wickED at TKI

A message from Anne Mason, Community facilitator at TKI :

"I would be most grateful if you can send me a list of popular topics requested by schools and students in your region. I am the project co-ordinator for wickED, http://www.wicked.org.nz

wickED is a quality-assured online environment for 7-12 year olds (years 3-8), developed to complement the Ministry of Education’s study support centres initiative. wickED provides engaging curriculum-based learning activities in English and te reo Māori, many of which have been developed to reflect a literacy, numeracy and ESOL focus. The activities are intended to support facilitated or independent use by students.

Each month our team add new learning activities and are keen to know of topics that you find are of interest to students of this age. We would very much appreciate a list of topics if you have one available. Many thanks, Anne."

Have you visited the wickED site ? From the home page :

Explore the wickEDly cool things on this site! Quizzes, crosswords, interactives and games in English and te reo Māori, a gallery of student artworks, profiles of inspirational New Zealanders, an information station, and activities and games based around topics – it’s all here – on wickED!

Riches on the TKI website

I was looking at English online on the TKI website today - what a treasure trove for teachers !
Do you subscribe to the monthly newsletters ?
http://englishonline.tki.org.nz/Community-Newsletters/August-2009

In this latest newsletter there was a link to this NZCER blog called Shifting to 21st Century literacy in education and thinking http://www.shiftingthinking.org/?cat=3 with an interesting post about using a sophisticated picture book - Cinderella : an art-deco love story by Lyn and David Roberts, to explore character, visual literacy, moral ambiguity...
Malice is in the eye of the beholder: 'We all know the story of Cinderella, the classic fairy tale of rags to riches. But I’m sure most of us have never stopped to think about why this story continues to be read to children around the world, the complexity of the characters, and the social messages that you can extrapolate from it....'

There is a new site on TKI dedicated to raising boys' achievement through professional development for their teachers. It includes current research and school stories that explore ways to build on the evidence of what works for boys. Here is the link http://success-for-boys.tki.org.nz/professional_learning Have a look at Botany Downs Secondary College "school story"...