October 2007 - Posts
CEOP has now re-launched its Think you Know website to support Primary school pupils, at http://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/ and Cybercafe (the place to find out about e-safety activities), was shown on BBC TV. SuperclubsPlus are also supporting Cybercafe, which can be reached from their website front page for free. http://www.superclubsplus.com/ . and they are offering free membership to SuperclubsPlus for all UK pupils and teachers, for 6 weeks, so they can find out how to use social networking in a safe and monitored environment. Read the details below:
SuperClubsPLUS is a social learning network for 6-11 year olds to create, communicate and collaborate in a safe online environment. All members are registered through their primary schools and the only adults allowed are CRB (police) checked teachers and our professional mediators.
In SuperClubsPLUS, members can:
Learn to Email
Communicate in topic-based Forums
Build multimedia Home Pages
Write articles for the Clubs – online magazines with themes including Media, Sports, International Development and Literacy.
Take the ICT STARS Award Scheme covering computer and e-safety skills
Join in special events with Scholastic Children’s Books
For more information please visit www.SuperClubsPLUS.com or call 0800 169 1024
Lots of Kent schools have joined already because it is such good fun, and a safe way to work online for very little cost. Pupils can also access it from home.
Carolyn
Becta highlights the fact that primary pupils can gain 2.5-7.5 months progress (in a period of somewhat over a year) through use of an interactive whiteboard (IWB) in maths, English and science. Rates of additional progress depend on the subject and level of attainment of pupils, with high achieving girls doing better in KS1 maths, while low attaining boys benefited more in KS2 writing. Further benefits (quoting):
"The report also highlights how interactive whiteboards have very positive effects on the attention, attitude and motivation of all pupils and produce a co-operative, 'community of learning' ethos in the class."
"Additionally it shows how interactive whiteboards help with the teaching of difficult, abstract and complex ideas - visual tools help pupils concentrate for longer and understand more fully and more easily what they are being taught."
"Also interactive whiteboards give teachers a tool to enhance interaction with learners, increasing discussion of ideas and concepts between teachers and pupils."
"Another benefit, specifically for younger children, is the drag-and-drop function which enables children to demonstrate their level of knowledge more easily before they have acquired writing skills, improving self-esteem and enabling teachers to assess learning potential."
Becta press release
http://news.becta.org.uk/display.cfm?resID=34253&page=1658&catID=1633Original MMU report (via Becta)
http://partners.becta.org.uk/index.php?section=rh&catcode=_re_rp_02&rid=14422
I've updated the Froggy Phonemes game to suit the new 'Letters and Sounds' phonics document. I've also made the frogs a little more cooperative!
www.kented.org.uk/ngfl/games/froggy_phonemes_v3.html
Also, I know this is a bit naughty but I thought I'd raise a couple of exciting and cheap puchases which are suitable for FS at the moment.
1. Tesco is selling a remote control Brio train with sounds and lights for less than £9. I've been delivering phonemes and numbers along the train track and loving it! Just place some phoneme cards in the carraiges from your brio set and place the train in front. (Not on their website yet though I've checked).
2. TTS is selling a talking book where you can record a 10 second comment for each page. I've had lots of luck asking the children to draw autumn pictures and describe them, or to draw themselves and make it a book 'All About Me...er, well Us'.
James
The Internet proficiency teacher’s pack was developed by Becta, the DfES and QCA in order to help teachers educate children to develop ’safe and responsible’ behaviours in their use of ICT. This pack was originally sent out to all schools along with individual lesson plans and worksheets.
The Internet Proficiency Teachers' Pack (Key Stage 2) is downloadable from the CEOP - www.ThinkuKnow.co.uk teachers' area. You need to register (free) on the website before having access to the free downloads.
Starting from October 15th (next week) is the K12 Online Conference. (k12onlineconference.org/)
The K-12 Online Conference invites participation from educators around the world interested in innovative ways Web 2.0 tools and technologies can be used to improve learning. This FREE conference is run by volunteers and open to everyone.
Presenters at this free online conference are, at this moment, giving 'tasters' or short movies/presentations of what they'll be presenting on.
One particular one that has caught my eye is from Derek Wenmoth. His challenging and thought-provoking teaser is a preview to his keynote presentation on “The Promise of ICT: How Can It Be Realized” I would highly recommend you check it out as it asks some penetrating questions about our use of ICTs in education and how classroom pedagogy needs to change for the 21st century. I will certainly be viewing his full presentation online on Monday 22 October.
Now there's an exciting title! www.peda.com/poly/ has a software download which I find really useful. You can choose from an enormous variety of solid shapes, rotate them and then explode the net. You have full control over the speed of the rotation and the net opening. For a full size view please remember to press the 'maximise' icon as this is not defaulted. You can also change the colour of specific faces to highlight the 2D shapes used.
Jing is a fantastic and powerful program from TechSmith that can be downloaded for free. Using Jing it is easy to capture still screen images or to create video screencasts (recordings of what is on your computer screen), and then share them. Images or videos can be saved to your computer and/or stored online for free.
http://www.jingproject.com/
We can see this software having huge potential in the classroom. Its ease of use means that children can use it as well as staff
The video screencasts are taken with audio commentary and are a great way of recording tutorials e.g. on how to use a particular piece of software. Why not get your students to record their instructions on how to use something on the computer like a game, software or website (Year 5 Literacy target)?
Another idea is to use the video screencast to create a digital story. Click here for an example of a digital story screencast which I created in a couple of minutes (including uploading the video to the website to share it with you). Although my rushed example is not of high standard, I think you will agree that the quality of both the audio and video on a Jing flash file is excellent.
Please note: Jing is free to download at the moment, but it is very likely that it will not be so forever. Therefore any videos you upload onto the website should also be saved on a local drive as aa back up.
TOP 100 TOOLS 2007 lists the most popular tools for learning as selected by over 100 learning professionals during the summer of 2007.
I wonder how many of the tools you are already using in your classroom /school?
There are a growing number of websites available on the internet providing good opportunities for reading and literature.
Lit2Go is a free online collection of stories and poems in Mp3 (audiobook) format.
You can:
- Download the files to your Mp3 player and listen on the go,
- Listen to the Mp3 files on your computer,
- Download the files directly into iTunes,
- View the text on a webpage (interactive whiteboard) and read along as you listen,
- Print out the stories and poems to make your own book.
The extensive database is provided by Florida’s Educational Clearninghouse.
http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/