Here are links to some of the new resources that I’ve discovered via my Twitter network:

• BBC Wildlife Finder (from @mrstucke) – Watch videos of the most amazing animals in the world, from the BBC.

• You can now follow the fantastic Primary Resources site on Twitter – @primarystuff
• Use this amazing ‘Punched Out‘ font for your classroom displays and learning activities. The font makes printed nets of different letters. Just cut them out and stick them together.

• Try out ThinkDraw to create and rate pictures using a range of objects and colours. Thanks to @simonhaughton.
• Schools are now starting to develop their own iPhone apps as a way of sharing news and information with parents. Try the new application from Porchester Junior School (via @xannov).
• Scimorph is a new augmented reality site which teaches you about gravity and bacteria. Print the marker provided, place it in front of your web cam and interact with Scimorph while he teaches you! Thanks to @mbarrow for sharing this.

• Google have added an ‘Ocean Showcase‘ feature to Google Earth. Looks like a wonderful resource for schools (thanks to @dajbelshaw).
• The wonderful BBC Primary History site now has a ‘World History’ section. Suggested by @simonhaughton.
• Wikipedia have a ‘Simple English‘ version which uses simple words and grammar, making it much easier for children to read and understand. Recommended by @tombarrett.

Don’t miss the previous posts in this series:

• Part One
• Part Two

What have you discovered on Twitter recently?

Image – Twitter Logo Map 09

I came across Anithings at a visit to BETT a few weeks ago. It is a fantastic piece of software which allows children to create their own animations on screen. They can design their own characters and backgrounds or use the ones provided. Recording the animation simply involves pressing the record button and then animating the characters by moving them around.

Here are some demonstrations of how to use the software. The first shows how to make a simple animation:

This video shows some of the more advanced features, such as drawing tools, storyboards and speech bubbles.

Any animations created using the software can be posted online and then embedded into school websites or VLEs.

The team at Anithings have kindly offered visitors to Teaching Ideas and Teaching News a 10% discount on any orders of the software during February. To receive this discount, simple quote ‘Teaching Ideas‘ or ‘Teaching News‘ when you place the order. Schools and teachers using either of these codes will also receive a pack of 90 Anithings stickers featuring characters from the program… great for a display or as a reward for children who create amazing animations with the software!

Safer Internet Day will be taking place on Tuesday 9th February. This event is organised each year to promote safer and more responsible use of online technology and mobile phones, especially amongst children and young people across the world. The topic for 2010 is “Think B4 U post!“.

Here’s a short advertisement which is being used to advertise the day and promote the message:

www.brainpop.co.uk/designandtechnology/ictcommunicatingandcollaborating/onlinesafety/

Following part 1 and part 2 of my ‘Favourite blogs for teachers’ posts, here is another collection of useful blogs to follow. Don’t forget to subscribe to their RSS feeds to get the latest updates.

• Technostories – This blog is a fantastic source of inspiration for using ICT in your classroom. Created by Bev Evans who also runs the wonderful Communication4All site.
• Inspiring Creative Technology – Simon Haughton shares his teaching experiences, including many brilliant ICT ideas.

• Digital-Teacher – Simon Widdowson posts regularly about lots of school-related issues. Some of these include his explorations of various online tools as his school attempts to set up their own virtual learning environment.
• Steps in Teaching and Learning – This blog, created by Kevin McLaughlin, is another valuable source of information for teachers, particularly those with an interest in ICT.
• Bits & Bobs – Nicola Stables is a regular blogger who shares her teaching ideas and experiences with this wonderful blog.

• I Learn Technology - Kelly Tenkely is a technology teacher who shares useful ideas and teaching links on this fantastic blog.
• Adventures in Learning – EBD35 only started blogging recently and has written some interesting posts already about the use of the Nintendo Wii to support learning in the classroom.

Many thanks to Steph Westwood (who has started her own blog recently) for suggesting some of these via Twitter.

Image – keyboard ~ blur

Over the Christmas break, I created a new website to add to my collection(!). The new site is called Teaching Videos and is a place to find and share educational videos that can be used in the classroom.

www.teachingvideos.co.uk / www.teachingvideos.tv

Each video comes with a selection of teaching ideas, showing how it might be used in the classroom. There are also some videos which teachers can use for professional development, including some ICT training resources.

Anyone can search for videos, find them by subject / topic, or browse through by age group. Registered members can also add ratings / comments and even upload videos to share with others. Registrations are currently closed, but if you are interested in testing the system, please email me.

After only a few weeks online, it is already becoming incredibly popular and I have had lots of positive feedback about it. I hope that the site is useful to you.

Last February, I set up Ideas to Inspire after creating a collaborative presentation about Inspiring Writing in the classroom. Since then, the site has grown considerably with lots of new ideas and presentations being added regularly. Over the Christmas break, the site passed the 1000 ideas mark which is a fantastic achievement.

www.ideastoinspire.co.uk

There are almost 50 different presentations on the site, offering:

• Ideas for using technology to support different areas of the curriculum
• Ways of using ICT hardware in the classroom
• Interesting ways of using software and online tools to develop learning.
• Collections of educational Youtube videos
• Recommendations of games to enhance learning and items for ICT co-ordinators to buy.
• Much, much more!

Many thanks to the people who have started the presentations and allowed me to share them on the site. Thanks also to everyone who has added an idea to the presentations. I update the RSS feed every week and it is wonderful to see so many people sharing ideas in such an effective way.

Last month, I wrote a post about a book that was being created by Doug Belshaw and other teachers using Twitter. Contributors were invited to share teaching tips, ideas and suggestions in 140 characters using a special tag.

All of these tweets have now been collated and the book is now available to download or buy.

The PDF is available for free download: http://bit.ly/movemeonpdf
The book is available at cost price: http://bit.ly/movemeonbook
A (cheaper) black and white version of the book is also available here.

It is a valuable resource for new and experienced teachers with a huge collection of useful ideas. It’s well worth downloading or buying a paper copy.