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"Make your very own interactive pixel pet with this Raspberry Pi Sense HAT tutorial. Learn how to program with python to make a moving pixel avatar that is triggered when you shake the Raspberry Pi. Suitable for beginner coders!"

""I want to know the ways that they are thinking rather than the ways they are making mistakes," said Wees, who now works as a formative assessment specialist in mathematics for New Visions for Public Schools, an organization supporting public school teachers in New York City. "My interpretation that they're making a mistake is a judgment and usually ends my thinking about what they are doing.""

Did you miss Digital Citizenship Day? Teacher Tube Video presentations

"Reading for Meaning is a research-based strategy that helps all readers build the skills that proficient readers use to make sense of challenging texts. Regular use of the strategy gives students the opportunity to practice and master the three phases of critical reading that lead to reading success, including Previewing and predicting before reading. Actively searching for relevant information during reading. Reflecting on learning after reading."

"For a variety of reasons (which we'll get to shortly), the iPad is the pre-dominant technology form in K-12 environments. They dominate blog headlines, promote incredible user loyalty (you could say cultish, but you said it, not me), and make adults drool like teething infants. Walk by any Apple store and through their wide glass storefront you'll see otherwise rational human beings swoon and fawn, listening intently as Apple experts explain how a slideshow works, how to use iCloud, or how to sync their iPhone with their iPad. School districts buy them, teachers buy them, and parents even send their students to school with them on occasion. So it makes sense that this kind of popularity would carry over to the classroom. Educators have officially had their curiosity piqued. They want to know how to integrate it into activities, lessons, and curriculum in general, and judging by our traffic patterns here on TeachThought, they come bearing questions."

"Studio Pango produces a bunch of iPad apps that children (pre-K through grade 2) are sure to love. Some of the apps are free and some of the apps require purchase. To get a sense of what the paid apps offer, try the free apps first. This morning I tried two of the free apps. I tried Pango Book 1 and Pango Playground for Kids."

"Patrick Larkin, Assistant Superintendent for Learning, Burlington Public School District, Burlington, Ma, recalls a question someone posed to him: "Is the tablet an education solution, or an education problem?" His answer, and common sense approach to changing the school and learning environment is a professional development lesson for all. Enjoy my interview with Patrick Larkin, and learn why he's become one of the most respected tablet education voices today-and for the future."

"The most powerful thing she said was something that education policy makers will ignore at all costs. That is that Creativity is the next essential literacy. Now keep in mind I am just beginning to try and wrap my mind around what that may look like. My first belief in this discussion is that creativity is something that begins at a young age. I also believe that creativity and imagination go hand and hand. When I teach my courses for the college I refer to imagination as a sense of wonder because often people are distracted by the word imagination. This is because it brings up a short time in their life when they were encouraged to imagine. As an education system we ignore imagination and we have quickly weeded out that perceived "unnecessary" tool over the past 20 years. "

Video archive of Wikispaces Digital Citzenship Google Hangout - also talks about Common Sense Media

"The Bring-Your-Own-Device trend makes sense. It's cost-effective and lets students use the device they already know and love. While it may present some problems for your school or district's IT department, it's a great start to bringing in web 2.0 tools and apps to the classroom."

"It's pretty self-explanatory to most people why kids benefit from virtual field trips: They present learning matter in a very vivid and entertaining way. And this is great.  But still, once the hardware has found its way into the classroom, it makes sense to explore possibilities beyond the mere consumption of readymade content. Namely: let students create virtual realities themselves. There are some reasons why teachers should consider experimenting with this possibility:"

For Halloween 2016, I did a version of Halloween Wars (a Food Network show) with my two classes of gifted elementary learners. I am sharing this lesson through my blog post as it reinforces how I approach lesson planning and teaching. Background Information Principles that drive my instructional approach. regardless of theme, include: Instructional challenges are hands-on and naturally engaging for learners. There is a game-like atmosphere. There are elements of play, leveling up, and a sense of mastery or achievement during the instructional activities. The challenges are designed to be novel and create excitement and joy for learners. There is a healthy competition where the kids have to compete against one another. Learners don't need to be graded about their performances as built-in consequences are natural. There is a natural building of social emotional skills - tolerance for frustration, expression of needs, working as a team. Lessons are interdisciplinary (like life) where multiple, cross-curricular content areas are integrated into the instructional activities."

"BRISTOL, England-Any child in England who has turned 3 by Sept. 1 is guaranteed 15 hours a week of free childcare or preschool for 38 weeks a year, or 570 hours total, paid for by the national government. "We don't think of it as socialism at all," said the Oxford University professor Edward Melhuish, who studies child development and was instrumental in conducting the research that largely led to England's current policies. "We think of it as common sense.""

"In case you hadn't noticed, I'm quite a fan of the iPad (the Lollipop Nexus 9's not too bad either). Not because of its design or because its by Apple or any of that, but because of its keen heritage in the learning arena. Any one who knows me will tell you that I am not one for using tech for tech's sake, despite my evangelist moniker. Use of technology in a cross curricular sense should be measured and done with consideration for the best potential learning outcomes. With all that said, I've been doing this for quite some time now and I thought it time that I shared some of the Apps that have stuck by me or have struck me for their ease of use and impact upon learning in the classroom. Rather than blog about each one however or write in depth about each one either, I've done this in the form of a small poster, with the apps icons on."

"Being able to create your own robot gives students and kids a great sense of achievement, with the added bonus of allowing children to develop patience, imagination and problems solving skills. There are a number of impressive kids robotics kits on the market that even parents will enjoy playing with. Plus, these types of projects provide valuable bonding time for kids and parents as it's a toy that both can really relish. In classrooms, robotics are perfect for teaching coding to kids, there are many programmable robot kits that use a simple drag and drop programing language based on Scratch. Making your own robot is also a creative a process, where kids and students utilize their design skills to come up with interesting robot designs. The 10 best make your own robot kits for kids on the market are listed below."

For schools the concept of a learning organisation should make perfect sense, after all learning is our core business, or it should be. Perhaps that almost three decades after Peter Senge identified the importance of learning within organisations the idea is only now gaining traction in schools tells us something about the approach taken to learning and teaching within schools. With an increased focus on the development of professional learning communities as a response to the complex challenges that emerge from a rapidly changing society, it is worth looking at what a learning organisation requires for success.