Discovery Education Espresso: Used in every class, every day Many schools in Scotland use Discovery Education Espresso to enhance lessons. Dynamic digital content, closely mapped to the Curriculum for Excellence, brings learning to life and supports pupils with additional learning needs. Teachers at Balmedie Primary in Aberdeenshire share why Espresso is such an asset to their school. TECHNOLOGY TO ACCESS LEARNING Headteacher Ken McGowan explains how the school came to Espresso. “We’ve invested heavily in technology over the last few years. We have a number of pupils in the school with additional support needs and we find technology really helps them to access the curriculum and enhances their learning. We use technology across the board in our lessons.” Nursery teacher Jenny Chalmers says Espresso has helped one of her young pupils to learn to read. “I have a little boy who has some learning difficulties. He finds literacy very difficult. We’ve been using an Espresso activity which asks the children to find different letters on the keyboard. It has really helped him pick up the names of letters and by watching other children do this he has really grasped it. It’s absolutely fantastic” BOOSTING SKILLS IN CORE SUBJECTS Harnessing technology to help children grasp difficult ideas is a key benefit of Espresso. At Balmedie Primary School teachers use Espresso’s animated videos to embed learning in core subject areas. Digital games and fun stories help children get to grips with concepts in maths and English. Primary 7 teacher Charlotte Glennie explains: “At the moment we are studying fractions, decimals and percentages which is quite a hard concept for children to understand. The videos help them to get their heads around it.” Charlotte’s pupils particularly enjoy the online games. Here’s what they have to say: “I like the games – especially the dart game in maths, which is really good.” “I like the funny video stories in grammar and punctuation.” Discovery Education is committed to giving educators innovative ways to design and deliver engaging learning experiences for all pupils. See the platform in action » VIDEO TO BRING LEARNING TO LIFE The vast Espresso video library has content relevant to every stage of primary school. Charlotte Glennie finds that the clips engage and inspire her pupils, helping the school to deliver a broad and balanced curriculum and bringing the outside world into the classroom. “I really enjoy using the Espresso videos. There are lots of videos for every curricular area. Before we used Espresso, I found it really difficult to find good quality clips that would help the children’s learning and develop their thinking and understanding.” Charlotte feels that the Espresso clips help her pupils to make real world connections with the topics they are studying. “I think it makes it more real for them. Particularly when we studied World War 2 as a topic. They could watch the different videos in the Second World War Resource Box. They could actually see what it was like and it made it made it more real to them – more than just looking at pictures. They see a lot of pictures. Watching a video makes it real.” Save time planning, deliver exciting lessons and open doorways to learning for all pupils. Find out moreAlready a subscriber? Login here.