Children and classes around the UK are invited to write a short story and enter it into the BBC’s 500 Words writing competition. Winners will receive a large collection of books for themselves (and for their school library) and the site has lots of writing tips to help children create an amazing short story.

Teachers and librarians throughout the UK are also invited to volunteer their time to help whittle this year’s submissions down to a shortlist, which will then be judged by some a team of popular authors. Entry to the competition is open to persons aged 13 years and under on the 1st March 2012 who are living in the UK. Children can submit their story using this form. Good luck!

Clicker, a literacy support tool from Crick Software, is currently used in over 90% of UK primary schools. It helps pupils to achieve reading and writing success and the latest version, Clicker 6, is about to be launched at BETT 2012.

A key focus for Clicker 6 is independent learning. The new Quick-Start Screen enables pupils to work on activities straight away without teacher assistance, whilst built-in support tools like the updated speech feedback and new word predictor enable them to overcome learning barriers that would previously have prevented them from putting great ideas into writing.

Clicker 6 also has new activity wizards which guide teachers through the activity creation process, automatically transforming their content into Clicker Sets, and makes tailoring these activities to pupils’ needs quicker and easier.

For further details on Clicker 6, visit Crick Software on stand F40 at BETT 2012, where you can also find out about exclusive upgrade discounts. You can also visit Crick Software’s site for more information.

Quadblogging is a great way of getting your children involved in writing and responding to writing by others around the world. If you haven’t heard of it before, read this description, taken from the Quadblogging blog:

‘Imagine four schools that had a partnership/agreement that would mean that for a four week cycle, each school’s blog would be the focus for one week out of four. Each school in the Quad would spend some time visiting the blog of the school for that week, leave comments etc. After that week, another one of the four schools would be the focus and this would be repeated for the four week cycle and then repeated. It wouldn’t take the pupils long to work out that during their week, they would get a boost in visitor numbers and comments. This would give a real focus to have posts online ready for this bulge in visits. During the other three weeks, pupils get to visit and comment on other blogs in their quad. Pupils being pupils, they would also venture out of the quads and visit other blogs that are linked.’

Here’s a video explanation, created by schools who have taken part in quadblogging in the past:

Click here to view the embedded video.

The next ’round’ of quadblogging starts in January 2012 and schools are being invited to sign up now. Complete the form on the site to get involved!

I’ve been browsing through Twitter posts and RSS subscriptions that I follow and have found some new discoveries to share. Which is your favourite?

1) Beatlab (shared by Tony Parkin) – This tool is similar to the inudge site that I shared recently.  It lets you create simple loops of music using a wide variety of instruments. You can also change the speed and length of your loops.

2) Learn with Portal (shared by Steve Bunce) – When I’m not teaching or working on my websites, I enjoy spending time playing XBox. I recently played through the game Portal 2 and I had great fun solving the various puzzles that the game provides. I was really excited about this project which involves schools using the game to design levels and create their own challenges. The Learn with Portal site doesn’t show much at the moment, but this Youtube video shows some of the potential of the project:

Click here to view the embedded video.

3) Inside Story Flashcards (discovered on I Learn Technology) – This site has a selection of flashcards that would look great on an interactive whiteboard, or printed and put on display in the classroom. The cards are sorted into basic, easy, medium and hard groups of words and they could be used for ‘Word of the Day’ type activities to expand children’s vocabulary.

4) Edupic (discovered on the Whiteboard Blog) – Edupic has a large gallery of pictures and clipart that can be freely used for educational purposes. Teachers could use them in their presentations and children could also use them as part of their own projects in the classroom.

5) Writing Prompts (discovered on I Learn Technology) – This great site shares some wonderful images which can be used as starting points for writing in the classroom. There are a wide range of pictures, covering lots of different weird and wonderful topics!

Don’t forget that I have also created a number of ‘Writing Inspirations‘ posters which you can download for free on Teaching Ideas.

Write Path is an exciting Literacy event that takes place in October. The event started in 2008 and is organised by Bev Humphrey, an independent literacy and technology consultant. Schools who take part in the project will be able to take part in different writing activities, including an opportunity to complete stories that have been started by authors, special poetry day activities and awards to win.

There is a charge of £50 for participation but all schools that take part are sent a copy of the project’s specially published book that their students’ writing appears in. You can find out more about Write Path by visiting their Ning site or by contacting Bev by email. You can also get advice from those who have already taken part by browsing through the posts in the forum.

247tales is an online writing competition from Bloomsbury Publishing that challenges 10-16 year olds to write short stories using 247 words or fewer.

The prize for the winning story is £75 worth of Bloomsbury Children’s books plus a framed copy of the winning story and ten runners-up will receive signed copies of the guest author’s latest book. Winning stories will also appear on the 247tales website so that others can enjoy them too.

Current and future themes for competition entries include ‘The Game’, ‘The Secret’, ‘The Dragon’ and ‘The Mystery’. Could you use this as a starting point for writing in your classroom? For full details on the closing date and how to enter visit the RULES section of the website.

Here are five fantastic teaching resources that I’ve discovered this week:

1) My Farm - The National Trust is asking the public to help run a real-life working farm via the web. In return for a £30 annual subscription, 10,000 people will take control of the farm on the Wimpole Estate in Cambridgeshire. Lots of schools are expressing an interest for the scheme as it can help pupils to learn about how farms are managed and give them opportunities to get involved in decisions about a real-life project. Thanks to Public Zone for bringing this to my attention.

2) Purple Mash Postcards – Purple Mash are developing a new series of applications that allow pupils to create, save and print a postcard. There will be a number of themed Postcard Projects that include both ready to use high res images and scaffolding word prompts. Find out more in the Youtube video below:

Click here to view the embedded video.

3) Mr Thorne Does Phonics Apps – Christopher Thorne has a popular phonics site and Youtube channel. He now has his own iPhone / iPad apps which children can use to develop their phonics / reading skills.

4) Internet Buttons – This site allows you to create a page of buttons for someone you know that makes it super easy for them to use the internet. Could you use these to set up some easy links to useful websites for your class? Find out more in the Youtube video below. Thanks to Chris Leach for mentioning this on Twitter.

Click here to view the embedded video.

5) We Are Writers - We Are Writers is a way to inspire children to write and offers them a unique opportunity to see their own writing, published in a real book. When the final books come in, family members are able to buy their own copies and schools can earn commission for free books. Thanks to Chris Ratcliffe for mentioning this on Twitter.

How could you use these tools in the classroom? Have you discovered any new teaching resources this week? Share them in the comments…

A fantastic competition has recently been launched which is a joint effort of Doctor Who’s and the BBC Learning teams. Pupils aged 9-11 are encouraged to collaborate on a three minute script that takes the resident Time Lord on a new quest travelling through space and time inside the TARDIS.

The lucky winners will travel to the BBC’s studios in Cardiff where they will see their script brought to life by the Doctor Who team and cast including Matt Smith.

The BBC have lots of lesson plans to support the writing, and some exciting clips from the Doctor, calling kids to join in. Visit the Script to Screen site for more information.

It’s been another busy week with lots going on in education. Here are links to some of the headlines:

• Hundreds of school buildings projects were scrapped this week. However, there was confusion after the original report included errors which gave some schools hope that their plans were to go ahead, only to be cancelled later. Two headteachers, where ‘buildings are beyond their life expectancy’ have since asked Michael Gove to rethink his plans and the government has faced mounting anger over the decisions. Here is the full list of projects scrapped.
• The government has announced a review of the Early Years Foundation Stage framework, expressing concerns that it is too rigid.
• An author and literary researcher has claimed that it is harder for English children to read and write because of the complexity of the English spelling system.

Image – Extra Credit

• Primary schools in England do not have enough specialist Science teachers, according to a Royal Society study.
• The education secretary has said that modular A-Levels could be phased out, bringing back traditional exams at the end of two-year courses.
• The National Union of Teachers has claimed that schools could be breaking the law by asking support staff to teach lessons when qualified teachers are absent.
• A BBC Panorama programme reported that 18 UK teachers have been struck off for incompetence in the past 40 years and claimed that bad teachers are ‘recycled’ by moving between schools. This report from the Guardian talks about the issues raised in the programme and complains about the ‘teacher-bashing’.
• Headteachers will be given greater powers to search pupils and clearer guidance on when they can restrain disruptive pupils in a drive by ministers to improve behaviour and discipline. This BBC article outlines some experiences of behavioural issues in the classroom.
• The government plans to cap headteachers’ pay to the £142,500 salary of the Prime Minister.
• Teaching unions have accused the government of ‘cold calling’ headteachers to encourage them to turn their schools into academies.
• Schools are using increasing amounts of CCTV and other security measures, turning them into ‘prisons’, claims a study by Hull University.

Image – Dystopia

• The charity Teach First aims to double the number of top graduates it recruits into the teaching profession.
• University and higher education staff face cuts to their pensions, with a vote about the issue taking place on 22nd July. There is also a risk to university jobs if plans for 25% funding cuts go ahead. The Business Secretary, Vince Cable, has also outlined plans to separate teaching from examining in high education.
• There has been a rise in the number of children eating school lunches in England, according to data from the School Food Trust.
• A new report revealed that the number of NEETs (teenagers not in education, employment or training) may be worse than previously thought. It also shows the effects that being in this situation has on the individuals.

I’ve been a user of Memiary for a long time now. I use the site to record five things that I’ve done / achieved / want to remember each day. I also use the tool in my classroom… as a class, we spend a few minutes at the end of each day recording five things that we have learned or discovered during that day. It’s a great way of reflecting on the children’s achievements and helping them to remember each day’s events. Every now and again, we look back through the things that we have recorded and discuss what we wrote. I also use the service to make a display which shows our ‘memiaries’.

edu.memiary.com

I am now pleased to announce that there is a new version of Memiary, especially for education, which is supported by Teaching Ideas. The site has a number of additional features:

• Teachers can set up an account for themselves, as well as having individual accounts for pupils, allowing students to record their own list of five memories / achievements. Teachers can then see what their children have recorded.
• Teachers can change the question… so you could ask your pupils “What did you learn today?”, “What did you achieve today?”, “What were you proud of today?” or another question of your choice.
• You can jump back to previous ‘memiaries’ using a date picker or the random date tool. This is great for browsing around what you have achieved in the past.
• You can embed a widget on your school website / VLE which shows the ‘memiaries’ that you have recorded. Obviously, this makes your the content of your memiaries public, so ensure that pupils are aware of the e-safety issues.

Existing users of Memiary can import their memories into the new educational version. If you haven’t tried out the site before, now is the perfect time to explore. It’s quick, easy and free to register.

What did you learn today?