SGP117 is now ready for collection

Our first article this week is another of the resources written for the Becta ‘Primary Hard to Teach’ Project.
It looks at an approach to teaching musical composition with a seaside theme. To complement this, Andy
Pierson of ESP Music shows how Compose World could be used to create seaside music in your school.

The magazine can be downloaded from here . Log-in first then go to the SGP tab.

All the 5s …

A recent email alerted me to the fact that in July 2011 there will be 5 Fridays, 5 Saturdays and 5 Sundays. The email (wrongly) said that this was a ‘once in a lifetime occurrence’. So … five weekends in one month.

So when did it last occur, in July, and when will it occur again? And … does it apply to other months?

This could be the start of a really good maths problem solving session

New lesson2go from ictopus: 116 MFL Ages 7-8: Names of Buildings

In this activity the children use an interactive PowerPoint presentation as an introduction to new vocabulary. They work together as a group and then use the vocabulary in independent work. The PP can be adapted to suit different languages and different topics. Simply replace all occurrences of matching pictures and words.

Please login first, then access the activities via the lessons2go tab. To see this lesson select ‘Latest items’.

iPads in the classroom

If you are using or are thinking of using iPads in your classroom then the ‘Interesting Ways’ Google Doc will give you 56 great ideas to get you started and keep you thinking.

SGP116 is now ready for collection

In our first article Eddie Carron tells us about his research into Hot Reading and offers free resources for
the first teachers to contact him and ask for them. Read and act straight away to make sure that you
capitalise on this great offer! We follow that with a piece from 2Simple about their the award winning
creative online space Purple Mash including a chance to win a free subscription in an exciting competition
for SGP readers.

The magazine can be downloaded from here. Log-in first then go to the SGP tab.

Shambles Newsletter May 2011

You can access the latest Shambles Newsletter here or here

The new ShamblesPad looks good for collaborative use.

BBC Doomsday

Back in 1986 the BBC published the Domesday Project.

The project was probably the most ambitious attempt ever to capture the essence of life in the United Kingdom. Over a million people contributed to this digital snapshot of the country. People were asked to record what they thought would be of interest in another 1000 years.
The whole of the UK – including the Channel Islands and Isle of Man – was divided into 23,000 4x3km areas called Domesday Squares or “D-Blocks”. Schools and community groups surveyed over 108,000 square km of the UK and submitted more than 147,819 pages of text articles and 23,225 amateur photos, cataloguing what it was like to live, work and play in their community. This was about documenting everyday life – the ordinary rather than the extraordinary.The project used the cutting edge technology of the day, and the data was eventually presented on a special type of Laser-Disc, read by a BBC master computer and navigated using an innovative tracker-ball pointing system.

And now its back … here … use it and enjoy !!

PrimaryWall

PrimaryWall has just got better … Here’s what they say about it:

A few months ago we mentioned about the launch of an exciting new web based sticky note tool called PrimaryWall and since then PrimaryWall has been inundated with emails from teachers requesting new functionality.

Watch a very short video explaining PrimaryWall.

You can now Password secure walls, change the background, font and easily embed walls in your school website, blog or learning platform.

Currently PrimaryWall is only offering 6 months free however we have negotiated that our mailing members get 12 months free and it’s only £30/year after that.

Get registered for PrimaryWall here

New lesson2go: 115 D&T Ages 6-7: Close Up On Design

Identifying everyday objects from photographs taken very close-up is a regular feature of magazines. This activity begins with class or group work using ready-made ‘What Am I?’ presentations and then children create their own to test each other.

Please login first, then access the activities via the lessons2go tab. To see this lesson select ‘Latest items’.

Teachers TV … Phoenix rises out of the ashes

Teachers TV programmes will be available free for anyone to view from 11 May, when operator Ten Alps is relaunching the channel as online service SchoolsWorld.

So I read from the Guardian article of 4th May