Foldplay

Upper school classes might like this site where you can upload photos and create printable templates for lots of lovely craft ideas - books, models and origami. Click here.

 

Posted with Blogsy

The 3 Pyramids

The 3 Pyramids looks amazing - a game from the National Museums of Scotland.
You are Ahmose, a priest in a temple. The high priest has died and you must prepare him for his journey to the afterlife by collecting all the objects required to get him there. Be warned~ you have only got until sunrise to complete your mission.
Find out more about the objects you collect in the Three Pyramids game HERE.
The Three Pyramids in the game are based on real Ancient Egyptian pyramids and you can find out more about them on the pdf you can download HERE, Then test your Ancient Egyptian knowledge with the online Three Pyramids quiz.

15th October - Ada Lovelace Day

(Many thanks to Tim Rylands for this post, and several others on this blog!)

The 15th of October is Ada Lovelace Day, a chance to celebrate, and highlight, some of the, often forgotten, yet remarkable, achievements of women, down through the years, to the present day, in the fields of science, technology, engineering & mathematics.
The day could be a fabulous opportunity to stimulate some writing, research and investigations in to women from the past, or today’s pioneers.
Ada Lovelace is widely held to have been the first computer programmer. Close friends with inventor Charles Babbage, Lovelace was intrigued by his Analytical Engine and in 1842, she translated a description of it by Italian mathematician Luigi Menabrea.
Babbage asked her to expand the article, “as she understood it so well”, and this was when she wrote several early ‘computer programs’. Her notes on the engine include what is recognised as the first algorithm intended to be processed by a machine; thanks to this, she is sometimes considered the world’s first computer programmer. Ada’s notes are important in the early history of computers. She also foresaw the capability of computers to go beyond mere calculating or number-crunching while others, including Babbage himself, focused only on these capabilities.
Ada was the only legitimate child of the poet Lord Byron (with Anne Isabella Milbanke, 11th Baroness Wentworth). Ada died of cancer at 36, her potential tragically unfulfilled.
Read more about Ada Lovelace on the Finding Ada page here.
Ada Lovelace Day 2013 is about sharing stories of women — whether engineers, scientists, technologists or mathematicians — who have inspired many. The aim is to create new role models for girls and women in these male-dominated fields by raising the profile of other women in STEM.

It’s really easy to get involved in Ada Lovelace Day: When 15th October starts, just write or record something about a women in science, technology, engineering or maths whose achievements you admire. It can be a blog post, a Facebook update, a podcast, a video – whatever you like.
When it’s published online, visit this page to find out how to add your story to the collection.
Take a look at the wonderful Sydney Padua.com  for some exquisite art work, and “The Origin”,a wonderful comic on the back story and early days of Ada Lovelace.
2D Goggles or “The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage”, is a “highly irregular webcomic, with footnotes* with an interesting cast.
Lovelace and Babbage is now a snazzy FREE iPad App, thanks to the good folks at Agant!
It has “The Origin” for free, with “a bevy of brand-new notes and primary docs in fabulous Rotate-O-Vision, for all your Lovelace and Babbage trivia needs”.

Forest Academy

The Forest Academy is a fun, informative, interactive tour through the life cycle of plants, tree knowledge, biodiversity, forest protection and more. Games, & quizes earn badges for your backpack. Try some experiments too.
9 to 12 year olds could play this game independently or it could be used as a shared class experience in a lesson. (Ideas here).

Teach Your Monster to Read

Teach Your Monster to Read isa free online game to help children practice and consolidate the essential first stages of reading. Aimed at beginner readers, Teach Your Monster to Read: First Steps is built on the principles of synthetic phonics and follows the teaching sequence in the “Letters and Sounds” programme
This inspiring game develops children’s speed, and accuracy of letter recognition, by taking them on a fantastic adventure through a magical world where they meet island kings and collect letters to win prizes.  It also explores blending and segmenting, and introduces “tricky” words in a fun, interactive setting. It is aimed at beginning readers, both those who are on track & those who need support. And, it’s great fun too.

The Science of Gardening

This looks best for upper school. The Science of Gardening is a great collection of videos, and interactive activities, about growing plants.
There are three areas: Feed ~ Control ~ Bloom. The first section explores the basics, such as soil types, seeds, and the origins of some of the common cultivated crops.
In “Control”, we find out about biodiversity, growing plants indoors, and plant hybrids, whilst “Bloom” looks at pollination, the survival skills of plants, and why they spend so much effort making themselves attractive.

3D Toad

3D Toad is a collection of rotatable, three dimensional, artefacts that it is possible to spin and zoom in on. A good set of objects to use in many learning opportunities.
Investigate 360° models (some of which have alternate 3D views that can be viewed with 3D glasses) of disections, animal and human skeletons, goelogical and fossil specimens, historical object and more.

Why it's a toad, I've no idea.