2011 has been a very busy year and when I look back, I’m amazed at how much has changed on my Teaching Websites. Here are some of my highlights:

Teaching Ideas

Teaching Ideas celebrated its 13th year online in 2011 and the site has been receiving record numbers of visitors. Some updates to the site included:

• A new navigation system, which was introduced to help visitors find their way around the ever-expanding site! I also added a new commenting system, allowing visitors to give feedback on the teaching ideas available. Teaching Ideas was also completely redesigned in October, giving it a much clearer layout and making it quicker to load.
• One of my biggest targets this year was to expand the site and create lots of new resources and I’ve been able to devote lots more time to doing this. Some of these can be found in the Shape, Sketching, Fractions, Handwriting and Classroom Rewards sections, but there are many more! I’ve also started adding thumbnail images to the resources to give you a preview of what they look like!
• My wonderful wife continued to draw some fantastic cartoon images for Teaching Ideas which I have been able to use on different resources. These can be found in the Maths, Colour, Tudors, Romans and Victorians sections. Helen’s cartoons have also been used on this year’s new Teaching Themes sections… Staying Safe Online, Kings and Queens, Easter, Keeping Healthy and Lights, Camera, Action!
• I also subscribed to a stock photo site, which has allowed me to use lots of high quality photos on new educational resources (see the Music, Maths Inspirations, ICT Inspirations and Animals resources for a selection of examples).
• Lots of amazing teachers have also shared their own ideas and resources and I am incredibly grateful to everyone who continues to take the time to send their contributions.

I’ve written over 175 posts on Teaching News this year, sharing the latest educational news, links, events and resources. The site has continued to grow in popularity with higher visitor numbers and lots of new email and RSS subscribers. Some of the most popular posts include 10 Inspiring Youtube videos for Teachers, 10 Evernote Uses for Teacher, New iPod, iPhone and iPad Apps for Schools and my Discoveries series of posts. I must also thank the Teachers Building Society who sponsor Teaching News.

Teaching Videos

Every week, I explore the latest educational videos and add them to the directory on Teaching Videos. Over 1,000 new videos have been added this year, enabling teachers to find relevant video content quickly by looking in the different subject / topic areas.

Teaching Photos

At the start of 2011, I transferred Teaching Photos to a new management system, allowing teachers to view and share their own photos. The site is a popular source of inspiration for classroom displays.

Teaching Events

I also transferred Teaching Events to a new system, making it much easier for me to update. As a result, the site is now bursting with hundreds of educational events that you can use as the starting point for learning in your classroom. Visitors to the site can also easily submit their own events and professional development opportunities.

Teaching Library

Over the summer, I also spent some time building a new site… the Teaching Library. As you may know, this site offers free teaching ideas and resources linked to popular children’s books. After only a few months online, the site now has resources for 50 books and it has received lots of praise from teachers and authors. I’m looking forward to continuing to expand the site next year.

More updates!

In 2011, I also redesigned Ideas to Inspire and Teaching Websites. Have you seen them yet? I’ve continued to post regularly on my Twitter and Facebook accounts, which now have over 26,000 followers in total!

My wife also set up a new web site which is devoted to sharing her fantastic craft skills. Please take a look at Sew Surprising and leave her a comment!

The future…

As 2012 approaches, I’m looking forward to continuing to work on all of my sites… making and sharing free ideas and resources for teachers everywhere.

What did you achieve in 2012?

Clicker, a literacy support tool from Crick Software, is currently used in over 90% of UK primary schools. It helps pupils to achieve reading and writing success and the latest version, Clicker 6, is about to be launched at BETT 2012.

A key focus for Clicker 6 is independent learning. The new Quick-Start Screen enables pupils to work on activities straight away without teacher assistance, whilst built-in support tools like the updated speech feedback and new word predictor enable them to overcome learning barriers that would previously have prevented them from putting great ideas into writing.

Clicker 6 also has new activity wizards which guide teachers through the activity creation process, automatically transforming their content into Clicker Sets, and makes tailoring these activities to pupils’ needs quicker and easier.

For further details on Clicker 6, visit Crick Software on stand F40 at BETT 2012, where you can also find out about exclusive upgrade discounts. You can also visit Crick Software’s site for more information.

Documentary Tube is a free site which allows you to watch over 1000 documentaries, covering a variety of subjects and topics. The videos are easy to find and you can also subscribe to receive the latest updates via RSS, email, Facebook or Twitter!

The site is popular with teachers and the developers are currently preparing a new ‘Schools Zone’ which will include documentaries on core subject matters, and those outlined in the curriculum.

Don’t forget to visit our Teaching Videos site to find shorter videos and clips, all of which are organised by curriculum subject and topic too.

Christmas is approaching quickly, so here are ten sites which offer Christmas resources for you to use:

1) Teaching Ideas – My wife drew some wonderful Christmas cartoons last year and I was able to use them to make some popular Christmas resources. I’ve also spent the past few weeks making another new collection of content, including some ‘Christmas Inspiration posters’ which you can download free. Take a look!

2) Primary Resources - An enormous collection of Christmas resources are available to download here. Highly recommended.

3) TPet – The Teachers Pet team have been really busy making lots of Christmas display resources and activities over the past few weeks. They all look fantastic!

4) Twinkl – Lots of printable and editable activities and resources are available for download from Twinkl… and more are added on a regular basis.

5) TES – The TES resource bank is an immense collection of teaching material and there is a special Christmas collection which you can explore.

6) Mrs. Pancake have lots of lovely craft activities which you can download and print. Try the 3D Christmas cards or Dancing Santa!

7) Woodlands Junior School – This is a wonderful resource for children, offering a guide to Christmas, in child-friendly language with lots of images and illustrations. There is also a special page of resources for teachers.

8 ) The North Pole – This site is full of Christmas games and activities. One of my favourite sections is the ‘Christmas around the World’ section which explains how people in different countries celebrate Christmas.

9) North Pole – Northpole.com has lots of Christmas stories, recipes and activities that you can use.

10) RE:Quest - You can download a number of great Christmas resources here and watch videos of Christmas services and events. A great resources for Christmas RE activities.

11) Sing Up – The popular ‘Sing Up’ site has a special Festive pack of resources which you can download too.

What is your favourite Christmas resource site?

Christmas is just over one month away and lots of schools are getting ready for their Christmas-themed lessons and activities! Our popular Christmas theme was published last year and the resources were downloaded many thousands of times. I’ve recently made a new set of resources and added them to the page. Take a look!

I’ve also made a set of ‘Inspirations’ posters linked to Christmas. These can be used as lesson starters… to stimulate discussion… to review what children know… as a starting point for creative writing… or for classroom display. If people like them, I’ll try and make some more Inspirations for the other sections on Teaching Ideas.

I’m sure that I’ll be making more Christmas resources over the coming weeks, so stay tuned to our RSS feed, Facebook and Twitter pages to receive the latest updates!

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been busy working on a new set of themed resources for my Teaching Ideas site. I’m pleased to say that the new theme is now available!

The theme has over 100 teaching ideas, activities, display resources, videos and photos… all of which can be used to support teaching about healthy eating, the human body and exercise. There are lots of posters which you can print and put on your classroom wall, as well as activity sheets for children to use.

Teaching Ideas now has 14 themes and I’m planning some more themes which will be published over the next few months and in 2012. If you’re starting to think about Christmas lessons, don’t forget to look at the Christmas theme!

I get to watch lots of online videos in my search for new additions to my Teaching Videos site. The site now has almost 2,500 educational videos, so I thought that I would share some of my favourites… the most inspirational… the most incredible… the most beautiful… and the most entertaining. Here they are:

1) Try to Do – This wonderful video tells a great story about a baby squirrel who tries to climb a big wall. It is a fantastic way of encouraging children to think about perseverance and determination, as well as exploring ways of helping others.

Click here to view the embedded video.

2) I’ll Be Gone - This video could be used to discuss how sounds and music are made… watch the rhythm of each sound played out in the video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

3) Steve Spangler Science – Steve has a huge collection of online videos which teach Science in very exciting ways. Lots of his experiments can be tried at home or in the classroom, but some (like the one below) are definitely not appropriate!

Click here to view the embedded video.

4) Landscapes: Volume Two – This is a beautiful video which features stunning time-lapse video of landscapes in Arizona and Utah. It would be great for inspiring descriptive writing about settings and locations.

Click here to view the embedded video.

5) The Water Cycle stop motion – I love stop-motion animations and we make lots of them at school too. This video is a great animation about the water cycle which is perfect for Science lessons:

Click here to view the embedded video.

6) The Balloon Lady - Can you write a story about the Balloon Lady? Why is she so cheerful? How does it make the other people feel to be given a balloon? What happens to the balloons after the end of the film?

Click here to view the embedded video.

7) Kuroshio Sea – This looks incredible in full-screen HD on an interactive whiteboard. I’ve shown this to classes a number of times and the reaction is always ‘WOW!’.

Click here to view the embedded video.

8 ) The Highwayman – Lots of schools use ‘The Highwayman’ by Alfred Noyes as part of their Literacy lessons and this animated video is a great accompaniment for any work using the book. Don’t forget that there are more teaching ideas linked to The Highwayman on my Teaching Library site.

Click here to view the embedded video.

9) Test Your Awareness – This extremely popular video is a great test of children’s observation skills!

Click here to view the embedded video.

10) Haerskogen – These amazing little creatures could be used in the classroom in lots of ways. Can your children write a description of them, or a story about their lives? Could they design their own creatures in Art, DT or ICT? Could you use them in Science for work on habitats and adaptation?

Click here to view the embedded video.

What are your favourite online videos?

Here are links to some of this week’s education-related news:

Schools:

• Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, outlines a new recruitment drive for specialist maths and science in primary schools as part of a sweeping reform of the teacher training system in England.
• Nick Clegg has said £7bn will be spent over four years improving the education of England’s poorest children.
• The part that grammar schools play in the education system of Kent has been championed by two MPs from the county.
• State schools will be told to teach the classic English novels they currently ignore in a radical overhaul of what is taught in the classroom.
• Too many children leave school unable to add, subtract and divide after being put off by “flawed” maths lessons, according to a leading examiner.
• Children as young as five will be taught by specialist subject teachers under a Government plan to give pupils the best start to their education.
• A string of big names from the arts world are urging the government to ensure cultural learning is not stripped from schools in England.
• Nearly 12,000 parents were prosecuted and 25 given prison sentences because of their children’s truancy from school last year, figures show.
• Many pupils who sat Standard Grade and Higher exams in Scotland earlier this year struggled with basic skills, according to Scotland’s exams board.
• A game of cricket during the school day can help improve pupils’ behaviour and lead to calmer classrooms, a report suggests.
• Parents in England and Northern Ireland are spending more time reading to their children for pleasure, a survey for the reading scheme Booktime suggests.
• Children whose parents frequently read with them in their first year of school are still showing the benefit when they are 15, says an international study.

Universities:

• Plans for universities in England to compete for some student places should be delayed, a Commons committee says.

Other News:

• Not putting the clocks back would help in the fight against child obesity, a study suggests.
• As many as 140,000 disadvantaged two-year-olds could have free nursery places under a scheme planned to be rolled out in England.

Next week’s Teaching Events include:

• 14th November - World Diabetes Day
• 14th to 20th November - Global Entrepreneurship Week
• 14th to 25th November - Anti-Bullying Week
• 16th November - International Day for Tolerance
• 17th to 19th November - The Design + Technology with ICT Education Show
• 18th November - Children in Need
• 19th November - World Toilet Day
• 19th November - International Men’s Day

Did you know that the Guinness World Records is the third biggest selling book of all time. It’s also the most borrowed book from school libraries! Schools can currently enter a competition to win a visit from the world’s tallest man, Sultan Kosen. Guinness World Records officials will also visit the winning school to adjudicate a series of world record breaking challenges.

You can enter the competition on the Guinness World Records Schools page, which also has a selection of lesson plans and resources for you to use. There are also some free online ‘page spreads‘ which include 26 pages of facts from the book. Take a look!

If you’re planning some spooky lessons as part of Halloween this week, try some of these great resources:

1) Learn about Halloween and how it is celebrated on the fantastic Project Britain site.

2) There are lots of great craft ideas on LessonSense.com with clear instructions and photos to follow along with.

3) Primary Resources have a section of Halloween resources. Find them all here.

4) The TES have also created a handy list of the Halloween resources on their popular site.

5) Teaching Videos has a number of Halloween-themed videos, including this Skeleton Dance video which your class could join in with!

Click here to view the embedded video.

6) Mrs Pancake has a set of instructions which children can follow to make their own Halloween bats!

7) Twinkl also have lots of Halloween resources, including banners, vocabulary cards, recipe sheets and colouring pictures.

8 ) This interactive site lets you carve your own pumpkins online!

9) Apples4theTeacher also have a large collection of interactive Halloween activities, including online colouring pages and jigsaws.

10) PrimaryGames has a HUGE collection of online Halloween games!

11) You can also download a number of Halloween resources from Primary Treasure Chest.

12) If you would like to try some Halloween origami, Activity Village have lots of different instructions, including this video which shows you how to make a Halloween Cat!

Click here to view the embedded video.

13) There are lots of Halloween craft and activity ideas on TheIdeaBox.com.

14) If you’re able to make some Halloween food and snacks, you could use some of these wonderful recipes.

15) Could your class write their own Halloween poems? Use some of the examples here for inspiration.

What are your favourite Halloween resources?