ICT Games is a wonderful site with lots of interactive games and activities for primary children. The site is always growing and James Barrett, the creator, has produced some great resources that children can use at home or at school. Here are some links to a selection of them:
Saucer Sorter – A counting stick for your interactive whiteboard… using the numbers to practise counting forward and backwards in steps… rearrange numbers and ask pupils to put them in the correct order… hide numbers with the star bar and get the children to say what is missing…
Mummy Numberline – An interactive numberline for simple addition and subtraction.
Counting Caterpillar – A wonderful game for KS1/2 pupils which requires them to order numbers.
Count On Catapult – An exciting game which lets children practise counting on to the next 10.
Change Exchanger – With three levels of difficulty, this game asks children to scan items on the checkout and calculate the amount of change that is needed.
This is just a small selection of the resources available at ICT Games. Teachers can use the planning guide which links the activities to the Primary Framework.
All of the games are fantastic quality, so schools are very lucky that they are available online for free. You can follow James on Twitter to see when he adds new resources to the site.
The BBC’s School Report News Day takes place on Thursday 11th March. Is your school taking part?
For those who are new to the project, it aims to turn classrooms into newsrooms, giving children a chance to make the news. Pupils are given opportunities to make news reports about things that are important to them, through the radio, TV and online. You can find out more in this video which explains more.
The School Report site is an extremely useful resource for those taking part in the day, but lots of the content could also be used at other times of the year too.
Here are details of two sites which can be used to support work on road safety:
Safety Matters is designed for 7-11 year olds (and their teachers / parents) and offers free and interactive resources. Safety Matters provides teachers with lesson plans, assembly plans, student worksheets and interactive whiteboard tools which deliver road safety messages whilst supporting the Key Stage 2 PSHE, literacy and numeracy curriculum.
The pupil section of the website contains fun and interactive games, exercises, downloadable screen savers and a glossary, all designed to reinforce learning objectives. The parents section provides useful safety information on subjects such as cycling and the Green Cross Code.
Think! Education is made by the Department for Transport, offering road safety information and resources for primary-aged pupils, teachers and parents.
The resources are designed to be used flexibly, with mix and match lesson ideas. Resources have been provided in a variety of formats to suit different learning styles. There are posters, online big books, stories, songs, interactive whiteboard activities, activity sheets, homework sheets, audio clips and videos. You can download these from the site, but teachers can also order free printed copies of some of the resources.
Here are links to a selection of online resources which can help with the teaching and learning of spellings:
SpellingCity.com – Teachers can register on this site and add spelling words for their pupils to learn. Children can then try a range of activities and take part in tests.
SATs Spelling Tests – @arsenalchris has added all of the spelling words used in KS2 SATs tests to SpellingCity and made them available for others to use. Mrs Aviss has also created a set of 10 spelling revision lists which will give more practice.
BBC Skillswise – The BBC have lots of spelling resources on their Skillswise site, covering a wide range of spelling patterns.
Youtube Spelling Bee – An interactive spelling bee is available on Youtube. Click on the correct answers to go to the next video. There is a prize at the end!
Lisa Dubernard has recommended some spelling resources on Promethean Planet.
Don’t forget the ‘Ways to Support Spelling in the classroom’ presentation on Ideas to Inspire.
Caitlin’s Wish is a new book written for children who have a sick / disabled parent, sibling, relative or friend, and are finding it hard to come to terms with being a young carer. Caitlin’s Wish is a magical fairy story with a twist!
It has been written for young carers, and has an underlying message within it to help the child to see their life more positively! A useful resource for schools and their pupils.
Cyberkidz is a Dutch ‘edutainment’ site with lots of educational games, covering Maths, Literacy, Geography, Art, Music and more. The games are sorted by subject and age range, suitable for children aged 4-11.
Simon Haughton has put together a really useful site for children to use at home or at school as part of preparations for their SATs. There are links to some wonderful educational sites which primary children (and teachers) will enjoy exploring.
BETT, the ‘world’s largest educational technology event’ took place last week and I was very lucky to be able to spend a few days there. Here are some of the things that I discovered:
Anithings – A ‘creativity tool’ which lets children create animations by simply dragging objects around on screen. It costs £250 for a site licence, but there is a 10% discount during January.
Interactive Resources – This company makes the (extremely useful) Maths Packs, Teaching materials and Primary Games which can be used on interactive whiteboard and / or individual computers. During BETT, I was given a quick tour of the new online version of their site, allowing teachers (and pupils) to access the resources online at home and school. Teachers can also filter all of the resources by subject / topic and allocate activities to students who can try them when they next log in.
Story Stage – I watched a demo of this software from Scholastic and was really impressed at the ability to connect multiple mice to the same computer, allowing children to work collaboratively. Why doesn’t all software allow multiple users like Story Stage?
Smart – It was nice to hear about the release of Smart Notebook 10.6 (available now) which brings compatibility with Windows 7 and Snow Leopard on the Mac. It also has a ‘transparent’ tool which makes the Smart Notebook interface disappear, as well as a number of new Maths tools.
2Simple – I managed to get a final copy of 2Create a SuperStory, as well as trials of 2Assess ICT and the Online Tools. I’m really impressed with the potential of the online tools, allowing children to use creative software at home and school and save their work to an online storage area. Anthony Evans showed me 2Design&Make (built into the online tools) to make some fantastic 3D models.
Linkbun.ch – Allows you to share lots of links with one small link which can then be shared via email / Twitter etc. Thanks to @ianyorston for sharing this gem.
Stupflix – This looks a little like Animoto (as both allow you to combine audio / photos / video) but Stupeflix seems to have more customisation options. Shared by @digitalmaverick.
Dabbleboard – An online collaborative whiteboard. I’ve used Dabbleboard at home once or twice, but never in the classroom. @bevevans22 talked about this during a Teachmeet Takeover session and I can definitely see it being a valuable addition to a lesson.
Scratch – Scratch is a programming language which I’ve always thought was a bit complicated. However, @mberry gave us all an entertaining 7 minute demonstration of the program and made it all look incredibly easy. Downloading and trying Scratch is now high up on my ‘to do’ list.
Newseum - @digitalmaverick mentioned this during his Teachmeet Takeover session about Glogster. The Front pages section lets you view the front pages of a huge collection of newspapers from around the world.
Class blogging - Oliver Quinlan gave a really inspiring presentation about his class blogs and how time is given for the children to respond to each others’ blog posts. We regularly post items on our school website / blog but children rarely have time to add their own thoughts… something that is sure to change now!
The BBC recently reported an increase in children’s book sales, which they say is partly due to the success of Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series. Sales of picture books have also increased.
The top selling books were:
Top 5 – all Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series – various editions
6 – Beano Annual 2010
7 – Miles to go by Mylie Cyrus
8 – Mr Gum in the Hound of Lamonic Bibber /Sephir the Storm Monster by Andy Stanton and Adam Blade
My Year 3 class are currently enjoying the books in the Beaver Towers series by Nigel Hinton. I’ve also been gripped by the books in the Percy Jackson series, which I’m trying to read before the film is released soon!
Which books are popular with your children? What are your own favourite books?
Here’s another selection of links and ideas that I’ve discovered from my Twitter network over recent weeks:
Mapzone (via @simonhaughton) – Learn how to read maps with this interactive site from Ordnance Survey.
Interactives Spelling Bee (via @keisawilliams) – Just like an old-fashioned spelling bee, but played on your computer, with different grade levels to choose from.
DirectgovKids (via @wigglemyears) – A bright and colourful to help children to learn about the world around them. Also has sections for parents and teachers.
ABC Reading Eggs (via @kelrob6) - a site for children aged 4-7 which aims to help them learn to read while having fun.
Did you Know 4.0 – An update to the popular video presentation which includes facts and statistics about the world around us.
Thanks to those who shared these wonderful links! Lots of people think that Twitter is about listening to random strangers posting messages about where they are, what they are doing, and what they are having for dinner tonight.
But it’s much more than that. I find Twitter to be a great way for people with common interests to share links and discover new ideas. If you’re signed up, follow me at @markw29 and @teachingideas.
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