Looking after your iPad

I thought it might be helpful to have a post here with information for using your iPad, so that it's all in one place for you to refer back to when you need to.

It's important to connect to wifi every once in a while to keep your iPad updated with the latest software and apps, or it will stop working well. If you do this regularly then it's not a big job.  This could be recorded as CPD.

To update your operating system - you'll get a pop-up message from Apple telling you that an update is available. Then a little red number will appear next to the settings button. Just open settings, then software update, and tap Install. If the memory is too full (very likely with iPad minis) then you'll need to delete some videos and photos or apps to make space.

To update apps:
Open the app store, then tap on 'Updates' in the bottom right. There's a glitch that sometimes opens the apps instead of updating them. To update these apps, search for them in the App Store, tap on the app title, and update them from here.

Useful links:

How to remove videos and photos and put them on your computer (scroll down to 'Import media to a Windows PC)

How to reset your Apple ID (itunes password)

How to reset your iPad if you forget the passcode

I'm happy to help with any iPad queries, just let me know.

Typing games to improve keyboard skills

This website: typing.com is amazing. There are tutorials for improving keyboard skills and lots of brilliant games that I'm sure your classes would enjoy. There's the option of creating a teacher account so you can track progress if you like too.
The downside is that there are adverts on here. You should check first to see if you think it's suitable for your class.

Online games, songs and activities for teaching Spanish

Some extras to add to the 1+2 resources - either on your class Smartboard or the children could explore these in the ICT Suite (apart from the You Tube links which they won't be able to access with their log-ins):

The Language of the Month website has good audio clips which you could use in class.

The BBC Schools Spanish webpage has some simple wee games and videos which look good for younger children here. These would be good either on your Smartboard or in the ICT suite.

Infant classes might like some of the songs and videos from the Lingo Show here

Calico Spanish on Youtube have some good songs for all stages.

Some links to resources for teaching about Spain

Below are some clips and links to websites with information about Spain and Spanish culture. While we use the resources from the 1+2 website to learn Spanish, it's important that we explain that Spanish is spoken around the world in many different ways. Wikipedia explains this with a handy table and map here, and the BBC Schools Spanish page has information here, and the Language of the Month website has a useful page here

There's a good Powerpoint here to introduce Spain and Spanish. (You can view it or download it)

This video might be useful:


The BBC Bitesize website has a few clips on Spanish culture:

Click here  and here for early and first level videos

Click here  for second level videos

A Spanish teacher who works in Primary schools keeps a blog here which has lots of lovely ideas, including a section on cultural understanding.

New Year lesson idea

This looks like an interesting activity for the new year - there's a video on daruma dolls, which are a 400 year old tradition in Japan. They represent perseverance, patience, protection, prosperity, achievement and good luck in the new year. There's also a video on how to make an origami or papier mâché daruma doll.

Click here for the videos and more information.