Friday, February 20, 2009

Literacy Resource


Here is a website that I have used in the past with Years 5 & 6. It's called FFFBI - Fin, Feathers and Fur Bureau of Investigation.
It is a series of stories and challenges based around a crime that has been committed. The activities are interactive and involve online quizzes, printable worksheets and puzzle solving. There is a fair amount of reading for the students and if they don't read all the instructions they cannot move forward.
Each crime takes the students about 40-45 minutes to solve. Every time I have used this website the engagement level of the students is very high.
I will be using it with Yr 6 Literacy this Tuesday if anyone is interested in taking a look at it.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

If I Ruled The World

I was emailed this website this week by Frances Manning - AP at Holy Family Luddenham. It is an online collaborative site that allows students to answer the "big questions" that are important to them in their lives.

If I Ruled The World.com provides a safe classroom environment packed with
FREE interactive whiteboard resources which enable your class to discuss the
hottest topics - from environmental issues to politics, privacy rights to
school lunches. The site also allows your class to socially network with
other classes through discussion, debate and query.
It is hosted by Promethean and could be a very quick talking and listening activity for Literacy groups. Groups could choose the topic for the day, discuss their responses and deliver their responses online.
There doesn't seem to be any age limit for the respondents so it could be used from K-6... how good would it be for even our littlies to voice their opinions?

The best thing about this site is that if you comment often enough we have the opportunity to win a REAL set of activexpression devices for your classroom!

Remember to share any successes, thoughts and challenges with the group so we all find out how valuable this site is.

Friday, February 13, 2009

GiggleIT


The International Association of School Librarianship has created an innovative and exciting project called GiggleIT

The idea of the project is to help students aged 10-14 to improve their literacy skills through an online collaboration. Children from around the world are invited to contribute to an eBook that will contain poetry, stories, jokes and cultural stories. The only rule is that they must be humourous.

It sounds like a fun way for our students to connect with others around the world, improve their literacy and have fun in an online environment. Registration is free so I think I might register my Year 5 and 6 Literacy groups. Let me know if you are interested.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

teacher.tv


This website is one I found a few weeks ago. It's called Primary Lesson Starters and is run by a great group called teacher.tv. It has lesson starters designed for interactive whiteboards for primary maths, literacy and science.

Let me and others know which ones you have looked at or tried in your classroom, and share which ones are good value!

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Great Free Maths Resource


Last week Julie showed me this fabulous free maths resource called Smartkiddies. It is an Australian made resource that supports K-6 maths syllabus. I had a bit of a play today and quickly realised that the potential for this site is big. I registered my Year 5 extension maths group and I will be able to track their progress as they play interactive games based on whatever concept we are focussing on for the week. I excitedly emailed several colleagues with the URL and guess what? Most of them have been using it for the last 6 months. Seems I was the last to be let in on a great secret! Post a comment if you explore this site and possibly make suggestions for other teachers about activities you have tried, successes and failures.
Thanks again Julie!