Ramblings on ICT, Education, Web 2.0, Christianity and Staff PD
Here is a selection of websites suitable for use in the Primary Curriculum. I have compiled them from the help of my own resourcea and the wonderful educators on the OZ-Teacher Mailing list. If you have any other great resources that are useful for the Primary years please add them in the comments.
Wordle
www.wordle.net
Adrian Bruce website links to lots of good sites!
http://www.adrianbruce.com/computers/educational-software.htm
From very simple to very hard patterns and rotations
Build a Block
Great science website looking at animals and habitats
SwitcherooZoo
Put your face in photos (a lot of fun, not sure how educational)
http://www.photofunia.com/
Creating heroes to put in comics
http://cpbintegrated.com/theherofactory/
Stacks of lesson plans for all levels on literacy
http://www.readwritethink.org/
Loads of resources for the IWB (can be used on a normal computer too!)
http://www.copacabana-p.schools.nsw.edu.au/Get_Smart_Pages/Get_Smart.htm
Lots of literacy activites to download. Some are not THRASS friendly but there is some that are!http://www.sparklebox.co.uk/cll/sea/
Times Tables Game with a Moon theme!
http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/online/moonmaths.swf
Times Tables with a Fish Theme
http://www.multiplication.com/flash/PracticeFish.swf
Grammar Ninja coz it’s cool!!
http://www.kwarp.com/portfolio/grammarninja.html
Look, Cover, Write check Spelling
http://www.ictgames.com/lcwc.html
Wick Ed NZ website with lots of educational games
http://www.tki.org.nz/r/wick_ed/index.php
Lots of games in many subject areas. Easy to play and suitab for either the PC or IWB
Toy Theater
THRASS friendly phonics website
Roy the Zebra
Hugely entertaining and educational!! Lots of different subject areas!
http://www.tvokids.com/
Dance Mat Typing Tutor
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/
Clay Animator – for stop motion animation
http://www.clayanimator.com/english/stop_motion_animator.html
Free online brainstorming
www.bubbl.us
Andrea Mosaic – create your own photographic mosaics made with your own pictures.
http://www.andreaplanet.com/andreamosaic/
Here are some good websites that I have found that I need to put somewhere that wont get lost in amongst a whole heap of other links. So here they are!
QR Code for my website from Kaywa
TED talks Demystyified for teachers Click here
23 “Techy” Tips for Not so “Techy” Teachers. Click here
100 Free online lectures that will make you a better teacher. Click here
Over the past few months my husband and Mr7 have been playing the demo of a game called World of Goo. They have been having a ball with it! So I decided to have a look at the game and watch them have a play and the game looks greats!! The game consists of 5 chapters and the demo consists of the first chapter of the game. (which is a good sized demo I reckon!) The full game costs $20US which is pretty good value depending on the state of the world economy!

The game is very heavily based on physics and from what I could see the object was to solve puzzles using balls of goo and the Laws of Physics. The level the my husband and son were playing involved making a goo bridge to cross between two cliffs. How they built the bridge, if it had the right foundations, how they anchored it to the cliff and the amount of goo used all contributed to their success in completing the puzzle. Mr7 was totally engaged in this game and I could see his bridge building skill improving as he went along, he was making much more informed choices in where to place the goo for the bridge to stay up the more he played the game.
This would be excellent for school use! Obviously in Physics classes, Design Technology or Science, but also if you were entering your students into a bridge building competition which tend to roll around once or twice a year get them on this game first to get some conceptual idea first! The demo download should be enough for a class situation but the full game would be great for a lunchtime competition or exploring some more concepts fully. I think it would be appropriate for primary up to year 10 age levels.