Thank you for visiting "Teaching Ideas". This page contains useful information for those people who have never visited this site before, and a list of answers to questions I am frequently asked.

What is this site about, and who is it intended for?

'Teaching Ideas' is mainly intended for teachers who teach primary-age children (i.e. ages 5 to 11). Although it has been designed with UK teachers in mind, all ideas can of course be used by teachers around the world.

The ideas, activities and worksheets are organised according to a number of subjects (those covered in the English National Curriculum). The "Early Years" section contains ideas for use with children aged 5 or below, and the "Foreign Languages" area has resources for those teachers who wish to teach a different language to their children.

What age range do the Teaching Ideas sites cover?

Each activity on this site falls into one of three age ranges:

5 to 11 (suitable for all children in the primary school),
5 to 7 (suitable for younger primary children) and
7 to 11 (suitable for older primary children).
Over 11 (suitable for secondary children).

These age ranges are only there to give guidance. The level of many activities on the site can be altered according to the level of ability of the children in your class. Teachers should make sure that the activities are appropriate for their class.

Can you add resources for secondary teachers?

The site is mainly intended for primary teachers. Of course, secondary teachers are welcome to use the existing ideas and resources if they feel that they would be suitable for their class(es). There are a few ideas for 'over 11s' on the site, but I can only extend this aspect with contributions from visitors, as I have very little teaching experience in this area.

How am I allowed to use the resources?

You may use the ideas, print / photocopy worksheets, and download files from the site for use within your own classrooms, provided that you agree not to change them or delete any copyright or proprietary notices from the materials. Parents and tutors are also welcome to use them with their own children should they wish to do so. All other uses are strictly prohibited. In particular, the ideas and resources on this site may not be used for commercial purposes, for resale, or posted on other websites. If you have any queries about this, please contact me via email at mark@teachingideas.com. This website and its content is copyright of Teaching Ideas - © Teaching Ideas 1998-2008. All rights reserved.

Who makes the cartoon pictures? Can I use them?

The original cartoon images were created by Gareth Pitchford, from Primary Resources. After celebrating the 10th birthday of the site in 2008, a new set of cartoons were added to the site. These were created by ThistleGirl Designs.The cartoon images on Teaching Ideas may NOT be reproduced in any form.

Where are the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy?

The Terms of Use and Privacy Policy statements cover all of the sites in the Teaching Ideas network (Teaching Ideas, More Teaching Ideas, Teaching Photos, Teaching News, Teaching Videos, Teaching Forum, Ideas to Inspire, Welcome to the Web, and Teachr.co.uk). They can be found here:

• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy

What are PDF files and how can I read them?

The resources on Teaching Ideas are in a variety of formats. Some of these are in PDF format. To read PDF files, you need some software called Abobe Acrobat Reader. It is free and can be obtained from many computer magazine coverdisks, or downloaded from the Internet at http://www.adobe.com/acrobat.

What are the other file types on the site?

Next to the link for each file, there is always a small icon indicating the type of file. This icon represents the type of file that is available to download. The table below gives more information, and includes links to sites where you can download relevant software, where available.

	PDF File	Available here
	Word Document	Should work in relevant Microsoft Office software, or compatible programs.
	Excel Spreadsheet
	Powerpoint Presentation
	Flash	Available here
	Web page	Should work in any standard web browser
	Text document	Should work in any text viewer (e.g. Notepad, Wordpad, Word)
	Smart Notebook	Available here
	Easiteach document	Made by RM
	Activ Flipchart	Made by Promethean
	Textease document	Available here (look for TeView)
	Other
	Video file	Should work in most media players

What are the comments / ratings for?

Visitors are now able to add their own comments about the ideas on the site. Simply click on 'Leave a Comment' at the bottom of the page, and you can add your feedback. You might want to suggest an alternative idea, tell others how you think the idea could be improved, or simply let us know how things went when you tried the activity in your own classroom. Others can leave replies to your comments too.

You can also leave your rating, based on a simple five-star scale. The 'Most Popular Ideas' tool on the home page shows the ideas and resources which have the best ratings.

Can you let me know when you update Teaching Ideas?

Of course! Just sign up to my free mailing list, and I'll send you an email when I add new ideas, resources and / or worksheets. Visit the Mailing List page to join. You can also subscribe to the RSS feed, and links to the new resources will be sent to your feed-reader automatically.

What is RSS and how do I use it?

You can now access the Teaching Ideas resources via RSS. If you subscribe (for free) to the Teaching Ideas RSS feed, you will receive a link to every new file, as soon as I add it! There are also other RSS feeds which you can use to access different parts of the site:

• Teaching Ideas - Latest Additions - http://feeds.feedburner.com/teachingideas
• Teaching News - http://feeds.feedburner.com/TeachingNews

For more information, see the "Teacher's Guide to RSS".

• More Teaching Ideas (www.moreteachingideas.co.uk) is part of the main Teaching Ideas website. It contains all of the ideas which don't fit neatly into the sections of Teaching Ideas. Many of the ideas on "More Teaching Ideas" were originally found on the Time-Fillers pages of Teaching Ideas. However, it became apparent that this wasn't the best place for them! So, I decided to make a new site, with sections for assemblies, classroom management and PSHE (which were popular requests from visitors).
• Teaching Photos (www.teachingphotos.co.uk) is a collection of hundreds of photographs of classroom displays. It's a great place to look for inspiration for your own displays!
• Teaching Forum (www.teachingforum.co.uk) is a place where teachers and others involved in education can use to share ideas and ask for help. It's also a jolly nice place to have a chat!
• Teaching News (www.teachingnews.co.uk) is a news blog for teachers. It was set up when Andrew Ross decided to stop running his fantastic 'Primary Teacher UK' blog. Andrew kindly allowed me to take over his site, so I combined his work with my own Teaching Blog. The new Teaching News site has teaching news (of course!), recommended links, educational offers and competitions, and much more!.
• Teaching Videos (www.teachingvideos.co.uk) is a collection of educational videos that you can use in the classroom. By registering on the site, you can build up collections of your favourite videos, as well as adding new videos that you have found, to share with other teachers.
• Welcome to the Web (www.welcometotheweb.org.uk) is designed to introduce children and adults to the Internet. It includes a selection of interactive areas, which help people to learn about the net. There is also an exciting challenge which tests everything that has been learnt around the other areas of the site.
• Teachr.co.uk (www.teachr.co.uk) is a home page for primary teachers. It contains the latest education news, links to teaching resources and updates from the major teaching sites. There is also a special search engine, which searches a selection of education sites, making it really easy to find great ideas and resources for use in the classroom.
• Ideas to Inspire (www.ideastoinspire.co.uk) is a place to find lots of inspiring ideas for using technology in your classroom. The site has lots of collaborative presentations which are made by teachers from around the world. A popular resource.

Who are you and why are you doing this?

My name is Mark Warner, and I'm currently teaching in a primary school in Kent in the UK. I started 'Teaching Ideas' when I was at university as I wanted to share my own teaching resources with others. The site has exploded in popularity since then (way back in 1998!), and I now update the site as often as I can. "More Teaching Ideas" was created in February 2003 after feedback from visitors. Display Photos and Teaching Forum were created in 2007 and Teachr.co.uk was set up in 2008. Ideas to Inspire and Teaching News were created in 2009 and Teaching News was developed in 2010!

I think that sharing ideas and resources is a great way to help each other, and reduce our workload. I also really enjoy making websites!

How can I contact you?

If you wish to contact me, please email me at mark@teachingideas.co.uk. If you have a question, please check the rest of the questions on this page first, as your question might be answered here already!

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Can I contribute my own ideas / resources to this site? How?

Yes Please! The majority of the ideas and resources on this site have been contributed by teachers from all around the world. If you would like to help other teachers by contributing your ideas, see the Share Your Ideas page.

Can I add a link to your site on my own?

If you have a web site, and you would like to add a link to Teaching Ideas on it, you are welcome to do so! I'm very grateful to people who do this, as it means that more people will visit the site and be able to use the ideas and resources. The only restriction I impose is that you may not copy any pictures / cartoons from this site. If you wish to use a picture for your link, please use the logo below:

www.teachingideas.co.uk

www.teachingnews.co.uk

www.teachingvideos.co.uk

www.teachingforum.co.uk

www.teachingphotos.co.uk

How can I advertise on Teaching Ideas?

If you are interested in advertising on Teaching Ideas, please send me an email and I will be happy to discuss your requirements.

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Can you make resources for me?
Can you add more resources about XYZ?
Can you send me information about...?

Probably not! :-) Although I would love to be able to respond to individual requests of this type, I simply do not have the time to do so. It would be great if 'Teaching Ideas' could cover every topic in every subject taught in every school around the world. However, this is simply not possible, as I work on this site in my spare time. In many areas (particularly the Early Years section), I rely on contributions from visitors, so some sections are more full than others.

I'm interested in a career in teaching. Can you help me?

I receive quite a few emails of this type. I would recommend that you contact your local university / college to see if they run any courses for those interested in teaching. You might also want to try to get some experience of working in schools. A visit to the DfES and Training and Development Agency web sites (for those in the UK) would also be advisable if you want some more information.

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Finally, thanks again for visiting. I hope that you find the site very useful, and that it makes your job as a teacher a little easier.

All the best,

Mark Warner