With so many other Teaching Websites to manage (as well as my own teaching job!), I’ve struggled to keep Teaching Events up to date recently. However, now that I’ve completed lots of work on many of my other sites, I’ve been spending some time adding new events to the Events site.

If you haven’t come across it before, the site aims to be a directory of:

• International and national events that can be used as the starting point for lessons in your classroom, with links to more information / resources where possible.
• Professional development opportunities that teachers can take part in, either in person or online.

There are still lots of events to add but I’m keen to get these online as soon as possible. I’ve also set up a new form so that teachers can add events themselves. So, if you know of a special date that other teachers might want to explore in their lessons, or if you’re planning a CPD event please feel free to add it to the site. Thank you!

Over the Christmas break, I spent lots of time updating Teaching Events. If you’re not aware of the site, it is a place where you can find national and international events which can be used as starting points for your lessons. It also lists conferences, shows and other professional development events for teachers.

The updated site has lots of new features including a much larger main calendar which shows the events more clearly. I’m regularly adding new events, so let me know if you’re aware of an educational event that could be added to the site. If you would like an account to be able to add your own events, please get in touch!

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!

Happy New Year!

For the first post of 2010, I wanted to highlight an amazing new resource that is being made by Mandy Barrow (who makes the wonderful Woodlands Junior school and Project Britain sites).

Mandy is making a month by month calendar for 2010 with a picture and a link related to each and every day. The calendar is still under construction but the first few months are now complete.

http://www.projectbritain.com/calendar/

Look at the calendar every day to see what is happening and ask your children to report to others about what they find. Can they discover any other interesting facts about the day?

The team from Sparkteaching are aiming to put together an online advent calendar, which schools are invited to take part in.

As their website explains, “each day, from December 1st to 25th, the calendar will display a piece of artwork uploaded by elementary / primary aged children from anywhere in the world on the theme “What Does Christmas Mean To You?”

Any children can take part, the incentive being that they could see their artwork online, viewed by hundreds, as part of the advent calendar.

It’d be great to see you get involved, particularly if the children in your class might provide a different perspective on what Christmas means to them. Obviously we’re looking for the first pieces of artwork by the 1st and then on throughout December (if you get in first, your artwork will be displayed for longer!)

Any artwork will be accepted (if it’s scannable, it’s acceptable!) Please scan and send as an attachment to: competition@sparkyteaching.com together with the artist’s first name and location (and age if you wish) and your school’s website address (we’d be happy to link to this if you’d like us too!)”

Even if you don’t take part, don’t forget to visit the online advent calendar from the 1st onwards to see what Christmas means to those who do…”

Find out more about the competition on Sparkyteaching’s site and view the calendar here.