It has been a while since I last posted. My wife and I have been enjoying catching up on some friends in Canada (Vancouver, Toronto, Edmonton), L.A and New York. We were away for 4 weeks and now it is great to be home :+)

I found some entertaining animations today on Youtube written by a Grade 5 Teacher named Tony Dusko. He has a website called “Notebookbabies” and I just have to share it with you.

As you can see these little fullas look quite simple……but he uses them effectively. My students (10 year olds) laughed at them when I showed them a few of the clips. Tony has produced a number of short animation videos to address issues or present information for his class. Below are a few that caught my eye:

• “Homework Hero” – a funny video encouraging students to do their homework.
• “Messy Desks” – used to challenge students to keep tidy desks.
• “What is a Friend” – this video (below) is a good place to start a discussion on Friendship for ages 5-10yrs.

I’m keen to find some animation that would encourage creativity, integrity and internet safety in my students. Have you found any that are worth checking out?

The following link on Brain Gym was written by Ewan McIntosh from Scotland.

http://edu.blogs.com/edublogs/2008/04/brain-gym-was-i.html

It is definitely worth a read so I have posted about it quickly to bring it to your attention (if you haven’t read it already).

Check out the videos (Part 1 + 2) in my Vodpod collection on the left side of this blog (note on Ewan’s page he shares Part 1 only.)

What do you think? Have you found enough evidence to say it improves learning?

Picture Author: http://www.fitbuff.com/brain-gym-exercises-get-fit-get-smart