Doug Belshaw has started a wonderful new way of sharing teaching tips via Twitter. His idea, called ‘Move Me On’, involves teachers sharing a simple tip or idea in 140 characters by posting it on Twitter with the hashtag #movemeon. At the time of writing this, there are 490 tips in the collection!

You can read more about the idea on Doug’s site, or follow the rest of the ideas at TwapperKeeper. Doug is planning to publish an e-book containing all of the contributed ideas, so follow his blog to find out when this has been published.

Here are links to some of the most popular ideas on Teaching Ideas over the past few months:

1. The Hundred Square (Maths) – Use the 100 square to find patterns by colouring in certain squares.
2. Story Plans (Literacy) – Two free worksheets which children can use when planning their stories.
3. Story Settings (Literacy) – A fantastic resource which encourages children to describe settings without telling the reader directly.
4. Millionaire Place Value Game (Maths) – A competition between the teacher and pupils which develops understanding of place value.
5. Feelings Flowers (Art) – A wonderful way of encouraging children to think about their feelings.
6. The Skeleton (Science) – A handy worksheet on which children have to identify different parts of the skeleton.
7. Place Value Clap (Maths) – A brilliant method of getting children to think about place value.
8. Decimal Number Lines (Maths) – Three number lines which children can refer to during their work on decimals.
9. Place Value Hats (Maths) – Use this excellent idea to develop children’s understanding of place value.
10. Fill in the Punctuation (Literacy) – Children need to put the correct punctuation into a piece of text.

What is your favourite teaching idea? Send your ideas and I will add them to the site as soon as I can. Thank you

One Million Giraffes is an online project in which one person is hoping to collect 1 million giraffes by 2011. People are sending pictures of their giraffes (which can’t be created on a computer) and at the time of writing, the collection has reached over 250,000!

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!

It’s ICT week on Teachers’ TV and there are a number of interesting new videos which will be useful for any teachers who have to use ICT as part of their teaching.

One new series of videos is called ‘Better Learning with ICT‘. There are currently five videos in the series and many of them feature some of the amazing educators who use Twitter to share ideas and support each other. The videos include:

• Video in the Classroom - A geography teacher uses video to enhance learning in class.
• Improving Your Presentations - A primary teacher uses ICT to aid her presentation skills (with some great tips from @joedale)
• Online Communities in the Classroom - A teacher learns the benefits of using social media in school (@lisibo shares her amazing experience)
• Computer Games in the Classroom - A primary teacher uses computer games to inspire her class (with some fantastic ideas from @dawnhallybone)
• Data Handling in the Classroom - A teacher overcomes her fear of data handling by using ICT (@cthomas18 shares some excellent advice).

Watch the videos online, download them to watch later and follow these incredible educators on Twitter. You’re bound to learn something new… I certainly did when I watched each video!

As the new school year is about to begin here in the UK, I thought that it might be useful to share some ideas and activities that could be used at the start of the year, to help you get to know your new class:

• Choosing the Rules – Involve the children in deciding the rules of your class at the start of the year.
• Hawaiian T-Shirt Glyph (DOC) – Get to know your students at the start of the year, by asking them to colour this glyph according to the given key. Contributed by Cori McKinzie.
• Video Introductions – Get to know children at the start of the year by asking them make a short video recording.

If the class don’t know each other very well, try some of these activities to encourage co-operation and sharing:

• Untangle the Spider’s Web – A wonderful team game, which requires good co-operation and a ball of string!
• Learning to Share – A practical way to encourage sharing within your class.
• Co-operation Ball – A fantastic game which requires close concentration and lots of co-operation.
• Don’t Get Tangled! – A fun way of getting to know a new class, and encouraging them to get to know each other.
• Can you count to 20? – Can your children count to 20, without organising who says what?
• Look Up, Look Down – An enjoyable circle game which encourages children to look at each other!

I sometimes try these Art activities with a new class. They’re not too tricky and give impressive results… great for decorating a display board at the start of term:

• Diamond Display – Follow these simple instructions to make a beautiful diamond display in your classroom.
• Starburst Pictures – Create an amazing Starburst display, by drawing some dots and a few straight lines!
• 3D Pictures – Very easy technique which lets you make 2D pictures look 3D. You only need to draw a dot and some lines!

What is your favourite ‘Start of the Year’ activity? Leave a comment…

Here’s another collection of Teaching Ideas that you might not have seen before:

1. Topic Dictionary (Literacy) – A cross-curricular activity to reinforce understanding of specific vocabulary.
2. Lollipop Shapes (Maths) – A simple way of helping children to learn the names and properties of 2D shapes.
3. Branching Database Ideas (ICT) – Try some of these useful ideas when teaching pupils about branching databases.
4. Paint the Playground! (Early Years) – Learn letters, numbers and shapes by painting the playground!
5. The Key Master (Time-Fillers) – A fantastic game which requires quiet and calmness from everyone in the class!

There are lots of amazing videos on Youtube, many of which are valuable resources for teachers to use in their classrooms. Over on Ideas to Inspire, we’ve started a presentation called ‘Inspiring Youtube Videos to use in the classroom‘. Take a look and discover some amazing videos that have been suggested by other teachers.

www.ideastoinspire.co.uk/youtube.htm

As I write this there are 70 videos, but more are added on a regular basis, so keep checking back or subscribe to the Ideas to Inspire RSS feed.

Here’s a copy of my recent mailing list message for those who don’t subscribe:

Hi,

I’m now on my summer break, so I’ve been able to add lots of new additions to Teaching Ideas. Over the past few days, I’ve uploaded more than 60 new ideas, activities and resources which you can try in your classrooms. Many of these include some wonderful Display Photos. Thanks to everyone who has contributed, particularly to Claire Jones, Bev Evans and Simon Haughton who sent many wonderful contributions.

Since my last email update, my new Teaching Blog has also been updated regularly with useful tips for teachers and links to recommended sites. Have you visited the site yet? Why not subscribe to the RSS feed? If you’re not sure what RSS is, read my guide here.

Survey Feedback

I recently added a survey to Teaching Ideas, asking visitors for their feedback. I received lots of wonderful comments and some useful suggestions, so thank you to everyone who responded. Some of the comments included:

• Request for a dance / drama section… at the moment, there are very few ideas of this type. If anyone reading this has any good ideas to share, please get in touch and I’ll add them as soon as I can.
• Ways to use particular children’s books… I’m going to think about some of the Literacy ideas I’ve tried in my own classroom and add these in the near future. Again, if anyone else has ideas of this type, please share them!
• More pictures of classroom displays… Over the past few days, Display Photos has had its biggest update ever… browse around the wonderful pictures that have been added recently.
• Publicise the site more… Despite being online for over 10 years, it was suggested that some people still don’t know about Teaching Ideas. If you have a friend or colleague who you think might find the site useful, please forward this email to them or let them know about the site. Remember, all of the ideas and resources are completely free… and they always have been!

Starting in September, I will be only be teaching four days per week. Whilst I’m a bit sad about this, it will mean that I will then have one full day each week to add lots of new ideas and resources to Teaching Ideas and my other sites. I’ll also try and promote the site a little more, so that others can benefit from the wonderful teaching ideas that people have shared through the site.

I’m getting married in a few weeks, so I may not be able to send another email update until after then. If you’re on a break, like teachers here in the UK, have a wonderful time. If you’re teaching at the moment, I hope that my sites make your planning and teaching a little easier.

Best wishes,

Mark Warner

I’ve recently been tinkering with the home page of Teaching Ideas. You can now see more of the latest ideas and resources, as well as the latest posts on the Teaching Blog. The search box is much more prominent and there are also some clearer icons giving different options.

It’s almost time for my summer break from school, so I’ll be trying to add lots of new content soon… in between preparing for my approaching wedding.

Here are links to some ideas on Teaching Ideas that you might not have discovered yet:

• Victorian Day (History) – Ideas for running a Victorian Day in your classroom.
• 3D Pictures (Art) – A very easy technique which lets you make 2D pictures look 3D. You only need to draw a dot and some lines!
• Photo Soundtracks (Music) – Use your school environment as a stimulus for composition.
• Mr. Men Game (PE) – Use the Mr. Men to get your children moving!
• Colour Bingo (MFL) – Learn the words for different colours by playing Bingo!