Good Primary Software

[sonyahorton]

What software do you just love using on your whiteboard?



I am always on the look out for good software to test for our software accreditation programme and it would be great to hear about your faves. I am sure that there are many other teachers on the forums that could do with some pointers too, it’s a nightmare sometimes trying to decide what to spend those elcs on.

[caryn]

All ages in our school love using these for maths activities. They lend themselves very well to the whiteboard. The only drawback is there are less games for years 2 and 3 - but the rest of the classes are well catered for.

www.primarygames.co.uk (http://www.primarygames.co.uk)

[Sarah Carpenter]

Our Early Years team particularly like the 2Simple programs and most days have 2Paint on their whiteboard for the children to use independently - really helps with motor skills etc.

http://www.2simple.com/

Sarah +wave+

[Jowen1]

Have you used "2Paint a Picture" yet? Once seen all our teachers have been ordering it. It suits FS right up to Y6 and the accompanying videos are great.
Joy

[caryn]

Just discovered this site. It has loads of topic headings which lead to many interactive resources which would be great on the WB
http://www.ers.north-ayrshire.gov.uk/topics.htm

[Dug]

On a similar line to the above (not specifically IWB orientated):
http://www.learnanytime.co.uk/

[Sarah Carpenter]

Hi Joy

Yes we have just purchased 2paint a picture - think the staff may love it more than the children though!! :D

Haven't installed it on the network yet but I think it will be fantastic on the whiteboard.

Sarah +wave+

Have you used "2Paint a Picture" yet? Once seen all our teachers have been ordering it. It suits FS right up to Y6 and the accompanying videos are great.
Joy

[Alison]

My absolute favourite piece of software for Foundation is Beep! Just the best thing in the world! [clap] [clap] I'm pretty sure it's the single most played software in the school!!

[sonyahorton]

Hi Alison,

I would like to contact the publishers of Beep to see if they would like it accrediting. Can you tell me who publishes it?

Thanks
Sonya

[Alison]

Q&D Multimedia. Their website is www.q-and-d.co.uk/index.htm +wave+

[Vicky-d]

Has anyone used TuxPaint or Planet Plopp - my 4 yr old daughter loves these.

I'm particularly impressed with Planet Plopp as it's special feature is to inflate what you have just drawn then manipulate it against a background as if it was 3D! You can even pop the inflated characters with a pin!

[caryn]

I have just got "Can Do Problem Solving" by Nelson Thornes with my Tesco tokens and it is GREAT on the IWB. It teaches all the problem solving strategies from year 1 to 6 on 6 discs. The software is really simple to use and takes both the teacher and the children through the programme "step by step"

[vlewis]

A piece of software that we have purchased to go along with our IWB is Pintar Math. It is a wonderful resource that has both
pre-prepared and make your own lessons. clwn

[Sephiroth]

Education City!

It's a web based set of education games and activities and is bar far my most used resource on the whiteboard.

www.educationcity.com

Also Espresso isn't bad either, and is a similar thing.

www.espresso.co.uk

Both require a subscription although im sure Education City does a trial and most likely Espresso will too.

[spencerTL]

Please try my website www.teacherled.com (http://www.teacherled.com) for a variety of resources that allow teachers to demonstrate and teach maths lessons. It is free to use and does not require any registration.

It includes tools to teach specific lessons and games/activities to use in starters etc. I am adding new resources regularly.

[htemske]

I love Tom Snyder software! Go Solve Word Problems and Reading for Meaning both work great for a whole class skill lesson using the board. Fizz & Martina and Science Court are other favorites that also are easily done on the board. They label much of their software "group interactive software" and it really is - I haven't found any that don't work on the board although they specifically list some as IWB friendly.

[margaret.paris]

I've recently purchased Click It! and Clicker Paint. They really work well with the active board.

[dandrews]

For K-2 grades: free online phonemic based games - www.starfall.com (http://www.starfall.com) , www.literactive.com (http://www.literactive.com), www.storylineonline.net (http://www.storylineonline.net), www.pbskids.org (http://www.pbskids.org)

Free Math Games: Number Time (http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/numbertime/games/test.shtml)

www.rainforestmaths.com (http://www.rainforestmaths.com)


Sunburst Software: KeySkills, Island Adventure and Ocean Adventure are great PAID software to use also.

KidPix is another paid software, but a great tool to use for painting, drawing, and writing.

Donna

[Alison]

I saw a preview of a piece of software in January at the BETT show and it just came through yesterday. Aimed at Nursery & Reception (3-5 years) it is absolutely fantastic. One of my Foundation Stage teachers was literally jumping up and down with excitement! It's called Early Literacy with Dog & Cat.

Part of it has Dog & Cat at home in their living room, using their dressing up box to retell traditional tales, complete with homemade masks, dressing up clothes, props etc. All from the armchair that they're using as a stage! The children immediately got to work making their own (resources such as finger puppets, masks etc can be printed off) and re-enacting the stories themselves. Result! :D

[srchlc]

Please try my website www.teacherled.com (http://www.teacherled.com) for a variety of resources that allow teachers to demonstrate and teach maths lessons. It is free to use and does not require any registration.

It includes tools to teach specific lessons and games/activities to use in starters etc. I am adding new resources regularly.


I just checked out your website and I'm going to use the resources tomorrow!! :eek: Keep up the great work and I'll start spreading the word.[clap]

Holli

[Cindy H]

I second that about www.teacherled.com (http://www.teacherled.com)! I am going to use some of the resources tomorrow. I printed a lot of the instructions and the resource summary so that I can align it with each concept as I teach it. It's also great for review! Thanks so much for sharing it with us!

Cindy

[Selda Ziya]

I came across a school which use Education City, a web based cached site with resources ranging from nursery to KS3. The activities lend them selves to personalised learning and class based teaching, across the curriculum. There is also an IWB option, which aids interaction. The school were very positive about this subscribed site, particulary the NC activities.
www.educationcity.com (http://www.educationcity.com)

[Dug]

I'd like to second that, Selda.

I get to see and evaluate many online content providers and Education City is one of the best of its kind in the UK.

Another (similar) one is Taecanet (http://www.taecanet.com/)

[Alison]

We've been using Education City for the last four years. We've got every subject (English, Maths, Science, French, German & Spanish) for 3-11 year olds. I'm a huge fan and the children simply adore it. It's our homepage, which helps encourage use. I chose it initially as other companies charge a per pupil cost - my school is a huge Primary and we simply can't afford per pupil rates (734 pupils!) - I'm very glad I did. Highly recommended! [clap]

[Richwhite]

Your students would love Edusim - ;)

its at http://edusim3d.com (http://208.70.245.91/common/html/vb_forum/its%20at%20http://edusim3d.com)

demo video is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjVG6uh8P80

[atruger]

We have 2 programs that just work flawlessly with the board. The first is Kidspiration 3 - The math tools just scream to be used on a iwb! The second is Pixie 2 from Tech4Learning. Pixie 2 is like Kid Pix but with a lot more of a curricular focus. I like it for my special needs students because the interface is not nearly as busy. Pixie 2 (http://www.tech4learning.com) and Kidspiration (http://www.inspiration.com) are both paid for software but both are available as a free 30 day dowload. Check them both out! You will be glad you
did[clap]!

~Anne

[vlewis]

A couple software programs that we use at
school that seem to be very popular are:

Pintar Math
Interactive Science Charts

Some websites that work beautifully with the boards are:

Reading, Writing, and Science A-Z -- all separate sites
BrainPoP and BrainPoP jr.
Safari Montage

I know there are more, but my brain is fading fast.

[kthwhite]

One of my favorite interactive whiteboard resources is Road to Reading. It can be accessed at
http://www.literactive.com/Home/roadtoreading.asp . My kindergarten students love to use this site at our IWB.
Kathy:)

[caryn]

Hi Kathy - welcome to the forum - if all your links are as GREAT as this one I can't wait for your next post!! {}Thanks for sharing such a great site[clap][clap][clap]

[LisaD]

Just wanted to confirm that we have this link in the weblink resources! We do!

Road to Reading
http://www.prometheanplanet.com/server.php?show=ConResource.16236

Searching for weblinks


If you do a search for weblinks by Subject Area: Language Arts, you will find that there are 104 listed.
If you search for weblinks using using Keyword: Reading, I found 25.

(Searching US Resources)

Lisa

[dgrammerstorf]

My district got a program called Mult E Maths, which does not seem to have a US version yet, but it is fantastic. The interface is modeled after SMART (which I'm not a fan of), but the tools in it are powerful. You can manipulate 3d shapes, make number lines, create fraction pieces, make graphs, and lots more.

[jamoore]

My favourite website is

http://tutpup.com

I think that it is very similar to Mathletics where children can challenge each other on line in quizes.

There are sections like: spelling, maths 101, times tables, and more....

Jacki

[Alison]

For anyone in the UK from Foundation Stage, my Reception Team are utterly gaga over the Dog & Cat series from Q&D Multimedia. They're just releasing three Phonics programmes which look amazing. Highly recommended! [clap]

[Dug]

I'm currently loving 2Simple's recent release 2Do it Yourself (http://2simpleshop.com/2diy/) This software is incredibly intuitive and allows users to quickly and easily make little flash activities and games that can be played on an IWB or embedded in your website or VLE.

[alydon]

reactickles is great with really wee ones

[kevhogg]

Having a peek at 2Do It Yourself from 2Simple this weekend...
Looks very promising - loads of potential across the curriculum.

Anyone got any more details about 2Collaborate?

[KristenTHernandez]

TinkerPlots is my favorite Data Analysis software. My students absolutely love it.

[arogers15]

Hi tell me about the TinkerTots software that you are using. What types of features are included? What activities can your students do as it pertains to language arts?
I am gathering info in software for a professional development that I am creating. The topic is
Strategies for Differentiating Instruction and Enhancing Literacy through the use of elementary software systems.+wave+

Antoinette R.

[Alison]

Has anyone else discovered 'Pretty Things' yet? It's simply incredible. It's aimed at the Foundation Stage, but since we're one computer down in Nursery and had a spare licence, I installed it on my machine for my children to test run. They have begged me not to give the extra licence back to Nursery! They simply love it. I also had it running during a website meeting and in the words of my Headteacher, "You could get seriously addicted to this." He wants us to upgrade to a site licence so that the entire school can play. I can't praise it enough. [clap]

[Westlake]

AWARD Reading is developing flipcharts to accompany their texts.
You can download a flipchart for the Grade 1 text ‘Bear Cubs’ from http://www.awardinteractive.com/ (http://www.awardinteractive.com/)

Lettergetter Online http://www.awardinteractive.com/site/lettergetter-online.html (http://www.awardinteractive.com/site/lettergetter-online.html)
encourages K–3 classes from around the world to share their reading, writing, artwork, and experiences with similar classrooms through real email communication with Lettergetter.
Lettergetter can now open flipcharts and send a flipchart back to your class – what a great opportunity for the children to write in their own handwriting (with help..) without having to master keyboard skills!
The class can respond to Lettergetter by labelling and annotating ‘his’ responses and sending them back as a flipchart.

There are also FREE resources at www.awardinteractive.com/shop/index.php?page=free-resources (http://www.awardinteractive.com/shop/index.php?page=free-resources)

Hilary