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Guardian open journalism: Three Little Pigs advert - video

Guardian open journalism: Three Little Pigs advert - video

Mrs. Wideen's Classroom Blog: iPad Literacy Stations Here are a few of my iPad literacy stations my students will be working on this week: 1. Lego Creation Station At this station, I have pre packaged 4 different ziplock bags of 100 legos each. 2. We have been learning about features that are in non-fiction books. I also made pages for glossary, table of contents, photograph, diagram and captions. 3. I have a station where the students can read and use sticky notes to record their thinking or practice a reading strategy we have been working on in class or there might be a few graphic organizers to use while they are reading. 4. I shared this station in a previous post. How do you incorporate your iPad(s) into your daily stations?

Student Blogs: Learning to Write in Digital Spaces | Langwitches Blog Student blogging is not a project, but a process. We are continuously striving to refine, improve and re-evaluate. As I am meeting with teachers individually, I can’t stress enough the importance of READING other blogs (professional, student, blogs about your hobby, blogs about other interests you have etc.). I am trying to filter and funnel quality blogs in education, their grade level and areas of interest to them as I come across them, so they can build a quality RSS Reader. BUT.. we need their help in having a basic understanding of blogs, its pedagogical uses, as a platform of a new writing genre (digital writing) and how our blogfolios fit into your curriculum and the BIG PICTURE of LEARNING. Andrea Hernandez and I are working on a “spiraling” blogging skills guide for each grade level in order to facilitate skill building connections from one year to the next. Creating the platform and the username and password and teaching the kids to log in is the EASY part. Like this:

Omnishambles named word of the year by Oxford English Dictionary 13 November 2012Last updated at 06:23 ET Foul-mouthed fictional spin doctor Malcolm Tucker has left his mark on the English language "Omnishambles" has been named word of the year by the Oxford English Dictionary. The word - meaning a situation which is shambolic from every possible angle - was coined in 2009 by the writers of BBC political satire The Thick of It. But it has crossed over into real life this year, said the judges. Other words included "Eurogeddon" - the threatened financial collapse in the eurozone - and "mummy porn" - a genre inspired by the 50 Shades books. "Green-on-blue" - military attacks by forces regarded as neutral, such as when members of the Afghan army or police attack foreign troops - was also on the shortlist. The London Olympics threw up several contenders including the verb "to medal", "Games Maker" - the name given to thousands of Olympic volunteers - and distance runner Mo Farah's victory celebration "the Mobot". 'Pleb' 'Romneyshambles'

School libraries: using data to boost student literacy | Teacher Network | Guardian Professional Adam Lancaster has been able to demonstrate the impact of improving reluctant reading using his data tracking project. Photograph: Graham Turner for the Guardian In schools, impact, along with Ofsted, is probably one of the most commonly used words. We all know that the more you read the more fluent you become, which in turn leads not only to increased literacy skills but also to improved attainment in all subjects. At Monk's Walk School, Hertfordshire, we've worked on this area, knowing there must be some way a library can show the impact it has on literacy development. We decided that for too long the library had been a department doing its own thing and that we needed to learn from other departments and the way they went about collecting and analysing data - to show impact. We began by collecting KS2 data, SEND (special educational needs and development) info and anything else that would give us a better understanding of our year 7 students.

Bring Digital Storytelling To Life With Embedded Tweets Digital Storytelling takes a plot, event or idea and enriches it with engaging media and interaction. With the online tools now available, students have more videos, images, animations and resources to bring their stories to life than ever before. A tool that has recently become a lot easier for students to integrate into their digital storytelling is Twitter. One new feature that we are thrilled to see is the ability to take Tweets and embed them anywhere. So let’s look at how embedded Tweets can form plots for engaging, thought provoking and fun digital storytelling. How to start digital storytelling with embedded Tweets 1. First off, we need to learn how to embed Tweets. Click on the “Details” button and you will be directed to the Tweet specific homepage. 2. Once on the Tweet page, you will see an option to “Embed this Tweet“. From here there are three embed options, HTML, Shortcode and Link: 3. Once you have the code, it can be embedded directly into any site as below:

Developing literacy skills across languages Teachers who took part in the National KS2 Pilot noted that involvement in the Pilot had a positive impact on language skills in Welsh / Welsh 2nd language and English. Close partnerships and joint planning between primary and secondary staff highlighted common experiences and activities through which languages could be taught and provided an opportunity for teachers to share language teaching methodology. Findings in the evaluation of the KS2 MFL Pilot Projects indicated that studying a modern foreign language in KS2 had enabled learners to reinforce the skills that are key to language learning, regardless of language. Since the language skills which children learn during a MFL lesson have much in common with the skills being developed in Welsh / Welsh as a 2nd language and English, this additional reinforcement of skills can help to develop pupils’ knowledge about language and their understanding of how languages work. Plurilingual displays in the cantine Primary class teacher

19 Word Cloud Resources, Tips, & Tools Posted by Shelly Terrell on Sunday, February 14th 2010 Part of the Cool Sites series Learning new vocabulary can be quite daunting for most students. We just have to look at the literacy rates to see how much children struggle with vocabulary. Rote learning of vocabulary does not really work. Wordle Wordle is one of the best ways to engage learners if you know how to use it well. Alternatives Tech Tools & Pedagogy– Word Clouds- Marisa Constantinides’ post includes a comparison chart that lists the options for each of the following word cloud tools and shows you visual examples of each. A few more alternatives include: ABC ya! Resources Tips You can make phrases in Wordle by using the ~ to group words. Tagul Tips I use Tagul when I want to have each of the words in a cloud lead to a link with more information or to have them in a specific shape such as a heart, star, rectangle, or regular cloud. Two ways to customize links: Challenge:

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