www.teachingideas.co.uk/themes/myst

The Myst series of computer games can be extremely valuable teaching tools and they are becoming incredibly popular in classrooms around the world, thanks to Tim Rylands. The characters, landscapes and storylines in the games can all be used to enhance learning in a wide range of curriculum areas. My new Teaching Theme area currently has more than 80 Myst-related teaching ideas, display resources, educational videos, online applications, photographs of classroom displays and links to other useful sites. I hope that the new theme will help you to use these wonderful games with your children.

We’ve already started working on next month’s theme, which is ‘Summer at the Seaside‘. If you have any ideas, resources or links which might be useful for the World Cup, Myst or Summer themes, please get in touch. Thank you!

The competition, run by Sightsavers in partnership with the Royal Academy Schools, aims to promote the use of paint in school classrooms, whilst encouraging children to reflect on sight and blindness amongst their peers. Last year over 15,000 entries were submitted by children aged 4-11 and this year’s theme Visions of the Future is set to generate even more.

The winning young painters will have their work exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, alongside works by the famous artist and illustrator Quentin Blake CBE, and the renowned artist and Keeper of the Royal Academy of Arts, Professor Maurice Cockrill RA.

www.sightsavers.org/juniorpainter

Three national winners, one from each category (4-7 years, 8-9 years and 10-11 years), will be selected from a list of regional winners.  They will then enjoy a fun-packed day out in London with their teachers in the autumn and attend the awards ceremony at the Royal Academy of Arts where their paintings will be the central focus of the exciting exhibition. Plus one lucky teacher will win a one-of-a-kind painting by Professor Cockrill in a new award category for 2010 called the Maurice Cockrill award. This will be presented to the teacher who has inspired their pupils’ creativity the most when developing the theme.

Schools interested in participating in the awards this year can find more at: www.sightsavers.org/juniorpainter or by contacting the Junior Painter of the Year competition Helpline on 01444 446 768 for a free awards pack.  Entries must be submitted by 14 September 2010.

www.cyberkidz.net

The site has recently been translated into English, so even more children are now able to take advantage of these resources.

Tony has recently started a new “LET’S DRAW!” YouTube channel which has six videos showing children how to draw: a crocodile, a dinosaur, a dog, a cat, a snail and a fish. The cartoon drawings are created using simple lines so that children can copy the image as it appears. A teacher can hit the pause button at any time to allow pupils to catch up.

There are lots of examples of student work, as well as unit plans and ideas for other schools to try. Take a look and leave some comments about the work that is shared.

Could your class get involved?

• Ask each child to draw one giraffe… or maybe more! This could be as part of an Art activity or set as homework.
• Think of creative ways of making giraffes… they don’t have to be hand-drawn but they cannot be made using a computer.
• Explore the giraffe images on the site… how were they made? Could your pupils create their own giraffes using similar techniques?

Get your pupils involved and have one of their giraffes as part of the million!

The site is expanding at an incredible rate. I try to update the RSS feed regularly, and this week over 50 new ideas have been added, with three brand new presentations! If you haven’t seen the site yet, take a look… if you haven’t contributed to one of the presentations, please get in touch the creator – their details are usually on the first or last page of each presentation.

UPDATE – There are now more than 1000 ideas to inspire on the site!

Hart inspired generations of budding artists over his 50-year television career through programmes such as Vision On, Take Hart and Hartbeat, before retiring in 2001 due to ill health. His agent, Roc Renals, said his health had recently been in decline and he had been taken to hospital with a chest infection. He described Hart as a "kind man" who was single-minded in his dedication to his work.

You can watch a tribute to Tony Hart on YouTube.

This year’s entry is open from now until 7th Nov 2008, and work can have been completed anytime in the last three years.

Link: http://www.bamm.org.uk/portal/content.asp?ContentId=1103

In time, the Government wants all young people to have the right to experience five hours of arts and culture every week.

The ten lead organisations chosen as pilots are:

• Bolton Borough Council;
• The Creative Foundation (serving Shepway District and including Folkestone, Hythe and Romney Marsh);
• Customs House (North and South Tyneside);
• Hampshire County Council;
• Leeds Children’s Services;
• Leicestershire County Council;
• ‘Liverpool City Region’ Partnership (serving three Merseyside neighbourhoods);
• North Somerset;
• Telford and Wrekin Council; and
• Tower Hamlets.

The pilots will trial different ways of offering young people a range of cultural experiences both within schools and in professional art settings. Different approaches will be used, based on partnerships between schools, local authorities and arts organisations, so that creative practitioners will spend time in schools, as well as children getting the chance to gain experience outside the classroom.

The areas, from 141 that applied, will become the first Find Your Talent areas and build on existing investment and experience, currently taking place around the country.

Find your Talent will include giving young people the chance to:

• perform on stage and attend top quality performances, exhibitions at museums and galleries, and heritage sites;
• get hands-on experience of the creative industries including film making, radio and TV;
• learn a musical instrument, and take part in a musical performance in front of an audience;
• produce creative writing and appreciate authors and how they work;
• learn about – and practise – new media and digital art; and
• develop art and craft skills.