Steph Beard (HOS consultant Telford & Wrekin) has taken a selection of appropriate challenges from the DfES booklet ‘Mathematical Challenges for More Able Pupils‘ and converted them into word.  All of the activities are set up with click and draggable objects, this will hopefully help the pupils to easily manipulate the resource and assist them in trying different combinations of solutions.

You can download these word files by visiting, http://hos.taw.org.uk then clicking on Primary, Numeracy and Challenges from the menu on the left hand side.

The following dates are for exam office training, contact NAA for further information:

October 3  Liverpool, Adelphi Hotel
October 5  London, Business Design Centre
October 6 Bristol, Marriot City Centre
October 12  Newcastle, Newcastle Racecourse
October 13  Birmingham, NEC

November 1  Leeds, Leeds Town Hall
November 2  Manchester, New Century House
November 8  Birmingham, NEC
November 24  London, Congress Centre
November 28  Peterborough, Holiday Inn

Here are some ideas for National Poetry Day activities from Teachit 

Isn’t my name magical?
Get your classes to create their own identity poems using this ‘crunched’ version of James Berry’s poem as a stimulus. The original poem is available in the identity poem ‘bookshelf’ on the National Poetry Day website.
New whizzy things > Cruncher > Free ‘crunched’ texts for everyone
http://www.teachit.co.uk/index.asp?crunchedtext=1

What am I? 
Pupils can experiment with words from Sylvia Plath’s poem ‘Metaphor’ and create their own unique poems using Teachit’s online fridge magnets.
New whizzy things > Magnet > Free samples for all > Metaphors
http://www.teachit.co.uk/index.asp?wordmags=1

Names
Why names are important, what they mean and where they come from.
KS3> Media & non fiction > Me, Myself and I
There are more free English teaching resources at http://www.teachit.co.uk/ - well worth a look!

Please note that the Creative Archive pilot ends on 30th September 2006 when under the new BBC Charter it undergoes a Public Value Test (PVT) It may emerge again following this, but not likely this school year.

You have until 30th September to download any clips from the BBC materials you may want.

See all the clips now on one site – http://www.bbc.co.uk/calc/a2z.shtml – for downloading.
You can batch download at http://www.bbc.co.uk/calc/batch.shtml

See http://creativearchive.bbc.co.uk/ for Creative Archive News
See http://www.bbc.co.uk/thefuture/bpv/renewing.shtml for stuff about the PVT

Grab it while you can, these resources are excellent.

Easy new on-line system that reports on over 30% of FSP skill areas

The West Midlands RBC has forged an agreement with Screen Learning to conduct a free trial programme with schools in the West Midlands region.

Screen Learning’s “Smart Cat Games” is an innovative new software system consisting of 13 fun games that Reception children play unassisted and gives teachers a detailed report on the child’s strengths and needs.

Teachers that have used the system say it’s an “enormous” help, giving immediate results across a wide range of skill areas such as: mathematical development, space awareness, emotional recognition, short-term memory, empathy, sound matching and many more.

Screen Learning will make available its Smart Cats assessment system free-of-charge to the first 200 schools in the West Midlands region that sign up to the programme.
Included in the trial is:
• Free use of the on-line system until Easter 2007
• Telephone helpline, e-mail support and an FAQ page
• An effective security policy to ensure that personal data will be managed securely and appropriately (full policy available on the web-site)

To sign-up for this exciting trial programme, call Screen Learning on 01225 388661 or go to: https://members.screenlearning.com/test-drive/wmnet.php

MFL teacher Joe Dale explains the process of setting up an educational blog in this article in TES.  If anyone in Shropshire is interested in setting up their own blog they can obtain a free account at ethink, if you need any help then get in touch with me [steve @ it4l.org]
Joe Dale offers practical tips and advice on using ICT to enhance the teaching of modern foreign languages, on his own blog – a worthwhile read for any MFL teacher.

You need to be in a band and to perform an original song not longer than 5 minutes in length. You will perform from your school to a panel of rock experts. The performance for the national finals will take place over a video conferencing link from your school or local VC centre. This will be seen live across the internet and everyone can vote online for you to win.

If you think you have got what it takes then enter the competition, but you will have to move quickly as the regional heats start at the end of the month.

Google has released another new version of Google Earth, which now includes even more contents from the likes of National Geographic, Discovery Networks, and the United Nations Environmental Program. Simply click on the overlaid recatngles and it will bring up new information about that area, adding some free educational content to an already fantastic resource. Click here for more info from the arstechnica website

Teacher Assessment Activities – ICT (Key Stages 1 & 2)