Story Book Day is a Literacy project which schools can get involved with, benefitting pupils in the UK and in Africa. Children find out about the life of a boy from The Gambia. They then take part in different Literacy activities and are asked to choose one or two of their favourite story books to donate to an African school.

Jole Rider, the charity organising the project, suggest holding your Story Book Day in the week commencing 5th July, but you can also take part later in the year.

Find out more by reading this PDF, embedded below:

In a week dominated by election news, here are links to some education-related news articles:

• Ed Balls urged headteachers not to boycott SATs – At last Sunday’s National Association of Head Teachers conference, Ed Balls asked head teachers not to go ahead with their plans to boycott this year’s SATs. Despite this, children in more than 900 schools will not be taking next week’s tests.
• SATs pressure turns children off reading – Almost 100 children’s authors and illustrators sign a letter supporting heads and teachers in their campaign to get rid of national curriculum tests for 11-year-olds.
• ‘Fix or Ditch’ new school curriculum – The Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association claims that the new Curriculum for Excellence is ‘a deeply-flawed programme which is not yet fit to be rolled out fully in secondary schools.’
• Too much TV can be harmful for toddlers – The more TV a toddler watches, the higher the likelihood they will do badly at school and have poor health at the age of 10, researchers warn.
• Education Issues for New Ministers – Whoever forms a government, the Guardian has highlighted ten issues that it thinks education ministers should address. Do you agree with them?
• Poor Literacy and Maths skills for some teenagers – One fifth of school-leavers so illiterate and innumerate they struggle to cope with challenges of everyday life.
• Children will eat more fruit if it looks good – Making fruit look good holds the key to getting children to eat more of it, a study suggests.
• Best children’s books revealed – Publisher Puffin has produced a list of 70 of the best children’s books.

Image – Newspaper

Signed Stories is a free storytelling website with some of the best of contemporary books in English, subtitles, voice-over and sign language translation. It’s won four awards in 12 months – including Royal Television Society best on-line production.

www.signedstories.com

It’s now being used all over the world by children learning English, and is recommended by the British Council. Could you use this wonderful resource in your classroom?

Here are some links to a selection of education-related news articles from this week:

• Teacher cleared of attempting to kill boy – A teacher who struck a pupil with a dumbbell has been acquitted of attempted murder and causing grievous bodily harm with intent. Following this acquittal, the NAWUWT called for tighter controls on use of mobile phones in schools.
• Schools in Scotland may strike for first time in 20 years – The largest teaching union in Scotland is considering a one-day stoppage over cuts in school spending.
• Banish Ofsted inspectors from schools – The annual conference of the National Association of Head Teachers hears that headteachers should prevent inspectors entering their schools until the government changes the inspection regime.
• Bad sportsmanship affects school sports – A pupil survey has revealed that bad sportsmanship is regularly witnessed in school sports matches, with many pupils willing to cheat in order to win.
• Many parents failing to read to their children – A survey shows that many children are starting school having never been read a story.
• Computers for primary school children in East Africa – The One Laptop Per Child scheme hopes to deliver 30 million laptops in the area.
• High Tech High School pupils build robots and develop games – Teenagers at this San Diego school write video games, film sketches, make robots and use heavy duty power tools to build a boat.
• Primary schools under pressure for places – Schools in some parts of England are ‘full to bursting’.
• Online school reports – This article shows some of the steps that schools are taking to prepare for the provision of online reports for their pupils.
• New NSPCC resource helps schools meet safeguarding standards – The NSPCC has launched ‘Improving Safeguarding in Schools’, the first online self-assessment and development resource to help schools improve children’s safety and well-being. Here is a Youtube video which explains more:

Image – Newspaper

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!

Did you go to BETT? What did you discover?

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
• 9 – Peppa Pig official annual
• 10 – New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
• 11 – Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K Rowling

Image - Reading in the round

The best selling books for younger children were:

• The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
• The Tyrannosaurus Drip Song by Julia Donaldson
• Stick Man by Julia Donaldson
• Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sandak
• The Gurffalo’s Child by Julia Donaldson

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?

Chris Roland had created a set of Powerpoint stories featuring the characters Reg and Lellow. The stories have been designed to help young children learn English and can be used in class with pre-school, infant and primary levels.

www.regandlellow.com

As they have been written by an English teacher, they also have a number of pedagogical features to aid language acquisition, make in class storytelling as easy as possible for the teacher and story content easily integrated into schools’ English curriculum. There are also teachers’ notes and extra materials to explore.

First News create a weekly newspaper for children with articles in an easy and digestible format for younger readers. You can buy newspapers in the shops, or subscribe and have it delivered. Special subscription rates are also available for schools.

www.firstnews.co.uk

The First News website also has a lot of useful content for schools to use. A selection of news articles are available, along with competitions and games to play.

learndirect has launched two FREE online storybooks to help families make the most of their time together and have fun while learning.

learndirect research has revealed that almost one in three parents admit to wanting to brush up on their basic English and maths to support their children’s learning and development. Backed by celebrity mum and Waterloo Road actress, Angela Griffin, the new storybooks “The Journey to Darkest Somewhere” and “The House of Scary Words” let kids become the lead characters and change details within the stories.

Here’s a video which gives more information about the project:

The books also encourage readers to use basic English language while they play, so kids and parents can learn together. The new storybooks are available at www.learndirect.co.uk/readtogether. Kids also have the chance to win a professionally printed version of their book. Entrants simply need to register their personal storybook on the website before 31 December 2009.

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.
• e-learning for Kids (via @shaunwoodnz) – Lots of free e-learning courses, covering a wide range of topics.
• 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.