Smart have recently launched their Love of Learning campaign. The aim of the campaign is to celebrate exceptional teaching and to start a global conversation about who the best teachers are.

To promote the campaign, Smart has created a stop motion animation called The Magical Classroom, which shows dinosaurs coming to life, the creation of Earth and a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. You can view the video below:

At the end of the video, viewers are asked to nominate a teacher who has inspired them to pursue a career, learn a language, become a trapeze artist – anything! All entries are then entered into a prize draw to win a Smart Interactive Whiteboard for a school of the winner’s choice. You can find out more about this campaign, and get involved by nominating a teacher at http://uk.smartloveoflearning.com/

Teachers Building Society has been appointed to manage the Home Loans for Teachers scheme set up by the Old Etonian Housing Association (OEHA). The scheme provides interest-free loans to teachers working in Islington, Camden and Haringey who would otherwise be unable to purchase their own homes. To date, home loans have been made to 11 teachers and OEHA has now made more funds available for the scheme.

London teachers interested in finding out more about the scheme should contact Teachers Building Society on 0800 378 669 or send an email to lisa.hanger@teachersbs.co.uk.

Teachers Building Society offer a number of financial services for teachers and have a mailing list containing features and articles for people working in education. Anyone who registers will receive a special offer!

Go Givers is a free site for primary and middle school children (aged 5 to 14). It contains a wide range of free, engaging, and interactive citizenship-rich cross-curricular resources.

www.gogivers.org

There are areas for teachers, parents and children. The teachers’ section has free lesson plans and downloadable resources, which all aim to develop a sense of personal responsibility and concern for the world that we live in.

There are lots of places where teachers can chat and share ideas on Internet forums. Two of these include the TES Forums and our own Teaching Forum. A few months ago, I came across another forum… the Primary Teacher Resource Centre Forum (more commonly known as PTRC).

http://primaryresourcecentre.myfreeforum.org/

The forum is full of a really friendly bunch of people who are always happy to give answers to any questions for help. They also share some wonderful resources and links – I have discovered lots of new teaching material through the forum.

I had the pleasure of meeting some of the regular posters on PTRC at BETT last week. It was lovely being able to put faces to the names that I see so often when I’m browsing through the forum.

Following part 1 and part 2 of my ‘Favourite blogs for teachers’ posts, here is another collection of useful blogs to follow. Don’t forget to subscribe to their RSS feeds to get the latest updates.

• Technostories – This blog is a fantastic source of inspiration for using ICT in your classroom. Created by Bev Evans who also runs the wonderful Communication4All site.
• Inspiring Creative Technology – Simon Haughton shares his teaching experiences, including many brilliant ICT ideas.

• Digital-Teacher – Simon Widdowson posts regularly about lots of school-related issues. Some of these include his explorations of various online tools as his school attempts to set up their own virtual learning environment.
• Steps in Teaching and Learning – This blog, created by Kevin McLaughlin, is another valuable source of information for teachers, particularly those with an interest in ICT.
• Bits & Bobs – Nicola Stables is a regular blogger who shares her teaching ideas and experiences with this wonderful blog.

• I Learn Technology - Kelly Tenkely is a technology teacher who shares useful ideas and teaching links on this fantastic blog.
• Adventures in Learning – EBD35 only started blogging recently and has written some interesting posts already about the use of the Nintendo Wii to support learning in the classroom.

Many thanks to Steph Westwood (who has started her own blog recently) for suggesting some of these via Twitter.

Image – keyboard ~ blur

A few months ago, I wrote a list of some of my ‘Favourite blogs for teachers‘. Here’s another collection of great blogs that you might want to explore and add to your RSS reader.

• The Whiteboard Blog – If you use an interactive whiteboard, you must read this fantastic blog from Danny Nicholson. Danny shares tips, advice, news and lots of links to interactive sites to help you to get the most from your board.
  
• ICT@Southwark – Claire Jones produces this interesting blog which has lots of ideas for using ICT in your classrooms. It also has some wonderful ‘How To’ videos which show you new ICT tips and tricks.
• Mr Finlayson – This blog is made by an Australian teacher, Alex Finlayson, who shares his teaching experiences (including the use of computer games like Myst).
  
• Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day – A wonderful collection of links or teachers to explore, created by Larry Ferlazzo.
• Primarypete – Another great ICT / Education blog with detailed information about a range of resources and how they have been used in the classroom. Created by Peter Richardson.
• 100 Blogs Every New Teacher Should Read – A great starting point for discovering new blogs.

Lots of these blogs are focussed on ICT which is one of my own areas of interest. Do you have a favourite blog? I’m particularly interested in finding blogs which are linked to other curriculum areas. Let me know via email or in the comments below and I’ll try to add it to a future list. Thanks!

Image – The Almighty Mouse

Triangle is an independent organisation, working directly with children and families, giving expert opinions to the courts and teaching / advising parents and professionals.

They have recently produced a DVD called Three Way Street which shows how to get communication going with a child in the presence of another adult, using their skills and knowledge when you need to. It also teaches a range of practical strategies and a model of three way communication in which the child is central. Find out more…

Free Stuff for Teachers has a HUGE collection of… er… free stuff for teachers!

http://www.netrover.com/~kingskid/freestuff.htm

The site has wide range of resources covering Maths, Literacy, Music and many other subjects… with worksheet generators, interactive teaching tools, games, timers and lots more!

The site is well worth browsing as you are sure to find something useful.

Bullying UK is a registered charity which was founded in 1999 by journalist Liz Carnell from Harrogate and her son John, as a direct result of their experience of dealing with school bullying. Liz has been researching and writing on school bullying issues for 14 years and now uses the Internet to provide information and advice.

www.bullying.co.uk

The Bullying.co.uk website has a huge collection of articles for young people, schools, parents and other adults. There is also a useful section about cyberbullying. Don’t forget to follow Bullying UK on Twitter, or consider making a donation if you can.

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