Archive for February 2013

Small Steps

Just a quickie...

I have just passed 1000 views for the blog and as the title says its small steps to what I want to achieve. Here is to all that have helped and shared with the world!


Thanks again!

Purple Mash

Back Again!

Decided after the light of the BETT Learning Technology Event at the weekend I want to make you all aware of a piece of cloud software I have loved using in the classroom.

Became aware of this software a few years back as an individual CD-ROM through 2Simple To Create A Story which I have used in a Year One class to create a class story. Now this and much much more has been put online as a cloud software meaning schools can purchase for around £600 and access a wealth of applications which will cost much more on CD-ROM. Lets face it, its the way most ICT is heading nowadays!


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"2simple was started in 2000 by teachers and IT professionals with a common mission: to make software that really helped children learn. Their software is simple, easy to use and relevant.

Their first program, the Infant Video Toolkit, was written specifically to help children from the ages of 4 to 7 develop basic core computer skills. The suite of six programs contains simple painting, publishing, counting, graphing, direction and branching database programs that are now used in schools across the UK as well as internationally.  Since the release of the Infant Video Toolkit they have created many more programs based on the same principles."

I recommend this software to anyone and I am looking into fundraising in order to purchase for our school. I particularly love the 2 Publish app, very good for basic computer skills in typing, mouse control and paint.



My only downside is that the font can sometimes be confusing with the Arial font - the 'a' bringing the most confusion as we tend to write it differently.

All in all an excellent piece of software!!

Enjoy

All Things Phonics #4 Parents

Hey

Recently we decided in school over the Christmas holidays to send home some phonic resources to parents. This included a letter explaining about what we do, a phase appropriate sound mat and a set of tricky words. I figure this is the best place to start blogging, so giving it to the world!

What is Phonics?


Phase 1 - 5 Sound Mats (www.twinkl.co.uk)

Combined Phase 2 & 3 Sound Mats - Sound Mat, Letters and Sounds, DfES Letters and Sounds, Phase 2, Phase two, Phase three, Phase 3, Foundation, Literacy, Mnemonic Images

Tricky Word Bookmarks (www.twinkl.co.uk)

Phase 4 Tricky Word Bookmarks - Bookmark, Phase 4, phase four, Tricky words, writing aid, DfES Letters and Sounds, Letters and sounds, bookmark template, gift, present, reward, achievement

Enjoy

Avatar Ani-me!

Hey

Just wanted to share this, been looking at these for ages and really wanted one for myself. Those folks over at Twinkl have these avatars on their blogs and now they have an Avatar Creator! YAY!

Check me out! Now go and create your own!


Will be posting a lot more over the coming weeks from the folks at Twinkl. An excellent resource site for all Key Stages!

Enjoy :)

All Things Phonics #3 Mr Thorne

Hey

Another post from me, this time on a resource that I have found so useful. I have decided to break these websites down into individual posts in order to give them their limelight!

First up is Mr Thorne Does Phonics. This is available as both a website and a selection of inexpensive iPhone/iPad apps. I'll break these down and give you an insight.


Basically these have helped with my subject knowledge around phonics with certain letter sounds and also is a alternative medium for children to learn both during independent times in classroom or at home with parents. For teachers, this could also be an alternative medium to introducing a new sound, especially with those younger children through 'Geraldine the Giraffe'.


Thanks for reading.

Enjoy

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