The PGCE guide site explains more about the book:

“It’s full of useful and practical, hints, tips and advice from recent PGCE graduates and more experienced teachers covering every element of teacher training, from your first day at university, through the hectic world of placements (with lots of valuable teaching tips) to finding a job- we have it all covered!

You won’t find countless chapters about educational theory – just real tips and advice from real teachers that have been selected to help you during your teacher training.”

I mentioned the #pgcetips Twitter tag on Teaching News a few weeks ago. The contributions to this tag have been collated and added to the book too. In fact, the book has over 250 super useful hints and tips from the education community on twitter!

I wish that there was a book like this when I started my teacher training course many years ago! Tim Handley (and the many other contributors) have done a wonderful job of creating an extremely valuable resource for all teachers, so download a free copy of the book or buy a paper copy!

This month’s Teaching Theme has now been released and all of the ideas and resources are about Space! The theme contains:

• Ideas for lessons and classroom activities,
• Resources to use for your class displays (with some wonderful new space cartoons),
• Educational videos to watch in your lessons,
• Examples of existing space-themed classroom displays for inspiration,
• Online games and apps for your pupils to use,
• Suggestions of places and maps which can be used as part of your space lessons,
• Links to other useful space websites.

I have also added a new section to the theme this month… Jokes! Kevin McLaughlin suggested having a selection of themed jokes on the page which can be used as a starter for lessons or just for fun! Thanks Kevin. I’m aiming to add a jokes section to all previous and future themes too so look out for those.

Find all of the themed resources (including previous themes) at www.teachingthemes.co.uk.

Next month’s theme is ‘Pirates’ and my wife has been busy drawing some wonderful pirate cartoons to use in the resources. I’m really looking forward to sharing them with you!

• Events which could be used as a starting point for a range of classroom activities.
• Conferences, exhibitions and shows which teachers can attend for their own professional development.

www.teachingevents.co.uk

Followers of Teaching Ideas on Twitter and Facebook have already had a sneak preview of the site and the response so far has been extremely positive. I would love to hear your feedback if you are able to look at the site. I would also like to hear about any events that you already use in your classroom:

• Special days, birthdays and anniversaries which you already use as a starting point for school / class activities,
• Charity events which schools can get involved with,
• Professional development events which other teachers might be interested in.

Please email me with the details of any events or use the form on the site. Thank you!

I am planning to add new events as I discover them and build the site into a useful calendar of educational events for schools and teachers. I hope that you like it!

• Adding atmosphere to lessons,
• Assemblies,
• School performances,
• Adding sound to children’s ICT / multimedia work,
• Addition to a school website / VLE.

www.teachingideas.co.uk/english/dramasoundeffects.htm

I’ve also recently discovered www.freesfx.co.uk which has lots of free sound effects which you can also use.

www.freesfx.co.uk

What are your favourite sound effect resources? How do you use them in the classroom?

www.bristolzoo.org.uk/education

Education sessions take place in themed classrooms in the Zoo’s Conservation Education Centre. Teachers can arrange a free pre-visit of the Zoo’s facilities, after making a provisional booking with the Zoo. For more information, visit the website at www.bristolzoo.org.uk/education. Schools who are not based around Bristol or the surrounding areas can still download some of the useful educational resources on their site.

Where is your favourite place to go on school trips?

The YOUNGDESIGNCLUB is free to UK primary and secondary schools, to run in lunch breaks or as an after-school activity. Each meeting will focus on a piece of design from any discipline, providing a growing menu of over 100 design stories. They will be structured around presentations and supported by flexible resources, including print, film and audio materials and PowerPoint slides (available as downloads). This will be followed by a discussion, and the pupil members will have the opportunity to produce their own crit in response, the best of which will be published by the YOUNGDESIGNCLUB. There will also be an annual awards ceremony at Somerset House, London.

www.thesorrellfoundation.com/young_design_club.php

Are you a teacher interested in running the YOUNGDESIGNCLUB? To register your interest, please complete the online registration form. The club will begin in January 2011 and the Sorrell Foundation will contact you in September with detailed information.

http://bit.ly/curriculumtopics

The second is a list of  activities that children can try online during their summer breaks.

http://bit.ly/onlinesummeractivities

Take a look at the lists and add some of your own ideas too!

www.earlylearninghq.org.uk

The site also has a ‘photo and illustration’ area where you can get clip art and pictures to use in your own resources. It looks like a valuable resource for teachers of children in the relevant age group. Check it out!

www.letnaturefeedyoursenses.org

For more information and to get an idea of who has already enjoyed one of our farm visits, visit the website where you will also find all the contact details you need to arrange a visit to a farm near you. Here’s a video report from the BBC which gives more information about the project:

www.teachers.tv

The site has recently announced that their TV channel will be ending from 31st August 2010. However, all of their content will still be available online on their website. You can also follow Teachers.tv on Youtube, Twitter, Facebook and in iTunes!