Gary Hall

Measure angles using an Inclinometer

Gary Hall — Tue, 15 Jan 2019 13:50:00 +0000

On a piece of paper, you can measure angles using a protractor. But how do you measure how steep a ski slope is or how high in the sky the moon is? In this activity, we will create a model of an inclinometer, a tool that measures angles like these. We'll then go onto measure the height of a tree using an iclinometer.

Place Value Teaching Ideas

Gary Hall — Wed, 23 May 2018 19:50:00 +0100

Following on from my article on place value sliders, I've curated some more ideas for teaching place value - one of the most important building blocks for maths. Place value is important because it helps students understand the meaning of a number as well as the order of numbers.

9 Best Coding Toys for Kids

Gary Hall — Sun, 15 Oct 2017 00:00:00 +0100

There are loads of cool coding toys for kids on the market these days - they are growing in popularity all the time. So, as a parent, it can be difficult to know which is the best to choose for your child. Here, we have picked out nine of the best kids coding toys from a range of top brands, so regardless of their age or previous experience of coding, you are sure to find something here they will love playing with and which will help them learn. Let’s dive straight in with our top picks.

Creative Ways to Teach Money at Primary School

Gary Hall — Sat, 16 Sep 2017 06:30:00 +0100

Money is an important aspect in all of our lives and children need to be exposed to it at school, as we are living in a world where money is becoming intangible. As adults, we handle money less and less and, because we pay by card, mobile or bank transfer so children don't tend to see coins or notes as much as they used to. So how can we teach children about money, how it makes the world go round, in a creative way that makes it relevant to their lives?

Getting Girls Coding at Primary School

Gary Hall — Mon, 11 Sep 2017 08:00:00 +0100

Even though there are some fabulous resources available for learning to program at primary school, none of them are focused on getting girls into coding. The Made with Code project from Google aims to change this by getting girls excited about learning to code and helping to close the gender gap in the tech industry. The site aims to show young girls that the things they love are made with code and that the skills that they learn when coding can be applied to their own passions.

Maths Working Walls

Gary Hall — Thu, 07 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0100

Maths Working Walls are a great way to keep young minds focused on maths. They are a place to support current and future learning in maths and also celebrate excellent examples of pupil's work. The working wall should be purposeful, helpful, relevant and above all useful. So what should we include on our maths displays to help pupils make progress in maths and how can we do this in a manageable way?

Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning (SEAL)

Gary Hall — Mon, 28 Aug 2017 06:30:00 +0100

The Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning (SEAL) initiative was rolled out across the UK in 2005 and aimed to support children aged from 3-16 years to develop their personal and social skills. These skills involved self-awareness, managing their feelings, motivation, empathy and social skills. I've included the resources for this important initiative here as I've found them incredibly useful in the past.

The use of drama in KS1 and KS2

Gary Hall — Fri, 25 Aug 2017 06:30:00 +0100

Drama is an important element of speaking and listening within the primary curriculum for English. It is also a motivating teaching method appropriate to many subject areas. By teaching through drama, children can become increasingly aware of a range of ways of acting out in order to create, explore and communicate ideas about situations, characters, ideas and emotions.

Make your own maths board games

Gary Hall — Thu, 17 Aug 2017 06:30:00 +0100

Maths board games are a great way to get children hooked and engaged with maths. I've collated a collection of board game templates which can be modified to make your own maths game board which will teach many different aspects of both KS1 and KS2 maths. The templates are all printable at either A4 or A3 size and can be printed in either black and white or colour to really get your maths students engrossed in their learning.

Place Value Slider

Gary Hall — Wed, 16 Aug 2017 12:30:00 +0100

Place value is one of the main concepts in the mathematics curriculum and sometimes teaching place value can be quite difficult to do. So to help my students with this, I created this simple printable place value slider. It helps understand place value from decimals up to a million and easily demonstrates the KS2 maths ideas behind multiplying and dividing by 10, 100 and 1,000.

Promoting Pupils' Creative Thinking

Gary Hall — Wed, 12 Jul 2017 06:30:00 +0100

What comes to mind when you think of creativity? People being imaginative, inventive, taking risks and challenging convention? Do you think about originality and the value of what people produce? Perhaps you think you can only be creative if you are artistic. What if that's not the case? What if we can develop children's creative thinking by promoting creativity in the classroom? How do we do this?

Children's story book collection apps

Gary Hall — Mon, 10 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0100

Apps with collections of children's story books are becoming really popular. Instead of buying single children's books, parents and schools can now purchase collections of books (some of which are interactive and include narration) to use with their little ones. These apps are either priced per book or per month, on a similar basis to the Netflix delivery method.

Non competitive sports days

Gary Hall — Mon, 10 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0100

How competitive is the sports day at your local primary school? Do the children take part in activities where they compete against each other - where there are winners and losers? Or does everyone join in with all of the activities and there is no element of competition? Which of these approaches is best for the parents, best for the school and, most importantly, best for the child?

3D Printing to develop Maths skills

Gary Hall — Sat, 24 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0100

Here's an example of how 3D printing can be used in primary schools to develop mathematical skills. Recently, one of the children in my class brought in some 3D shapes that her dad had printed on his 3D printer at home. After chatting to her a bit about it, I got in touch with her dad and asked if he'd be interested in putting his 3D printer to good use for the benefit of the school.

Developing Maths Vocabulary at Primary School

Gary Hall — Sat, 24 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0100

I can still recall a maths lesson where one of the children in a class I was teaching looked really worried because she didn't understand what was needed to solve a problem. All the rest of the class were cracking on with their work but she was getting nowhere. I asked her what the problem was, as I'd already gone over with the group what was needed to solve the problem.

Questions to Extend Mathematical Thinking

Gary Hall — Fri, 23 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0100

There are moments in mathematics lessons when you can see a switch being flicked in a child's brain and they have a 'light bulb moment'. "Ah... I get it now," they say. Often these lightbulb moments don't happen by themselves but instead are caused by a teacher's use of questioning in the mathematics lesson.

Maths Software Evaluation Checklist

Gary Hall — Thu, 25 May 2017 16:30:00 +0100

Maths software comes in many different shapes and sizes. From apps on ipads, to online services such as Mathletics or MyMaths. From online KS2 maths games to installed software on your local computer network. As budgets get tighter and the choice of maths software grows greater every day, we need to really think carefully about the needs of the children and the school. To help with this I've put together a checklist of questions to ask when evaluating maths software.

Learning Styles in Maths

Gary Hall — Thu, 25 May 2017 00:00:00 +0100

Based on recent studies, two distinct maths learning styles have been identified for children learning maths. The characteristics of these two styles are often classified by the labels or terms “inchworm” or “grasshopper”,“quantative” or ”qualitative” and “sequential” or “holistic”. It is helpful for teachers to be familiar with these two distinct learning styles in order to use the teaching style to match the needs of the pupil.

Overcoming Problems in Maths

Gary Hall — Thu, 25 May 2017 00:00:00 +0100

Children struggle with maths for many different reasons. If we, as teachers, can identify exactly where the problem lies and then address it, barriers can be overcome resulting in confident young mathematicians. I've attempted to categorise the types of problems in maths and then identify possible solutions to these problems.

Supporting Dyslexia and Dyscalculia in Maths

Gary Hall — Wed, 24 May 2017 16:50:00 +0100

Dyslexic learners often have difficulties with the language of mathematics, sequencing, orientation and memory, rather than with the mathematics itself. Dyscalculic learners may have difficulty understanding simple number concepts, lack an intuitive grasp of numbers, and have problems learning number facts and procedures. This article identifies ways in which these types of learners learn differently and strategies that can be put in place to help.

Top 10 Things to do in Beverley

Gary Hall — Sun, 14 May 2017 14:53:00 +0100

With its mix of cobbled lanes and elegant Georgian and Victorian terraces, Beverley is a fabulous example of a traditional market town. If you only have a short time to visit, you'll need to make sure that you pack in the most important sights so I've compiled for you the ten most popular places to visit in Beverley.

NCTM Illuminations Maths Resources

Gary Hall — Wed, 26 Apr 2017 00:00:00 +0100

The National Council for Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) in the US has produced a plethora of interactive resources to improve the teaching and learning of maths for everyone. The ITPS (interactive teaching programs) are available for both KS1 and KS2 maths and can be used by teachers and pupils alike. Each resource has a thumbnail, a description and a link to the relevant resource.

BBC Teach

Gary Hall — Sun, 23 Apr 2017 00:00:00 +0100

BBC Teach features more than 1500 clips from across BBC Learning to support teachers around the UK - completely free. On the Teach YouTube channel, which is updated daily, there are over 1500 carefully selected clips from the BBC archive, Learning Zone and School Radio, covering more than 20 subjects at early years, primary and secondary level, and across all national curricula.

Coding Story Books

Gary Hall — Fri, 07 Apr 2017 00:00:00 +0100

Problem Solving. Literacy. Maths. Coding. They're all here in the latest and greatest coding story books. From graphic novels to traditional picture stories, these engaging books get children really thinking about problem solving and how this relates to coding. These coding story books are available from ages 4 through to 12 and are lots of fun too.

Maths Across the Curriculum

Gary Hall — Sun, 02 Apr 2017 08:30:00 +0100

Maths skills are consolidated and enhanced when pupils have opportunities to apply and develop them across the curriculum. Poor maths skills hold back pupils' progress and can lower their self-esteem. Improving these skills can be tackled on a whole school basis by ensuring mathematical skills are used across the curriculum so that pupils become confident at tackling maths in any context.

Handy Times Tables

Gary Hall — Wed, 29 Mar 2017 16:30:00 +0100

For those kinaesthetic learners (the ones that learn by doing and can remember movements more easily than words) here is a handy method for finding the harder multiplication facts from the six, seven, eight and nine times tables. It involves memorising a routine but the routine is something to do, rather than something to say.

Exciting Stimulus for Writing at School

Gary Hall — Wed, 22 Mar 2017 00:00:00 +0000

When I first started teaching, I remember teaching a lesson about bonfire night where I got the children to close their eyes and use their imagination to sense what was going on around them. Fast forward a few! years and here we have a much more exciting stimulus to develop emotional writing: involving the children in their own disaster movie!

Scratch Maths

Gary Hall — Tue, 21 Mar 2017 00:00:00 +0000

ScratchMaths is a two-year computing and mathematics-based curriculum for Key Stage 2 pupils (Years 5 and 6). Its aim is to enable pupils to engage with and explore important mathematical ideas through learning to program, using the free online programming environment Scratch. The ScratchMaths curriculum is currently being used in over 50 schools across England.

Problem Solving using Bar Models

Gary Hall — Sun, 19 Mar 2017 18:09:00 +0000

Here in the UK, we have a myriad of different approaches in solving word problems in maths. In Singapore Maths, students use a bar model to solve word problems. They take the problem apart and then create a representation of it using simple blocks. This then helps them understand the problem better and creates a lot higher success rate in solving word problems.

Getting Girls Programming

Gary Hall — Sun, 19 Mar 2017 14:53:00 +0000

There’s been a lot of talk about digital skills and preparing young people, especially girls, to be confident and thrive in a digital future, but where to start? The answer may be TechFuture Girls: a free out-of-the-box after-school club that has been specifically designed to encourage girls to stay engaged in IT and technology.

BBC Megamaths

Gary Hall — Thu, 16 Mar 2017 00:00:00 +0000

BBC Megamaths is a series of eight audio programmes which were broadcast on BBC radio in 2011. They are aimed at children aged 7 - 9 and the emphasis is on mental maths and problem solving. There are seven different themes covered mainly all to do with measure which include time, money, capacity, length, weight, fractions and decimals.

Helping your child with maths

Gary Hall — Thu, 16 Mar 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Over the years I've been asked "How can we help our child with their maths?" many times. There are lots of things that parents can do to help develop their children's maths skills. The activities included here are free and found in everyday situations, so no need to buy any books or spend money on expensive resources.

Teaching Logic through Sudoku

Gary Hall — Wed, 15 Mar 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Sudoku is a great way for children to develop their logic skills whilst having fun at the same time. To solve a Sudoku puzzle, students needs to use a combination of logic and trial-and-error. Regular Sudoku is a 9 by 9 grid but these simpler puzzles are on a 4 by 4 grid, making the game easier to understand and beat, before moving onto the larger grids.

Ways to use the Counting Stick

Gary Hall — Tue, 14 Mar 2017 00:00:00 +0000

The counting stick is a very versatile tool for teaching maths to primary aged children. Whilst sometimes seen as a tool for teaching foundation and KS1 children, it still has many uses when teaching both lower and upper key stage 2 classes. I've included here a number of techniques that can be used across different types of numbers including decimals, fractions, percentages and negative numbers.

Reasoning in the classroom

Gary Hall — Sat, 04 Mar 2017 07:30:00 +0000

A key skill in becoming fully numerate (and to becoming an independent adult) is the ability to make your own decisions and learn from them. This key skill is central to these activities: they have been developed to allow learners to choose their own methods and ways of recording, then present their findings in whichever way they decide.

Logical Thinking Detectives

Gary Hall — Sat, 04 Mar 2017 06:50:00 +0000

Here is a series of activities to develop logical thinking and listening skills for KS2 children. The resource includes 5 video interviews which the students watch to gather clues. They then use the database to input the information they have gathered and search for a culprit. They can also use the virtual PDA to examine the files of all criminals held on the database.

Times table colouring

Gary Hall — Thu, 02 Mar 2017 19:50:00 +0000

A great way to learn times table facts is by making it fun and getting children colouring. These times table colouring sheets are great for reinforcement and make a great starter or filler activity. Children enjoy working out the puzzles and use their times tables knowledge to do this. These sheets are suitable for use across a wide ability and age range.

Maths Self Evaluation

Gary Hall — Tue, 28 Feb 2017 00:00:00 +0000

The National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Maths (NCETM) has a self-evaluation tool to help teachers audit their subject knowledge in all areas of the national curriculum, across all age groups. This tool is really useful in identifying where the gaps are in your maths understanding and where to go to plug these gaps. The site requires free registration.

Top Things to do in Hull

Gary Hall — Sun, 19 Feb 2017 14:53:00 +0000

Explore every angle of Hull City Centre and discover all that Hull has to offer, including historic gems, delicious food and drink and unique independent shops. The city has a lot of diverse and niche offerings that make Hull so special and unique.

Maths SATs Organiser

Gary Hall — Tue, 14 Feb 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Do you struggle with identifying each child's areas of weakness in maths? Wouldn't it be great if you could let them decide on which topic they'd like to practise and then leave them to it. Child initiated learning at its very best! This fabulous tool from Mr Hammonds does just that.

Blooms Action Words

Gary Hall — Sat, 14 Jan 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Using Blooms action words to define what you want your pupils to achieve is a great approach to differentiated lesson planning. These verbs which are aligned to Bloom's Taxonomy help create discussion questions and lesson plans that ensure your students' thinking progresses to higher levels.

Medicine Alerts from Amazon Echo

Gary Hall — Wed, 04 Jan 2017 15:18:00 +0000

Fancy getting medicine alerts from your Amazon Echo? Well now you can if you're based in Hampshire, in the UK. Hampshire County Council have teamed up with Amazon to create a reminder system for pensioners in adult social care. The system, currently in trials, reminds them to take medication and also lets them know when their carer is due to visit. 50 pensioners are currently involved in the Amazon Echo trials which are due to continue into 2018.

Terrific Scientific KS2 Science Experiments

Gary Hall — Sun, 27 Nov 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Science for UK primary schools has never been so interactive, thanks to the Terrific Scientific project. The service by the BBC enables KS2 children to take part in nationwide investigations which are really accessible and use everyday items, such as coke bottles, to create science experiments.

Maven's Maths Mysteries

Gary Hall — Wed, 23 Nov 2016 15:10:00 +0000

The Maths Maven is always finding herself in the middle of a fun new mystery — and she counts on her "super sleuths" to crack the case. This website has 27 different audio visual maths puzzles for children across the KS2 age range. Each mystery focuses on a particular area of math reasoning and problem solving.

Maffy's Best Numbers

Gary Hall — Mon, 31 Oct 2016 15:10:00 +0000

Maffy's Best Numbers was written and produced by the Resources and Learning Development Unit in Bristol back in the 1980's with the help of local schools and teachers. It consists of maths related puzzles, problems, investigations and games that are suitable for children in primary and secondary schools.

KS2 Maths Starters

Gary Hall — Wed, 19 Oct 2016 11:50:00 +0100

These resources are really useful for the KS2 maths class. Each of the resources share three things in common: you can generate an infinite number of questions, you get all the answers and they are completely free! You can use them for maths starters, for revision, as part of a carousel of activities or to print out for worksheets.

Classroom Posters for Primary Maths

Gary Hall — Sun, 16 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0100

Here are a selection of fabulous maths posters for the primary school classroom. Based on problems from the nrich site, they are well suited for display around the school to challenge more able children and to embed mathematical thinking around the school. The maths posters are for both KS1 maths and KS2 maths.

Brain Rules for the Classroom

Gary Hall — Sat, 15 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0100

In John Medina's book, Brain Rules, he outlines 12 big ideas that science knows about the human brain. These rules can be applied to teaching and education in general. As a teacher, if we aware of how the brain works and then put these rules into practise then our teaching practise will be more effective, resulting in better learning outcomes for our little learners.

Scratch Extensions for KS2

Gary Hall — Sat, 15 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0100

The popular programming language Scratch has now got a sister site called Scratch X. Scratch X contains lots of extensions to Scratch which allow it to do such things as control hardware and talk to external services on the internet. With Scratch X you can get Scratch to speak, control 3D environments and play synthesised music as well as controlling Lego EV3 robots and Roamers.

Teaching Maths Using Robots

Gary Hall — Sun, 09 Oct 2016 07:30:00 +0100

Sphero is a robot ball with several features that can be controlled through mobile apps, including computer programs that the students build. Sphero can roll at a given speed and direction for a given amount of time and it can light up in any color. Its really fun for the children to program and includes mathematical concepts such as angles, distance, speed and shape.

Maths Problem Pictures

Gary Hall — Thu, 06 Oct 2016 19:50:00 +0100

Maths Problem Pictures are about bringing mathematics to life with photographs. Striking photographs are combined with original questions and problems to challenge students at all levels. Although they are aimed at more able students, some of them will be accessible by primary maths students.

Teaching Finance at Primary School

Gary Hall — Wed, 05 Oct 2016 14:50:00 +0100

According to research, the average age that children start to purchase items online is 10. So we need to teach them about finanical matters. Luckily, there are resources available to allow us to do this. Cha-Ching is a financial education resource, designed to equip primary school children with the knowledge, skill and attitudes they need to make informed money decisions.

How Teachers Can Protect Their Online Privacy

Gary Hall — Sun, 02 Oct 2016 15:18:00 +0100

Technology has transformed the way teachers work. A few decades ago, the most advanced things in the classroom were a projector and blackboard. Now you can source lesson plans online and unlock virtual resources from students. Also, it’s possible to brainstorm and collaborate with teachers around the world.

The Importance of Passwords For Digital Security

Gary Hall — Sun, 02 Oct 2016 15:18:00 +0100

Digital technologies have long been in the classroom. Of course, it has changed immensely since the floppy disk days. Now it's possible and very likely that you've taken your class into the virtual world. Whether it's full-time or part-time remote earning, here are the things you should know and teach your students about passwords and digital security.

Best Drones for School Use

Gary Hall — Sun, 02 Oct 2016 06:41:00 +0100

Further to my article about using drones in schools, I've had a number of questions about which is the best drone to buy. Here is a look at the best drones on the market at the moment (2016) and their suitability for using in schools. Their prices range from £150 to £450 so there's something here to suit every budget and need.

How to skip ads on ITV player for free

Gary Hall — Sat, 01 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0100

Do you want to skip ads on ITV player for free? If the answer to this question is a resounding YES then you've come to the right place. As you may know, ITV do offer a subscription service which removes the ads on their player but this costs money. But there is another way.... in fact, there are two other ways!

How Smart are Smart Cities?

Gary Hall — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 00:00:00 +0100

Facing myriad definitions and mission statements offering promissory yet vague descriptions of innovative urban environments, scholars use the term “nebulous” to describe the contemporary smart city. However, there are common characteristics and goals in these seemingly imprecise descriptions. Although heralded as new and innovative, smart city discourses, technologies, and administrative …

The Importance of Questioning

Gary Hall — Sat, 17 Sep 2016 11:50:00 +0100

Questioning is the key means by which teachers find out what pupils already know, identify gaps in knowledge and understanding and scaffold the development of their understanding to enable them to close the gap between what they currently know and the learning goals.

The flip side of using the Web

Gary Hall — Thu, 15 Sep 2016 00:00:00 +0100

The flip side of having the World Wide Web to broadcast your brand to the globe is that you’ll also attract people who want to voice their negative opinion of your business. True or not, these people will feel compelled to tell everyone how bad their experience was. The …

Parenting Children with Disabilities

Gary Hall — Thu, 15 Sep 2016 00:00:00 +0100

The contemporary role of media and technology in the lives of children with communication disabilities and their families must be understood within the context of particular US policies as well as historical conditions surrounding disability and parenting. Prior to the 1970s, US law actively suppressed disability in public spaces through …

What is Proof?

Gary Hall — Thu, 15 Sep 2016 00:00:00 +0100

The word "proof" has a variety of meanings in different contexts. In a criminal trial, the prosecution attempts to "prove beyond a reasonable doubt" that a defendant is guilty. A scientist reports experiments that "prove" that a particular theory is correct. Religious thinkers offer "proofs" of the existence of God …

How Could Bingo Be Used in Teaching?

Gary Hall — Tue, 13 Sep 2016 13:00:00 +0100

Bingo is a game that many of us think about as a pastime or hobby, but it can actually be really helpful in the real world. From keeping the elderly mentally active to helping our kids to learn, there are many uses for this game you may not realise. In this article, we’ll be looking at how it could be used as a teaching tool.

Feed your neurotransmitters

Gary Hall — Sat, 09 Jul 2016 00:00:00 +0100

Did you know that you can influence your moods by changing your diet? Eating the correct types of food can make us more positive, give us focus and energy, help us to concentrate and control sugar cravings. There are a number of neurotransmitters in our bodies (serotonin, dopamine, acetylcholine and norepinephrine) which are our brains chemical messengers and which are influenced by the foods that we eat.

Writing complex SQL queries

Gary Hall — Sat, 09 Jul 2016 00:00:00 +0100

When you're given complex SQL queries to write which involve joins across many tables and several nested conditions, then it can seem a little intimidating, especially if you're not too confident or experienced with SQL syntax. This article shows you how to write a complex SQL query by breaking it down into simple steps and building it back up from there.

Problem Solving Activities KS2

Gary Hall — Fri, 01 Jul 2016 17:09:00 +0100

Puzzleboxx is a collection of puzzles and problem solving activities suitable for upper KS2 children. Well suited for maths groupwork, they are arranged into visual, word based, practical, logical and lateral problems so there's something here to suit everyone's preferences and learning styles.

HTML Projects for KS2

Gary Hall — Tue, 28 Jun 2016 00:00:00 +0100

Those fabulous guys at Code Club have created some great resources to help KS2 children learn how to program in HTML and CSS. HyperText Markup Language (HTML) is a language for describing and structuring web pages and CSS is used to style them. Young coders can save their code online, allowing them to access their webpages both at school and at home.

Intel Primary Maths Resources

Gary Hall — Wed, 22 Jun 2016 16:15:00 +0100

Here are a 24 interactive maths lessons, created by Intel, covering many areas of the KS1 and KS2 programme of study including number, statistics, shape & space and measure. They have also been added to the Primary Maths Resources section and sorted into the correct year group objective. The lessons include three elements - learn, test and review.

Raspberry Pi Internet Enabled Security Camera

Gary Hall — Sun, 19 Jun 2016 00:00:00 +0100

Using the Raspberry Pi camera module, you can stream video both on your local network and across the internet. This means the video can be accessed anywhere in the world. Your Raspberry Pi will be transformed into a customisable video surveillance camera that you can place anywhere you want.

Explore Beverley's Georgian Quarter

Gary Hall — Thu, 16 Jun 2016 14:53:00 +0100

No visit to Beverley would be complete without taking in the town's Georgian Quarter where the mix of independent shops and businesses makes it a must for locals, regular visitors and tourists alike. Beverley's North Bar Within and North Bar Without form one of the East Riding of Yorkshire's most famous landmarks and are situated in the centre of the Georgian Quarter which starts just outside the bar and finishes just past the historic St Mary's church.

Scratch on ipads

Gary Hall — Tue, 14 Jun 2016 20:00:00 +0100

Although Scratch isn't officially available on ipads (unlike its little brother Scratch Jr) there is another app that is based on the Scratch source code and runs on ipads. Pyonkee looks exactly like the Scratch interface, reduced to fit on the smaller ipad screen with a different set of characters.

Antiques Shopping in Beverley

Gary Hall — Tue, 14 Jun 2016 14:53:00 +0100

One of the most interesting shops on Beverley's busy pedestrian street is St Crispins Antique Centre. Housed in a fine Grade II listed building and boasting one of the largest collections of antiques in the north of England, St Crispins has 2 large floors of rooms and cabinets which have …

Browse Beverley's Markets

Gary Hall — Tue, 14 Jun 2016 14:53:00 +0100

Beverley is famous for its traditional markets which take place on both a Saturday and a Wednesday, every week; in fact, a thriving market has existed in Beverley for centuries as it sold the produce from the local farmers. The two main squares at either end of the pedestrianised shopping streets of Butcher Row and Toll Gavel are named Saturday market and Wednesday market respectively, depicting the day on which the market runs.

Hunt for Beverley's Outdoor Art

Gary Hall — Tue, 14 Jun 2016 14:53:00 +0100

Whilst exploring the streets of Beverley, you'll probably notice paintings that are on display on exterior walls around the town. These paintings are part of the 'Painting the Town Fred and Mary' exhibition which features paintings from local artists Fred and Mary Elwell. There are 22 paintings in total, forming a trail around the town which is popular with visitors to Beverley.

Horse Riding on Beverley Westwood

Gary Hall — Tue, 14 Jun 2016 14:53:00 +0100

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3D Pens in the Classroom

Gary Hall — Tue, 14 Jun 2016 08:00:00 +0100

Forget 3D printers in the classroom that take forever to print anything out. Imagine getting children to create 3D shapes immediately in a maths lesson by drawing them in the air! Or drawing 3D musical notes and passing them round to children to look at in a music lesson! All these things and more are now possible, at a reasonable price, thanks to the development of 3D pens.

Laying the Foundations for Algebra

Gary Hall — Mon, 13 Jun 2016 00:00:00 +0100

Algebra is about putting real life problems into equations and then solving them. Although formal algebra does not really start until Key Stage 3, primary schools can lay the lay the foundations for algebra in Key Stages 1 and 2 by providing early activities based on algebra from which later work in algebra can develop.

Reading Bingo

Gary Hall — Sat, 11 Jun 2016 07:30:00 +0100

Getting children to read for pleasure can be difficult. Reading seems such a passive activity, and they can quickly become restless and bored. The idea behind Reading Bingo is that they put these bingo cards in their home reading books, and when they've read a particular genre they get an adult/teacher to sign it off for them. If they get 4 in a row, they get a special prize!

A walk around the Millenium Orchard

Gary Hall — Fri, 10 Jun 2016 14:53:00 +0100

The Millenium Orchard is located a few miles outside of Beverley in a local nature reserve called Beverley Parks. It is one of the largest, noncommercial orchards of northern varieties of apples in England and is a place of interest for archeologists, historians, fruit growers, ecologists, beekeepers, walkers, picnickers and everyone who loves to spend time in the countryside.

Making E-textiles At School

Gary Hall — Fri, 10 Jun 2016 11:50:00 +0100

Imagine making a monster badge that had flashing eyes or a bookmark with a light? The idea behind e-textiles, or wearable electronics, is to use electronics with different materials to add functional or decorative effects. All you need to achieve this are basic sewing skills and a limited knowledge of circuits. The materials and electronics are inexpensive and a full detailed guide is provided to create lots of fabulous e-textile products.

Key Steps to Help Your Child in Improve Learning Skills

Gary Hall — Fri, 10 Jun 2016 11:50:00 +0100

No matter what your age, throughout the life learning process will continue. Your school will end up with high school and high school with practical life. But the learning process never stops or end. A study proves that all people don’t have the same learning abilities some can understand and learn more quickly as compared to others.

National Numeracy Strategy ITPs

Gary Hall — Sat, 04 Jun 2016 00:00:00 +0100

These National Numeracy Strategy Interactive Teaching Programs (NNS ITPs) were developed in 2002 to help with the teaching of maths in UK Primary Schools. There are 32 NNS ITPs in total and many are still useful for maths teaching in classrooms today. They are ideal for class or small group teaching and cover many areas of numeracy incuding number, shape, measure and statistics.

How To Be An Enthusiastic Teacher

Gary Hall — Thu, 26 May 2016 19:12:00 +0100

Teacher enthusiasm (and the perceived competence that it conveys) usually leads to greater student achievement. Children are more engaged, more willing to contribute in class discussions and more willing to discuss any problems or concerns that they may have. The question, then, is how can teachers become more enthusiastic? What tools and techniques can you learn to convey enthusiasm to your students?

Persuasive Ideas For Schools

Gary Hall — Thu, 26 May 2016 14:53:00 +0100

To round off our persuasive writing unit, my year 5 literacy class produced video adverts using Adobe Spark for our favourite brands. We uploaded them to YouTube and contacted the CEOs or marketing department for each brand/organisation and asked them to feed back on them. We were staggered with the positive feedback that we received (not to mention the freebies!). Here's how we went about it.

Maths Curriculum KS1

Gary Hall — Wed, 25 May 2016 16:30:00 +0100

The KS1 Maths Curriculum is focused on ensuring that pupils develop confidence and mental fluency with whole numbers, counting and place value. This involves working with numbers, words and the four operations, often taught at this early age using practical resources. This article provides an indepth overview of the maths curriculum at KS1.

Gamification in Education

Gary Hall — Wed, 25 May 2016 15:58:00 +0100

Gaming provides players with an immersive experience, one that engages them on all levels. The power of play in the classroom opens up children's imagination and ambition. Creating a game where players progress based on their achievements in the classroom makes learning a positive experience for all children.

How Technology Motivates Children

Gary Hall — Mon, 23 May 2016 00:00:00 +0100

Technology has always had an effect on its user. Whether it buzzes, flashes, beeps or lights up, it attracts its makes you want to do something. Due to its interactive nature, it can motivate children in many ways by allowing them to learn from their mistakes, giving them rewards, helping with problem solving and allowing them to be creative.

Mathematics Problem Solving Strategies

Gary Hall — Sun, 22 May 2016 16:09:00 +0100

Anyone who has taught maths for any length of time will know how difficult it can be to teach pupils to solve maths problems out of context. Present pupils with a familiar setting or a sum that they've tackled before then they're usually fine, but turn it into an unfamiliar problem then it's a different matter. However, in the same ways that we teach strategies for other areas of maths, we can also teach strategies to solve maths problems.

Promote your ebook using Facebook

Gary Hall — Wed, 18 May 2016 16:32:00 +0100

Promoting and marketing your ebook on Facebook is a great way to bring potential readers face to face with your e-book. Whether you're selling your book through Amazon or through another website, you need to let people know that it exists and, what better way to do this, than through Facebook, the largest social network in the world.

Creative Writing using Minecraft Edu

Gary Hall — Mon, 16 May 2016 00:00:00 +0100

We've spent a really productive afternoon today with year 5/6 children from the local area using Minecraft Edu to inspire creative writing. The children were set a series of tasks to perform during the course of the 2 hour session and then asked to write notes about what they could see, who they met and how they felt along the way. These notes were then used in literacy to develop their creative writing.

Discover the Listed Buildings in Beverley

Gary Hall — Sat, 14 May 2016 14:53:00 +0100

If you're out and about in Beverley, East Yorkshire, why not have a look out for the listed buildings in the town? They are scattered around Beverley and include old merchant houses, a market cross, churches and offical buildings. In the UK, the term listed building means a building or other structure that is of special architectural, historical or cultural significance.

Progression in Mathematics at Primary School

Gary Hall — Mon, 09 May 2016 16:50:00 +0100

The National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM) have published a series of videos, powerpoints and supplementary material to demonstrate the progression of mathematics teaching and learning at primary school. There are 60 short videos, filmed during 2012-2013, which demonstrate how to teach mathematics at primary school.

KS2 Maths SATs Threshold

Gary Hall — Sun, 08 May 2016 15:10:00 +0100

KS2 Maths SATs Threshold tables can sometimes be hard to find so here they are collected together for ease of use. These thresholds used to determine what levels to assign to year 6 children when completing the KS2 SATs tests. SATs were introduced in 2003 and the thresholds were discontinued when levels were discontinued in 2016 but they've been collated here for your convenience.

Business Skills For KS2 Children

Gary Hall — Thu, 05 May 2016 00:00:00 +0100

I was lucky enough to be invited to an event today with other KS2 and secondary teachers to play the logistics board game entitled "Business on the Move". The purpose of the game is to develop business skills in children (and adults too). The game challenges players to run a business that must respond to customers’ orders, moving different products around the world as profitably as possible.

Uses of Drones in Schools

Gary Hall — Sat, 23 Apr 2016 00:00:00 +0100

We have a drone at school which is linked to an ipad. The ipad controls the drone and stores the videos that it captures. We use these videos for making movies about events around the school calendar, such as maypole dancing and sports day. The footage has been really useful for the children to see our school from many different angles.

Printable and Editable Scratch Blocks

Gary Hall — Wed, 20 Apr 2016 00:00:00 +0100

Here is a fabulous collection of Scratch programming blocks. They are editable and available in a number of formats, including svg, png, Smartboard and Powerpoint. They are useful for display purposes and for teaching with. The blocks can be edited by using a free vector editing program such as Inkscape.

Boat trips from Beverley

Gary Hall — Thu, 14 Apr 2016 14:53:00 +0100

What could be more fun than messing about on the water? In Beverley, there are a number of ways to spend the day on Beverley Beck or out on the River Hull. One of the easiest ways to do this is by contacting the Beverley Barge Preservation Society who run chartered boat trips down the Beck and then onto the river Hull, towards either Driffield or Hull.

Beverley the Dining Room of East Yorkshire

Gary Hall — Mon, 11 Apr 2016 14:53:00 +0100

In recent years, Beverley has gained an enviable reputation as being one of the best places in Yorkshire for good food. People from far and wide visit Beverley, eager to eat in one of the fabulous restaurants that the town is famous for. From smaller establishments using local produce and creating speciality ethnic food, to national high street eateries and smaller fine-dining independents, Beverley has it all.

What's the Learning Objective

Gary Hall — Fri, 08 Apr 2016 19:50:00 +0100

The learning objective that you share with your class is not a description of the tasks they will complete during the lesson. Instead it is a reflection of what they will have achieved by the end of the lesson. In 2002 the DfES identified some learning objective starters (in their Training material for foundation subjects resource) to help write effective learning objectives:

A Walk along Beverley Beck

Gary Hall — Mon, 21 Mar 2016 14:53:00 +0000

This pleasant 1.5 mile stroll from the centre of Beverley takes you along the banks of Beverley's historic waterway, up to the River Hull and back. This kilometre long waterway was once the heart ofBeverley’s thriving industrial centre. Along the way you'll find moorings, old barges, a boatyard and opportunities for fishing in the Beck.

Take Part in Beverley's Festivals

Gary Hall — Sun, 20 Mar 2016 14:53:00 +0000

During the course of the year, Beverley plays host to a variety of different cultural festivals which showcase the arts from around the region and beyond. The festivals start off in May with the Beverley & East Riding Early Music Festival. Here you'll find orchestral concerts in Beverley Minster alongside smaller instrumental and vocal ensembles presented in churches around the region.

Cycle Routes around Beverley

Gary Hall — Sat, 19 Mar 2016 14:53:00 +0000

Famous for its fabulous Minster, Beverley is surrounded by quaint villages and breathtaking scenery which makes it an ideal location for cycling. Beverley is on a national by-way. Cycle routes 65 and 66 go right through the town as well as the National Cycle Network 1. The North Sea Cycle Route also passes through Beverley and the Way of the Roses cycle route which goes from Morecambe to Bridlington also passes through Beverley.

Studio Ghibli movie trailers collection

Gary Hall — Sat, 20 Feb 2016 15:18:00 +0000

To celebrate 30 years of animation magic, here are the trailers for all 20 Studio Ghibli films from 1986 through to their last movie in 2014, listed in chronological order. The studio's name came from the italian noun "ghibli" meaning sirocco, or Mediterranean wind, the idea being the studio would "blow a new wind through the anime industry. They certainly did that as you can see from these wonderful trailers.

Free BSD on Raspberry Pi

Gary Hall — Wed, 10 Feb 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Most Raspberry Pi's run some form of Linux (Raspbian, Ubuntu, etc) but you can also run other Unix variants on the Raspberry Pi. Before I started using Linux in the mid 90's I used FreeBSD - an extremely robust operating system. The good news is that Free BSD for Raspberry Pi is now available and I'll talk you through how to install it.

Lexile levels for UK book bands

Gary Hall — Thu, 04 Feb 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Sometimes school reading schemes are a little restrictive and you'd like to put well known books in there too. To help with this is a table that I've put together that correlates between age, national curriculum level, Oxford reading tree book band and lexile level. It can be used in conjunction with the search tool at Lexile.com to fit any non-reading scheme book into your reading scheme.

Raspberry Pi phone calls

Gary Hall — Fri, 15 Jan 2016 00:00:00 +0000

I've written before about getting the Raspberry Pi to speak the weather forecast, but did you know that you can also get the Raspberry Pi to make automated phone calls? Imagine triggering a phone call based on any event such as an appointment reminder or an update on football results. Perfect for those of us who don't have smart phones but want to remain in the know.

Choosing a VoIP service

Gary Hall — Wed, 13 Jan 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Most probably you have already used, or at least heard about, retail providers like Skype or Vonage that have become popular because their services are oriented to a mass audience. On the other hand, wholesale providers are rarely known because they operate in niche markets and usually directly serve other telecom operators or companies that generate more calls. The core differences between retail and wholesale lie in the target audience and quantity of calls. Wholesalers usually work in the B2B (Business-To-Business) market and serve those clients that can guarantee big call volume (telecom operators, retail providers, and bigger enterprises).

Create an ebook from the Linux command line

Gary Hall — Wed, 13 Jan 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Two years ago, I wrote an article about how to create an ebook in Open Office. Since then, I've moved to creating ebooks using the linux command line because I found it quicker and a lot simpler: from a finished text, a Kindle ebook can be created in less than a minute - and its all completely free. The tools I use to create epub and Kindle ready books using the command line interface (CLI) are any text editor (emacs, nano, vi, etc), pandoc and KindleGen.

Maths races

Gary Hall — Wed, 06 Jan 2016 19:50:00 +0000

Here's a variety of numeracy and PE games to make maths more active and to help those kinaesthetic learners do what they do best - learn by doing. In these games, the class is split up into two teams and they run races against each other based on the maths questions that you call out. The games can be adapted many different ways and differentiated as you see fit by pairing children of similar ability against each other.

Scratch Jr tutorials for English and Maths

Gary Hall — Wed, 06 Jan 2016 07:34:00 +0000

ScratchJr is a graphical language for young children (KS1/Elementary) to create their own interactive stories and games. We've been using it with our Year 1 and Year 2 children and have recently tried to incorporate other elements of the UK National Curriculum into our programming, such as creating letters and counting.

How to publish your own ebook

Gary Hall — Mon, 04 Jan 2016 21:52:00 +0000

The publishing world has been changed so much by technology; publishers and traditional bookshops have been pushed to the side and online retailers, such as Amazon and Google, have become the new distribution channels. For budding new authors, the phenomenal rise of ebooks is a great way to get your work published without any help from a publisher. But how do you do this?

What happens in an internet minute?

Gary Hall — Mon, 04 Jan 2016 15:18:00 +0000

Here's a great poster/infographic to display in your classroom about what happens in an internet minute. It provides many astounding facts such as in 2017, it is expected that the number of connected devices will reach three times the number of people on earth. That's really provoking and should get your students thinking too.

Small Basic tutorials for KS2

Gary Hall — Mon, 04 Jan 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Small Basic is a programming language, designed by Microsoft, to make programming extremely easy, approachable and fun for beginners. Small Basic’s intention is to bring down the barrier and serve as a stepping stone to the amazing world of computer programming. Its a lot more advanced than Scratch but certainly something to challenge the more able KS2 programmers.

An opportunity for the Left

Gary Hall — Sun, 03 Jan 2016 00:00:00 +0000

The coming decades offer an unprecedented opportunity for a Left that understands and effectively articulates the relationship between the ethical and spiritual distortions of the capitalist marketplace and the pain that results when people internalize the values and ideology of that marketplace and try to live by them.

Why hasn …

Greatest album covers of all time in ASCII art

Gary Hall — Mon, 28 Dec 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Here are the top 20 iconic album covers of all time lovingly converted to ASCII for your viewing pleasure. The original art on these wonderful record sleeves was sometimes as important as the music itself and is representative of modern culture in the 20th century. Unfortunately, the rise of digital music production and distribution threatens this great medium so it is represented here in ASCII art for posterities sake.

Virtual Reality in Education

Gary Hall — Sat, 26 Dec 2015 00:00:00 +0000

According to educational psychologists, we remember 10% of what we read, 20% of what we hear and 90% of what we do. So learning in an immersive virtual environment which has been created to meet the exact needs of the learner could be very succesful. Learning would be a lot easier for students of all ages and there would be potential for our brains to remember it for a long time. But how close are we to virtual reality really making an impact in education today?

Google Classroom: Announcements

Gary Hall — Wed, 23 Dec 2015 15:05:00 +0000

In Google Classroom, announcements can be made to your class to remind them of an upcoming event or as a general notice for the class. They appear in the class stream and can be commented on and made sticky (i.e. They stay at the top of the class stream). Anyone can add comments to announcements, which are visible under the announcement.

Google Classroom: Grade questions

Gary Hall — Mon, 21 Dec 2015 15:05:00 +0000

In Google Classroom, you can ask quick questions to your students and these questions can also be graded and the grades returned to the student. The questions can be seen in the class stream and the answers can be viewed on the Student Answers page. Also on the Student Answers page you can see a quick overview of pupils who have or haven’t answered the question.

Google Classroom: Grade and return assignments

Gary Hall — Mon, 21 Dec 2015 14:07:00 +0000

As students begin working on assignments in Google Classroom, you can view their progress and add comments or make edits. When they have submitted the assignment, you can grade and return it to the student. After the08PaigePickering assignment has been returned, students will be notified by email (if your school has email setup for students) or will receive a message the next time that they login to Google Classroom.

Google Classroom: View work

Gary Hall — Fri, 11 Dec 2015 07:17:00 +0000

When you've created assignments and questions in Google Classroom and the students have submitted their responses, you can view their work in the Work page. Here you can review student work/assignents and questions as well as any grades that you have allocated and comments that you have made. Student's work can be organised by class or you can view all work across all of your classes.

Google Classroom: Ask a question

Gary Hall — Thu, 10 Dec 2015 18:27:00 +0000

The 'ask a question' feature in Google Classroom is a great way to get feedback from your class on a particular issue. It can be used for a quick straw poll on a current issue in the class or as formative assessment on a topic that you're studying. Asking a question is done in your class stream and can be done at any time. When you've asked the question, you can see how many students have and haven't answered. You can decide whether you want students to be able to edit their answers and/or reply to other student's answers.

Primary computing questioning

Gary Hall — Thu, 10 Dec 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Here is a list of questioning prompts, based on Blooms taxonomy, for teachers to ask pupils in programming sessions. The questions can be used by teachers and support staff to deepen children's understanding through questioning. They are categorised into knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation and there are around 5 or 6 questions for each category.

Google Classroom: Create and modify assignments

Gary Hall — Wed, 09 Dec 2015 16:04:00 +0000

Now you have your class set up, you're ready to start giving work to your students. In Google Drive this is done by creating assignments. Assignments are created in your class stream. You can attach documents in the form of templates, worksheets and so on to the assignment and when your students turn their assignments in, you can grade them and return them to your students. This is all managed for you by Google Classroom.

Google Drive: Keyboard shortcuts

Gary Hall — Wed, 09 Dec 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Keyboard shortcuts are combinations of two or more keys that you can use to perform a task that would typically require a mouse or other pointing device. An example of a keyboard shortcut is pressing ctrl and S together on a Microsoft Word document to save your work. For those Google Drive power users out there, here is a list of keyboard shortcuts for Google Drive on the web. Note that these do not apply for Google Drive on tablets or phones.

Google Classroom: Multiple teachers in a class

Gary Hall — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 16:04:00 +0000

Just like your local school classroom, in Google Classroom you can have more than one teacher in the class to help coordinate class activities. There are just a few things to bear in mind before adding extra teachers to a Google Classroom. Firstly, the primary teacher will own all class materials and the primary teacher's class and assignment folders will be shared with the additional teachers in Google Drive (which underlies all Google Classroom file sharing).

Google Classroom: Class resources

Gary Hall — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 14:00:00 +0000

In your Google classroom, its handy to have resources available for your students to use, just as they would in a traditional classroom. Here you can post any materials or instructions for the class, such as a classroom rules or links to often used websites. These and more resources can be all be added in the class resource page and accessed by all students and related teachers.

Annotate images on Linux

Gary Hall — Sun, 06 Dec 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Annotating images in Windows is relatively straightforward. There are many tools available to do it, but on Linux there are not so many options. For my Google Classroom tutorials, I have been using some screen annotation software on Linux called Shutter which works really well and is as fast, if not faster, than some of the Windows variations.

Google Classroom: Adding students to your class

Gary Hall — Sun, 06 Dec 2015 00:00:00 +0000

After you've set up your Google Classroom class, you'll need to add students to the class. Providing the students have already been added to your Google for Education account by your administrator, it should be just a matter of selecting them from a list and adding them to the class. First, click on the 'Students' tab in the centre of the screen. This takes you to the Students screen which looks like this:

Google Classroom: Setting up your first class

Gary Hall — Sat, 05 Dec 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Once you have your Google Classroom account (a Google account on a Google for Education domain) then you can log into Google Classroom and set up your first class. You can set up as many classes as you want but before you do, take a minute to work out how you're going to name them. I've settled on using the Year and Class as the class name (e.g. 2015/16 Year 5) and then I use the subject as the section. So I have 2015/16 Year 5 Maths, 2015/16 Year 5 English etc.

Troubleshooting cron on the Raspberry Pi

Gary Hall — Tue, 01 Dec 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Cron is the name of program that enables Raspberry Pi users to execute commands or scripts (groups of commands) automatically at a specified time/date. Although its reasonably straightforward to set up, if it doesn't work then it can be tricky to work out where the underlying problem is. This troubleshooting guide to cron on the Raspberry Pi should help with the debugging process.

How to set up a school radio station on the cheap

Gary Hall — Tue, 24 Nov 2015 00:00:00 +0000

We've just gone live with our school radio station this week. The children (and staff!) have worked really hard to get it up and running and we're all really pleased with it. It broadcasts over the internet so children and parents can listen to it on their computers, mobile devices, TVs, etc and we've managed to do it on a very tight budget. This article documents how to set up your own school radio station cheaply.

Google Voice Typing in School

Gary Hall — Mon, 23 Nov 2015 00:00:00 +0000

A lot of pupils are great at telling stories orally but when it comes to writing their ideas down, they really struggle. If you're using Google Docs within your school then your pupils can make use of the Google voice typing function, which allows them to dictate their work directly into a document. We tested it out recently and it recognised all the common words that we spoke as well as more obscure ones such as ‘coelacanth’, ‘octogenarian’ and ‘disestablishmentarianism'. It even added asterisks to swear words too which could be useful if you have some 'live wires' in your class.

Overview of Google Primer

Gary Hall — Mon, 23 Nov 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Google is delivering marketing tips straight to mobile users’ fingertips with its Primer app for Android and iOS devices. The app helps users learn new digital marketing skills with quick, five-minute lessons. New lessons are added every week and cover the topics of advertising, content, measurement and strategy.

Developing Your Own Fashion Style

Gary Hall — Sat, 21 Nov 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Every woman should develop her own personal style and create a wardrobe to express it. Building a style is a gradual process that happens as you find and collect pieces that fit into the big picture. Does that mean you have to look the same all the time? No. It …

Google Classroom: Introduction

Gary Hall — Fri, 20 Nov 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Google Classroom is a free web-based platform that helps to manage planning, resources, assignments and communication between yourself and your class. If your school, doesn't have one already, you'll need to sign up for a Google Apps for Education account to use Google Classroom which will give you all the Google Apps services including Drive, Docs, Sheets, Gmail and Calendar. Google Classroom is available on tablets, phones and desktops, making it mobile for both teachers and students.

Interactive stories with Google Apps for Education

Gary Hall — Thu, 19 Nov 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Creating interactive stories teaches children creativity, language, computer skills and logical thinking - all at the same time! I first got excited about the idea after an inspiring workshop at a local secondary school a year or so ago, which showed pupils how to create interactive stories and so we started writing our own at school using twine which was really successful. I've recently been looking at other ways to write interactive stories using Google Apps for Education including YouTube, Google Forms, Slides and Docs.

Assessment Without Levels at Primary School

Gary Hall — Sun, 15 Nov 2015 00:00:00 +0000

At my local primary school, we've been using a new primary assessment tool to assess children's work. The system, called TAP Assess, has given the children more ownership over their learning in the time that its been in place. Not only does it allow teachers to assess children's achievement and progress, but it also allows children to assess too, against the 2014 primary curriculum. Furthermore, the children can also set their own targets for literacy and maths, and receive certificate rewards when they hit certain milestones.

Google Sheets for Primary School Maths

Gary Hall — Tue, 20 Oct 2015 00:00:00 +0100

Since the last time I wrote about using Google Drive in the primary (elementary) classroom, things have moved on - as they always do in education ;) We've made improvements to the login system that the children use, have done lots of collaborative writing in literacy using Google Docs, have set avatars up for the children, made presentations with Google Slides and have started to use Google Sheets for practising basic operations in maths.

The History of Rocking Horses

Gary Hall — Thu, 03 Sep 2015 13:23:00 +0100

A rocking horse is a child's toy, usually shaped like a horse and mounted on rockers similar to a rocking chair. These wonderful toys have given children throughout the ages hours and hours of fun, but where do they originate from?

Northern India Travel Tips

Gary Hall — Sat, 29 Aug 2015 00:00:00 +0100

After travelling around Northern India for 21 days, we've learned a little about what makes a happy trip so I've gathered together a list of tips to help with both the preparation and planning for the perfect trip. From visas to health considerations, these tips will help you to become ready for the cultural differences between the UK and Northern India and will also help you decide what to pack and what not to pack. We could have carried far less if only we'd known....

Northern India Trip

Gary Hall — Sat, 29 Aug 2015 00:00:00 +0100

Holy cows, nights in the desert under the stars, the Taj Mahal, Hindu Gods, the holy River Ganges, Bollywood movies and utter chaos all around; this could only be India! Our backpacking trip around Northern India took in Delhi, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Pushkar, Jaipur, Bharatpur Agra and Varanasi. It took 21 days and during that time we experienced many highs and lows including beautiful views, exquisite monuments, friendly and curious people, extremes of poverty and wealth and traffic like we've never seen before.

How to change my shell?

Gary Hall — Sat, 13 Jun 2015 00:00:00 +0100

If you want to change your shell then you can use the chsh command which will change your user login shell. If you are the root user you can change the login shell for any user however if you are a standard user then you can only change your own shell. Note that changes do not take effect until the next time you log in.

How to shorten tweets

Gary Hall — Wed, 03 Jun 2015 13:23:00 +0100

Twitter only allows for messages of up to 140 characters, which is about the length of a headline. Bear in mind that your 140 characters includes spaces and everything else, so how can you shorten your tweet to make sure that everything you have to say is contained in those 140 characters? Here are some tricks to do just that.

Updating the system time on the Raspberry Pi

Gary Hall — Fri, 15 May 2015 00:00:00 +0100

The Raspberry Pi doesn't have a real time clock (RTC) so when your Raspberry Pi loses power, the time isn't kept accurate. You can buy a real time clock for the Pi ot you can run a time server on the Pi to keep the time on the Raspberry Pi accurate. Luckily, this only takes a few minutes to set up and you'll be keeping your fabulous Raspberry Pi computer in 'pifect' time!

Experiences of Google Drive at Primary School

Gary Hall — Mon, 06 Apr 2015 00:00:00 +0100

We're in the process of moving the children at school onto Google Drive instead of storing all of their work on the local network. The benefits are that the children can collaborate together on projects, they can store work created on ipads on their drive and I can mark their work from anywhere at any time :) They can create a digital portfolio of their work which they can share with their parents/carers.

Texts for Guided Reading

Gary Hall — Sat, 14 Mar 2015 00:00:00 +0000

If you've ever struggled finding guided reading resources for use in your classroom (I know I have!) then you may find this site useful. It has hundreds of reading texts on it, ordered by US Grade, Lexile level, text type and skill/strategy. Each resource has a reading text, along with comprehension questions (which can be used to differentiate) and the all important answers.

How to install ITV Player on Amazon Fire TV

Gary Hall — Sat, 14 Mar 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Amazon Fire TV is a streaming media player that works out of the box for BBC iplayer, Netflix and Demand 5 but unfortunately has no direct support for ITV player. There is however a way to get ITV player working on the Amazon Fire TV by installing it as a plugin for Kodi and then side loading Kodi onto the Amazon Fire Tv. You don't need to root your Amazon Fire TV box to do this either.

50+ ideas for using QR codes at school

Gary Hall — Sun, 08 Mar 2015 00:00:00 +0000

QR codes are everywhere nowadays: on cereal packets, posters, adverts, TV, websites, etc, etc. More and more schools are using these little codes to enrich the learning experience of their pupils. They are free to create and the software to read them is also free. They can be read using tablets, phones and laptops and can contain text or link to any online resource. Here are 50 (and counting...) ideas for how to use them in your school.

Scratch Jr programming with KS1

Gary Hall — Sat, 07 Mar 2015 00:00:00 +0000

This week, we started introducing KS1 children to Scratch Jr, a new simplified version of Scratch designed for younger children from age 5 through to 7. Scratch Jr is an ipad coding app in which children snap together graphical blocks of instructions to make characters move, interact, speak and transform on the screen. However, its not just a coding app - it lets children run wild with creativity as we found out :)

Setting Up an Online Store

Gary Hall — Tue, 03 Mar 2015 12:32:00 +0000

When you're setting up an ecommerce website, make sure that you're building firm foundations in the design, structure and usability of the site. Getting everything right up front will save you some serious heartache further down the line. I built my first online shop for one of my customers in 1998; many things have changed since then but the same guiding principles apply.

Primary Maths Resources

Gary Hall — Sun, 22 Feb 2015 00:00:00 +0000

These free Primary Maths Resources, which are based on the current UK National Curriculum Year Group objectves, are fully searchable and sorted into different categories, including number and place value, the four operations, fractions, measurements, properties of shapes, position and direction, statistics, ratio and proportion, and algebra. It is a useful companion to my other APP maths objective planning tool.

Using Google Maps to teach Maths

Gary Hall — Sat, 07 Feb 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Google Maps is a great tool for children to explore their local area. Here is a maths map of Hull where the children can navigate to local landmarks and then answers maths questions based on what they can see. For example, how many lines of symmetry can you see in the garden at East Park or draw a pictogram of the different coloured cars parked around the stadium.

Game based assessment

Gary Hall — Mon, 02 Feb 2015 00:00:00 +0000

With Kahoot, primary school teachers can create quizzes for children to play on in a social environment, using any device with a web browser… including a laptop, iPad, iPhone, iPod, Android, Chromebook or PC. The children can can take part in fast paced quizzes against each other, giving instant feedback and both formative and summative assessment. The multiple choice quizzes are simple to set up and simple to play and the results are available to analyse in Excel or Google Sheets.

Self marking assessment using Google Forms

Gary Hall — Sun, 01 Feb 2015 00:00:00 +0000

When you've finished testing, does it take you ages to collect the data, input it into a spreadsheet and then analyse it to work out where each student is with their learning? You do the presentation design, either yourself or by using a presentation design agency then move onto the assessment. I've just started using a really productive system that takes a lot of the hard work out of the post-test analysis using Google Forms, Google Sheets and an add-on called Flubaroo.

Oslo Trip

Gary Hall — Tue, 13 Jan 2015 00:00:00 +0000

This weekend my daughter and I travelled to Oslo to see the sights of this wonderful city - deemed to be the most expensive city in the World. We visited Vigeland Park (the world's largest sculpture park made by a single artist), the Nobel peace centre and the Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art. We were only there for the weekend and tried to make the most of this intriguing green and white city.

A 5 year old writes

Gary Hall — Sat, 13 Dec 2014 00:00:00 +0000

This handwriting was given to me by one of my old headmasters years ago and I couldn't find it on the internet so wanted to share it. It shows a 5 year old child's handwriting from 1909. The child was educated by italian educator, Maria Montessori, whose focus was on not being taught writing, but discovering writing by being exposed to certain conditions and experiences, and then developing the fine motor skills needed to write.

Creating interactive stories using Twine

Gary Hall — Sat, 13 Dec 2014 00:00:00 +0000

"Choose your own adventure" books were really popular for children in the 1980's. These interactive books allowed the reader to make decisions of where they wanted the story to go and, depending on their choices, this would shape the outcome of the book. Budding authors can now write their own interative story books and publish them online using a fabulous website called "Twine". My year 5 (aged 10 - 11 years old) literacy class have just created some wonderful Greek myths using this method.

Mirroring ipads in the classroom

Gary Hall — Mon, 01 Dec 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Imagine teaching a maths lesson where the children are using their ipads as interactive whiteboards, working through a problem that you've set them. When asked for their answers, the children simply press a button on their ipads and their work is shown on the interactive whiteboard for the whole class to review. This is all possible now using the AirPlay feature on your ipad, along with some inexpensive software for the PC.

Scratch Projects for KS2

Gary Hall — Wed, 26 Nov 2014 00:00:00 +0000

These scratch projects from Code Club are fabulous for giving the children step by step instructions for how to code their scratch programs. They also include online instructions that the children can open in another browser tab to follow and cross off while they are coding.

Maths games without computers

Gary Hall — Mon, 03 Nov 2014 00:00:00 +0000

If you do an internet search for Maths Games you will find lots of maths games that can be played on a computer. But what if you don't have a computer or if the children in your class are all "computered out"? Here is a collection of maths games that can be played using either no resources, or simple resources that are around the classroom.

Inspiring Children to Program Computers

Gary Hall — Sun, 02 Nov 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Here are some great inspirational videos to inspire children to get involved with programming computers. There are clips here featuring Mark Zuckerman, Barack Obama, Bill Gates and will.i.am, carrying powerful messages as to why children should learn to program computers.

Progression in Programming at School

Gary Hall — Sun, 02 Nov 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Teaching programming to children - where do you start? How can you make it fun and interesting, but at the same time develop the correct skill-set? This video shows the progression of visual programming from Primary school through to Secondary school, using both iPads and desktop computers.

National Curriculum Android App

Gary Hall — Sat, 01 Nov 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Do you ever feel the need to read the English National Curriculum whilst on the move? Well now you can with my new and exciting Android App which brings the National Curriculum to your tablet or mobile device! With an easy to navigate interface and extra resources such as spelling, grammar and a glossary, you will never be bored again :) Ok... its not that exciting, but it does include all the curriculum for all the statutory subjects from KS1 through to KS4.

Kodu Programming Resources

Gary Hall — Sun, 26 Oct 2014 00:00:00 +0100

Kodu is a visual programming language made specifically for creating games. It is designed to be accessible for children and enjoyable for anyone. I've been working with a group of KS2 children for the last few weeks developing games so I've put together a list of resources which I've found useful.

Music Video Jukebox

Gary Hall — Sun, 14 Sep 2014 00:00:00 +0100

My kids spend a lot of time watching music TV but they have no control over the videos that they watch. I've often thought it would be a good idea to have your own music video jukebox where you can select the music videos that you want to watch, not just those that someone else wants you to watch. I felt so strongly about this that I wrote my own Music Video Jukebox addon for XBMC which does just this.

Estonia, Finland and Latvia trip

Gary Hall — Fri, 15 Aug 2014 00:00:00 +0100

I've just returned back from a six day trip to Estonia, Finland and Latvia, with my daughter, Laura. We travelled by ferry, bus, tram and plane and managed to fit so many things in in such a short space of time including visiting the capitals of all the three countries along with seeing their major tourist attractions.

Gordons Numeracy Teaching Resources

Gary Hall — Sat, 19 Jul 2014 00:00:00 +0100

Here are over 100 simple Flash resources to support the teaching and learning of Maths. These are produced by the Coventry Primary Numeracy Team for use by teachers and pupils and are known as Gordons (due to the little superhero character included within them). They are ideal for class or small group teaching and cover the majority of areas of the primary maths curriculum.

Installing Pygame on Ubuntu 12.04

Gary Hall — Wed, 18 Jun 2014 00:00:00 +0100

I've had a lot of trouble trying to get Python working with Pygame on Ubuntu 12.04 recently so I've documented the process which finally got it up and running. Hopefully this will save someone else lots of work trying to get Python3, Pygame and Ubuntu 12.04 running together.

Tunisia trip

Gary Hall — Fri, 30 May 2014 00:00:00 +0100

One of the countries on my list of places to go was Tunisia, so when we found a reasonable deal on a trip there we decided it was time to pack our suitcases and go. Our base in Tunisia was Port El Kantauoi, a purpose built leisure port close to the city of Sousse, on the north west coast of the country.

Missing money grid

Gary Hall — Fri, 23 May 2014 00:00:00 +0100

A printable worksheet which helps to develop KS2 children's monetary skills. The children have to work out what the missing coins are which add up to the totals of all the columns and rows. Teachers can click on the coins themselves to remove them and generate their own worksheets using random coins. This can be left on the whiteboard screen whilst the children have printable copies themselves to work through. When the children are finished, they can mark their own work by revealing the missing coins on the Interactive Whiteboard.

Teaching KS2 children how to write scripts on the Raspberry Pi

Gary Hall — Sun, 11 May 2014 00:00:00 +0100

Last week I worked with a group of 10/11 year olds at the Raspberry Pi command line, using my speaking weather script to show them what can be done with the Raspberry Pi at the command line. This week I went a step further and got them to write a script to create a menu which incorporated the speaking weather forecast and also showed them some other cool things that the Raspberry Pi can do at the terminal.

Creating epub ebooks without Calibre

Gary Hall — Sun, 27 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0100

This guide demonstrates how to create your own epub files using Libre Office (or Open Office) on Linux, Windows or a Mac. This is handy if you have some text that you'd like to read on your book reader but your book reader doesn't support the format that you have it in. Or if you have written some text yourself which you'd like to publish. EPUB stands for 'electronic publication' and is the open standard for digital ebooks.

ipad apps for teaching programming at primary schools

Gary Hall — Thu, 03 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0100

I went to an IT conference for Primary Schools today organised by the hard working team at Wawne Primary School and discovered a lot of information about using ipads to teach children programming concepts, from early years through to upper KS2. When you're looking for apps it can be really time consuming so I thought I'd put them all in one place for an easy reference to save people time and effort.

Warsaw and Krakow Trip

Gary Hall — Tue, 01 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0100

Here is a trip report of our recent trip to Warsaw and Krakow - two very different cities in Poland. I travelled with Steve, an old friend of mine, and we went for four days at the end of March 2014. We managed to cram a lot in during this time with the highlight of the trip being a Segway tour around Krakow. Why can't we have these machines to ride on the roads (or even pavements) in England?

Using PHP with Pelican

Gary Hall — Thu, 20 Mar 2014 00:00:00 +0000

I've been using PHP to develop websites since the mid 90's and, even though I'm really happy with my Raspberry Pi and Pelican setup, I really wanted to add some php code into some of my scripts. After spending a while testing a few approaches out, I finally found one that worked and seamlessly integrated into the Pelican framework.

KS1 and KS2 Computing keywords display

Gary Hall — Mon, 03 Mar 2014 00:00:00 +0000

I've just come across this website which has a set of downloadable posters containing key words from the 2014 computing curriculum for KS1 and KS2. The posters are in "pupil speak" and contain computing keywords such as algorithms, debug, process and program. Very useful for the computing area in your primary school.

Increasing the volume on a Raspberry Pi

Gary Hall — Thu, 20 Feb 2014 00:00:00 +0000

If you plug your speakers into the 3.5mm jack on the Raspberry Pi, the volume that you get is really low. I wanted to make the volume louder so I used this script that I found on the Raspberry Pi forums to do just that. By increasing the analog volume and saving these changes in the correct place, you can increase the volume to a level that works for you.

2014 Primary Computing curriculum guide

Gary Hall — Wed, 12 Feb 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Computing at School, in association with Naace and other partners have published a guide which explains how primary teachers can get started with the new 2014 Primary Computing curriculum. It provides many pointers to excellent resources and ideas for building an innovative and exciting curriculum and can be used in conjunction with the Government's publications on the new 2014 Primary Computing Curriculum.

Getting your Raspberry Pi to speak the weather forecast

Gary Hall — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Every evening, I like to know what the weather is going to be like for the next day. Should I pack a salad or have a hot meal? Do I need my coat or not? Sometimes I forget to check my phone/tablet/laptop/TV etc to find out what its going to be like the next day, so I made these wizzy little scripts to get the Raspberry Pi to tell me my local weather forecast at 10pm every night.

Tweeting from the Raspberry Pi

Gary Hall — Sun, 19 Jan 2014 00:00:00 +0000

I recently found a way to tweet from the Raspberry Pi using an app called Tweepy. I've written a tutorial below on how to do this as I've wanted to automate Twitter feeds for a while now and this looks like just the thing to enable me to do it. It took me about an hour to setup and now I've got it up and running, I'm going to look at reading data from the environment, the web and local databases and tweeting them out directly.

Pelican: A fast blog/CMS for the Raspberry Pi

Gary Hall — Mon, 13 Jan 2014 00:00:00 +0000

If, like me, you're hosting a website on your Raspberry Pi, you may have struggled finding a fast blogging engine or content management system. Over the past year, I've tried a number of solutions that really on an application server and/or database server but none have been fast enough due to the amount of grunt needed to run these servers.

Running a Calibre ebook library on a Raspberry Pi

Gary Hall — Sun, 12 Jan 2014 00:00:00 +0000

This article describes how to set up your own ebook server which will run on a Raspberry Pi or any other webserver running PHP. This allows you to give your friends access to your ebooks across the Internet without keeping the machine that manages your Calibre library turned on all the time, which costs more money and can be really slow if you have a large book library.

Berlin Trip

Gary Hall — Thu, 31 Oct 2013 00:00:00 +0000

In October 2013, my family and I spent a few days in Berlin, taking in the sights of the city and soaking up the atmosphere. We stayed in a hotel just off Tiergarten which is the oldest public park in Berlin and the home of the Berlin Zoo and Bellevue Palace, the residence of the German President.

Converting images on a Raspberry Pi

Gary Hall — Sat, 12 Oct 2013 00:00:00 +0100

I've been using Imagemagick, a really useful tool, a lot recently to convert images for my ebook collection. I use it to create smaller versions of the images that Calibre produces to run on my own ebook web server. This mini-tutorial will show you how to install and use Imagemagick on your Raspberry Pi. This could be on the command line, in batch operations or using a server side scripting language.

Southern Thailand Trip

Gary Hall — Mon, 09 Sep 2013 00:00:00 +0100

After the end of our Northern Thailand trip, we stayed on in Bangkok for a night before joining another group of friendly people and embarked upon a further trip to the islands in Southern Thailand. We travelled down on an overnight sleeper train to the port at Surrathani and, after crossing from the mainland, spent some time snorkelling and exploring the beautiful islands of Koh Tao, Ko PaNgan and Koh Samui.

Northern Thailand Trip

Gary Hall — Sun, 08 Sep 2013 00:00:00 +0100

In August 2013, my family (Sue, Laura and Lucy) and I travelled to Thailand for a week to explore the north of the country. We had an amazing time visiting Bangkok, the temples at Sukhotai, elephant sanctuaries, staying with locals and trekking through the jungles. We also explored lots of Thai culture including watchingThai boxing matches, taking part in buddhist ceremonies, visiting local schools and watching lady boy shows!

How to find links

Gary Hall — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 13:23:00 +0000

Oftentimes, search engines find your website and web pages through links from other sites. They assign a “trust factor” or quality factor to those links to determine whether a piece of content is popular and should be trusted.

Primary KS1 and KS2 Sublevelled maths objectives

Gary Hall — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

This Maths planning tool, which is based on the UK National Curriculum APP levels, is fully searchable and categorised into different assessment focuses, including number, fractions, decimals, percentages, problem solving, shape, measures, time, angles and data handling. It gives you the sublevel for every single Maths objective and is useful to ensure coverage of the UK national curriculum.

How to Help with your Child's Development

Gary Hall — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:18:00 +0000

Helping your child develop is one of the many responsibilities of parenting, and there are many ways you can help your child develop their physical, social and mental skills. There are 4 main skills that your child will develop as he or she turns from a newborn into a youth:

Parental Leadership

Gary Hall — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 15:18:00 +0100

As with crying, some parents may take the idea of a tantrum as self-healing to an extreme and deny a child her needs and autonomy. Instead of honoring her choices, they may say, “Let her rage, it’s good for her.” Respect the child’s need to rage, but don’t cause it.

Stop Receiving Junk Mail

Gary Hall — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 15:18:00 +0100

In 2002, the UK Minister of State responsible for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs estimated that direct mail promotions accounted for between 500,000 and 600,000 tonnes of wasted paper. Recycling targets were put in place by the government and the Direct Marketing Association (UK) with a goal of 55% by 2009.

USA West coast trip

Gary Hall — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 00:00:00 +0100

In August 2007, my family and I travelled to the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Yosemite Park. We took a helicopter flight over the Grand Canyon, went to the World Series of Poker in Vegas, visited San Diego zoo, Disneyland California, Venice Beach, Malibu, stayed in Santa Barbara, drove along the Pacific Coast Highway and even had a go on a Segway.