Embedding in Wizkid

The possibility to embed a whole range of resources and activities into online learning platforms such as Wizkid has fantastic potential. Not only does it keep everything in one place, it is much easier and more instantaneous and attention grabbing for the children to immediately access embedded content rather than following links.

In Wizkid it is possible to embed a video above a discussion to then immediately discuss below. Class clips from the BBC is fantastic resource for this.

I have also embedded Primary Pad which offers an easy to embed option at the bottom of the page which gives you the link to an iframe immediately to copy and paste into the html editor in Wizkid. Again this keeps everything in one place and is easier for younger children to manage. Primary Pad is a fantastic tool for collaborative writing, editing of writing or just as a place to gather ideas that can be shared.

A new tool that I've come across is Spicy Nodes which looks to be a fab mind mapping tool where the user can add links, images and videos to each section of the mind map. Could be a great tool to use as a class or across classes to collaborate ideas especially in something like history or a specific research topic and could be combined easily with a tasc wheel activity. Again they offer an embed button that will automatically grab the code for you to paste into an html editor.

Other websites or resources can be embedded using code for an iframe

Using the Chat Tool to Improve Speech Punctuation

Accident Scenario
Doctor, Patient & Nurse role play in classroom
Moving on to chatrooms one setup per group (3 pupils per chat room)
15 mins to chat in role
Copy the chat and paste it into Word
Find and Replace to change names
Time spent adding good punctuations
Especially useful for speech punctuation which was the main theme.
Kids loved it and work standard was very high.
Idea from Dave Bessant

Santa mail

Hi Folks
We hid little elves in all the public areas with letters on their hats in the style of a treasure hunt. The letters make a christmassy word, hurpold anyone?
We created a user 'Santa' to message all the children to ask them to find the elves, work out the word and message Santa back. Of course we made sure all the adults knew so that there was no worry of a stranger using Wizkid.
Now this is a pretty trivial and fun activity, but I am thinking that historical figures /fictional characters could message the children and require them to respond to activities in character. Just take care of your passwords, and remember to delete the user once the activity is done.

Christmas Decoration Instructions (Literacy)

Year 3 Pupils, mixed ability class, paired more able with less able, one between two.

• Demonstrate how to make a Christmas decoration step by step
  
• Share write instructions for each step using Word
  
• Upload to Wizkid (File or Assignment Activity)
• Children logon to Wizkid
• Download the instructions
• Edit the instructions to make a similar decoration
• Also edit to include time connectives and adverbs
• Name & Print
• Use to make decorations

Really easy to do and the children were really motivated. All five classes in the year group ended up doing this. Rachael Hobbs Year 3 Teacher Abbotswood Junior School

Sound Embedding in Word

Year 4 SEN Pupils
Science electricity topic
SEN pupils downloaded a teacher created Word 2003 based proforma from Wizkid using the Assessment Activity. Pupils then used microphones to record their predictions into Word. They then carried out the test. They used the same Word proforma to record their conclusions. Finally they uploaded the Word document to the Assessment activity for the teacher to mark. Lesson went well, this as the first time this class have used the Assessement activity on Wizkid and the embedding sound into Word so bearing this in mind it was remarkably successful. Same process as embedding sound into Excel which this video demonstrates.

PS Directly recording sound has been removed from Office 2007 as well as directly scanning into a document.

Pupils as Teachers

Year 6 Pupils have made some excellent file activities linking to their favourite maths games. They were so good I got distracted after school trying some of them out.

Simple Idea to save time

Pupils made their own PowerPoints to share the results of their plant experiments. They then uploaded their PowerPoints to a shared gallery. This meant that when we shared the PowerPoints they were all in the same place and that pupils didn't have to log on and off of the computer attached to the interactive whiteboard. A simple idea but it saved time in the classroom.

Year 5 Plant Blog update

Kids enjoying keeping their plant blogs. Most have named their plants. Had to make sure they published them to internal not private as no one could see them otherwise.


-- Post From My iPhone

Loving Voki!

Thank you for introducing me to Voki!
I love it and so do my Yr R/1 class. It makes things so much easier when they can hear the instructions and not struggle to read them.

Really pleased that this blog has been set up and we can share ideas about studywiz.
I have finally introduced it to all our year 3 children. I knew the logging on would take ages so I just had 2 websites uploaded where they could choose one of the activities to complete about plants (current science topic). Some had heard of studywiz (having older brothers/sisters at senior school). We haven't introduced it to the parents yet and so far keep the access to school. Will be introducing to rest of staff next month and hope by end of summer term the whole school will be using it.
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