Tasts Buds – Safe Food

The Safe Food website offer a collection of interactive presentations and activities on the origins of food, food safety and healthiness. There are 8 interactive sessions in all covering the food and nutrition element of the SPHE program. Each of the sessions consists of classroom slides, extension activities, teacher’s notes and homework suggestions. It is aimed at 8-10 year olds so I suppose could be used from 2nd class up to 5th. The positive messages that will be taken from the activities are about eating healthy food and living a healthy lifestyle.

Planet 10 – The Solar System

The Solar System is a topic that children find interesting and are eager to learn and with the help of the Planet 10 website learning about the planets becomes even more fun. Children enter a virtual Solar System with accompanying eerie music, where they can take a tour of the Solar System, zooming in and out on different planets and changing the viewing angle. Children can also find out information about all the planets, the Sun, comets and asteroids.

The website also includes a great game where children create their own planet. They get to chose the size, tilt, chemical make up, position in relation to the sun and a whole host of others before launching the planet into the Solar System to see how it gets on.

While on the topic of the Solar System I recently discovered, thanks to a 6th class student, that you can explore the Moon and Mars using Google Earth and it is also possible to explore the stars using Google Space.

Lastly, if like me you are frustrated by youtube being blocked in school I have found a website called videojug which is not blocked in schools and has some educational videos including the following, relating to Earth and the Solar System:
All About Earth
The Planets Explained
The Seasons Explained

That Quiz

I investigated a resource named That Quiz which was recommended by a Twitter user yesterday. At first sight it is a grey, boring looking, run-of-the-mill website but upon investigation I found out that it is far more than that. It may not be pretty but it is extremely effective at what it is trying to achieve and I will definitely be using it on an on-going basis in future.

The website is basically a one-stop assessment shop. Teachers can register their name and the names of the students in their class very simply, which I did yesterday in around 5-10 minutes. There are then a host of pre-designed tests which a teacher can create by selecting a few basic parameters (e.g. number of questions, level of difficulty, etc). While the interface is very uninspiring, by being grey, it is very easy to use. It took me only a couple of minutes to set a fractions test which comprised of 20 questions testing the children on addition and subtraction of proper fractions. Once the test has been set the teacher is given a code. Students then use this code to login, select their name from a list and complete the test. The tests could be completed 1 by 1 on a PC at the back of the room or all together using a group of PCs. When students complete the test they are given their result and it is saved for the teacher to login in and view later.

I have only started using the site and it is definitely a runner for testing Maths. There are also some English, Science and Geography tests which I have yet to check out. Another idea I have for using this site is to set up some sample tests and give the children the code in their homework notebook to practice at home. It will definitely reduce correcting time.

 

Badger Wood – Environmental Awareness

Badger Wood is an interactive website which teaches children about the affects road building can have on woodland areas. It is another bright, colourful website with plenty of information. It focuses on the environmental damage and how the different species of the woodlands are affected. The site includes an interactive game where children search the forest to find the animals that live there and to ask them questions. So really the site works twofold – it teaches the children about protecting the environment and it teaches them about the different animals that live in a woodland. The site fits in nicely with the Environmental Awareness and Care strands of Science and Geography. It also ties in with the Living Things strand in Science. It is aimed more for the middle classes (1st-4th) as the older children will probably find it a bit too childish.

Van Basco Karaoke Player

Van Basco is another fantastic piece of free software that once you’re used to will become a part of your weekly teaching, particularly if you’re as bad a singer as me. Van Basco is basically a free karaoke machine which plays the music of a song and displays the words on the screen, which go red when they are to be sung. It is especially useful for those teachers who are not as confident teaching music and songs. There are thousands of songs available which can be searched for on the Van Basco Midi (songs) Search page. Bear in mind that not all songs have lyrics with them so try to find the ones that say “lyrics” after the song title.  The screenshot below shows “When I’m 64″ by the Beatles being played.  Songs are constantly being updated and they have a lot of modern songs that the kids love.

The Hat

The Hat is a really useful free piece of software that can be downloaded and used in any classroom. It is a very basic programme which performs a draw as if you had put a bunch of names into a hat and selected at random. The children find that it is the fairest and most fun way of picking people for jobs, presenting projects, getting free newspapers, etc. Not only can you draw out a name at a time but you can also draw out pairs of names. I have used this when doing projects in pairs and I’m sure I will find many more uses for it.

Another area where this comes in handy is for playing games like Bingo in Irish. For example we were doing the counties of Ireland last week and I quickly entered the names into the hat and picked the counties using the software. It plays a great drumroll before displaying each name and the children really enjoy it and they won’t complain about it being unfair.

Countdown Game

The Countdown Game website, based on the Countdown TV show, is a resource that children in my class love. The 3 games that are played on the show can now be played on an Interactive Whiteboard. I tend to use these as starters to a maths or literacy lesson . In the ‘Letters Game’ children  select from vowels and consonants, with the aim being to create the longest word in 30 seconds. In the ‘Numbers Game’ children select their large and small numbers and try to reach a given target using addition, subtraction, multiplication and division within 30 seconds. The ‘Conundrum Game’ asks you to find a 9 letter word from a jumble of letters but I have found that even 6th class find this one too difficult. You can find any potential Carol Vordemans in your class. My favourite part of the website is the fantastic Countdown music.

A useful tip when using any website on an Interactive Whiteboard is to put the page to fullscreen. This can be done by pressing the F11 key or by selecting View->Fullscreen on your browser.

Mr. Picassohead

Recently my class were looking at and discussing the work of Pablo Picasso and I stumbled across a great resource for an Art lesson for use with an Interactive Whiteboard. The website is called Mr. Picassohead and it allows children to create their very own Picasso portrait using the whiteboard. Children can come up to the board and experiment with a variety of shapes, lines and colours to create a Picasso masterpiece. Once children had done this they had a better feel for the way Picasso worked and they were able to go and paint their own work of art.

Myst for Writing

Recently I have been using the computer game Myst III: Exile as part of my writing lessons.  Myst is an interactive computer game where you explore virtual worlds and try to solve puzzles in the process. The idea for using Myst in school comes from the award winning Tim Rylands and I can certainly attest to the success of his idea.  The scenery, or graphics, in the game are amazing and it is a fantastic visual experience for children. As you explore the virtual world children are encouraged to speak about the world they see, the sounds they hear and the feelings that are evoked. Children then use their experience to write on the events they encountered in the game. I have found the results amazing and cannot believe the quality of some of the writing that the children come out with. I am asked daily in the classroom “Are we doing Myst today teacher?” Even the so-called weaker children love Myst and actually enjoy the writing process that comes with it.

I purchased the 4 disc game from Ebay for a small price and it can be found on-line or in shops for between €10 – €20.

For those who are not computer game experts walk-throughs of the game are available on-line so that you can’t be caught out by the children.

Writing Fun by Jenny Eather

Writing Fun is a website set up by Jenny Eather which helps students with writing composition. The website provides instructions, tips, organisers and examples of a variety of writing composition such as narrative, discussion, explanation, persuasion, information, and others. Also included in the site are the skills necessary to compose everyday text forms such as letters, invitations, and email. Each type has at least 6 examples, for different age groups, with an interactive organiser which can be switched on or off. All of the organizers are available in Microsoft Word format for download to use for word processing or as a printable. This is a great site for students to use as homework help for those writing assignments and could also be used by parents who home school their children.