Out of the blue, a few days ago, the NCCA released an online planning toolkit. It is an interactive web site that aims to help teachers plan their curriculum subjects using an online interface. I decided to delve a little bit into it to see what it has to offer. On first glance, the web … Read more
When a large box arrived on my doorstep, I got very excited! It wasn’t my birthday, not my anniversary, but I was convinced I was getting a present of some sort. It was heavy too! And although it turned out not to be a present of any sort, but a product to review, I was … Read more
The S.A.L.T. Programme is an innovative programme, specially developed for the Irish Curriculum and is aligned to the key strands of the SPHE (Primary) Programme: Myself, Myself and Others, Relating to Others,Myself and the World. Through The S.A.L.T. Programme, children will learn what conflict is, what it feels like to be in conflict and how … Read more
I worked with a small group of children in the Support setting for the last 6 months with the “Spell Rite Right” programme. The variety of exercises in the Spell Rite Right programme made it enjoyable to use and continuously held the students’ interest. Each unit has clever methods and mental strategies to help the … Read more
Let’s take two reasonably unrelated subjects – English and Science – and integrate them. Welcome to “Literacy through Science”, the brainchild of Tricia Callella and Marilyn Marks, who have written this series for Prim-Ed. Does it work? The answer is a definitive yes. However, it really depends what subject you’re teaching, how you’re teaching … Read more
Being green has never been more important. It is often said that the companies who will become the most successful in the world will be those who focus on renewable energy and other environmentally friendly business plans. The Irish curriculum does a reasonable job in supporting this with both the Science and Geography curricula focusing … Read more
Memory Bank is a wholesale provider of technology products and services. They supply companies with thousands of products but don’t sell directly themselves. They asked me to have a look at a product that they believe would be useful to schools – a Network Attached Storage device, or NAS to those who like abbreviations. So … Read more
Vincent Hyland Learning is a Kerry-based company founded by the man himself. Vincent is a multi-talented filmmaker, artist and musician and will be featuring on RTE’s “Living the Wildlife” in May 2010. Vincent sent me a copy of his DVD, “Puffins” from the Learn to Care scheme, a set of programmes he has developed himself. … Read more
Every so often, a piece of software comes along which tries to steal the crown from Promethean’s Activ Software series. Easyteach from RM was the last challenger and it wasn’t bad. It had many advantages over the Promethean software – with lots of add-ons for maths, phonics, science and even a dance mat! However, although … Read more
The Qwizdom Q7 slate is a wireless slate that can be used to interact with a computer. The company who sell these slates (Qwizdom) sent me one to check it out. With the NCTE are recommending schools should invest in slates before moving into the world of Interactive Whiteboards, it was a good opportunity for … Read more