This week I’ve been looking for ways to make the site easier to work with and to help you find the resources you need quickly.  I’ve therefore added icons beside the title of each resource to indicate which level it is best suited to.  They’re pretty self explanatory, but just to let you know what they look like …

  is for Early,   for First,   for Second, and   for Third.  Finally  indicates a resource which is more relevant to teachers than pupils.

Of course these are just for guidance and a lot will depend on the experience and ability of your class, and the amount of support available to the pupils, but I hope they’ll give you a ‘starter for ten’.  Please let me know which levels you’re using any of these resources at, and especially if you’ve had success at a different level to those I’ve suggested.

Everyone likes a free resource, and this week I discovered the James Dyson Foundation website (which you can link to via the  Craft, Design, Engineering & Graphics page).  They will loan an Ideas Box or Engineering Box to schools for 6 and 4 weeks respectively.  They are completely free and the Foundation even arrange delivery and collection.  In addition to the boxes they also have some very good downloadable Quick Challenge cards.

This week I also visited the P6 class at Noblehill Primary.  They were a fantastic and enthusiastic group of young people and I really enjoyed doing some ‘unplugged’ activities from code.org with them.  But what really made my day was the young lad who had created the most fabulous stop motion animation on his smart phone.  He used Lego to create scenery and Star Wars Lego figures as the characters.  He even recorded and added his own sound effects and music.  It was absolutely brilliant and I can’t wait to have a go myself.  He used the app Stop Motion Studio downloadable from Google Play (I think it is also available for iPhones).  I’ve posted a link on the Animation page if you want to try it for yourself.

Enjoy teaching technologies!

Carol