Lesson 5 – The Boy Who Became a Bear | Discovering Our Story An Iroquois Story A long time ago in a village far to the east there lived a little boy. One time his parents died making him an orphan. No one would take care of this poor boy. He would wander from home to home begging for food and shelter. The people said his uncle should take care of him so they sent him far away to his uncle’s village. If the boy moved too slowly or did something wrong the uncle would beat him with a stick. The boy wondered why his uncle treated him so badly, but no matter how hard he thought he could not imagine why his uncle was so mean to him. One day the boy decided he did not want to live with his uncle anymore. So the boy went into the woods and followed the trails until they ended. The animals had been watching the boy and one day they gathered around him. The animals were shocked. The bears said the boy eats the same food as us. The bears took very good care of the boy. One day he was digging roots with the bear people and he looked at his hands. 1. 2. 3. 4.
Phonic crap hit fan By Hannah RichardsonBBC News education reporter Boys did worse than girls in the phonics test Fewer than six out of 10 pupils, 58%, passed the controversial new national phonics reading test in England, official statistics show. The test checks six-year-olds' ability to read aloud a mixture of 40 real and made-up words, sounding them out using the phonics system. Ministers said the check had identified pupils who needed further help in learning to read. But teaching unions say it risks doing long-term damage to children's reading. This is because it tests children's ability to decode words using a single method, phonics, rather than their ability to read itself. 'Waste of money' Some teachers have said bright pupils who use different methods of reading are trying to read the made-up words as real ones and being marked down for it. The official results show some 62% of girls passed the test compared with 54% of boys. Continue reading the main story Phonics check 'Nonsense' 'Three Rs'
Pixar's 20+ Rules on Storytelling for Teachers and Students A week ago I posted here in Educational Technology and Mobile Learning a poster made by Pixar in which they featured 22 rules on storytelling and it was really so informative reading all the feedback you sent me , however, today I woke up to an email from a colleague of mine teaching in the State in which he shared with me the graphic below. I was really surprised because at the time I published the first poster on Pixar rules of storytelling I did not know that such a graphic exists and going through it I found it way better than the one I initially posted earlier . I mean better in terms of layout and organization of its content. Have a look at it below and let us know what you think of it. Enjoy
Turn Pictures Into Stories With Fotobabble This morning I shared an old post about Fotobabble on the Free Technology for Teachers Facebook page. In response to that post Stewart Whitney shared his experience of using the Fotobabble iPhone app. Stewart's comment got me to try the Fotobabble iOS app. Fotobabble is a free service that allows you to quickly turn a picture into an audio picture story. Applications for Education The Fotobable iOS app could be a great app for students to use to quickly create short audio stories about pictures that they take with their iPhones and or iPads (the app isn't optimized for iPad, but it works on it). Over time your class could build a collection of audio captioned news images by embedding each of their Fotobabble creations on a class blog or wiki.
More English Fairy Tales/The Hedley Kow - Wikisource, the free online library THERE was once an old woman, who earned a poor living by going errands and such like, for the farmers' wives round about the village where she lived. It wasn't much she earned by it; but with a plate of meat at one house, and a cup of tea at another, she made shift to get on somehow, and always looked as cheerful as if she hadn't a want in the world. Well, one summer evening as she was trotting away homewards she came upon a big black pot lying at the side of the road. "Now that" said she, stopping to look at it, "would be just the very thing for me if I had anything to put into it! "Maybe it'll have a hole in it," she said thoughtfully:— "Ay, that'll be how they've left it lying, hinny. "Mercy me!" For a while she could do nothing but walk round and round her treasure, admiring the yellow gold and wondering at her good luck, and saying to herself about every two minutes, "Well, I do be feeling rich and grand!" "Eh my!" The old woman stared after it, till it was fairly out of sight.
365 days in my shoes Day 68 Main course SPaG and dessert is Pie!!! The icing and cherry on the cake! Grammar through Talk for Writing with Pie Corbett supported by Julia Strong and Nick Batty Interactive grammar games and the use of focused teaching two deepen children’s understanding and interest in how words and sentences work. The day began with an exercise on grammar. Delegates were invited to ‘take the grammar test’ to find out whether they had heard of key grammatical terms our children could be faced with in SPaG as well as knowing how to use them. These words included :- Noun, pronoun, adjective, determiner, conjunction, verb, adverb, preposition, connectives, sentence, clause, phrase, imperative, present tense, pasta tense, singular, plural, suffix, prefix, paragraph. Straightforward? And then….. Subordinate clause, possessive pronoun, adverbial, relative clause, modal verb, relative pronoun, active voice, passive voice, subject, object, cohesion, ambiguity, fronted adverbial, subjunctive. Have fun! Like this:
Creative Writing Prompts | Creativities This page contains a list of prompts for writing classes/activities for when you need a bit of inspiration for a writing idea. I will try to update it regularly with new ideas, so keep checking back! If you have any great ideas for prompts for creative writing that you have used in class, please share them in the comments and I will add them to the list – thank you! Pictures/Photos Photos and pictures can be great writing prompts. Picture Files If you are lucky enough to work in a school that keeps picture files, then use them! ELT Pics ELT pics is a great resource of photos shared by other teachers for use in class. Art Galleries Going to an art gallery is one of my favourite trips to do with students and is a great way of firing up imaginations. First/Last/Middle Lines Giving the first line or last line, or both of a story can be a great prompt. List of 100 greatest first lines from novels. List of 100 greatest last lines from novels. Prompt Generators Scenario generator. Creative writing ideas.
5 Ways to Use Technology for Family Storytelling — LitWorld Technology has dramatically changed the way we communicate, create and collaborate with each other. It makes our world more connected and amplifies individual stories. And yet keeping up with the latest apps and gadgets and learning how to use them can feel intimidating and overwhelming. One of the things we love the most about technology and the digital age is that it encourages us all to be curious, forever learners. Embracing technology and experimenting with new devices and platforms in your home makes you and your child co-learners. 1. Learning how to tell a story through a photo, and how to see the story within a photo is an important part of literacy. 2. At LitWorld we are constantly thinking about our mission statement and core values. A great app that we've found for this type of activity is CloudArt. 3. The internet gives us the extraordinary opportunity to learn from people around the world and to benefit from their experiences, creations, and wonderings. 4. 5.
30+ of the most beautiful abandoned places and modern ruins i've ever seen Abandoned Mill from 1866. Sorrento, Italy Eilean Donan Castle. Photo by pboehi Holey trinity by rustyjaw Tunnel of Love, Kleven, Ukraine Abandoned power plant cooling chamber. Lighthouse Goražde, Bosnia. The Hotel del Salto, Tequendama Oval skeleton of the House of the Bulgarian Communist Party. Swallowed by Nature, Taiwan. Abandoned Power Plant. Curon Venosta, Italy Sunken Yacht In Antarctica Underwater statue of Jesus, Malta Under a blue sky. Winter sun. Scale. Church, Gary, Indiana. Herdman’s Mill. Theater The Abandoned City Hall Subway Stop Arbutus. Japan’s Abandoned Amusement Park St Dunstan-in-the-East EC3R. St Etienne by Jurg Roessen Ivy Ruins by John Neville Cohen Buchanan Castle Corridor by Bora Horza #2357. Great white. Abandoned railroad in France Lawndale Theater The very strange organ’s room. If you liked this post…enjoy the second part!