Teachers Pet

In the process of setting up my brand new Year Three classroom I looked around for some classroom labels that would be good for labelling drawers, pegs and a few other bits and pieces like a visual timetable.

I was delighted to find some fantastic items on the Teachers Pet website (www.tpet.co.uk) which is completely free! I loved the animal labels in particular which I have used to create drawer labels, and the visual timetable will be perfect to use on the wall. It was good to find resources which are editable too!

If you have any labels needed for your classroom, I cannot recommend this site enough.

Sharing links with Sqworl

I heard about Linkbunch after reading about BETT on various blogs. Linkbunch allows you to share multiple websites by simple sharing links on just one page. I thought it was a brilliant idea. It would be great for sharing links with children for a research project or for parents when sharing some of the sites we use when studying a particular topic.





I later discovered Sqworl which I think has the potential to be even better.
Sqworl is incredibly easy to use. To create an account you'll need an email address and then create a username and password.

Then you can add links and give a description to each one. A unique page is created which includes the links and a screenshot.

The end result is very friendly-looking. I've created a page to share SATs revision websites at
http://sqworl.com/38hj5n.

The children could design their own pages to share websites that they like, or websites that they have used during topic work.

Tutpup

Since the start of the year I and my pupils have been getting into Tutpup. I read a blog post about it and thought I would give it a try.

Tutpup is a free website where children can play maths games (and a spelling game) against people from around the world. Owned by Mind Candy, the site is advert free and doesn't require any personal information about the children. The only thing asked for is an email address for mum or dad - unless you have set up a class, in which case the children don't even need this!

I asked on Twitter whether Tutpup is suitable for Year Six. The response was a resounding "Yes!" In fact it was recommended that all the children in the school are signed up. I think I'll sort this for the next school year. But in the mean time I set up two classes - one for each class.

The process for setting up a class as a teacher is very easy and quick. In no time at all, all the information was entered and then I just had to wait to use it with my class... In order to join my class, the children had to enter a class code which I had given them. Setting up all the children's accounts took around 10 minutes altogether. This is because it is hard to find a username that hasn't been taken yet. You have to select a colour, an animal and a number. Finding a combination of all three that hasn't been selected already can be frustrated. This one aspect of Tutpup is my only complaint.

Once logged in the children can start playing games! They can join in a game against someone else or create a game to play against another user. One of the things my children love is that you can see which country your competitor is from. "I've just beaten someone from Kenya!" was one of the early shouts from the class.

At the moment, the classes are given around 20 minutes each week in school to use Tutpup (as well as using it as often as they want at home). For the first couple of weeks the children could use it as they wished - try any game at any level. This was just to become familiar with the layout and functions of the site. After that we've been more specific.

Class teachers can print out a report of how the children are doing overall in a particular time table, or in a particular maths game. After two weeks I discovered that the children weren't doing so well at their 6, 7 and 8 times tables. So in week three they could only play these times tables. Later, I discovered that their division results weren't as good as the other operations, so the next week division games were the only ones allowed.

Then we started to push ourselves on to higher difficulty levels.

The children can win awards by using the site regularly and being successful. You can win an award by starting and winning five games, for example. You can also graduate from a level so that they can try games more appropriate to their ability. A win wall displays the names of the users you have beaten.

We have a list of usernames on display so that the children can see the usernames of their friends.

I love the fact that you can print out their results. I love the fact that the site is ad-free. I love the way the children don't need to enter personal details or an email address. I love the way you can freeze the games for five minutes in case you want to talk to the class.

I would highly recommend Tutpup to pupils of all ages.

Some comments from the children:

"I think Tutpup will help me with my 12 times table."

"It is one of the best maths websites in the world."

"It is improving my mental maths speed."

"The compeition elements is a good thing - it gives motivation." (A level 5A writer)

"It is fun going against people from other countries."

"It helps me to build confidence."

"There are loads of different maths games to go on."

"It makes you do better because you want to win."

Spelltube.co.uk

Further to a post about learning spellings earlier this month I discovered Spelltube.co.uk. The site has 'brings the weekly spelling list into the technological age'.

Interesting and memorable spelling videos have been created for each of the 3000+ words in the National Spelling Bank. Teachers can generate and assign a word list to their Key Stage 2 pupils. Various characters help to reinforce spelling concepts in an enjoyable way that will appeal to various learning styles.

I think I could definitely use this in class.

Amazing Microbe Hunters

This site is great for researching scientists who studied microbes. Very useful for the Micro-organisms science scheme of work which we are starting the year with next week!

Printable paper

If you ever need a sheet of graph paper in a hurry, why not use Printable Paper.net, a handy website. There are lots of different papers you can download to print.

Maths is Fun

Another great maths website - useful for teaching new concepts and revision!

Interesting Education Blogs

The Whiteboard Blog shares ideas for using IWBs in the classroom.

Help! I'm A Busy Teacher is a blog where the writer tries to share resources and ideas to make lives easier.

Mr Warner's Blog is run by the creator of the superb Teaching Ideas and I have thoroughly enjoyed reading his informative and useful blog. One of the best blogs I have found.

Redbridge Primary ICT makes suggestions for using ICT in the classroom.

Mr Stacey has thoughts, ideas and reflections on teaching, learning and technology.

Doug Belshaw writes an interesting blog on education, technology and productivity. Worth a read.

ICT Inspirations is a very useful blog with 'reflections and notes from the pen of a primary school ICT subject leader.

Mathszone

This is a brilliant website with links to several Maths games. The links are organised according to the area of the subject.

Nrich

Another fabulous Maths website with lots of ideas and games which change every month.

Sparklebox KS2 is free!

Sparklebox has announced the brilliant news that all its resources are now free! Fantastic! This includes the KS2, KS1 and Foundation Stage sites! If you've never used their resources before, now there is no excuse!

Yr 6 Teachers Wikispace

The Yr 6 Teachers Wikispace is a great resource where planning and resources are shared.

I plan to create a Year Six Teacher Wikispace very shortly.

Pete's PowerPoint Station

Pete's PowerPoint Station is a fabulous resource with links to PowerPoint slideshows to use in class. Of course, the slideshows are editable so that you can adapt them to your needs.

Wikimapia

Just by reading the name of this website you can imagine what it might be - Wikimapia is a cross between Wikipedia and Google Earth! You can search for places and then click on them to read about them. There is still a lot left to cover if anyone would like to add more. But this would be really useful for geography research and local history projects.

Year Six Teacher Forum

I have created a Forum for Year Six Teachers. Please feel free to start topics and add posts. The address is http://yearsixteacher.ohmylife.net/index.htm.

Teacher Led

There are lots of really good interactive Maths activities at Teacher Led.com. A really useful website.

Year Six Teacher Netvibes

I have created a Year Six Teacher Netvibes homepage. This will be your one stop shop for teaching news, blog updates, links and more. I am just beginning to get my head around it all, so be aware that this will gradually evolve quite drastically!

Countdown - Beat the clock

I found this website - a dream come true! How to cheat at Countdown!! This will solve the numbers game, letters game and conundrums for the TV show. It even tells you the difficulty rating!

You could also use this to create challenges for children in lessons.

Sparkle Box 2

Sparkle Box has had such a wonderful reaction from everyone in the TES forums and other blogs. Some of my colleagues have also used the KS1 version. So I guess I am late in highlighting Sparkle Box for KS2. But this is a fabulous site with lots of free resources and some high quality items available to buy. There are some good deals at the moment for resource disks.

UK Teachers' Forums

The UK Teachers' Forums are a great place to discuss anything school related.

I wish there was a complete forum dedicated to Primary Schools, and Year 6 teachers in particular. I have no idea how to set one up. Maybe this is something I could look into...