Thinkuknow October 23, 2007
Posted by Gareth in : ICT , add a commenthttp://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/
The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) have extended their scheme to promote Internet safety by launching resources aimed at 8 - 11 year old students.
Building on their work with older students, they’ve produced a new website for KS2 children, their parents and their teachers. The site aims to not only show children how they can have fun using Internet technologies (such as chatrooms, social networking services and email) but also how they can stay in control and report any problems.
As well as the tips for students, downloadable resources and lesson plans are available to teachers who register (for free) with the service.
Ictopus September 7, 2007
Posted by Gareth in : Blogs & Communities, ICT , add a commenthttp://www.ictopus.org.uk/
A group of primary teachers, consultants and lecturers have recently launched Ictopus, a free ICT online primary support service. They plan on publishing a weekly “Sharing Good Practice” newsletter (issue 1 is available now) as well as provide downloadable lessons.
(While I was on the site I noticed this great link, in their news section, to give your students an idea what ancient Rome looked like.)
Scratch September 7, 2007
Posted by Gareth in : ICT, Software , add a commentcrhttp://scratch.mit.edu/
MIT’s Media Lab in the US have just made this brilliant piece of software available as a free download. It allows students to make their own animations and games by slotting together program building blocks. It’s graphical interface is incredibly easy to use, there’s a full set of help and examples on the website as well as printable instruction cards that students can use to learn new features of the software. It’s perfect for KS2, especially Years 5 and 6. Why not get some of your class to look at it after the SATs?
(See the article the BBC wrote about the software by clicking here)
Creating Talking Books September 7, 2007
Posted by Gareth in : ICT , add a comment(Link Here)
Jonathan White has sent me details of the great video tutorial that he’s put together on how to create a talking book in MS Powerpoint 2003. You can see it by clicking on the link to the Video Jug website above. I’ve also put a copy of his written instructions into the next update of Primary Resources. Jonathan also mentioned the excellent free guide on talking books in powerpoint that’s available from the Ace Centre charity website.
Early ICT September 7, 2007
Posted by Gareth in : Foundation Stage, ICT , add a commenthttp://www.kented.org.uk/ngfl/earlyict
This is another of the excellent mini-sites from the Kent NGfL. It contains loads of resources for using ICT in an Early Years classroom in a meaningful, beneficial way. There’s games to download, ICT ideas for the most popular topics and a great collection of weblinks.
Flash Classroom September 7, 2007
Posted by Gareth in : ICT , add a commenthttp://www.flashclassroom.com/
I quite often get emails about creating resources using Macromedia Flash (and using the package with students) as this is something I did a lot of when I was at my first school. I’ve barely used Flash during the past couple of years so if you’re interested in learning about the software you might like to take a look at this Australian site. It’s got downloadable tutorials on all the basics of the last three versions of Flash. Even if you’re not interested in using the software yourself it’s worth visiting the site and looking at the huge collection of example resources in the gallery, many of them could easily be used in the classroom.
Digital Video & Other Media September 7, 2007
Posted by Gareth in : English/Literacy, ICT , add a commentIf you’re interested in using digital video and other media in primary schools then it’s worth checking out these sites…
Digital Video in Education
http://www.dvined.org.uk
This website is a place for educators to share their experiences of using digital video. There’s lots of really useful articles, tips, reviews and ideas.
MediaEd
http://www.mediaed.org.uk/
This UK media education website has a large collection of useful information for teachers and students on film-making in the classroom.
Media Education Wales
http://www.mediaedwales.org.uk/
Media Education Wales is a great organisation that supports media and moving image education through resources, research and consultancy (across the UK, not just in Wales). They produce an excellent CD-ROM called Making Movies Make Sense. I’ve used it myself and it’s a must for any teacher who’s interested in digital video.
KidsClick! September 7, 2007
Posted by Gareth in : ICT , add a commenthttp://www.kidsclick.org/
This is quite a useful search engine for use by students in lessons. It only provides results from carefully selected sites so it’s a lot safer to use. I would still advise standard Internet safety procedures though (such as checking search results in advance of lessons, agreeing on keywords to be used before students search and not allowing unsupervised use of search sites). You can use KidsClick! to search by keyword, first letter of the subject or browse by category.
Escape from Delta 7 September 7, 2007
Posted by Gareth in : English/Literacy, ICT , add a commenthttp://www.huntington.cheshire.sch.uk/
Escape from Delta 7 is a super piece of “interactive fiction” from the students at Huntington County Primary School in Cheshire (click on the link above and then scroll down the main index page to access the story).
Not only have the Year 6 class written the story they’ve also used 3D modelling software to create the sci-fi locations and created alien costumes for the actors (which they’ve superimposed on the backgrounds using photo manipulation software). It looks like it was a very fun, cross-curricular project and there’s details on the site of exactly how they did it.
While you’re there check out the rest of Huntington’s website for some other great work.
K-Zone September 7, 2007
Posted by Gareth in : ICT , add a commenthttp://www.bteducation.org/resources/kzone.ikml
The resources on this site from BT aim to develop communication skills. My personal favourite resources have got to be the Caveman to Spaceman animated story (which tells you all about the history of communication) and Making Faces (drag and drop facial features to create different expressions). It’s part of the BT Education program website. The main website also includes a nice guide on how to make your own podcasts (registration required, it’s free though).
