Welcome to the April 2011 Newsletter. Please feel free to forward this newsletter to colleagues that you think would be interested in any of the items below. If you have any comments or suggestions on this newsletter, or indeed any special requests for special software offers, please email them to kim.conway3@btinternet.com

News

• The Scottish Government has awarded CALL Scotland funding to work with CereProc to develop a male Scottish computer voice: a 'brother for Heather'. The funding will also pay for a licence for the entire public sector in Scotland, so that the voice can be used by school-age pupils, further and higher education students, workers in the public sector, and NHS patients. 
• SUMS Online are offering UK based users five free iPad, iPod Touch or iPhone Apps. Just email david@sums.co.uk with your school or LA details and he will arrange for you to be gifted (by email) the five SUMS Apps. For more information on the SUMS Apps go to  www.NumeracyApps.co.uk
• Schools can now get adapted digital prelim papers from the two main suppliers, Perfect Papers and PNN
• WriteOnline - Crick Software has produced a series of on line 90 second training videos for WriteOnline, designed to give teachers a thorough overview of the program in bite-sized chunks. The videos provide step-by-step instructions for a range of tasks, including creating Wordbars, customising the word predictor, and changing the accessibility settings.
• SMART are running a course at Hilton Strathclyde in May for students from each of the seven TEIs. The idea behind this innovative course is to train three final year students from each school of education to Trainer level, so that when they take up their probationary post they are in a good position to work with teachers in their own school, and the wider education community. SMART are keen to see teachers making good use of the technology in which their school has invested and this is just one of several measures to support education.
• Sticky Kids have released a new title to celebrate the 2012 London Olympics.
• The latest newsletter from CALL Scotland is now available to download
• SMART Board 800 Series - the SMART Board 800 series interactive whiteboard supports multi-user writing and common multi-touch gestures currently recognised in Microsoft Windows 7 and Mac Snow Leopard in SMART Notebook collaborative learning software software and will support certain features such as freestyle interactions, touch gestures and full object awareness with the release of SMART Notebook 10.7 software. The SMART 10.7 software will enable freestyle interaction where two students can work together on the same interactive lesson activity and perform different tasks simultaneously. Multi-touch SMART Notebook lesson activities, specifically designed for use on the SMART Board 800 Notebook software are available through the SMART Exchange

Curriculum for Excellence

• BrainPOP UK - all BrainPOP UK animated movies and quizzes are mapped to Curriculum for Excellence and using DeepBeep their curriculum matching tool, you can quickly and easily find a movie to suit your needs.  This month's spotlight is Ancient Civilisations and next month's is Super Structures. Sign up for a free trial

New to the SS4E website

SS4E Showcase - this month's showcase is on the Maths on Track website

Special Offer

Special Offer on Music Technology Products

Academia are offering 10% discount on a wide range of music products from Ableton, Sibelius, Cakewalk, M-Audio, Cubase, Yamaha and many others. Go to www.academia-music.co.uk  or email neil.boia@academia.co.uk for pricing and information.

Free Resources

• SUMS Online have a very iPad friendly Mathematics Teaching and Revision Guide under development. Check it out at www.sumsmaths.co.uk
• OFT are offering free workshops for teachers to learn more about Skilled to go activities and access the online materials. Workshops take place at your organisation and last 90 minutes.
• Schoolscience.co.uk is part of ASE Online, brought to you by the Association for Science Education and is home to hundreds of free web resources that can add variety and new ideas to science activities, including samples from books, freebies, competitions and projects and a growing collection of free resources for imaginative teaching and individual learning in school and at home. Ideal for all age groups and includes links to other partner websites for even more free resources.

Forthcoming Events

• Thursday 28th April, 2011: Getting Creative with ICT to Support Pupils with ASN
• Saturday 30th April 2011: Curriculum for Excellence Numeracy and Literacty talk, Glasgow
• Wednesday 15th June 2011: CALL Scotland ICT and Inclusion Edinburgh
• Thursday 16th June 2011: CALL Scotalnd ICT and Inclusion Glasgow 

Competition

Win an Amazon Kindle and a trip to the CILIP Carnegie & Kate Greenaway Awards! To celebrate Renaissance Learning's sponsorship of the 2011 CILIP Carnegie & Kate Greenaway Children's Book Awards, Renaissance Learning are hosting a competition based on the shortlisted titles for this year's awards. From 1st April 2011, every UK school that completes a short Accelerated Reader quiz at the Read, write, excite website will have the opportunity to enter a draw to wind an Amazon Kindle and tickets for two children, plus an accompanying adult, to attend the award ceremony in London on Thursday 23rd June 2011.

 

If you require further information on the above please click on the appropriate web link. Please feel free to circulate this newsletter to any colleagues who may be interested. Feedback on this newsletter is welcome; please email kim.conway3@btinternet.com with your comments. If you wish to stop receiving this newsletter, you can remove your address from the distribution list by sending a blank email with the subject 'unsubscribe' to kim.conway3@btinternet.com