Our colleagues at the London Grid for Learning have been working hard to produce yet another excellent resource for the benefit of all National Education Network members.

Viral Contagion looks at the real world maths that could occur as a result of an outbreak of a biological virus in an urban area.

Dramatized news reports describe the impact of the virus outbreak across South London, challenging students to consider the maths behind such scenarios.

This resource offers a collection of 4 discrete, differentiated lessons that provide an engaging and challenging focus for Key Stage 3 and 4 maths student
This unique learning resource features:

• High quality dramatized video scenarios
• SCORM compliant resources to integrate into any learning platform system,
• Downloadable Fronter room
• Computer models,
• Interactive whiteboard resources
• Full teacher guidance and support

www.viralcontagion.lgfl.net

All school-aged young people in the UK are invited to participate

Join now  for the largest UK online maths event where students from England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales unite in their quest to reach the top of the leaderboard. Which students and schools can make the most improvement in their maths ability over the duration of the event?  You don’t have to be a maths genius to take part, just get involved and be prepared to practise!

The Four Nations Maths Challenge is a UK focused event that has the potential to fundamentally change the way that we perceive maths. All you need is access to the internet.
Why should schools take part?

• Your students will love it! It’s all about having fun with maths.
• This is an ideal way to inspire your students to enjoy maths and challenge themselves and others.  As activities are aligned to the UK curricula, the challenge will also reinforce concepts taught in class.
•  It’s simple to register and participate with great prizes for top students and schools. 
•  …and it’s absolutely FREE!

How will it work?

• Students take part in real-time maths challenges over 2 days, 13-14 November, using the online program Mathletics. 
• Day One will involve Mathletics Course Activities and Day Two, live Mathletics challenges.
• A live Hall of Fame will keep students and schools updated with who is in the lead!
• Schools will be given FREE access to the award winning Mathletics website for the duration of the challenge.
• All you need is internet access!
• Students can participate at school and at home.

Schools and students can register FREE www.fournationsmathschallenge.co.uk

2nd – 6th July at Magna Rotherham

Yes that’s right – free, which is why there’s not much time get book your places. This is a national event with schools from all over the country taking part but as it’s in Rotherham, we’d like to make sure that YHGfL schools make the most of this fantastic opportunity. Sign up for as much or as little as you want. Take your pupils or just go yourself, it’s all free and runs over 5 days so loads to choose from:

• 5 days of hands-on interactive and inspiring workshops and lectures from leading figures in education and industry.
• Fully inclusive workshop schedule – from Key Stage 1 to Key Stage 5.
• A fully engaged curriculum – Coding/Programmer/Computer Science, Art, Maths, Physics, English, Drama.
• 750+ workshop places and 2000+ activity places – applications encouraged from schools across the country.
• 250 CPD opportunities for teachers and educators to develop existing and new digital skills taking game creation back into the classroom.
• Industry-lead careers surgeries, vital advice and guidance for schools and young people.

For every you need to get the most out of this event, visit the website or download the Planning Your Visit document. They’ve even done your visit risk assessment for you!

http://www.gamesbritannia.com/2012/assets/planningyourvisit.pdf

http://www.gamesbritannia.com/2012/index.php

Are you starting to hear things about Kodu? Interested in finding out more? The Microsoft Schools UK blog has some case studies, stories from teachers and links to the free download.

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ukschools/archive/2011/05/11/kodu-bringing-fun-to-learning-in-the-classroom.aspx

If you’re a YHGfL member don’t forget you can request a free online training session to get you started on Kodu. Simply email us and we’ll make all the necessary arrangements.

contact@yhgfl.net

Thursday 2nd Febuary 2012

Don’t know your wordle from your voice thread? Do you thinking tweeting is for birds? If so then this is the course for you. Find out about the wealth of freely available online tools that can be used to enrich learning in your classroom in a wealth of curriculum areas from Maths to Art.

Who should attend: Primary School teachers, HLTAs and GTP students.

Venue : West Yorkshire TBA

Click HERE to link to the booking form and cost information

Quad Blogging A great way to create an audience for your YHGfL shareIT blog

Imagine four schools that had a partnership/agreement that would mean that for a four week cycle, each school’s blog would be the focus one week out of four. Each school in the Quad would spend some time visiting the blog of the school for that week, leave comments etc. After that week, another one of the four schools would be the focus and this would be repeated for the four week cycle and then repeated. It wouldn’t take the pupils long to work out that during their week, they would get a boost in visitor numbers and comments. This would give a real focus to have posts online ready for this bulge in visits. During the other three weeks, pupils get to visit and comment on other blogs in their quad.

If you would like a blog, YHGfL provide FREE to member schools its blogging service shareIT www.shareit.yhgfl.net use the online form to sign up. YHGfL are also able to put you in contact with other schools across the region to join your quad.

If your interested in joining with schools a little further afield then there is a registration blog you can sign up to at http://quadblogging.net/  this great site is run by David Mitchell the the Deputy Headteacher of Heathfield Primary School in Bolton.

A number regional schools have started internationally, a couple of examples are:

http://shareit.yhgfl.net/kirklees/hyrstmount/

http://shareit.yhgfl.net/kirklees/shelley/classjl

http://shareit.yhgfl.net/nlincs/holmevalley/

Many schools who are using Apple iPads may find this new application extremely usefull. You can now create stunning interactive ibooks with this Free download form the Mac Apps store and either upload your book to the iBook store or create a direct download from your VLE our website. The software allows you to create many types of interactive book from foundation picture books to KS4 revision guides. The books can be fully interactive, created from a number of templates and widgets.

You will need an Apple Mac running the latest version of Lion OS to run the software and the free iBooks 2 app running on your iPad.

For further information take a look at the iBook support site HERE

Khan Academy is an online library of over 2100 videos and 100 self-paced math, science, and history exercises for students.  The library is extensive and covers K-12  (UK year 1-11) maths, science topics such as biology, chemistry, and physics, and even reaches into the humanities with playlists on finance and history. Each video is a digestible chunk, approximately 10 minutes long, and especially purposed for viewing on the computer. As with many online videos the films are hosted on youtube which may be blocked in your school. For further information about unblocking youtube contact your Local Authority helpdesk.

How can I use Khan Academy to enhance teaching and learning?

Video can be an incredibly powerful tool for pupils when learning or practicing new concepts and ideas, use Khan Academy in the classroom on laptops or mobile devices as a mini tutor on demand to fill any gaps or just offer reassurance. The site is also worth sharing with parents who are looking for ways to support their child at home; maths can be a particularly difficult area as for most parents it has been many years since they have worked on quadratic equations or fractions and this site will help with supporting them.

Finally as we approach exam season the site is an incredibly useful tool for helping pupils with their revision in an appealing way.

http://www.khanacademy.org/

Big Schools Birdwatch 24^th January- 4^th February

The RSPB is hoping that schools nationwide will take part in the 10^th annual Birdwatch. This free, fun and simple activity only takes an hour to complete, is rich in curriculum links, and is open to all UK schools and youth groups. It’s also a great way to get to know more about the wildlife visiting your school grounds, or a local park.

To take part is relatively simple, watch birds for a total of one hour, keeping count of how many birds of the same kind you see at any one time. You only need to record the birds actually in your grounds or in the park, not those flying over. Once you have done this submit your results to the RSPB- simple!

The RSPB site also contains a number of resources for teachers from Early Years through to the latest member of the birdwatch family- Really Big Schools’ Birdwatch, which is designed specifically for Key Stage 3. There is a lively community where teachers can share ideas, including a great one to have hot chocolate and biscuits whilst counting!

In addition your pupils could choose to take part in the Big Garden Birdwatch on January 29^th and 30^th. This follows exactly the same format as the school birdwatch with the only difference being that it is done at home. A great way to promote home school links.

To register or find out more visit

http://www.rspb.org.uk/schoolswatch/

Quest of Nine

Quest of Nine is a challenging mathematical adventure game based around Key Stage 2 Mathematics. It is particularly useful for working with Gifted and Talented groups or as an early Key Stage 3 revision project.

The aim is to work through a series of ‘rooms’ to reach the final destination by solving all the mathematical problems along the way. The resource also contains ‘The Book’ which provides help with challenges and some additional resources.

For more information go to:

http://questofnine.yhgfl.net/