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

ICTeachers have a fantastic site for teachers. They offer lots of services, including web design and hosting for schools. They also have a huge resources section, with lots of educational materials for schools to use.

www.icteachers.co.uk

There is also a section called ICKids, offering interactive webquests, practice test questions and safe educational links for children to explore.

Twitter always seems to be in the news lately. If you’ve not tried it out, why not? It allows you to post 140 character messages to others… sometimes people use it to share what they’re doing at different points in time. However, it’s also a great way of connecting with others and there is a large community of teachers who use it to:

• share ideas and experiences,
• ask questions and get support,
• recommend sites and resources,
• collaborate on joint projects.

If you’re looking for people to follow on Twitter, don’t forget that you can follow my accounts @TeachingIdeas / @markw29. Then browse around at the lists of people who I follow / who follow me – there are some wonderful educators out there, and Twitter enables you to get in touch with them.

Captain Curiosity is a wonderful site which gives lots of ideas for effective science lessons, with some great science investigations.

www.captaincuriosity.net

I’m sure that you’ll find at least lots of new and wonderful ideas there. Take a look!