January 2010 - Posts
The I-Board interactive whiteboard resources will now be free to all.
You can use the full i-board collection for free now, at http://www.tes.iboard.co.uk. I-board resources can also be found on TES Connect by searching or browsing the TES Resources site at http://www.tes.co.uk or by going direct to this link http://www.tes.co.uk/tes-iboard
TES Resources will continue to grow the collection as TES iboard, with new KS1 Literacy and Phonics activities being added through February 2010 and KS2 development commencing soon after with staged releases continuing throughout 2010.
Carolyn
I've just heard that Sebastian has been receiving quite a few emails recently. Lots of people writing about the changing seasons. Why not try Sebastian's Waddle, it's a good introduction for talking about changes in the Spring and also encouraging children to go outside and look for signs.
(Neat trick: why not look in the bottom RHS of your browser window and zoom in to make the book even larger).
There's also the Sebastian's Search resource with three types of searches.
(Along the lines of Research, see also the Rivers Keyword Search for KS2).
:) James and Jo Rickards
Chinese New Year is fast approaching, 14th February, (the first weekend of the holiday). The Kent ICT Chinese New Year pages have been updated for 2010.
The Hong Bow is now available in a low ink use version.
The old red background version is still available.
:) James
Students equipped with their own laptop demonstrate higher achievement and increased engagement, according to the findings of studies published in the Journal of Technology, Learning and Assessment. All of the studies found that students in the 1:1 settings outperformed their traditional classroom peers on English/Language Arts standardized tests by a statistically significant margin. Study authors also reported on evidence of increased student motivation and engagement, as well as changes in teachers' instructional practices. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100121171415.htm?sms_ss=twitter for the full article.
Heidi
Visualisers have been around for quite sometime now, but with the recent drop in price, many schools and Partnerships are now buying them to compliment the use of interactive whiteboards.
A visualiser, at its simplest, is a video camera mounted on a stand that connects to a data projector. Objects can be placed under the camera and the image projected onto an interactive whiteboard. It is great for showing 3D objects, sharing books, children’s work, photographs and Blue Peter style “how tos”.
Case Study
A case study from HGfL about how one school has used a visualiser to support different areas of the curriculum.
A case study with a good overview of what a visualiser can do for you and one teacher’s initial experience of using one.
Please add a comment below with your thoughts and ideas on how you are using your visualiser in the classroom. Mandy :)
For those of you who able to attend Bett this year you may have seen exciting things happening. This years Bett was less about how many freebies one could stuff in a bag and more about how many good ideas one could gleam to use in class on Monday morning. Throughout the four days, passionate and inspiring teachers from all over the country took over suppliers stands to share with us how they are using ICT creatively in their classrooms. For many teachers attending Bett this year, it was these presentation that inspired them most.
Another inspirational event was the TeachMeet, held during Friday evening, run by teachers for teachers. I learned loads from watching the event, I am sure you will too.
You can view a video recording of the TeachMeet presentations here and here
To read more about TeachTakeOver and TeachMeet, here are a few of the many blogs about the experience:
Tom Barrett
Dawn Hallybone
Stuart Ridout
Mark Warner
Leon Cych - includes many videos
Doughall McCormick
Ian Usher
Mandy :)
Having been to BETT and seen the new Elmo L-1ex Visualiser, with a remote control feature, I discovered that new software has been released for capturing and editing pictures and video. It also allows time-lapse photography. The download is free (27Mb) and you will need to uninstall the original software that came with the L-1N first.
Get it here from the US website where it goes by the American model name of TT-02-RX, rather than L-1ex http://www.elmousa.com/download-archive.php scroll down to Document Cameras - Digital and look for the Windows flag to download the zip file. Then unzip the setup program to install it. (Mac users download the Mac file instead)
For those who found the original Elmo software old fashioned, I found the new version is much smoother and easier to use, and the time-lapse great for science if you set the settings to .avi, and choose a suitable interval between photos.
Carolyn
The new Facts of the Day calendar is like an advent calendar,with an educational twist for each day of the year! Each date on this pictorial calendar contains a short article about a special event, famous person or interesting fact related to the day. It’s great way to encourage interesting registration discussions and gives students ideas for topics they can research themselves. It is also a very handy assembly planner
http://www.projectbritain.com/calendar/
How would you use this calendar in the classroom. Please share your ideas here
Here's a useful BBC News article about healthy lunch boxes. Includes images and a pie chart for anyone running a Healthy Eating topic:
(Thanks to Simon Haughton for this one : Twitter: @simonhaughton)
James:)
The FlashMeeting Presenter Board enables staff and pupils to use the classroom interactive Whiteboard to display images and record messages during a live web conference.
Identifying and classifying common birds by observable features
18th January - 1st February 2010
Is your school planning to take part in The Kent and RSPB Bird Watch Surveys?
To identify common birds Heather Chanter (RSPB Lifelong Education Officer) has created a short video for staff and pupils to view.
To view this excellent learning resource click on the image below. Duration 12 minutes
To read the full article click here
For more information about using The Flashboard click on the link below or contact:
FlashMeeting Presenter Board Starter Guide (pdf)
philip.bracegirdle@kent.gov.uk
Rob Slight - Canterbury City and Country ICT AST
E-mail: rob.slight@kent.gov.uk
The following post is from the Kent e-safety blog
It has been bought to Kent County Council's attention that many Local Authorities are blocking a teaching resource website: sparklebox.co.uk. Although this website is popular with schools, CEOP has issued a statement supporting both this action and the following statement from South West Grid for Learning:
“It is understood that a person who is on the record as an owner and director of Sparklebox Teacher Resources Limited (which appears to claim ownership of the SparkleBox web site and children’s learning materials) is a registered sex offender who has recently admitted a second offence, is on remand in prison and is awaiting sentence in January.”
For this reason we feel it right to block the site centrally until more information is available and review whether this site should be blocked permanently after consulting schools and other sources. Failure to block this site may place Schools or Kent County Council in a difficult position regarding duty of care. Should staff wish to continue using the website there is nothing to stop its use from home.
Please lets us have your view
We invite discussion from staff who may be concerned about this decision to discuss this on the Kent e-Safety Blog .
Sparklebox creator jailed after paedophile verdict - TES
How to Completely Remove Sparklebox Toolbar by Mike McSharry