Following my previous posts about education resources from Channel 4, they have been busy making another set of fantastic resources for schools to use. Here are some of the latest additions:

• Alien Ink (graphic novel, videos, social media) - A graphic comic tackling teen issues e.g. Knife crime, peer pressures, bullying etc. This is perfect for PSHE and citizenship lessons.
• Battle of Britain: Squadron 303 (flash game) - A fun and historically accurate game about the Polish Squadron 303 in the British Airforce during WW2. This is great for history lessons, but also citizenship as it teaches about diversity in the British armed forces as far back as the 1940s.

• Battlefront 2 (TV programme, online videos, game) - A second series of this TV programme and website featuring 11 campaigns run by young people on themes from autism, to equal pay, to lowering the voting age to education in Ghana. A fantastic resource for PSHE and citizenship teachers.
• SuperMe (games, videos, quizzes) – This teaches young people how to “live life better”, how to be more resilient and take control of their happiness. Inspired by the Resilience program and featuring celebrities young people look up to such as Pixie Lott, Speech Debelle and footballe Shaun Wright Phillips, this is a great site full of videos, games and quizzes to engage people in citizenship and PSHE issues. Expert psychologist advice also makes this relevant to psychology classes. Here’s an example of one of the videos:

Lots of videos from these series are also featured in the PSHE section of Teaching Videos.

How could you use these resources in your classroom?

The PGCE Survival Guide is a new free e-book created to support those who are about to start PGCE teacher-training courses. However, it is such a fantastic resource that it could be useful for all teachers.

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!

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?

The Sorrell Foundation is launching the YOUNGDESIGNCLUB to give pupils and their teachers an exciting new resource to inform and stimulate knowledge and debate about design.

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.

A free giveaway of the History Channel’s documentary ‘Inside the Body of Henry VIII’ is available for teachers. The DVD explores life in Tudor Times and is aimed at upper KS2 children, although it also works well with secondary students.

Image – Henry VIII miniature

To receive your free copy, please email thepeoplespeak@iamtomorrow.co.uk by 17th July with ‘DVD King Henry Order’ in the subject line. Also include your name, school, school address, postcode and telephone number. Only 1000 copies are available and postage is free.

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.

• Designing Games – A display showing children’s ICT work as part of a topic about the creation of computer games.
• Adjectives and Adverbs – Sharing children’s suggestions of adjectives and adverbs, created using WordArt and clipart.
• 3D Shapes – A selection of 3D shapes, made by pupils, along with questions to review their understanding.
• Reading Chart – A chart on which the children move their names, to show how many times they have read at home.
• Colour Mixing – What happens when you mix different colours? Find out in this colourful display!

I’ve published July’s Teaching Theme a few days early, so that it can be used in the last few weeks of the summer term here in the UK. The theme is called ‘Summer at the Seaside‘ and it contains an enormous collection of ideas, resources, display material, photos, videos, links, places and maps… all linked to the summer and seaside topics.

This is our biggest Teaching Theme yet, with over 100 ideas, resources and links for you to explore and I’ve already had lots of wonderful comments from visitors. I must say a HUGE thank you to my wife who has drawn the amazing images on many of the display resources. I’m sure that they will look fantastic in your classroom!

I’ve now started getting ready for August’s theme – Space! If you have any resources or suggestions for any of these themes, please get in touch!

Naace, the professional association for those interested in advancing education through ICT, offers free on-line continuing professional development opportunities via their ICTCPD4Free site.

Undertaking a course allows registered users to gain certificates of completion provided they undertake the number of online hours allocated to each course. Each course also gives participants a number of credit hours towards the Naace Online ICT Diploma.

The PDF embedded below offers more information:

Visit the ICTCPD4Free site to find out more and to get involved yourself.

ICT Goodies is a free resources sharing community setup and run by teachers. The creator of the site, Andrew Clarke, strongly believes in a culture of sharing good practice. He says:

“If I’ve created some great resources that the kids have enjoyed working with and have clearly made good progress, why would I want to keep them to myself? There are too many teachers out there who have a futile stance about keeping their resources to themselves; yes, you’ve spent lots of time making that PowerPoint, so why not let somebody else get some use out of it?”

www.ictgoodies.com

The site does require you to register, but this is free and easy. Why not sign up and share some of your resources? You can also visit other sites in the ‘Goodies’ franchise… Media Studies Goodies, PE Goodies and Business Goodies.

Mouse Mischief is a way of helping your pupils actively participate in lessons using their own mice to interact with your slides on the interactive whiteboard screen. It works with Powerpoint and is free to use. Find out more in this Youtube video: