Book Creator

We talked briefly about the Book Creator app at our recent development session. I though it might be worth posting more information here for anyone that wasn't there, or anyone who wants to revisit what was shown and learn more about how to use Book Creator.

I think involving our classes in making books in Book Creator is a great way for them to plan, record and evaluate their own learning - much like with making a floorbook. I think using Book Creator is quicker and easier than making a floorbook though, as you don't need to print out photos, and you can also record audio and video of the children talking about their learning, so younger classes can be actively involved without having to write.

You could use Book Creator for anything though - it wouldn't need to be like a floorbook. You could use it to keep a record of a lesson, a series of lessons, a trip, a Libby Leaders session or anything really.

I've made a short 5 minute video to explain why and how to use the Book Creator app - was a bit easier than typing out instructions and adding screenshots. It's a bit rambly but should show you how to get started.

I've also added a video below  of the book we're making in P6 (still a work in progress) to let you see how it works as a video if you didn't see it at the development session. I'll post up the finished video to our website once it's done. If you want to use this and need a hand, please let me know. Or if you make a book and have any suggestions for things that worked well, please let me know too.

Sounds for your classroom

Noisli is a lovely website where you can play a variety of different sounds, and mix them together, combining them to create background sounds to create atmosphere in your classroom (or at home if you like!)
Once you've selected your sounds, the website changes colour to suit the mood. This could be a lovely way for your children to talk about what helps them concentrate and they could try mixing sounds to get the balance right, or you could use it in Big Writing lessons either as background noise or as inspiration when writing about settings.

Colour thesaurus for writing

This website has a beautiful visual thesaurus of colours, which would be great to use in lessons to get interesting vocabulary and also great for metaphor and simile work too. The author has made one for each colour which you could display on your Smartboard from the website, or you can right click (PC) or tap and hold (iPad) to save the images. 

Teaching with ICT

I've found the ICT games website invaluable to help teach with ICT in the classroom, and have used it often on a Smartboard to teach to the whole class, as well as for group and individual activities. It's probably best for lower stages of school, but there are a few things that are useful further up the school too. There is a vast amount of useful stuff on the website, so I've just put a few highlights below, please explore the site to find more.

Some ways it could be used on your class Smartboard:

The Wordy Woods is a great way to display words during writing. The children can add to the list, and these are displayed on a tree. Dragging a word to the bottom of the screen enlarges it. There is the option of having three lists, so these could eb categorised however you wish eg adverbs, emotion words, and adjectives. The words are saved too - you don't need to retype them when you next go to the site.

Word Bingo is great for group games. There are ready made high frequency word lists and ready made lists to print off.

Phoneme Pop is great for groups to play as part of a carousel of activities. The children take turns to pop the bubbles which match the sound they hear.

Techno Tortoise (!) is great for demonstrating how to use a numberline. There is a game too.

This Spanish interactive date chart will be useful next year.

Noise getting too much?

Calm Counter

Bouncy Balls

 I've found these two websites are great visual ways to remind your class to use quiet voices when it all gets a bit too hard to think during group work. Its possible to have discussion and chat without having to shout to be heard, and these websites help remind the children of that.
Click here for the calm counter, and here for some animated bouncing items that are activated by sound.

Dangerous routes to School

Next time I'm finding it hard to get up in the morning, I'll be thankful that my route to school doesn't involve any of these methods. Some fantastic images to share with your class - I imagine they might find some of these exciting though! You could use these as a basis for discussing risk assessments when planning a trip, looking at risks in road safety, or in learning about other children around the world. You could also look here for more images of children around the world to compare to our homes and classrooms.

Eric Carle books

This lovely website has videos of Eric Carle books, and a video of Eric Carle himself reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar. It's a beautiful way to revisit the stories - while I don't think these should replace the books, this website compliments the books brilliantly.

Click here for the website.

Creativity with road signs!

The picture below shows some uncropped road signs - might be useful for an art lesson, or work on signs! (Click on the image, then right click to save it.)

Google Street View

This article links to several new views within Google Maps which enable you to see down streets, paths and other places inaccessible to the Google car. Google employees have carried cameras mounted on backpacks to let you see Venice, the Grand Canyon the Amazon basin and more.

What's up in Space?

This website updates a diagram each month of active space missions travelling beyond Earth's orbit. Fantastic if you're doing a project on Space.