A Million Pleas

I was watching the 7pm Project tonight while i was cooking dinner and one article really made an impact on me. It was a 2 minute article about a group of students from Hiroshima, Japan....65 years to the day after the atomic bomb was dropped. The students have videoed themselves saying "Please" in an attempt to create the world's largest chain letter with the intention of sending this to the world leaders of countries that have nuclear armaments. Read the blurb:

HELP FREE THE WORLD FROM NUCLEAR WEAPONS.

“We want to make the world’s longest video chain letter.

The video has been started by a group of school children from Hiroshima, Japan and is addressed to the 9 countries still in possession of nuclear weapons. We’re asking people from all over the globe to upload a video clip of themselves saying the word “please”. The “pleases” will then be edited into a long virtual chain letter, which will act as a petition to abolish nuclear weapons, worldwide.

The campaign is an initiative of ICAN, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear weapons, and is being launched in this the 65th anniversary year of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Please add your voice to the campaign.” visit the million pleas
site

Approximately 160 students, staff and parents, added their voices to the million pleas campaign today. Visit the websites below, to view our pleas to world leaders to free our world of nuclear weapons.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6AZ39NnGNg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mX-dKikKb_M



Maybe our students could make a difference.

Educational Videos

Another terrific site I found recently is called NeoK12. This website is packed with educational videos on a seemingly endless amount of topics. They are arranged by subject and most of them take less than ten minutes to view. Great lesson starters!

CarrotSticks

Another fantastic website I found... this time focusing on Numeracy. It's called CarrotSticks and it was a lot of fun to play. You can choose from all four operations and your skill level is increased by the number of algorithms you correctly answer. Carrots are rewarded for correct answers and you can competitively play against other children from around the world. CarrotSticks doesn't allow full names or a chat function so it is a safe way for students to interact while leaning. Unfortunately it does have a cost if you want unlimited play but there is a free option available for classroom teachers.

Game Classroom

I was searching for some games to play with Year One that are literacy based. I found this website. It's called Game Classroom, and while some of the activities are restricted to members only I was able to access many for free.

One of the best games I found was called Skillwise City - where students have to follow instructions to reach their destination. I played the year three version and was impressed with all the reading and processing that I had to do in order to reach my destination. There are timed or non-timed versions of the game. Give it a go with your class.

Museum in a Box

Judy and Allison recently went to an ICT in English conference hosted by Tim Wilson. To access Tim's website click here. It is full of terrific and practical uses for using ICT in English for all grades.

One of the interesting sites Tim mentioned during his presentation was Museum in a Box. This site allows students to be creative in their thinking about characters, historical events and influential people. The site describes itself as a place that provides the tools for students to build up an argument or description of an event, person or historical period by placing items in a virtual box. What items, for example, could be put in a box to describe your life; the life of a Victorian Servant or Roman soldier; or to show that slavery was wrong and unnecessary? You can display anything from a text file to a movie. You can also view and comment on the museum boxes submitted by others.

That's Rubbish!

I was reading Education Review the other day and I saw an advertisement for a terrific resource. Clean Up Australia has launched a web-based educational game called "Clean Up The River".

It is a challenge-based game to enable infants and primary students to learn more about the impact of rubbish on their local river systems. There are four levels of difficulty and the animated game is divided into two sections - the first is where students have to navigate a river while removing rubbish in order to save the marine life, and the second takes place in a recycling plant where rubbish needs to be sorted correctly. There is also a multiple choice quiz to reinforce the learning. If you have a go with your class please post a comment.

Storybird

I was searching for storytelling and writing websites that I could use with Year One and I found Storybird. This website allows students to create a story, complete with illustrations. It can be a collaborative effort with two students taking turns to create the story. The virtual tour is fabulous and explains how the site works really clearly. I think this could be a new favourite!