I’ve started experimenting with this mind mapping tool which is now available through Google as an app. This is a very simple tool which can be easily used and manipulated to gather your ideas with students. Once you get the language of the tools you can follow keyboard shortcuts to add new nodes to your maps.

You can also use MindMup from the URL http://www.minmup.com I’ve connected mine to my google account so that I can then save directly to my Google Drive, otherwise it’s saved to the cloud and you need to keep track of your URL location.

Once you have finished creating your mind map you can then export to various formats (including as an image or table).

What I like most about this tool is the simplicity. I will be teaching my students how to use this tool and incorporating it into some pre assessment and post assessment work.

In Term 3 my Stage is investigating Myths and Legends of the ancient world. In my trolling of the internet I cam across this great site

http://myths.e2bn.org/

From the UK it has a number of different myths from around the world which are told with animations but can also be read in text for. Some of the stories have background information and activities. Well worth a look.

Another one to check out is

http://www.wingedsandals.com

This site is devoted to Greek Myths and the history of them. A very valuable source of information including ancient Greek history, stories, the Olympics and Greek Gods.

Browsing the net today in search of some literacy ideas I stumbled across this interesting site http://100wc.net/

From browsing this site I’ve decided this might be a fantastic way to get my class writing something different and for a purpose. The 100 Word Challenge basically gives you a week to come up with some creative writing based on a picture, text or other stimulus. There is also a 5 Sentence Challenge run along similar lines. I’ll keep you posted with how we are going… What do you think about the site?

Today my class had some fun learning about Modal Verbs in Expositions! Here is our Wordle.

In Maths class we looked at the language of addition and subtraction
an old tool but a goody!

Using animation can be a motivation and interesting way to engage students in their learning. Here are some places where you might find some helpful hints and ideas.

TeachAnimation