UNESCO ICT in Teacher Training Forum

I've been asked to pass on the following details about the ICT in Teacher Training Forum being co-ordinated by UNESCO...

"The Asia-Pacific Programme of Educational Innovation for Development (APEID), which is coordinated by UNESCO, has recently launched an interactive discussion forum on ICT in Teacher Training. The purpose of this e-forum is to enhance the level of cooperation between teachers, teacher trainers and facilitators through interactive discussion and mutual exchange of ideas and resources on the effective integration of ICT in teaching and learning.

The e-forum provides a platform for sharing news and opinions about recent developments on ICT in Teacher Training with other experts or professionals. Members are furthermore encouraged to contribute their papers, presentations, training guidelines or similar material to all participants. Teachers may post lesson plans, subject presentations, mind maps etc. for use in the classroom with other teachers.

The URL is: http://www.unescobkk.org/index.php?id=2891"

The ESP Game

The ESP Game is something I came across a while back. It's fun but also quite interesting educationally.

It's a two player game. You are paired up randomly and are both shown a series of pictures. You need to look at the picture a type a word associated with the image. When both players have typed the same word a new picture is shown. It's actually a lot more fun and addictive than you may think.

There is a fairly serious purpose behind the game. By playing the game you are giving each image a label or tag. By having humans tag these pictures (which all come from web sites) quite an accurate image search engine is being created that allow you to search the contents of pictures.

You could some of the ideas behind this game in the classroom. Show the class pictures and get your students to independently write three key words they would associate with the pictures. Then collect all the words they've come up with. Which ones were the most popular? Which are the most accurate? Which are the most interesting? Which ones are nouns, which ones adjectives? It could link in to work on descriptive writing and also to ICT work when looking at databases.

North of England Educational Conference (NEEC) 2006

I've just been sent details of this event in January next year for those who really like to plan ahead!

Come and be inspired at the UK's biggest education conference. The theme is LEARN:CREATE and you will hear keynote speeches from internationally renowned figures, Education ministers and key players in educational thinking. Put the date in your diary - come and enjoy the conference and take home new ideas from England's vibrant North East. Visit www.neec2006.org.uk

Boots Learning Store

I hadn't come across the Boots Learning Store before but found it when I was looking for some resources on light and shadows. The sunshine and shadows material is perhaps the most instantly useful resource but there's primary school targeted material on a host of chemist related topics from headlice to threadworm (!?)
As well as the worksheets and lesson ideas there's also a large collection of bright, fun games and online activities for pupils.

Mini Pots of Care

I've been sent the following information from Marie Cure Cancer Care which may be of interest to Key Stage 1 colleagues.

Marie Curie Cancer Care is giving Key Stage 1 pupils the chance to get their hands dirty by planting and growing their own daffodils with its exciting new schools fundraising initiative Mini Pots of Care, which is supported by Yellow Pages.

Children who take part will be given their own flower pot and daffodil bulb to plant in early autumn. They will then monitor and care for the plant until it blooms into a daffodil in spring. Participating pupils will receive Mini Pots of Care daffodil kits which will include everything needed to take part along with full teacher instructions.

There will be an online resource pack developed for Key Stage 1 pupils to aid teachers with planning classes around the initiative.

The final stage of the Mini Pots of Care programme will take place on Wednesday March 1, 2006 as the daffodils bloom. Pupils will have the chance to get creative by decorating their pots in a nationwide Paint Your Mini Pots Day – signifying the launch of Marie Curie Cancer Care’s key annual fundraising campaign, the Great Daffodil Appeal, which runs throughout March. Pupils will be encouraged to take home a small donation envelope to sponsor their works of art and raise valuable funds for the Appeal.

To register your school or for more information please visit www.mariecurie.org.uk/minipotsofcare or telephone 0800 716 146.

DK Clip Art

I've been sent in this great link to Dorling Kindersley's free clip art site. There's lots of different pictures on offer and the material is free for you to use on your own worksheets (providing you don't make them available commercially). Definitely worth checking out!

Thanks to Chris at Emmaus School in Liverpool for the link.

The Primary Resources Blog

Hi,

Welcome to the Primary Resources blog.

I'm going to be using this blog as a way of sharing news about the site as well as other projects I'm involved in.

I'll be adding links to interesting web sites that I've come across as well as links to new Primary Resources material before it appears online on the main site.