KS2 class. 

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I really believe that songs are a great way to to get children excited about literacy. They can introduce children to new words and phrases that can help them understand texts better and hopefully improve their writing too.

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Songs also encourage children to think of literacy as being more than just books. Children should understand how language is used to convey meaning in every medium, be it poetry, fiction texts, play scripts or songs.

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If you would like to hear a little about how you can make your own song-based activities click here for a link to a blog post written for the Copyright Licensing Agency. 

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If you have any comments or requests for songs please head to the contact section by clicking here.

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Please do follow 2 Stars and a Wish on Facebook and Twitter.

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In my spare time, I also write articles for various educational magazines and websites on different topics. If you would like to check them out the links are below. And, if you would like to discuss me writing any articles please contact me on matthewthomasmurray26@gmail.com

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Articles

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1. Technological Advances are Making Many Things we Teach Redundant

2. Using Virtual Reality in Schools

3. Teaching Circular Economics

4. Ofsted's Deep Dive Policy is Putting Younger Teachers in the Firing Line

5. Using Characterisation in KS2

6. Using Song Lyrics to Teach Reading

7. TES: The Case Against Increasing Class Sizes

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