It has been available for years, but this online, or downloadable Flash activity, originally from MAPE helps you think of a good place to site an owl nestbox you may need to enable ActiveX in internet explorer to make it work. 
To help pupils feed birds during the winter click on the link below to view the Vidcast made by David James (RSPB Education Officer.) Created using the FlashMeeting Memo Board it is full of good ideas about what to feed birds at this time of year.
Click here to replay the vidcast - Feeding Birds in the Winter (duration: 18 mins)
For information about how to use your class Interactive Whiteboard during a FlashMeeting session click here.
It only takes a few minutes to discover how you can engage all your class sharing their ideas in a web conferencing session.
For more information about using the FlashMeeting Memo Board contact:
Phil Bracegirdle - ASK ICT Hands on Support Consultant
E-mail: philip.bracegirdle@kent.gov.uk
****** Starting Now! - Are you taking part? *******
35 Kent schools took part in the January 2010.
The February 2010 Kent Bird Watch Survey will be taking place from Monday 22nd - Sunday 28th February. To take part in the survey pupils will need 1 hour to record all birds visiting your school grounds.
Click here to download The RSPB Bird Watch Recording Sheet
Following the survey all results should be entered on the Online spreadsheet. To enter your results online and to view the results after Monday 1st March 2010 click on the link below.
Click here to enter your Bird Watch results
For more information about The Kent Bird Watch 2010 project contact:
Phil Bracegirdle - ASK ICT Hands on Support Consultant
E-mail: philip.bracegirdle@kent.gov.uk
Get the most out of this exciting project for your school!
January 2010 - Over 70 primary schools in Kent have purchased a Nestcam!
Pupils at Ward Stewart School, USA preparing different bird foods
Following the recent very successful project launch meetings will be taking place in schools across the county throughout March 2010. For details click on the links below:
Bird Watch 2010 Spring News
Kent Bird Watch 2010 March Twilight Meetings
Please note: All twilight meetings are from 4.00 to 5.15 p.m.
Why should you attend?
The meetings are an opportunity for teachers to find out how to:
Publish your pupil's work on The Kent Bird Watch Making the News web-site
Publish pupil’s photographs of birds in the school grounds on The National Education Network
Use a GPS Data logger to create and publish a school grounds Bird Walk
Take part in future planned Bird Watch 2010 web conferences with overseas schools
Take part in Kent Bird Watch Summer 2010 Science Activity Days with Andrew Berry and RSPB Education Officers
Learn more about how to use your McCam Nestcam to share live video with Parents, Community Groups and other schools
For more information about The Kent Bird Watch 2010 project contact:
Philip Bracegirdle - ASK ICT Hands on Support Consultant
E-mail: philip.bracegirdle@kent.gov.uk
There is a now a Research section added to the Games pages. There are three 'safe search' resources for finding information about animal life, rivers and dinosaurs. These resources are aimed at supporting the sometimes tricky Research and e-Awareness Themes. These resources only search through content in a specific folder on Kent ICT, hence they are very much within our control. On the negative side this does mean that the available key words are limited. To see and print the full list of keywords available please select the 'teachers' note' link in the top left-hand corner of each game.
New Research Section
Why not try using these resources alongside Textease CT or 2Publish+ to create posters or leaflets. The images and text from thes resources can be quickly copied using buttons from within each search resource.
Have fun, James :)
This report is based on evidence from a small-scale survey carried out between April and July 2009 in 35 maintained schools in England. It evaluates the extent to which the schools taught pupils to adopt safe and responsible practices in using new technologies, and how they achieved this. It also assesses the extent and quality of the training the schools provided for their staff. Available at http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/Ofsted-home/Publications-and-research/Browse-all-by/Documents-by-type/Thematic-reports/The-safe-use-of-new-technologies
Schools entering the Next Generation Learning National Schools Quiz, which will take place on Friday 12th March, could win up to £3,000 worth of ICT equipment or training for their school, plus there are fantastic spot prizes for successful individuals and teams who take part. The quiz will run exclusively online, via the NEN, covering curriculum areas, including history, science, citizenship, numeracy and literacy. For information on the Next Generation Learning National Schools Quiz visit www.nextgenerationlearning.org.uk/nsq The quiz is aimed at Key Stage 2 and open to pupils aged eight and nine years old. Schools can sign up individual pupils or teams by registering now at www.nen.gov.uk/nsq
Your students are already using technology as part of their daily life and increasingly expect to use it for learning in school. But what does this mean for you as a teacher? As a 21st century teacher you are a learner yourself – adapting your previous technology skills and knowledge as new technologies emerge. You know when to use technology and when other strategies are more appropriate. You continually review how you use technology in your role.
To download a booklet that helps teachers address the challenge of using technology in daily school life go to
http://publications.becta.org.uk/display.cfm?resID=41521&page=1835
Heidi
There is a Newsround special tonight narrated by David Tennant entitled Caught In The Web. The 20 minute episode tackles the dangers of meeing someone you have first met online. It is being aired tonight Tuesday 9th February at 16:55 and repeated at 18:30 on CBBC. There are also further chances to see it on Thursday 11th and Saturday 13th February. For more information visit the BBC Website (www.bbc.co.uk) or follow this link www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00qp1pm.
There is also some good advice on the BBC website on Internet safety. Visit the BBC homepage and search for safe searching and don't forget about the Stay Safe resorces that are also available www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/help/web/staysafe.
Home Access is a government drive which will help low-income families to get access to a computer and the internet to get online at home. Families who are on a low income in receipt of certain benefits could qualify for a grant to buy a computer and/or a minimum of one years’ internet access. The programme is aimed at those that need it most and targets families that do not have access to a computer or the internet at home. More information is available at www.homeaccess.org.uk
Parents can call the Home Access Grant Helpline on 0333 200 1004 for an application form.
Heidi
By popular demand, Becta are re-running the very successful primary online reporting event held last year in Birmingham. Hear from fellow primary and special school leaders about how they are exploiting ICT to improve parental engagement.Key national speaker Kirstie Andrew-Power - Head of Achievement at SSATTravel expenses for the day may be submitted - forms will be available on the day – please keep all receipts in advance of claim. Further information can be obtained by emailing customerservices@becta.org.uk
The new e-safety resources created by CEOP are now available to download (with the exception of 2 downloads). Lee and Kim's Magical Adventures are aimed at pupils aged 4-7. The pack contains an animated cartoon, song, set of lesson plans and resources and a range of fun activities including making masks. So why not join in and use these resources to help spread the e-safety message with our youngest children.
You need to be registered with Thinkuknow to download the resources. If you haven't yet registered then visit the thinkuknow website www.thinkuknow.co.uk/teachers
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
Many schools in the Kent Birdwatch 2010 project will be using "I-Got-U 120" GPS data loggers to create and publish "Bird Trails" on Google maps. To illustrate how effectively this technology can be used to share information click on the links below.
Route 1 - Dungeness RSPB Nature Reserve Created by Gill Hollamby (ARC Leading ICT Teacher) and Heather Chantler (RSPB Education Officer)
Click here to view Dungeness Bird Walk
Route 2 - A stroll along the River Medway Created by Lucy Henderson (Maidstone 1 Leading ICT Teacher)
The map is a photographic record of the journey along the Eastern bank of the River Medway from the Malta Inn to The Millennium Park. Schools considering visiting the site should allow between 75 - 90 minutes for pupils to complete the walk.
Click here to view The River Medway Bird Walk
For further information about using GPS technology to publish and share maps contact:
Phil Bracegirdle (ASK ICT Hands on Support Consultant)
Philip.bracegirdle@kent.gov.uk
Fiona Aubrey-Smith, Head of Educational Development, UniServity has the following suggestions for using your learning platform effectively and making parental engagement meaningful which go beyond the sharing of pupil attainment and attendance data:
• Provide continuity of resources, support and guidance for parents to support their child beyond school
• Collaborate to create home/school ePortfolios showing children’s formal and informal learning
• Provide parents with the opportunity to share their parental expertise with each other
• Scaffold key skills practice and revision by providing resources for children to do this with their parents at home
• Bring parents skills, hobbies and jobs into the classroom for children to learn from
• Encourage parental visibility into their child’s class through active participation in learning activities
• Provide parents with continuity of resources, methods and skills to replicate demonstrations at home
• Encourage purposeful communication between parents about their experiences
• Facilitate after-school dialogue between children and their parents about each day’s learning experiences
• Offer opportunities for parental voice to be heard and acted upon when designing whole school plans and policies
Congratulations to Loose Junior School on achieving the ICT Mark. Well done to all the staff. Only 3% of Primary Schools have achieved this in Kent.
The Editable IWB Dictionary (ictgames.com) lets you store useful words and view them in a 3D scrolling dictionary. This can be really useful when working with Guided Groups in Literacy, making the IWB a powerful spelling resource during the main activity, not just the teaching input.
You can download this resource for free from the ictgames website: www.ictgames.com/IWBdictionary/
All of the words are stored in a text file which comes with the game. If you open this text file you can add words, save the file and they will be sorted into alphabetical order and placed on your dictionary. You can keep as many copies of the resource as you like. In that way you can have a Science, Topic or MFL dictionary too.
Have fun, James :)
What is Nature Watch 2010?
NatureWatch 2010 is an opportunity for pupils to use ICT to investigate and learn more about the wildlife found in their school grounds and local area. Planned activities include visits to beaches, woodlands and wetlands. To support the project pupils will have regular opportunities to web conference online (using FlashMeeting) and the opportunity to "blog" with Local Environmental Experts.
Naturewatch 2010 Online FlashMeeting
Following the very successful project launch in Crawley in October 2009 delegates were invited to take part in a "follow-up" FlashMeeting with Andrew Berry (ASK Primary Science Advisor) and Pauline Patterson (Hampshire Science Advisor.) An opportunity for Teachers, Education Officer and Local Authority staff to share developments and explore in more details matters discussed at the launch.
To replay the "online" web conference click here
For more information about Nature Watch 2010 and The Kent Birdwatch 2010 project contact:
Phil Bracegirdle - ASK ICT Hands on Support Consultant
philip.bracegirdle@kent.gov.uk
Take a digital image and make it talk? Easier than you might think. CrazyTalk 6 is an easy and powerful tool for generating talking characters from an image or photo and facial animation for video, websites and widget. Many schools are using to bring photos alive in projects across Kent.
http://www.taglearning.com/productdetails/Crazy+Talk+6.html
The software retails at £34 per licence but schools can buy it at the special £9.67 per licence. Please note this offer is for the standard version (not the more expensive pro version)
Would you like to buy Crazy Talk this term at the special price of £9.67?
Schools should place their orders by emailing Matt at m.williams@blieducation.com
Closing date: Friday 11 December 2009 (This is so we can process the orders before the end of term)
Mandy:)
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