Mousetrap Theatre Projects is an independent charity dedicated to creating opportunities for young people with limited resources, opportunities, support or disabilities to engage with the best of London’s theatre. They are currently offering lots of theatre offers for school groups which you can take advantage of. You can find out more about the project in this Youtube video:

Click here to view the embedded video.

The charity also run a project called the Teacher’s Preview Club. This club aims to make theatre more affordable, allowing teachers to preview a show prior to taking a school group – or simply enjoy theatre productions with friends or colleagues. For an annual membership of £25 teachers can buy two reduced priced tickets each time they book. Find out more in this Youtube video:

Click here to view the embedded video.

If you’re interested in taking part, you can register for the club here.

A new network is being developed to support men in primary schools. The aim of the network is to increase applications from men to teacher training courses, achieve higher retention rates, and encourage more to stay in the teaching profession. Three short films with male primary school teachers have been created and three initial events are being held this month. Find more details in the poster below:

Email rory@osmogroup.com for free tickets to these events. You can also join the new Facebook group.

Tom Barrett has started a new collaborative project called ‘Shared Search‘… the aim is create a set of search engines related to specific topics, where the results have been contributed by educators. Tom has started the first one, which is linked to the topic of sealife.

You can find out how to add sites to the search engine, and use the tool itself on Tom’s blog post. Don’t forget to follow his RSS feed to hear about future Shared Search facilities as they are created.

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.
• 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.