| Digital - teacher | Education in a technological world

Create interactive resources

Magic Studio  allows you to create interactive learning resources to use within the classroom. Once registered you can upload images to share with others / use already prepared interactive activities or create your own. It's straightforward to use - no technical knowledge is needed, and the results look impressive.

Shrek the third

With the premiere having taken place, it won't be long now until the third Shrek film hits the cinemas, and Dreamworks have gone all out on the internet. The official Shrek the third website contains so much for children - games, activities, downloads (colouring sheets for those rainy days!), Shrek sudoku and more. There  is also 'Virtual Shrekland' - a zoomable map of the entire Shrek landscape with animations and videos (will look great when more content is added).
Oh, and they've really thought about their audience, as they have tailored portals for kids / boys / girls / teens and adults - all with suitable content in each portal.

Literacy Matters

Brought to the attention of Digital-teacher by another ICT teacher, Literacy Matters has free downloadable literacy lesson plans for primary ages from pre-school to Year7.
In addition the site has sections for parents, and a teachers forum to discuss issues, as well as many other pages too.

Totally Dotty

Imagine taking a normal photograph and being able to turn it into a dot to dot. Well imagine no longer, because it's possible with picture dots.

This website does all the hard work for you. Simply upload the image you want to use, then click wherever you want a dot to be placed. They are automactically numbered for you, and once completed you can print off a pdf of your creation.

A wonderful resource.

DirectgovKids

As the site says; "is designed to help you find out about the world around you"

With three sections - children / parents and teachers clearly defined, they've obviously thought about this one. Within the childrens area the main text can also be spoken to you - a feature many websites overlook or don't consider important.  The "world" itself that children can explore is eye catching. Each location opens up a new section, focusing on a particular aspect - for example the police station explains just what the police do, plus there is a 'game' where you can decide how to punish misbehaving children.
Alongside the games, there are animations, slideshows and other sections to visit.
In the parents area there are worksheets to use with your children, and for teachers lesson plans are provided linking into PSHE, citizenship, ICT and more.
Well worth a look!

Crackin' idea, Gromit

Wallace and Gromit, described by the Patent Office as "Britain's foremost inventors", are spearheading the Cracking Ideas initiative, which will invite youngsters to come up with their own inventions.
The Patent Office project for primary schools also includes a competition for Yr5 pupils - with schools being invited to send in their best inventions - with the winner to be turned into a model by the Aardman studios.
There is a serious side to the project, says the Patent Office's Miles Rees.

There has been much talk about the struggle to get youngsters interested in science - and he hopes that this will help young children to think creatively about innovation.

It will also show them the need to protect ideas - and he says there have been cases where young people have come up with brainwaves, which have then be swept up by commercial operators. Any decent ideas will be patented, he says.

You can register your school now, and the teaching resources will be put online June 4th.

Be aware that the video trailer contains lots of information, but you'll need to set aside a good 10 minutes to watch through it.

Water for all

March 22nd is the World Water day. Over on Oxfams coolplanet site (their kids and educational area) are a host of resources to help you bring home to the classroom the importance of water for all.

Literacy Pack 1

From the same people that have brought you the excellent maths interactive resources (maths games / maths packs and teaching...) comes their first interactive literacy pack.
I've only looked at the example activities, but what's there looks good.
Cloze procedures, wordhunts, punctuation tools, Homonyms, Antonyms, Synonyms, Phonemes and more are all addressed in simple drag and drop activities.

What I really like about this - and this is the feature that will make others sit up and try it - is the ability to paste in your own texts to the activities, and not use the ones supplied. As a result, everything can be tailored exactly as you want too.

A great resource.

Red Nose Resources

Well it will shortly be Red Nose Day - a day of silliness, dares and general amusement in the schools across the land, but there is a serious side to it all, and the RND schools website has some great lesson resources to hammer home the whole point of raising money.
Take "Beyan's Story", about a young Ethiopian boy who is attending and informal school thanks to monies from Comic Relief.
Visit the schools section on the website and you'll find

• powerpoint presentations,
• an interactive guide to Ethiopia,
• pdf downloadable information sheets,
• 'happiness metres'
• and a whole host of other materials on this one area alone.

Add that to the other lesson ideas and there is no excuse for a child to not be interested in finding out where the money raised goes.

So, have a fun day Friday, send them home to watch the laughs on the TV, and then return on Monday morning to learn about the good that it all does.

Digital literacy

Inanimate Alice, tells the story of Alice, growing up in the early years of the 21st century.
From the website;

"Written and directed by writer Kate Pullinger and digital artist Chris Joseph, this series of multimedia, interactive episodes uses a combination of text, sound, images, and games as Alice takes us on a journey through her life from the age of eight through to her twenties. Alice becomes a games animator; not just any animator, but a creator of characters for the most successful games company in the world."

And one character stands out: Brad, Alice's only true friend in life. The ten episodes of 'Inanimate Alice' become increasingly interactive and game-like, reflecting Alice's own developing skills as a game designer and animator. 'Inanimate Alice' is a study of human/computer relations in a world where having friends means never having to meet them.

Interactive R.E.

Civilisations is a multi-dimensional picture of human history, where you're in charge of the timeline.

It uses web technology to reveal the sweep of historical forces and the rise and fall of great empires and ideas over 5000 years in a way that no book could ever do.

And it does it your way. You can customise Civilisations to show you the things that interest you. The best way to understand Civilisations is to have a go.

200 Calories

Recommended by an independent ICT consultant, "What does 200 calories look like?" is a visual way of showing how some foods are more calorific than others.
As it says on the site;

"When you consider that an entire plate of broccoli contains the same number of Calories as a small spoonful of peanut butter, you might think twice the next time you decide what to eat."