A wide range of Primary classroom activities, reviews and resources has been developed and published over the years originally by MAPE and, more recently since the merger in 2004, by Naace.

The Direct2U service was a weekly email service produced by Becta in partnership with Naace. The service was for primary teachers and offered lesson plans featuring ICT in activities based on six subject strands. The service is discontinued but you can view the lesson plans in this archive.

An ICT resource for teaching mental maths

Some practical ideas and activities for parents to help their children develop mathematical thinking and confidence. The activities require no specialist mathematical knowledge or equipment beyond that found in most homes.

Margaret Allen suggests ways in which an Interactive Whiteboard can make a positive contribution to teaching and learning within the context of a topic on food.

As more studies emerge into the potential application of computer games in both industry and education I’m interested in whether computer games can hone cognitive skills in the same way that a recent US study claims that they can improve fine control skills for surgeons. 'Wii warm-up good for surgeons’ BBC News Online 17 January 2008.

The authors describe the adventure game, Zoombinis Logical Journeys, and explain how this software can help to develop critical thinking skills of the kind that are useful across the curriculum and in many areas of life.

A teacher in an English schol abroad describes two activities which use ICT to make cross-curricular links.

Focus: ICT Coordinator

In this jam-packed issue, the lead article looks at the use of Windows Movie maker to develop ICT and geography skills and on page 3 Jackie Lester offers advice on preparing for an Ofsted inspection. On page 4 Rhona Dick introduces two pieces of software for exploring moral dilemmas and finally we have a Top Tip for maths teaching.
For comment or contributions please contact me at h.govier@btopenworld.com

This article gives some ideas for teaching young children about fruit. In particular it utilises the Find the Pairs game on the Naace website. This is not a whole scheme of work on fruit. It focuses on one particular aspect and suggests possible extensions. There are further resources listed at the end of the article.