If you are a primary school teacher on the lookout for a different idea for written work on describing characters, you may be interested in this clever website called Build Your Wild Self. You can create your own characters which range from relatively normal individuals to zany alien-like creatures.

It is really easy to choose from a range of characteristics and when you are happy with your creation you can produce a print-out. This is a useful feature if you want your pupils to work individually. Alternatively, you could have some fun together creating a character as a class activity as it works very well on an interactive whiteboard.

You can select from a range of backgrounds, which is helpful if you want to establish a setting for the character should you wish your pupils to produce narrative writing.

The website works well in conjunction with the My Monster website which I featured in a previous blog post or with the 'Monster Shopping Trip' animated story for Key Stage 1 pupils which has alien characters. The 'Build Your Wild Self' site is suitable for either Key Stages 1 or 2 (ages 6 - 11) because it lends itself to more detailed descriptive writing. 

If you, like me, have upgraded to SMART Notebook software Version 10, then perhaps you are not yet familiar with all the new elements that are on offer.

I have been exploring the Object Animation feature and in particular how to make objects fade when clicked to reveal different things. I think this has the potential to make teacher created resources more interesting.

I set myself the task of creating a Shape Reveal SMART Notebook resource for 6 - 7 year olds which you are welcome to download and keep. I have always found children love seeing who can guess the name of a 2D shape first as it is slowly revealed from behind a screen. So I have created some shapes, each hidden behind a Screen Shade and made each shape clickable to reveal the name of the shape. The resource is intended for use in Full-Screen mode otherwise children will be able to see what shape is coming next in the page-sorter.

To demonstrate how I made the resource I have also produced another SMART Notebook file which provides step-by-step instructions on how I created just one of the shapes. Quite simply I made a sandwich of two identical shapes with the shape's name in between. When clicked, the top one fades to reveal the name. The resource can be used as a starter or plenary activity with Year 1 or Year 2 children. If there are too many shapes, simply delete certain pages. For older children you may like to add more complex shapes.

The same technique could be adapted for identifying 3D shapes too. I couldn't find an octagon in the SMART Notebook gallery, so I created a filled octagon in Microsoft Word using the Draw Menu and simply cut and pasted it into Notebook.

Even if you teach older children it won't take more than a few minutes to try the technique and see how it could be adapted for other uses. I have tried it on the map of the British Isles from the gallery. Each of the maps of the four countries of the UK fits perfectly into the outline map. The same technique could be used to make a clickable map which reveals the names of the countries.

I would love to know how you get on and if you are on half-term this week - enjoy!

Well, I have taken the bull by the horns and updated my SmartBoard software to version 10 after all. I must say it was rather tedious because the download form repeatedly rejected my Smartboard's serial number for some time and then there were various questions which required answers before I could access the product activation key. What a shame Smart have made it more difficult to get the latest software! Mind you once you have the activation key you can at least share it with any teaching colleagues to save them the bother of having to go through the rigmarole for themselves.

Mind you having downloaded the updated version I am quite excited about the new features it has to offer, so I think it will have been worth the trouble. I will be talking about some of the features but I need to have a 'play' first.

I want to tell you about a site that I have recently come across called Learning Clip which looks as though it will be a useful resource for maths lessons. It has resources which have been linked to the Maths New Framework in England. At present there's stuff for Years 3, 4 and 5 (Ages 7 - 10) although I believe other age groups are planned.

The site is free for the time being whilst the learning clips are being trialled. The online resources have been designed to be teacher led and for use on interactive whiteboards. Each clip has an introductory video featuring 'Triangle Man' puppet, guidance notes, an interactive activity and an accompanying worksheet. Some of the activities have been designed for use with the Activote system.