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?

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 look for Teaching Ideas and I’m really pleased that the updated site is now online.

The site has a much clearer layout and I’ve reorganised the ideas and resources according to their relevant age ranges to make them easier to find. I’ve also gone through the code throughout the entire site which means that it should be quicker to load.

To celebrate the launch of the new site, I’ve also made a new set of my popular ‘Inspiration’ resources… this new set give ideas for inspiring Maths lessons. They can be used as lesson starters to stimulate discussion about Maths concepts. You could also put them on your classroom displays to get children thinking about Maths! I’m also working on a new set of ‘History Inspiration’ posters which should be online very soon!

I hope that you like the new site. The new layout is also much quicker for me to update, which means that I can spend more time making free resources for you!

Over the past month or two, I’ve been making and uploading lots of new resources to Teaching Ideas. These include:

• Alphabet Cards – in different letter styles and with ideas for using them in the classroom.
• Handwriting Sheets – in precursive and cursive letter styles.
• Maths Resources – including banners, vocabulary cards and activity sheets.
• Superheroes Resources – new resources on our popular Superheroes theme.
• Cutting Skills – to support children’s ability to use scissors carefully and accurately.
• Synonyms Display Words – A set of words which can be used to extend children’s vocabulary.

If you have any comments or suggestions about my Teaching Websites, please get in touch!

Our new Christmas Teaching Theme has recently been published and it is rapidly becoming the most popular section on Teaching Ideas! This theme is the biggest one yet and it includes a wide range of teaching ideas, resources, display material, videos, photos, jokes, apps, games and links… all related to Christmas. Visit the theme at www.teachingideas.co.uk/themes/christmas.

If you have any Christmas ideas or resources that you are able to share, please email them to me and I will try to put them on the theme page as soon as possible. Thank you.

I will not be publishing a new theme in January as I want to be able to spend some time re-organising the current theme resources. However, I’m looking forward to the next theme in February… stay tuned to the Teaching Ideas Twitter and Facebook pages later this month to find out what it is!

Learning about money is an important part of life and education… here are links to some sites and resources which may be useful to you:

• This BBC report shows schools in Northern Ireland where lessons in personal finance are compulsory for all children.
• The following Youtube video shows five tips to teach younger children good money habits:

www.childrensmoneyworld.com

www.moneysmartworld.com

Do you have a favourite resource when teaching children about money? Please let us know about it by suggesting it in the comments… thank you!

Image – £20

A few months ago, Rommie Corso kindly contributed a free page from her book to my Teaching Ideas site. The page, which has a picture of a turtle to colour and a related drawing activity, has been downloaded and used by lots of teachers. Rommie has now offered five copies of her book as a competition prize for readers of Teaching News. The book is full of creative pictures to colour in, plus ideas to encourage children to create their own works of art.

Find out more about ‘Colour to Life’ at www.hardshellpublishing.com

UPDATE – This competition has now closed.

I recently set up a new site to accompany my existing collection of Teaching Websites. The new site is called Teaching Events and is a place where you can find:

• 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.

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. 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!

Alan McKinney from SoundScalpel has kindly contributed a large collection of sound effects to Teaching Ideas. You can download these sounds and use them in your classroom for:

• 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?

Here are links to some of the most popular Teaching Ideas, News, Videos and Photos on my websites recently:

• World Cup Ideas and Resources – A large collection of lesson ideas, videos, display material and other resources, to support the use of the World Cup in the classroom.
• Creative Writing – A collection of starting points for creative writing.
• The 100 Square – Use the 100 square to find patterns by colouring in certain squares.
• How many squares on a chessboard? – An enjoyable Maths investigation, which requires logical thinking in order to find the correct answer.
• Ordering the Planets – Can you remember the correct order of the planets? Use these handy tricks to help you!

• Blank Top Trumps Cards – Free resources to help you create your own Top Trumps cards in the classroom.
• Classroom Displays – Discover a site to inspire your own classroom displays.
• iPhone and iPod apps for schools – A collection of applications to use in your lessons.
• Mr. Thorne’s Phonics Videos – Look at these wonderful educational phonics videos for young children.
• Myst Ideas and Resources – An announcement about the release of lots of ideas to support the use of the Myst games in the classroom.

• South African World Cup 2010 – A video made by the South African people when they won the World Cup 2010 Bid.
• Wavin’ Flag – The official theme song for the FIFA World Cup South Africa 2010, by the somalian artist K’naan.
• Fifa World Cup Soccer City – Find out about Soccer City, the venue that will take centre stage during the World Cup finals in South Africa.
• Persuasive Advert KS2 – A persuasive advert which can be used as part of Literacy lessons in KS2.
• The Highwayman – Watch an animated version of the popular poem.