Trying to convince teenagers of the need to engage in a healthy lifestyle can on occasion seem a difficult task.

Which is why one PSHE teacher thought about turning the issue into a series of “Life Games” – all based around the curriculum requirements for the health and lifestyle topics in PSHE Key Stages 3 and 4.

These games enable you to inform and engage your students on topics which are notoriously sensitive including relationships, reproduction, substance misuse, sunshine and travel, mental health and depression.

Each game is a stand-alone activity which can be delivered to a range of groups. Most of the games are accompanied by separate student notes. Clear learning objectives, based on the national curriculum, together with session plans, are provided.

The games can be used in any order and are suited to the classroom, although they could be used in other contexts. They are intended for groups of about eight to forty participants and are generally appropriate for teenagers and young adults. Each activity should last about thirty minutes, although they can be adapted for longer sessions. There are also suggestions for extending the activity and “talking points”, useful as fillers.

Life Games is available as a photocopiable book or on CD Rom, and individual activities can thus be readily copied and distributed to students as required. The copies can also be shared with colleagues or given to supply teachers, without any fear of the original book being misplaced.

An extract from Life Games, ISBN 978 1 86083 718 0, order code T1730EMN
is available at http://www.pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/pshe/T1730.pdf

Prices

• Photocopiable report in a ring binder, £24.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• CD with school-wide rights: £24.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• Both the Ring Binder and the CD £31.94 plus £3.95 delivery
• Prices include VAT.

You can purchase the report…

• By post from First and Best, Hamilton House, Earlstrees Ct, Earlstrees Rd, Corby, NN17 4HH
• By fax to 01536 399 012
• On-line with a credit card at http://shop.firstandbest.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=40&products_id=558
• By phone with a school order number or a credit card to 01536 399 011

When ordering the book please quote the reference T1730EMN.

The most obvious answer to this question is that, for as long as most test and exam papers still require handwritten answers, good handwriting is always going to make an impact and help deliver extra marks.

But there is more. For there is also the issue of the relationship between the brain and handwriting.

Handwriting requires a greater level of hand/eye co-ordination than typing on a keyboard, and thus, as well as helping with exam scores, good handwriting gives pupils the chance to develop their essential fine motor skills.

Unfortunately, there is no doubt that many young people today are brought up in homes where handwriting is limited to little more than the production of shopping lists – and indeed many people are now even typing these into their mobile phones.

It is for all of these reasons that MSL produced the Handwriting Rescue Scheme for fully cursive handwriting.

The scheme, which is available as a photocopiable program supplied on CD or as printed sheets, contains over 300 structured exercises designed to establish complete cursive letter formation.

And there is a particular bonus here, for tests have shown that the use of such material encourages the development of an automatic response to frequently used spelling choices. In other words, by practising their handwriting pupils also learn their spellings.

You can order The Handwriting Rescue Scheme in any of these ways:

• On our website
• By phone on 01604 505000
• By fax to 01604 505001
• By email to info@msl-online.net
• By post to Multi-Sensory Learning, Highgate House, Creaton, Northants, NN6 8NN