Kent ICT Blog

Just to let you know the 2 Simple offer for the entire software collection at £999 will end on July 15th. For more information visit http://www.2simple.com/

Simple interactive Flash programmes from Coventy Learning Gateway.

Many congratulations to Madginford Park Junior School. The school achieved a magnificant third place in the Primary category of National Finals in the Jaguar Cars Maths in Motion Challenge.

On 26th June four year 6 boys travelled to Warwickshire to take part in the national final. It began 5 months ago with over 100,000 entrants! The boys won themselves an mp3 player, trophy and goody bag as well as some useful ICT equipment for the school.

“Visualgeography.com lets you explore the world through images, flags, money, language, maps and other information.”

View photos of a country, listen to the native language of that area, learn more about transportation, education, religion, people, etc

 Ideal for use on the interactive whiteboard for introducing a topic on a country or comparing countries.

You may like to start with exploring China, in preparation for the Olympics.

Click here to visit our other  "Website of the Week"

Click here to visit our Olympic Resources

A new report, compiled for Childnet International and funded by Becta, has been launched  providing teachers and lecturers with a comprehensive guide to social networking services. It includes an evaluation tool designed to walk teachers through key features of sites they may like to consider using to support teaching and learning.

The report Young People and Social Networking Services is available from the Digizen website.

http://www.digizen.org/socialnetworking/

Jackets to fit on your Bee Bot 

1. There's an aeroplane to use if you are having a Seaside or Holidays topic. The engines drag on the floor though, so I wouldn't bother with them unless you are really enjoying yourself.
2. There is also a Handa's Surprise jacket. This one includes a basket where you can put the fruit. (Handa herself needs to be found elsewhere on the Internet, then cut out and glued onto the jacket).
3. There's a sealife jacket.
4. Finally, in the Beebot Jacket game you can find pre-made jackets for Elmer, The Gingerbread Man and a Police Car.

All of the jackets work best if you place a piece of BluTack behind the Bee Bot's eyes. I like to give the children a 15cm square of  corrugated cardboard. Then they can make their own track or map. 

For these and other Bee Bot resources visit:
http://www.kented.org.uk/ngfl/ict/control/beebot/

ICT2008 Exhibition and Conference
Ashford International Hotel
Thursday 3 July 2008

www.eiskent.co.uk

Guest speaker Tim Rylands
Tim Rylands has been described as “an extremely gifted and inspirational teacher, with a love of the creative potential of technology and an excellent rapport with his pupils”. He has gained notable recognition for using the games in the Myst series to inspire children’s creative confidence in many areas of the curriculum e.g. creative writing, speaking and listening, music and art.

http://www.timrylands.com/

For more information and booking visit:

http://www.eiskent.co.uk/

The Kented website has been moved onto the Kent servers and we are presently experiencing problems editing pages. So .....

Please find below  our website of the week for this week:

Tikatok is a free creative community for kids under 13 where they can write, illustrate, and share their original stories, and have them printed out into real hardcover and paperback books. It was developed by two mothers to encourage the imagination and creativity of their children and children everywhere.

Click here to see our example of a book (Click on fullscreen).

PS. I hope this fantastic resource is not blocked in schools.

Previous websites of the week

http://www.kented.org.uk/ngfl/siteoftheweek

Taggalaxy is one of many online tools that that is a search engine for Flickr. ( Flickr is a photo sharing site powered by Yahoo! that allows users to upload and share their photos.

http://taggalaxy.de/

The way it works is that you type in your key word e.g. Egypt and Taggalaxy finds all of the photos on Flickr which has that key word in its Tags and then presentsthem all  as planets which you can manipulate with the mouse. Click on a planet to zoom in.

Taggalaxy, among other things could be used as a stimulus for creative writing or class discussion.

As with all resources on the internet, it is vital that you check before showing your class. Taggalaxy  randomly chooses photographs. You need to make sure that these photos are suitable for your pupils.

Other online tools based on flickr include: Flickrcc,(search Flickr)  PhotoSoup (wordsearch), Bubblr (create a comic strip from the photos) and 10 by 10 (photos in the news).

Most schools use clipart for presentations on their interactive whiteboards.  Schools should now be considering using photos that are in the public domain or licensed under a creative commons license and making sure, of course, attribution is given to the author. For creative common searches on flickr try http://flickr.com/creativecommons.

Christina Laun on the College@Home blog has compiled a list of  100 Helpful Web Tools for Every Kind of Learner. This is a very useful list and highlights the wide range of tools we have available to us to meet the needs of different “learning styles".

Christine list the tools under the following headings:

Visual Learners

Mind Mapping
Charting and diagrams
Videos and Photos

Auditory Learners

Podcasts
Presentation Tools
Audio Tools
Text Readers
Audio Books

Kinesthetic Learners

Note Taking Tools
Bookmarking
Ineraction
Collaboration

We first had You Tube, then Teacher Tube and now we have Schools Tube.

 http://www.schoolstube.com/  (Hopefully the site is not blocked)

 I have been watching the Vikings this morning and also a stream in Ashford!

What better way to get your pupils fired up about science than to take them through a real murder mystery? Crime Scene Investigation follows one school who, with the help of experts, did just this.

This four part series begins with Planning the Crime, its dramatisation, and the pupils arriving at school to find an unusual scene.

Follow Wylde Green Primary School as they take Year 6 through Collecting the Evidence, DNA Fingerprinting and then deciding on The Verdict.

Described by viewers as 'imaginative' and 'fantastic', Crime Scene Investigation is a compelling and innovative series designed to inspire you and your class.

Click on the links below to watch online

Planning the Crime - An innovative task turns Year 6 pupils into forensic scientists

Collecting the Evidence - Pupils gather forensic evidence after discovering a crime scene
DNA Fingerprinting - Will DNA testing finally reveal the school burglar?

Verdict - All the suspects are brought before the Year 6 pupils as they present the evidence gathered during the investigation.

As part of the 2Simple  ' 10 Year Birthday Celebrations' , for short period of time schools are able to purchase site licences for the entire collection of 2Simple software (28 titles and 2 online titles that could be used at home) for either £999 (existing customers) or £1499 (new customers). A huge saving on some excellent teacher friendly software.

For more information on this offer, visit www.2simple.com/collection/

Products highlighted by the Kent ICT team are those recommended to us by schools and/or where suppliers have offered significant discounts to our schools.  It is not our intention to tell schools what to buy and we acknowledge there are many other equally good products available.  Schools should conduct their own evaluation of hardware / software prior to making decisions about purchasing. 

Tutpup is an exciting and new safe way of playing games against children in the UK and across the world. It is free, has no ads, doesn't grab kids personal data and allows them to play competitive maths games against their friends or students from around the world in a safe educational environment. For example, they could try a division game and find themselves instantly challenged by a child in India!

Children cannot:

• Send messages to other players.
• Use their own names. When a child registers to use Tutpup they choose a unique screen name, a combination of a colour, animal and number

All they can do is play games.

http://tutpup.com/

For those who were unaware or missed it on TV on Monday night, Panorama followed up their “One Click from Danger” episode to show how they were able to assist with the arrest of an offender when they posted the fake details of a teenage girl on social networking sites – very interesting viewing. Below is the link to watch/download it via BBC’s iplayer: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/page/item/b00bv3fm.shtml?src=ip_mp

Corbis is offering free PDF templates for real working 35mm pinhole cameras. There are six fantastic artistic templates to choose from.

Pinhole cameras work wonderfully on a bright sunny day. Let's hope summer is just around the corner after the wet week we have just had.

The templates can be downloaded from
http://www.corbis.readymech.com/en

Adventure Rock  is a 3D virtual environment offering exploration and creative opportunities for children to experiment with music, drawing and animation. The online world is a themed island built for the BBC’s CBBC. Children explore the world and use message boards so they can share what they find and what they make in the various creative studios dotted around the virtual space. The virtual world does not allow chat. BBC wants to protect children and thus disable any communication between the game users and potential sexual offenders.

For more information and to download the game visit:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/adventurerock/

Ideal for a computer/lunch time club.

How to upgrade to the new version of the Smartboard Software - Notebook 10 

To activate and get hold of the full version, you will need to know the serial number of your Smartboard (or other Smart product such as an Airliner slate) and visit the registration page. One serial number will do multiple installations - so you can still activate your classroom version and your home version for preparation purposes.

Serial number  is found under the pen tray and looks like the following (x = a number)

SBxxx-xxxxx

The link to the registration page is below. After entering the serial number and filling in the registration form you will be sent an email with a product Key. This key can be used to download the software on other machines using Smart products in your school.

http://smarttech.com/nb10productkey/ 

 NB. You need to download the software and drivers. You may find the drivers are automatically downloaded along with the software. The drivers are needed to control and connect to the board.

A hands on guide to Notebook 10 can be downloadd from

http://www.kented.org.uk/ngfl/ict/IWB/smart.htm

Congratulations go to the year 6 boys at Madginford Juniors who have got through to the final of the Jaguar Cars Maths Challenge. Over the last few months they have been engaged in an exciting and motivating mathsbased project and have been inspired by  what they have been doing.

The Challenge involves students working together in small teams, who compete against each other in an effort to win a Grand Prix type race and become U.K. Champions. This activity involves using a wide variety of basic mathematical skills ranging from the measurement of angles and scale to the use of percentages and higher level key skills.

To find out more visit
http://www.mathschallenge.co.uk/

TOTTON SCHOOLS  EDUCATIONAL ICT WEBSITE  contains short flash tutorials on a variety of different software and hardware that are great for refreshing how to do somehing or for learning step by step.

Software/Hardware  covered include:

Inspiration,  Spreadsheets,  Logo Log IT Explorer, Publisher 2003,  Junior Viewpoint,  Flowol3, Digital Blue, Junior Librarian, Adding sound to various applications, Audacity, PowerPoint, Word, Flexi tree 2,  Moodle

 http://www.tottonsch.co.uk/videos/

How did we find this great resource?

With thanks to Mark Warner for discovering this valuable resource and for posting a link on his del.icio.us site so we could pick it up on the kented network on del.icio.us.

We are kented on del.icio.us
Click here to  Add us to your network

http://www.kented.org.uk/ngfl/

Doctor Who is very popular with a lot of pupils. Here is the link to the BBC where pupils can create their own trailer.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/trailermaker/

 A great activity to do during an  ICT Club.

This site and many more have been added to  kented on del.icio.us
Add us to your network 

To find out more about del.icio.us click here

http://www.kented.org.uk/ngfl/

Limerick Day celebrates the birthday of Writer Edward Lear (1812-1888) who is well known for his limericks in his "Book of Nonsense".

Click here for teaching resources

The Ministry of Education in Singapore have created some fantastic interactive maths games for you to download for free.

http://www3.moe.edu.sg/edumall/tl/digital_resources/maths.htm

They are zipped files. Once downloaded right click on zipped file and selct Extract.  Right click on the new file and select Open with and then Internet Explorer (unless you are importing into your whiteboard software or dragging the file onto a Textease page) 

This site and many more have been added to  kented on del.icio.us
Add us to your network 

To find out more about del.icio.us click here

 Here is a website where you can download picture books for free!

http://www.childrensbooksforever.com/

This site and many more have been added to  kented on del.icio.us
Add us to your network 

To find out more about del.icio.us click here

In an English activity this week 5-6 year old children use their developing understanding of context and grammatical cues to help them predict hidden words in a text.

Simple turtle graphics using a freely available online application provides a mathematical challenge for children aged 6-7.

In science 8-9 years olds use a digital microscope to examine fabrics.

And finally 9-10 year olds create a geographical sound quiz of the local area for younger children.

All actvities are free to download. You will need to register on the website (free also) if you have not done so already.

Login first then download the activities from http://www.ictopus.org.uk/index.php?sec=1&sub=2&pg=2

What is  Ictopus ?
 Ictopus (ICT online primary user support) is a free support service for primary education which was launched on 1st September 2007. Each week registered members of the service have access to a six page printable magazine (Sharing Good Practice) and a set of activity suggestions (lessons2go).

Have you seen the Maths problem solving starts on Teachers TV?

There are  eight lesson starts for KS2 maths pupils each presenting a dramatised situation that highlights a mathematical problem.

Bring your maths lessons to life with the following:

1. Using angles to find Pirate Kate's lost treasure
2. Using fractions and percentage to help Nateisha with her packed lunch survey
3. Using division in both The Thief's Problem and The Puppy Problem
4. Exploring volume and division in Mrs Hanson's Problem
5. Using multiplication in both Piggy's Problem and The Train Problem
6. Using percentages in The Cake Problem

 http://www.teachers.tv/video/23315

As you may know, Kent is running a Weather Watch project this year.
http://www.kented.org.uk/ngfl/weatherwatch/

We are now looking forward to our first ever Weather around the World Day on Wednesday 21st May 2008

Colette Cotton (Leading ICT Teacher – Shepway 1) last term invited the overseas schools listed below to join “The Weather Watch” project. Since then the schools have each week been adding their weather data to the project “Google” spreadsheet.

1. Peponi House School, Nairobi Kenya   
2. ZS Rudna School, Czech Republic 
3. Skola 707, Poland
4. Salorno BZ, Italy

We also hope that Faith Lutheran College, Australia will also be taking part in this project.

This term the pupils in each of the schools plan to publish on the internet information about:

• climate,
• farming,
• tourism,
• lifestyle and
• the local geography of their area.

  The children’s work will be available for others to read by Monday 19th May.

Is your school (home school)  interested in taking part?

This is a wonderful opportunity for project schools to establish a link (short-term or permanent) with a school overseas.

 If you are interested in taking part in the “Weather around the World Day”  please contact Philip

Philip.bracegirdle@kent.gov.uk

SMART Technologies have released Notebook Version 10  for Smartboards

Here is the link to download it  Notebook 10. 

Please note you will need your Smartboard serial number and product key.

1. Enter hardware product serial number
2. Complete customer information form
3. Download Notebook software 10
4. Enter product key to activate the software

Have fun exploring all of the GREAT new features!

Here are some useful websites on Kent

Kent TV
Contains historical videos as we as other Kent interests
http://www.kenttv.com

Heres Hstory Kent
An archive of historical material relating to Kent Parishes and Towns. Contains old photographs and maps which can be used for educational use.
http://www.hereshistorykent.org.uk/ 

Coalfields Heritage Initiative Kent
East Kent's mining heritage.
http://www.dover.gov.uk/kentcoal/intro.asp

Hopping down in Kent
A scheme of work and a series of worksheets outlining how "Hopping down in Kent" addresses History QCA Unit 18 What was it like to live here in the past?
http://www.hoppingdowninkent.org.uk/

Remains of a Stone Age Elephant found in Kent
http://www.24hourmuseum.org.uk/