Dragonsville is a small community of dragons who have hidden away from humans since the middle ages when knights were hunting them to extinction. They have finally allowed children to visit them once again to reform the bond between humans and dragons. Piloted with 11 UK schools, 4 from USA and 1 Israeli.

The main objective of the Dragonsville project is to improve the literacy skills of the children involved through the use of ICT. Within the project there are opportunities to write stories, letters, biographies, character portraits, take part in discussions and argue a particular opinion or point of view, research particular topics and present the results found. Most of the activities involve the kind of interaction only possible on the Web. The free teaching materials are designed to achieve several objectives in the Key Stage 2 Literacy framework.

http://www.dragonsville.com

Adventure Island is at pilot stage this term. We still have spaces for a few classes (Key Stage 2 and transition to KS3) to work with Digital Teacher in Residence Simon Widdowson. UK schools taking part in the pilot will receive a free in-school workshop for pupils and staff. This could work particularly well with transition work (Year 6/Year 7) after SATs, based on Kensuke's Kingdom.

http://kotn.ntu.ac.uk/adventureisland/

Without needing to understand any computer language, classes will be able to create an online island that other people can visit and explore. It will involve imaginative and descriptive writing, perhaps diary or poetry writing. We will be developing other ideas during the pilot about how this project may be used in the classroom (and the ICT lab).

Pupils will create challenges and puzzles for the visitor to solve. As the visitor travels around a created Island, descriptive writing for each area will encourage them to explore further. Will they be able to survive, and leave the Island, or will they remain forever ... trapped?

Do contact us for more information or to sign up for Adventure Island - or just visit Dragonsville from Friday - and take your classes!

Accompanying teaching materials will be available entirely free in our eTeachers' Portal http://www.eteachersportal.com

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