Kent ICT Blog

Conference weblinks

kent-teachers — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 22:08:00 GMT

Here is a list of some of the many websites mention at the Kent ICT Conference. Please feel free to leave a comment with any I may have missed www.fightingmalaria.info - panoromas of Central hospital – district of Kangaba Can navigate yourself or waite...(read more)

Crazy Talk

kent-teachers — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:37:00 GMT

Take a digital image and make it talk? Easier than you might think. CrazyTalk 6 is an easy and powerful tool for generating talking characters from an image or photo and facial animation for video, websites and widget. Many schools are using to bring...(read more)

Website of the Week: Classroom blogging

kent-teachers — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 20:48:00 GMT

This week we have decided to take a break from chosing just one website, to instead featuring a few classroom and teacher blogs popping up all over the web. Many schools are using blogs as an easy way to raise the profile of classroom learning and/or...(read more)

Activinspire Explore and Create Day

kent-teachers — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 08:06:00 GMT

Date: Friday 10 July 2009 Time: 9:15 Coffee for a 9:30 start (Finish by 4pm) Venue: Hugh Christie Technology College, White Cottage Road, Tonbridge Kent TN10 4PU Trainer: Selda Ziya, Promethean Teaching & Learning Consultant (TLC) Lunch: Participants...(read more)

Premiership Words

kent-teachers — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 09:10:00 GMT

The Word Tree is one of my favourite Kent ICT games for FS/KS1 use on the IWB. We wanted to make a version more suitable for KS2. So there's a new game called Premiership Words . It allows to enter and store jazzy words for display on your IWB. The...(read more)

Armed Forces Day Resources

kent-teachers — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 21:02:00 GMT

Armed Forces day is taking place this week and on Saturday 27th June 2009. Its got lots of resources and an assembly pack. http://www.armedforcesday.org.uk/Resources.aspx Andy Goodman HoS Provider Gravesham...(read more)

Child Safety Week on Teachers TV

kent-teachers — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:19:00 GMT

The schedule for Teachers TV this week is focussing on child safety and in particular there are two programmes on esafety. Both have been shown before and can be downloaded from the website. See http://www.teachers.tv/node/34948 Heidi...(read more)

Exploring advertisements (persuasive writing)

kent-teachers — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:16:00 GMT

Teachers looking at persuasive writing within a Literacy lesson might want to use an advert from http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/series/advertisingvideos Some are unsuitable for classroom use so please do check them in advance. My personal favourite is...(read more)

Website of the week - Images for Learning

kent-teachers — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 20:15:00 GMT

Heritage Explorer - Images for Learning www.heritageexplorer.org.uk Heritage Explorer is an image-based resource for teaching history, citizenship and many more subjects. Teachers can access classroom-ready materials at the click of a button. Choose from...(read more)

New Demo Lessons using Myst IV

kent-teachers — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 12:29:00 GMT

A chance to see Tim Rylands using a journalistic approach to teach Year 8 and Year 10 students. Although this event is primarily aimed at secondary school teachers, it will also give Year 6 teachers / Literacy Coordniators more ideas and ways of using...(read more)

ICT 2009 Exhibition and Conference

kent-teachers — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 10:46:00 GMT

The 20th annual ICT Exhibition and Conference will take place on 2 July 2009 at the Ashford International Hotel . Established in 1990, the annual Kent ICT exhibition and conference encourages and extends the effective use of ICT in education. The exhibition...(read more)

Kent Weather Watch Art Week - 6th to 10th July 2009

kent-teachers — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 19:59:00 GMT

“An opportunity for young artists everywhere!” Weather Watch Art Week is an opportunity for your pupils to publish their photographs of their 2and 3-D Art Work on the National Education Network Gallery and share their work with other schools in Kent and...(read more)

Have you used FlashMeeting Presenter?

kent-teachers — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 21:31:00 GMT

FlashMeeting Presenter enables users to display on the screen for all to see during a web conference digital images taken by pupils and teachers. Just click on the snaps tab near the top of the screen to view the images that were used during this FlashMeeting...(read more)

Learning about life in Anglo-Saxon Kent

kent-teachers — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 20:52:00 GMT

Years 3, 4 and 5 pupils at Woodgrove primary school in Sittingbourne and The Haig School, Germany today used Flashmeeting to web conference and ask Andrew Richardson (Canterbury Archaeological Trust) questions about life in Anglo-Saxon Kent. To replay...(read more)

Inspiring You Tube Videos

kent-teachers — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 19:55:00 GMT

Kent teacher Mark Warner's collaborative 'Ideas to Inspire' website continues to grow with the help of teachers all round the world. The latest collaborative collection is over 35 inspirational Youtube videos ideal for using with your class...(read more)

Website of the Week: Learning Clip

kent-teachers — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 21:25:00 GMT

Learning Clip www.learningclip.co.uk Learning Clip is an online resource to support Y3-5 teachers implementing the renewed primary mathematics framework. The resources are structured to follow precisely the learning objectives of the renewed framework...(read more)

Download a TUK assembly today and help safeguard your pupils!

kent-teachers — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 07:20:00 GMT

To celebrate Safer Internet Day 09, CEOP’s Thinkuknow programme developed two interactive assemblies to protect, educate and empower children and young people from harm relating to online issues. Simply download the file to your desktop or burn to disc...(read more)

The La Mantra Talking Pen

kent-teachers — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 21:17:00 GMT

What is the La Mantra Talking Pen? The Talking Pen is an mp3 player that can store and play audio files. It has a tip that can read tiny microdots impregnated into paper. Books and charts can be prepared that deliver audio content to the user via ‘hotspots...(read more)

Website of the Week: Welcome to the Web

kent-teachers — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 11:01:00 GMT

Welcome to the Web www.w2tw.co.uk " Welcome to the Web ", created by Kent teacher Mark Warner, is an highly praised interactive set of on-line resources which teach children (an adults) about different aspects of the Internet. The latest update...(read more)

Demo of new Interactive Whiteboard Software

kent-teachers — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 08:55:00 GMT

ActivInspire Twilight - a demonstration of the new software for all boards Did you know that any classroom can be an ActivClassroom - even if you don’t have an ActivBoard ? Even if you have a Smartboard ? Even if you don’t even have an interactive whiteboard...(read more)

Weather around the World 24 hour blog

kent-teachers — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 21:48:00 GMT

27 schools from Kent and around the World took part in the "24 hour weather around the World Blog." Publishing comments and images of the weather on the project blog, NEN Gallery and Google Maps the activity highlights how new technologies and...(read more)

Watch the birdie!

kent-teachers — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 09:43:00 GMT

Adding a webcam to a birdbox is becoming increasingly popular in schools. Last Sunday the Kestrel chicks hatch at Povey Farm. Now is a great time to watch them being fed and growing. http://www.lea.derbyshire.sch.uk/birdcam/kestrelcam/index.html Very...(read more)

Showcasing your Myst work with Tim Rylands

kent-teachers — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 11:35:00 GMT

Tim Rylands will be speaking at this years EIS conference on 2 July. Part of his session will be schools showcasing their Myst work. If your school is in interested in sending a member of staff (and maybe three pupils) to present their work, please contact...(read more)

Safeguarding (e-safety) in the new school inspection framework

kent-teachers — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 13:45:00 GMT

In response to the Lord Laming report entitled The Protection of Children in England, the new inspection framework for September 2009 will have a stronger focus on safeguarding. This will include a grading from 1 (outstanding) to 4 (inadequate) for a...(read more)

New online resource area for parents

kent-teachers — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 10:12:00 GMT

Available on the Next Generation Learning website, these materials seek to engage parents in supporting their children at home http://www.nextgenerationlearning.org.uk/Online-resources-for-parents/...(read more)

Dig IT - Richborough Castle

kent-teachers — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 08:40:00 GMT

Thirty Kent primary schools are taking part in DIG IT 2009 project. Dig IT is a joint project involving the Advisory Service Kent and English Heritage (EH.) An opportunity for Key Stage 2 pupil’s to become history detectives and discover who has lived...(read more)

Website of the Week: The Children's Museum

kent-teachers — Sat, 30 May 2009 07:54:00 GMT

The Children's Museum www.childrensmuseum.org The Children's Museum of Indianapolis has a website with some very fun games and activities. Play Games Our favourite is - Bones: An exhibit inside you. www.childrensmuseum.org/special_exhibits/bones...(read more)

Geography UK Photographs

kent-teachers — Thu, 28 May 2009 11:13:00 GMT

We have highlighted www.geograph.org.uk before but it is worth mentioning again. It has grown into a huge resource of pictures freely available under the Creative Commons Licence. (Many Flickr users have also chosen to offer their work under a Creative Commons license, and you can browse or search through photos under each type of license.)

"The Geograph British Isles project aims to collect a geographically representative photograph for every square kilometre of the British Isles."

The photographs on www.geograph.org.uk can be accessed by clicking an area on the UK map or by searching keywords such as name of place, rivers etc. (The red areas contain photographs.)

Schools are using the site in a variety of ways including using photographs of the local area, coastal areas and UK rivers. When showing photographs of the local area, pupils often can identify where the picture was taken and how near it is to their house.

We would be interested to know if you are using www.geograph.org.uk and your own ideas of using this fantastic resource. Please tell us by leaving a comment below.

Webcam Wall

kent-teachers — Thu, 28 May 2009 07:03:00 GMT

Tony Cassidy has created a fantastic powerpoint slide with multiple live streaming webcams. He has an example on his blog as well as instructions for making your own.

Image your students faces when they walk into the classroom to see this on the interactive whiteboard! Each picture is live. You can actually see people and traffic moving!

This resource has lots of uses including:

comparing weather around the world
life in other countries eg Egypt
day and night around the world

Visit Tony's blog to download the powerpoint and instructions. pilotgcseradicalgeography.co.uk

We would be interested to know what you thought of Tony's great idea, so please leave a comment below and tell us how you used or will use this resource.

Mandy:)

Online Literacy Tools

kent-teachers — Wed, 27 May 2009 19:46:00 GMT

We thought we would kick off Term 6 highlighting again the amazing online Literacy tools published by ReadWriteThink.org. The site offers a collection of tools under the Student Materials Index that support literacy learning. They have even included lesson plans!

Eye on Idioms is a fun way to introduce students to idioms. Students go through a series of exercises, in which they view the literal representations of an idiom and then examine the metaphorical meanings.

Letter Creator is a fun way to teach or reinforce letter writing. Students learn the parts of a letter and are led through the process or writing a friendly or business letter.

Other online tools are Circle Story Plot Diagram, Comic Creator, Comparison and Contrast Guide, Persuasion Map,Timeline, and Venn Diagram. The above list just names a few of the wide variety available. Go and visit the site to see the wide range of tools they have available: http://www.readwritethink.org/student_mat/index.asp

Have you found a useful website to support Literacy lessons?

Mandy:)