3 useful activities from Happily Blogging @ Belmore South article

Animated Vokis (pronounced voke-ee) are speaking avatars.  Students at Belmore South use this application to create characters for a game.  This could be useful tool in creative arts and english e.g a reader's theatre or playbuilding where students could record their scripts.  The use of avatars addresses privacy concerns some parents may have in using their children's images online.

Voices of the World wiki

This is a global blog which sets tasks to be completed for each month.  According to the founder Sharon Turner the aim of the project is to connect children globally with their peers "through meaningful and engaging projects".  Tasks include using internet applications such as vokis (see above), using Voice thread and blabberize.  This wiki is very relevant for HSIE topics eg customs and cultures as well as talking and listening skills in english
Retrieved 15/10/2011 from http://votw.wikispaces.com/

Connecting with an another school - I loved the idea of Kim's class linking up schools in Scotland and England.  The Scottish school are learning about Australian history and the class shares their historical knowledge via a wiki.  They share their performance of Macbeth with schools in England as well as sharing questions for a project that a school in Geelong is undertaking.  Because of my Irish background I would love to collaborate with a school in Ireland. Imagine collaborating on a topic like seasons.   When it is our summer it is winter in the northern hemisphere.

Pericles, K. (2008). Happily blogging @ Belmore South. SCAN, 27(2), 4-6 http://www.curriculumsupport.education.nsw.gov.au/schoollibraries/