ICT in Schools Bulletin
December 2015
Wishing you a Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year
NEW E-Safety Resources for Parents
Thinkuknow is an education programme from the National Crime Agency’s CEOP Command. They have just launched their new website to support parents.
Since 2006, Thinkuknow has been keeping children and young people safe by providing education about sexual abuse and sexual exploitation.
Thinkuknow is unique. It is underpinned by the latest intelligence about child sex offending from CEOP Command.
Thinkuknow aims to ensure that everyone has access to this practical information – children, young people, their parents and carers and the professionals who work with them.
Alongside the Thinkuknow website the programme provides educational resources, including films, cartoons and lesson plans, to help professionals raise young people’s awareness.
Petra's Planet FREE E-Safety course
Petra's Planet is a new online E-Safety resource. For a free month trial click here or if you would like an extended trial please contact Amanda Hayward at ICT in schools.
At school children learn the knowledge, skills and capabilities that are needed to succeed in the world. Through globalization and technological development this world is changing at an unprecedented speed. In today’s modern world it is essential to do things together, express one-self and to use new channels of communication in a constructive and safe way. It is valuable to learn ways of thinking and acting creatively and to question things that one encounters and evaluate them independently.
Children need a safe and secure environment where they can practice the skills needed in 21st century communities and workplaces.
In Completing your E-Safety Course children will learn by:
- Creating content in their own blog and sharing their experiences on their timelines
- Viewing and commenting on what others have shared on the news feed
- Using chat to communicate and collaborate with the whole class
- Expressing their identity through avatar and own page customization
Teachers are provided with :
- A ready-made set of lesson plans for teaching media literacy & e-safety
- A convenient moderation tool for monitoring the students activities
- Class pages including class timeline and class blog
- Easy to use administration tools for managing user accounts
BUT please beware - this site is not the same as Petrasplanet.com which has chat rooms and in game purchases.
Email: amanda.hayward@ictinschools.org
Website: https://petrasplanetshare.com/
Facebook quiz warning
Writereader
WriteReader is a scientifically-based learning tool that supports the idea of learning through creation and creative thinking where students in Early Years to KS1 can learn to read by writing their own digital books.
In half of all schools in Denmark, students are using WriteReader to create book about any subject that they find interesting – toys, animals, holidays, family or fictional stories based on own photos and drawings. Older students can also benefit from using the app when learning English or other languages.
Preschool students can use the written language in an authentic way and meaningful way and experience the joy of creating by sharing their books with other students. These students can read the helper’s writing. The books can be converted to PDF-files and be sent to friends and family via e-mail. Furthermore, the books can be designed in ready-to-print format, making it easy to print and assemble booklets.
Website: www.writereader.com
Achieve 3000
Providing a proven routine that dramatically improves reading, writing and critical thinking - to keep students on track.
Achieve3000® uses a daily Five-Step Literacy Routine that is proven to dramatically improve vocabulary, comprehension and critical thinking skills, reading fluency and writing skills-and to keep students on track. Through the routine, all students in the class read and interact about the same topic, but each student accesses the content at his own reading level.
From the email that engages students and connects them to the day's topic...to relevant and compelling, differentiated non-fiction articles...to activities, thought questions and polls...Achieve3000's solutions align closely with English programmes of study objectives for non-fiction.
For more details about the Worldwide research conducted by Achieve3000, and the accelerated gains achieved, click here.
If you would like to know more or arrange an extended trial - please contact Amanda Hayward at ICT in Schools.
Brainpop gets bigger and better!
BrainPop UK is a web based resource with thousands of short animated movies for students from EYFS to KS4, together with quizzes and related materials, covering the subjects of science, social studies, English, mathematics, engineering and technology, health, computing and arts and music. BrainPop is available by subscription but has some free content, including a movie of the day, several free movies from each topic area, educators materials, including lesson plans, and an extensive library of educational games called GameUp. Its free smartphone and tablet application also accesses BrainPop's free and subscription content.
The videos and other materials are designed to engage students and assist teachers and parents; they are aligned to UK national curriculum standards. Most of the videos feature the characters Tim and Moby. In addition to BrainPop.com for older children, there is BrainPop Jr. for younger children (EYFS and KS1), BrainPop Español, BrainPop Français, BrainPop ESL for non-native speakers learning English.
All schools in South Tyneside can access an extended FREE trial - contact Rob at Brainpop UK for details.
Email: robertr@brainpop.co.uk
Website: http://www.brainpop.co.uk/