I've delibrately not been writing recently, because I didn't want my last entry about briefings to archive away from visitors immediate view - so you can read that here.
I was in a school last week where I saw Google Earth being explored on the whiteboard by two pupils, independently and with ease, with the rest of the class engrossed in their own tasks on Egyptians - and two things struck me. Firstly, a few years ago, when IWBs were still a fascination to some, how some teachers wouldn't hand over the IWB to the pupils, because it distracted the class... thank goodness we have moved on! And secondly, the quantity of great software out there for free.
I was also recently involved in an ICT audit of a school, and we created a software audit summary broken into these parts - Curriculum Software (site licenced), Curriculum Software (user licenced), Office/Admin software, and Free Software/Utilities.
Therefore, this post might be an opportunity to remind some readers of the good 'free' stuff, and it would be great if you commented and added to the list.
Google Earth
Irfanview
Photostory3
Audacity
iPlayer ;-)
Sebran
Crocodile Clips 3 (now Yenka)
Not curriculum based, but I wouldn't be without a pdf creator/printer driver like pdf995 or similar - and then there are all the usual web plug ins and media players, which are necessary, but I won't list.
Please add...
3 comments:
Also not curriculum based but allows access to some of those YouTube videos which could be - Applian FLV Player 2.0. Download a flv YouTube video at home and play using the FLV player at school.
A favourite with Infant children - Tux Paint. Download the large bank of stamps to go with it.
A simple wordprocessing program similar to Microsoft Word - AbiWord. Extra toolbar features can be found in the preferences submenu under the tools menu. Don't forget to download the UK dictionary for spell checking.
Pivot stickfigure animator is a great piece of software for creating simple stick figure animations. Have used this program as an alternative to creating paper based flip books in art - "People in Action". It really makes the children think how the human body moves, even for seemingly simple movements such as walking (one foot stays in contact with floor, otherwise a skating motion results). They quick learn from their mistakes. For even more fun, take digital pictures around school to use as backgrounds for your animations. Have a look at:
http://www.strettonhandley.derbyshire.sch.uk/displays/animation/animation.html for examples or on YouTube (search for pivot stickfigure animation).
A few sites that I use with my class:
LearningClips - (www.learningclips.com)
Videos, IWB activities and worksheets for each of the new Primary Maths Frameworks units.
Worksheet Genius - (www.worksheetgenius.com)
Create worksheets of many types - bingo, tests, wors searches, etc - based on High Frequency Words - your own lists. Also does maths sheets too - very quick and easy to use.
Quizbusters - (http://www.teachers-direct.co.uk/resources/quiz-busters/index.aspx)
Based on BlockBusters - many quizzes already loaded but you can create your own. The children love this.
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