Xtranormal | Text-to-Movie

Xtranormal is website where kids can create simple animated movies. Students choose their characters and type in the dialogue, in minutes they have created a simple animated movie. Here is one I made:

New Cyber Safety Website for Australian Schools

After a two week holiday, I am back online and looking forward to posting more ICT information for my readers!

The Australian Government has just created a brand new website called Cybersmart:

"Cybersmart provides activities, resources and practical advice to help young kids, kids, teens and parents safely enjoy the online world.

Cybersmart also offers training and resources for schools and materials for library staff.

Developed by the Australian Communications and Media Authority, Cybersmart is part of the Australian Government’s cybersafety program."

Fantastic sites for kids

I have been using the website, "Tutpup" with my kids and it has been an overwhelming success. They can practise their quick response to basic number concepts, times tables and spelling. The reason why it is so successful, is that the kids compete with other kids from all over the world or with someone on the computer next to them. Children can create their own account at home or, as I have done, a class account can be created and you can track their progress. If you are trying to find a fun way for kids to practise their maths skills, then I thoroughly recommend this website.

Note: It is still in beta (prototype) stage.

Another website worth visiting is Tikatok, a place where children can create and share online storybooks. One interesting feature is, for a fee, they will publish the student's book and send it professionaly bound.

Sir Ken Robinson in Australia

As you may or may not know, I really am a fan of Sir Ken Robinson - an expert in creativity and educational reform. Well, he has been in Australia and interviewed on one of our most respected current affairs shows. The interviews were aired over two nights and these are the links:

Interview Part One

Interview Part Two

Definitely worth a look!

Cyberbullying - digizen.org

I came across this website the other day called digizen.org and I was impressed by the section on cyberbullying. There are videos and plenty of resources for teachers to discuss this isuee with their students. You can watch the main video and then see the individual interviews with the characters, powerful stuff. This site is aimed at upper primary and lower secondary students.

Robin Hood Primary School

There is a school in Birmingham, England called Robin Hood Primary School that does some fantastic things with ICT education. Have a look at this video and then visit their website.

Learning beyond the boundries of the classroom

I would like to write a post about my class blog. It has been almost half a year since I started it and feel it is time to reflect on a few things:

Why did I create it?

As ICT education is a real passion, I wanted to find a way to provide my students with access to learning via technology beyond the classroom wall. I also thought it would complement our home learning program by providing engaging and enjoyable activities that support a range of learning areas. It was also a way to share the student's work with the community via the Internet.

How has it been recieved?

I have had many parents provide postive feedback about the blog. It has been wonderful to see comments by relatives of the students who live far from the school, but through the blog have a portal to their learning. The children enjoy the challenges and activites that cover all learning areas. As we are a global community, the responses from children overseas has been rewarding.

Where to next?

I teach a grade 3/4 class and am pleased that three of my grade 4 boys have created their own blogs. A grade 4 girl from another class has decided that they need their own blog and I have assisted her in creating one. I hope this trend continues, however from this experience I would like all my students to eventually use a blog to document their learning.

Check out the latest puzzle on my class blog - it is a real beauty!

Local animation and web development company

Came across a company called, touchmypixel, that is a Melbourne based game and website developer. They have created a game called, "Scary Girl" and is well worth a look. The graphics are amazing! Have a look at their other projects as well.

A great talk

This was a video recommended by a fellow State Council member, Rob Rankin, from a Twitter post.
"An inspirational man!!! Watch Benjamin Zander before taking your next class."
Thanks, Rob!

ICTEV State Conference 2009

Congratulations to all for another great conference yesterday! Our keynote speaker, Bruce Dixon (director of Ideaslab), was truly a great speaker and got everyone inspired for the fantastic range of presentations that followed. Although a bit cold and windy, there was plenty of great coffee and hot food throughout the day! It was five years ago that I was nominated to be on the State Council of ICTEV and I feel really proud to be part of such a great teacher's association. I hope all who came to the conference had a great day and we all look forward to ICTEV hosting the National Conference, ACEC2010, in April!

Very clever...

 HEMA is a Dutch department store. The first store opened on November 4, 1926, in Amsterdam . Now there are 150 stores all over the Netherlands. Take a look at HEMA's product page. You can't order anything and it's in Dutch, but just wait a couple of seconds and watch what happens.
        

Sir Ken Robinson - newest talk

I really connect with Sir Ken's philosophies and once again found his talk engaging. I have just purchased the book he is talking about, "The Element", using Fishpond - a great local book buying website.

Art Project and Tumblr

About two weeks ago my grade 3/4 class and another were involved in a project with some students from RMIT (The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology). Their project was about endangered animals and students using art to represent their thought about how they might adapt to changing environments. The project, ArtAptation, uses a new blogging application (well new to me!) called Tumblr. Please take a moment to see the wonderful work these students did, but also check out Tumblr - I think I would like to use it for my next blogging project!

Animation from Buenos Aires

I came across this website a while ago and thought the animation was just outstanding, not to mention bloody amazing! The website, Blublu, has some fascinating links. So, here it is:

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

The video sharing site, Vimeo, has some fantastic videos covering a range of topics from stop-motion animation, time-lapse videos and some other fantastic creations!

Our school's video sharing website using Fliggo

I am very excited about Fliggo, a place where you can create your own video sharing sites. I have created one for the students at our school to share the animations they make at school and at home. The site is called Animation@PHPS and all videos and comments are moderated by me, so no nasties getting through!