Welcome to the Classroom Carousel Blog

Hello, I am so excited to have created this new Blog and am really looking forward to discovering many new classroom and learning resources for our primary children and to share with you, too. So keep checking back in, you'll be sure to find something new on each visit.

Any comments about the resources we are exploring are most welcome, especially if you have tried them yourself, and would love for you to recommend any that you have come across yourself, on your travels around the net.

The NEW Classroom Carousel Blog is just one click away at http://thenewclassroomcarousel.primaryblogger.co.uk/
A new blog, now accessible at school, which unfortunately, this one, which I love, isn't, so hence the New Blog. I hope that you'll come along and join me on the new Blog too! Look forward to seeing you.

100wc

The 100wc, a weekly, Literacy based, challenge where children are given a writing ‘prompt’ which they respond to with a 100 word piece of creative writing. They post their work onto a class Blog which is then linked to the 100wc website. Whilst they await responses the children also have the opportunity to peruse other children’s work, adding comments if they wish. Posts are many and creatively varied.

The challenges present many opportunities for writing skills development with its focus on sentence construction, paragraphing and punctuation use and the added bonus of writing for a real audience, providing a meaningful personal impetus. I can’t sing the praises of this activity enough, clearly a powerful facilitator and a vehicle for developing peer assessment and learning independence. With its phenomenal potential the 100wc can very quickly become a valuable asset and a cultivar of children’s positive learning attitudes and engagement, collaborative learning and responsible Blogging techniques.

http://100wc.net/

Additionally, the wonderful 5 Sentence Challenge is once again a valuable contributor of writing skills development this time for younger children and positively supportive of inclusion. Centring on the formation of clear, contextual and correctly punctuated sentences it provides constructive and focused encouragement enabling all children to participate and contribute imaginatively.

http://100wc.net/

Are We Ready For The Adventure?

I am in the process of creating a presentation, entitled,”Are We Ready For The Adventure?’ for our next staff meeting, exploring all the exciting work that’s going on with Primary schools, on the Web. Through the presentation I am hoping to develop, firstly, a positive argument for the cultivation and development of Blogs, across all classes, and secondly focus on the actual potential of Blogging when interest and momentum is seized and capitalised upon and steered into a multitude of directions, thereby accounting for and encapsulating many learning styles and individual interests. I am hoping to show a number of varied examples of Blog use across all primary age ranges, including both class Blogs and primary student Blogs, to hopfully really get our Blogging active and moving, dispell any myths about its lack of use for younger children and provide a firm footing for its development. Any help from existing, successful class and primary student Blogs will be most useful and appreciated.

Quadblogging, 100 Word Challenge, New Tutorial Centre and New Student Page, All in One Weekend, Now That’s What I Call Busy!

Well, it’s certainly been a busy weekend…Began with my finishing a Tutorial Centre on our Learning Platform, a direct response from our staff skills audit. I am really pleased with the result and hope that it becomes a useful element. The Tutorial Centre focuses on developing skills for using MS Word, PowerPoint, Publisher and Excel and other applications and programmes available on our school Network, such as LOGO, Dazzle, and Clicker. As always such an intiative remains dynamic and develops over time and becomes modified as it is used.

Then I created a new page on our Student Space entitled, ” What’s the Time Around the World?” Providing a variety of clock faces, all synchronised, showing the various ways we use and ‘see’ time, such as a basic anologue clock face with second hand, 12 hour digital clock, 24 hour digital clock with date, roman numerals and a face with no numbers. Alongside, were online links to various resources to help children complete activities as well as just ‘finding out’. A world clock in a useful table format for discovering time all around the world, a converter to help compare time in one country with another, a colourful night and day map, an online timer and a countdown timer which children can set for an important event of their choice. Colourful buttons link each resource and the working clocks help to make the page quite an engaging an active little space. Let’s hope the children like it.

I also spent time exploring the 100 Word and 5 sentence Challenge Website and developing a ‘persuasive argument’ to present to staff tomorrow, with a view to our joining in. I really like the fact that this reaches younger and lower attaining and less motivated children as well as children who love to write. I’m quite excited about our taking part and feel it would be a good step forward for our school. Providing an audience for our children’s work, can at the very least be a positive dynamic and a stepping stone towards greater things. So that’s on this week’s ’To Do List’!

At teatime, I joined David Mitchell’s, online class about Blogging and QuadBlogging. I must say that I have been exploring the idea of Quadblogging and how we can adopt this, so was a little conversant with the subject matter. However, Blogging is in its infancy and still somewhat spasmodic, but that leaves us with lots of room for discovery and development. The class provided further insight and it is always more than useful to speak to those who have experience of the initiative you are thinking of or are trying to implement. Helps you to develop a more informed picture with which to share with colleagues, and indeed more confident answers to purposeful questions. So a big thankyou to everyone who shared in the online class and to David Mitchell for being generous enough to share his experience and his ideas.

Blog the Leap Year

http://feb29th.net/
This is such a brilliant idea...A one day event, Blogging across the world,check it out and join in.

Thoughts and Reflections

Read a personally significant Blog post this morning that really resonated with my thoughts and indeed some of the conversations I’d had during this last week. Discussing the constant and ever present, dynamic, changing face of Web 2.0 technologies the writer highlights the need to embrace and cultivate such change positively, rising to the challenges presented by the multi faceted dynanism of progressive technologies. The summation of the post provides a reflective and contemplative annotation of my own role as an ICT Co-ordinator engaging with and promoting Web 2.0 technologies, as a valuable asset for teaching and learning and that as such I am indeed a learner seeking to lead the way in my learning environment.

Thanks to http://web20forschoolleaders.wordpress.com/2011/12/18/we-live-in-unce-2/

Communication4All

This is a fabulous site with brilliant resources for all year groups and covering the whole curriculum. All the resources are attractive, purposeful and engaging whether for teaching and learning or display. I have been using this Website for a long time and each time I visit there is always something new to find. I particularly like the interactive ICT and e-safety resources and the Blogging posters will be a fabulous adition to my new Blogging Display in readiness for next term. so a big thank you to Communication4All for those.

Fabulous Podcasts

Some of our KS2 children have been engaging in podcasting within our Learning Platform...Remarkable how conscientious they suddenly became, really wanting to impress and read with their most powerful and expressive voices. They all immediately recognised and innately knew how to apply improvements to their reading. It certainly drove home to me the power of such application for successful engagement and independent learning. Will be promoting further use of Podcasts for all year groups both in the classroom and our Learning Platform. Already developing ideas for extending their use for Literacy and reading. WELL DONE to all the children.

Christmas Advent courtesy of ICT Magic

Take a look at and enjoy the fabulous interactive Christmas Advent Calendar courtesy of ICT Magic, you'll find the page link on the side bar. This little advent is a wonderful, captivating host of individual activities that children of all ages will find engaging as they discover it on their Website. Take the time to explore it yourself first - Simply click on the side bar of this Blog or the link below and you will be taken to the Christma Advent page where you find the Advent Calendar embedded and a further link to the ICT Magic Website.

http://theclassroomcarousel.blogspot.com/p/christmas-advent.html

Podcasts

Finally finished creating an introductory Podcast and lots of, hopefully engaging supportive documentation for our staff meeting next week centred on our Learning Platform. So now it’s fingers crossed for the successful implementation and the effective development of Podcasting in our school. A bit disgruntled that I couldn’t add an engaging background to the Podcast, instead of the large white space that engulfed the screen, but when I tried to add a background the recording was lost and vice versa, regadless of which way I tried to add it; so that’s a new learning curve for me, but I need to find out if it’s possible first! Must say, was pleased with the Podcast though, really good, hope everyone else thinks so, too, but more importantly, hope that we can begin to adopt Podcasts within our classrooms.
Now to move on to planning the remaining portion of the meeting focusing on, ‘Effective Blogging in the Classroom.’ Already made great headway with this but looking to provide perhaps an engaging video or presentation. Really need to capture the essence and the purported excitement of creating Blogs within a learning structure. Need to show that they don’t necessarily need to be more time-consuming than any other teaching methodology, but rather show their desireability in producing creative and effective results with the children. So continuing with the drawing board, so to speak…Any ideas let me in on them, please.

Museum Box

Exploring the idea of using Museum Box - It looks really good! I'm busy researching its use aand am quite impressed with its apparent potential for teaching and learning. Project or Topic work seems to be an obvious starting point. I think it could be quite an engaging tool, offering a dynamic means of gathering information and relevant resources and compiling them in a dynamic and interesting way. I am also wondering if it could provide a relevant methodology for teachers to gather resources for lesson or topic planning? How feasible and appropriate, and indeed useful would such a medium be? I think I need to aquire some hands on experience of using it as a tool for primary learners and as a tool for teachers. So I sense a rather large exploration project looming! This will ultimately highlight its relevance for our school. Obviously I need to focus on something very relevant to make it worthwhile and useful in its entirety; have a couple of ideas in mind. I must say I'm quite excited about using Museum Box, it seems so innovative and I love the idea of beig able to add sound and audio and video files alongside documents and images; even web links can be incorporated and all compiled in one quite attractive little place!
http://museumbox.e2bn.org/
Please let me know your thoughts if you have given Museum Box a go...I would be really interested in hearing from anyone who has given it a go and the way you found worked best for your learners.

Resource Hub

Finally managing to create a resource hub that includes Web 2.0 tools and links to how to PDFs and video links, on our Learning Platform; a bit of a slow process but should be worth all the hard work in the end. Devoting some time each night to this task and it’s beginning to take good shape. Will also be including ideas as well as how to information for effective blogging and Wikis. Engagement and empowerment are the key words associated with ths development initiatve. So for now it’s watch this space…

ANIMOTO

Wow, this is brilliant!! I can't believe how quickly I put together this test video; it was about 10 minutes! The result was more than I ever anticipated...I couldn't believe the fabulous video that I was presented with. I felt instantly hooked. IMAGINE what you'd get if you took your time and really planned it beforehand! WOW! It would be a fabulous tool for presentations aswell as photographic slideshows. The children could use it to create and present group work and as a teaching and learning tool, well the world's your oyster; just imagine how it could enhance your lessons!
http://animoto.com/education

Zondle - So Cool, So Engaging

Wow, just discovered Zondle! The site that turns questions into engaging children's games. My mind is a buzz with ideas...Could be used for a whole class quiz during the plenery or as a personalised learning tool, intervention activities or even homework activities as games can be embedded into school's Website or Learning Platform. Could also be useful for providig purposeful and meaningful activities during after school clubs. Explored lots of the Numeracy topics already created and played a couple of the recommended games to go with the topic questions then created a set of questions; I even made my own avatar!

My New Blog UPDATE!!

All sorted, up and running...Must say that i quite like it; lots of features that I haven't got this Blog, but "Tweeting" is much simpler here! So happy with the result. Now to enjoy using it!

Teaching Essentials

Wow! What a fabulous site Teaching Essentials is…Love the Reading and Writing Level Target and sub level sheets that can be printed for display. So child friendly with their use of child speak and visually engaging…Children can see at a glance where they are and what their next steps need to be. Not simply informative, but an empowerment tool, too.
The Reading and Writing Level Targets are just one of the many resources available to help engage learners and the organisation of the classroom. It’s certainly on my list for a revisit…Hopefully their Blog will keep me informed of new additions.

Manga High

Just checking out the recommended Maths Games based Website, Manga High…Anyone familiar with it? Would appreciate your thoughts,

Its a Book

I love it....Let me know what you think...

Problems, Problems, What A To Do!!!

Well, after all the hard work, preparing my new Blog to be accessible from school, which unfortunately, this one, which I love, isn't! The comments aren't working on my new Blog, a technical glich! What good's a Blog without comments? Not a lot...It looks wonderful and has some fab features and has received a lot of hard work, but, well, sadly, it's on hold, for a little while, until I can sort it out. So it's not that I've been out of touch, on the contrary I've been fully engaged and busy organising and setting up for the future enhancement of my Blog use for school.

Exploring Via My New Found Friend Twitter

Whilst exploring some excellent teaching and learning resources via my new found friend Twitter, I was lucky enough to come across Infant Encyclopaedia and Junior ICT Companion. These excellent resources are just two of the brainchilds of Simon Haughton, a talented primary school ICT manager, who generously shares his creative endeavours with others. I already have many ideas on how such resources can assist the teaching and learning in our classroom and how useful the Junior ICT companion will be for all year groups. I will certainly be keeping up with Simon's blog and wait in anticiption of more of his brilliant ideas piped through the Twitter channels.