Jigzone

I used to subscribe to the website Jigzone years ago, but it became too addictive. Especially if you have the jigsaws emailed to you everyday! But it is a great educational tool, all you have to do is upload a jpeg, choose how many pieces you want then embed into a blog, website or wiki...or hyperlink through PowerPoint to the link where your Jigzone has been saved.

This activity has been created in Jigzone. Upload a photo to Jigzone, set the number of pieces and save it. I created these images in PowerPoint by typing in all the words, rearranging them, inserting a shape behind them, grouping all the images and then right clicking to use the option 'Save as Picture'. Then I uploaded the image to Jigzone. I could then hyperlink the image I had made from PowerPoint to the jigsaw I had made.

This is a photo that a child took of another child playing on the Adventure Playground.

Scribd - Presentation Software

Scribd is my new favourite online presentation tool. It is very simple to upload documents, and accepts many types of files (PowerPoint, Word, PDF and picture file formats jpeg etc). This is a wonderful way to showcase children's published work online as it embeds into Blogs and Wikis. Below is an example of a Word document.

Where the Wild Things Are Activities - Upload a Document to Scribd

Reluctant Writers and ICT

Some children just have nothing to write about, their imagination is stifled and they think they have nothing to write about. There are many reasons for this but one I would presume to say is that a lot of students are visual learners, not necessarily visual thinkers (their imagination has been stifled or ideas have been imposed on them).This is where computers can help...at any age level. I am not particularly advocating that they type (or draft) their story using the computer but instead use the visual aids available to

BUILD A STORY

Use Programmes like KidPix, Kidspiration, Inspiration, Pages, PowerPoint or Word, anything that allows access to a graphic library and get the students to build a story using the graphics available to them. They can then then move them around and create a visual story from the pictures they have found. This visual story can be printed out and used for the motivation for writing which could then be drafted in their writing books.
Another idea would be for children to record themselves on an iPod, PDA or a tape recorder talking about their visual story and this can then be played back to them as they are writing.

KidPix and Maths

Maths is one of the easiest subjects to integrate ICT into particularly in the Junior School.
There does not need to be a whole lot of preparation or creating but you will need to spend time showing students how to perform certain tasks and this can be done as part of the lesson.

Most of the time the main tool buttons that are used are the stamp pencil and line button.

One of the first things I ask teachers is "What are you doing in Maths at the moment?" they tell me and we work out an activity from that. Here are some examples of activities.

How many sets of five
can you make with the
stamp tool?




Patterning Copy these patterns and add to them




Matching 1-1 Find the stamps that have a pair and match them 1-1






Fractions Use the
tool to show the fractions


Make the number sentence and circle the set that is being 'taken away'



Here are some basic addition and Greater than Less than examples


In most of these examples you the teacher do not have to create anything apart from what the instruction is going to be. But don't expect the children to be able to just go and do it, you must model the activity first and this can be included into your instructional lesson.

Activboards versus Mimio...some thoughts

There are many types of Interactive Whiteboards and Mimios out in schools. A lot of teachers are not using them to their full potential, mostly because of technical issues of calibration, software and hardware conflicts, setting up problems and most of all lack of professional development. Then there is the issue of 'Which should we buy for our school?' This blog entry makes suggestions for and against both.

I have had the opportunity of seeing both Activboards and Mimios in action in one school. The Activboard has the projector attached to the screen. (Big tick here, no projector or wires hanging from ceilings or sitting precariously on tables).
The screen can be moved up and down according to the child's height. The screen is large and can be seen by the whole class right to the back of the room. Teachers have very little problems calibrating because the projector is fixed to the screen. There is a wireless keyboard that children or teacher can use anywhere in the classroom. The only down was maybe the clarity, the room needed to be darker or the projector needed to have higher lumens, but it was a minor point as it made no difference to the children.





The Mimio is attached to a LCD TV. This works well with small groups or the whole class on the mat in front of the TV. The mimio image was TV quality.

So far my evaluation of this equipment is that the Activboard works well in the Senior School because it can be seen from the back of the room and when you have big children sitting in a classroom with all your furniture, there is not a lot of room for sitting up the front. I also liked how you could direct student's attention to it while they are working at their desks and they could all easily see it.

I would use the Mimio more in the Junior school. It is least distacting for the whole class as it is smaller and could be used unobtrusively with small groups.

See my new blog dedicated to mimios and IWB http://mimioiwb.blogspot.com/

Proofreading and Interactive Whiteboards

• Choose a student's story that has been drafted on the computer and use that as a proof reading model at the beginning or end of a writing session
• Have the whole class or maybe a targeted group discuss what changes need to be made and let the children take charge of the proofreading
• use an example of drafted writing as a proofreading activity to be completed while waiting to conference (several children can be working on this activity at one time)
• have a child drafting using the IWB instead of in their books
• have two children drafting on the IWB creating a collaborative story, print out and they can proofread, edit and publish on their own
• use the IWB as one of the activities on your developmental circuit

See my new blog dedicated to mimios and IWB http://mimioiwb.blogspot.com/

Make giant posters

Block Posters
Create free huge posters of your photos by going to this site http://www.blockposters.com/ choose how many sheets wide you want it to be, download it as a PDF and print out your poster

Computer Labs, lots of students and researching

At the moment lots of schools are researching the Olympics on the Internet. Depending on the age of the children and their 'skill' in searching the Internet, this could be potentially a frustrating lesson for both teacher and students. Here are some tips for making it a stress free, enjoyable experience for all.

1. Talk to the children before you leave the classroom about what they are going to be doing and what the expectations are, if you try to tell them in the lab most will not listen as all they want to do is get on the computers.
2. Ensure that all children know what they are going to do when they get onto the computer (which game, internet site, or finishing off activity)


3. Prepare a PowerPoint (or a Keynote) page with hyperlinks to the websites the students would most visit, students then can open this from a central place and quickly access the Internet pages (this is more suited to younger children)




4. If you want the children to type in the Internet addresses themselves then teach them to click on the Internet address at the top of the page and then type the URL. (for some reason children always type the Internet address in google which then forces them to take more steps than necessary to get to their final goal)
   
5. Most of the time you do not need to type www at the beginning of the address
   
6. If you want to teach the whole class something new, consider teaching a group first, let them practice and then they show others. The rest of the class can be practising typing, playing a game or finishing off work
   
7. Have a 'control' call that children must respond to when you call it such as 'S-T-O-P STOP!' or my favourite 'Stop, look, listen' or another one I have seen a teacher use is 'Hands up - On heads - Look this way
   
8. It is important that children know how to exit out of the programme they are in and how to log off, so that the next class can get started without having to do extra steps before they can even begin their own work


9. If the children are working on a presentation, consider having a rubric that gives them the success criteria listing what is expected

The Alphabet Key (The A-Z Key)

Tony Ryan's Thinker keys can be adapted and used with ICT and I am gradually going to add to this blog different ways I use these with children. The first one I am going to look at is the Alphabet key ('A-Z' thinker key).
Definition: Compile a list of words from A to Z which has relevance to topic.

Create a PowerPoint (or Keynote) template that has a letter per page. Insert a new slide and choose 'Title Only'. In this example I have made the letters in WordArt and dragged the 'Click to add title' down to the bottom of the slide. Duplicate that slide by clicking on the slide in the left hand panel and pressing Ctrl D (or Apple D) to duplicate, keep pressing Ctrl D until you have enough slides.


Topic - Zoo A to Z of animals in the zoo. When you visit the zoo, have a prepared worksheet with A-Z in one column and space in another column to record what animals there are that fit with those letters. Record any details you can find and add them to a PowerPoint (or Keynote A to Z)



Topic - Literacy Unit 'Where the Wild things are'
Use children’s drawings in Paint, AutoShape animals or take photos of them dressed up as Wild Things or photos of their art work. Insert these into an A –Z PowerPoint with names for each letter of the alphabet and descriptions of their Wild Thing.

Topic - Reading Activity 'Artemis Fowl'
Create drawings in Paint, Artrage or any other drawing software. Insert them into an A-Z PowerPoint. For each letter write something about the characters, themes or plotlines.

Big Huge Labs 'Curriculum use of Photos'

Big Huge Labs
has a multitude of applications that can be used in an educational context mainly as different ideas for publishing or presenting. If your school blocks Flickr though you might not be able to use it. Occasionally you might see some questionable advertising that you might like to advise your students to ignore. Click on images to see a larger version.

Motivational Posters

Insert a photo and type in an inspirational message, choose a frame.

Bead Art

Digitises photos and turn into beads

Jigsaw

Photos are turned into jigsaws with some pieces missing.

Picture Cube

Create your own dice with photos and graphics.

Magazine Cover

Create your own magazine cover with photo and words

Wahorliser

Turn a photo into a Warhol picture.
And there are many more if you click on the 'Jump to Menu' options

Planning, linking, websites and Interactive Whiteboards

With Interactive Whiteboards comes a huge amount of activities already created for you. Plus there are all the other activities that are teacher made in Kidspiration, Inspiration, Word, PowerPoint etc. And then I see that teachers have found all these wonderful websites but are not fully utilising them to their full potential. How can we manage all these websites and activities we may have stored on our computers?
Answer: Incorporate it into your planning. Hyperlink the activities, websites, or teaching resources into your planning and launch the sites from there. This is a perfect way of managing all of these links and it is all in one place plus you are able to see what resources you are mainly using. In this example I have colour coded the activities, red for Flip charts, orange for PowerPoint, green for Inspiration, blue for websites and black for book work.See my new blog dedicated to mimios and IWB http://mimioiwb.blogspot.com/