Mary Mckelvey went to teacher training college in Leeds and in 1972 began her teaching career in
Yorkshire.
Following this she returned to her native Cumbria and taught in local primary schools gaining experience across the whole age range.
She particularly enjoyed her years as an infant teacher but then moved on to learning support work which came to be her main interest and reward.
During her time as a learning support teacher she became a member of the local SENS (Special Educational Needs Service) team. Here she gained valuable knowledge and expertise through access to a wide range of learning support materials, interchange of ideas with fellow team members, and instruction and guidance from learning support professionals.
Whilst involved in her learning support work in school she concentrated mainly on developing literacy skills in the children she was supporting. A period as an adult literacy organiser in a further education centre added another dimension to her literacy work.
Her literacy work with the children in her care was approved by visiting education psychologists and by an OFSTED inspection where she was described as ‘enthusiastic, effective and efficient’.
The spelling area of her literacy work intrigued her the most and she began to develop and refine the material that appears in the Spelling Magic book. She found by targeting specific words which children constantly misspelled and finding a sure-fire and fun way to learn the accurate spelling of these words that the children’s spelling confidence greatly improved.
In Spelling Magic the ideas and strategies used to increase children’s spelling confidence are presented for a home learning situation. Spelling Magic is Mary’s first published work.
Following this she returned to her native Cumbria and taught in local primary schools gaining experience across the whole age range.
She particularly enjoyed her years as an infant teacher but then moved on to learning support work which came to be her main interest and reward.
During her time as a learning support teacher she became a member of the local SENS (Special Educational Needs Service) team. Here she gained valuable knowledge and expertise through access to a wide range of learning support materials, interchange of ideas with fellow team members, and instruction and guidance from learning support professionals.
Whilst involved in her learning support work in school she concentrated mainly on developing literacy skills in the children she was supporting. A period as an adult literacy organiser in a further education centre added another dimension to her literacy work.
Her literacy work with the children in her care was approved by visiting education psychologists and by an OFSTED inspection where she was described as ‘enthusiastic, effective and efficient’.
The spelling area of her literacy work intrigued her the most and she began to develop and refine the material that appears in the Spelling Magic book. She found by targeting specific words which children constantly misspelled and finding a sure-fire and fun way to learn the accurate spelling of these words that the children’s spelling confidence greatly improved.
In Spelling Magic the ideas and strategies used to increase children’s spelling confidence are presented for a home learning situation. Spelling Magic is Mary’s first published work.
The imaginative work of Daniel Rodgers... Magical lands full of adventure, clumsy giants, and
naughty rabbits who perform incredible tricks: the characters and the places they inhabit in
illustrator Daniel Rodgers’ world haven’t changed since he was a boy growing up in Sunderland.
Born in Cambridge in 1979, Daniel is the oldest of three siblings. Frequent trips to some of the world’s greatest art galleries coupled with an insatiable curiosity for the world around him led Daniel to first pick up a pencil. It was a while until he did anything besides chewing it then at some point he started drawing anything and everything he could find. He was particularly fond of sketching his pets.
One of his first hand-made books was a series of incredible designs for machines and costumes for his toy soldiers; a visionary from a very young age. His art would not stay chained to his free time and soon his teachers found his school essays and projects full of beautiful drawings.
In 1995, after seeing the illustration work of Tim Hildebrandt, Daniel set his heart on becoming an illustrator. His eyes were now opened to the huge scope to which he could apply his art. He began creating illustrations based upon stories he read. He produced some curious illustrations of Greek myths as well as his own comic book.
After graduating sixth form Daniel went on to achieve both a 1st class BA (hons) and MA with distinction in Illustration and Design at the University of Sunderland. During this period Daniel received some valuable mentoring from his lecturers as well as taking the opportunity to refine his craft and immerse himself in the wealth of art literature available to him. It was here he first came upon the work of some of his favourite and most inspirational illustrators like Norman Rockwell and Arthur Rackham. Their narrative and slightly quirky style of illustration rubbed off on Daniel.
Soon after graduating Daniel took his first steps into the world of commercial illustration. After much persistence he secured a commission illustrating the cover of the Justice of the Peace Journal. Here he had much fun finding interesting ways of illustrating social and political topics.
Since then Daniel has gone on to illustrate a wide range of subjects - from creating a superhero character for an educational campaign aimed at schools to both illustrating and designing Spelling Magic.
“I think the beauty (and the fun) of Spelling Magic is that it combines easy-to-remember rhymes with lavish, detailed illustrations that draw you into the Spelling Magic world. Hopefully my sense of humour, injected into the illustrations, will make you smile too.”
Daniel continues to work on new books and paintings for children and imaginatively-minded grown-ups and lives with his wife in Sunderland, England.
Born in Cambridge in 1979, Daniel is the oldest of three siblings. Frequent trips to some of the world’s greatest art galleries coupled with an insatiable curiosity for the world around him led Daniel to first pick up a pencil. It was a while until he did anything besides chewing it then at some point he started drawing anything and everything he could find. He was particularly fond of sketching his pets.
One of his first hand-made books was a series of incredible designs for machines and costumes for his toy soldiers; a visionary from a very young age. His art would not stay chained to his free time and soon his teachers found his school essays and projects full of beautiful drawings.
In 1995, after seeing the illustration work of Tim Hildebrandt, Daniel set his heart on becoming an illustrator. His eyes were now opened to the huge scope to which he could apply his art. He began creating illustrations based upon stories he read. He produced some curious illustrations of Greek myths as well as his own comic book.
After graduating sixth form Daniel went on to achieve both a 1st class BA (hons) and MA with distinction in Illustration and Design at the University of Sunderland. During this period Daniel received some valuable mentoring from his lecturers as well as taking the opportunity to refine his craft and immerse himself in the wealth of art literature available to him. It was here he first came upon the work of some of his favourite and most inspirational illustrators like Norman Rockwell and Arthur Rackham. Their narrative and slightly quirky style of illustration rubbed off on Daniel.
Soon after graduating Daniel took his first steps into the world of commercial illustration. After much persistence he secured a commission illustrating the cover of the Justice of the Peace Journal. Here he had much fun finding interesting ways of illustrating social and political topics.
Since then Daniel has gone on to illustrate a wide range of subjects - from creating a superhero character for an educational campaign aimed at schools to both illustrating and designing Spelling Magic.
“I think the beauty (and the fun) of Spelling Magic is that it combines easy-to-remember rhymes with lavish, detailed illustrations that draw you into the Spelling Magic world. Hopefully my sense of humour, injected into the illustrations, will make you smile too.”
Daniel continues to work on new books and paintings for children and imaginatively-minded grown-ups and lives with his wife in Sunderland, England.
Bertie the Spelling Magician is a humorous rabbit character, whose antics will appeal to a
young audience as he gives guidance and advice to young spellers.
Bertie will tell you why certain words are hard to spell and how they are commonly misspelled. He will also set some fun activities for the young spellers to do to make sure they will learn the exact spelling of each word.
To help with learning how to spell words correctly, Bertie will:
Bertie can be seen in each of the pictures in the Spelling Magic book; he‘s always up to something different. Sometimes he’s an action rabbit, sometimes he’s a bit naughty, but he’s never boring and always memorable.
Bertie was born in the Lake District and continues to reside there. He regularly travels on the Spelling Magic World Tour teaching children to spell wherever he goes.
Bertie will tell you why certain words are hard to spell and how they are commonly misspelled. He will also set some fun activities for the young spellers to do to make sure they will learn the exact spelling of each word.
To help with learning how to spell words correctly, Bertie will:
- Show you how words are made up
- Show you how to spell one word which then lets you spell other words using the same letter pattern
- Give you spelling rhymes to help you remember the order of letters in words
Bertie can be seen in each of the pictures in the Spelling Magic book; he‘s always up to something different. Sometimes he’s an action rabbit, sometimes he’s a bit naughty, but he’s never boring and always memorable.
Bertie was born in the Lake District and continues to reside there. He regularly travels on the Spelling Magic World Tour teaching children to spell wherever he goes.
