Each week Simon Collier and I collaborate on an email newsletter for teachers called Tech Tools for Teachers. Click here to find an archive of past newsletters and to subscribe. This week we review the website Behind the News (BTN) http://www.abc.net.au/btn/ Behind the News (BTN) is a fantastic Australian site by the ABC that helps […]
Smories: Stories for Children
Smories is a website with short videos of children reading original stories for kids. There are 50 new Smories added every month. Writers are encouraged to submit their original children’s stories to be featured on the website. The stories are advertised as being suitable for children aged three to eight although there are many stories […]
Global Collaborative Projects
One of the richest ways you can use technology in the classroom is to collaborate globally. I am becoming a big fan of global collaborations and the projects my Grade Two students work on are proving to be powerful learning experiences. Global collaboration provides authentic learning opportunities that help students learn about another culture while […]
Blog resource: New fonts for your posts!
I have long been a fan of downloading free fonts to use in Microsoft Office documents and I have often wanted to use more interesting and creative fonts in my blog posts. Most blogging platforms have set fonts however which limits your ability to change the appearance of text and therefore the visual appeal of […]
Storytelling Tool: Five Card Flickr
Five Card Flickr is a simple yet useful tool that I found out about from a number of people on Twitter. Five Card Flickr deals you random pictures from Flickr that you put together to tell a story. From each 5 photos you are dealt, you choose one to add to your story. You then […]
Tech Tools for Teachers #11 VoiceThread
Each week, Simon Collier and I collaborate on a weekly email newsletter called Tech Tools for Teachers to inform teachers of useful online tools. Find out more here. This week we review the website VoiceThread http://voicethread.com VoiceThread is a popular tool that allows you to narrate images, documents and videos. Others can join in the […]
Thoughts on the Ultranet
The Ultranet is a $60.5 million online portal for teachers, students and parents in Victorian government schools. After years of build up, the Ultranet was officially launched on Monday 10th May and my school was in the first group of schools to come online. The first stage of the Ultranet allows students and teachers to […]
Teach Like a Champion: A Guide for the 21st Century?
Teach Like a Champion by Doug Lemov is a book that came out in April 2010. It has the byline “49 Techniques that Put Students on the Path to College” and comes with a DVD of real teachers demonstrating 25 of the techniques in the classroom. The author, Doug Lemov, is the managing director of […]
Research Skills and Google Posters
Teaching students how to effectively use search engines such as Google to search for content is a valuable skill. This is something I’ve even started introducing to my Grade Two students. Many people don’t realise there are many tricks to performing the most effective Google search. I also like to have discussions with my students […]
Bringing Learning to Life with Technology
This term my Grade Two class is learning about Aboriginal Australia. In the past, I have taught this topic in a fairly standard way – books and worksheets combined with a few online resources. While the students were interested in the topic, I believe the whole concept of Aboriginal culture remained a fairly abstract topic […]
Clasroom Resources: Teachers Pet
I have been using the website SparkleBox for quite a while to find a wide range of printable resources for my primary classroom. I was therefore surprised to discover that the SparkleBox website has been been undergoing a troubled time recently with it’s creator and editor, Samuel King being imprisioned in January 2010 for child […]
Create a Global Avatar with Gravatar
As I read quite a few blogs, I always like it when a commenter has an avatar (picture of self) next to their comment. Even if the avatar is not a true picture, it adds interest and a personality to the commenter. Often, when someone does not have a recognised avatar, their comments on blog […]
Sentence Activities for Lower Primary
This week, I have been reinforcing to my Grade Two students the importance of correctly using full stops and capital letters to form sentences. I have found that primary students of all age groups tend to need constant reinforcement of these concepts. My students defined a sentence as “a piece of writing that makes sense […]
Cyber Safety and Young Students
Want to explore some more current resources about cyber safety and digital citizenship? Check out my page with new resources for teachers, schools, students, and parents. Teaching about cyber safety is an important aspect of all technology teaching. With my Grade Two students, I try to discuss aspects of cyber safety while using the internet […]
Another Cool Blogging Tool
I found out about the site Page Plugins on Mary Ellen Lynch’s classroom blog. It is another fun tool to add something different to blog posts. On the site, you can create all sorts of visuals from glittering text (above) and Easter Bunny notes (below) to embed on your blog. There is also a range […]