We have mentioned Button Beats before. They have now changed their name to ButtonBass yet still produce some remarkable, simple, & fascinating musical experiments.

The GreenFrame player is just one of the interesting sound tools you can explore. Record, and trigger, your own sounds, and mix them with prerecorded samples.

Try the cubes, mixers, keyboards, drum kit, guitars, or audio recording studio.

There are many musical machines, and gizmos, that enable remarkable invention.

The site is supported by panel adverts but free otherwise. What are you waiting for? Go on and and get playing.

The last, of three, full on days at Linaker Primary School and Children’s Centre, in Southport, in Sefton.

Today saw another, new, step taken in the age of adventure, with the newly appointed “Digital leaders”.

The school recently “hired” 15 Digital leaders (7 in year 6, 8 in year 5) who have already set up and logged into Blogger accounts, and started in their support of teachers, fellow pupils, and each other, throughout the school. Thanks to them for their support today and “here’s to the up-for-it explorations of today”.

What fun was had, in the lands of technology today! Exploring uncharted territories, discovering distant digital domains, and generally stretching technology in wild and wondrous ways.

We set foot in the high~ways, low~ways, no~go~ways, by~ways, here~ways, share~ways, there~ways,  slow~ways, up~ways, down~ways, under~ways, wonder~ways, no-wonder!~ways, plunder~ways, try~ways, wonder-why~ways, explore~ways, never~before~ways, your~ways, my~ways, our~ways, oh~the~power~ways, who’d~have~known~ways, should’ve~known~ways, newly~truly~alone~ways…

To tell a tale, of any kind, is a challenge. To do so, with access to the wondrous opportunities that technology offers, these days, surely makes it simple?! Well, it does produce a lot of potential, but also introduces challenges of their own.

The children showed some remarkable, mature, problem solving techniques, through which we all learned a lot ~ the mark of great digital leaders. To teach is to learn. To be open to learn teaches us a lot.

Who dares to teach must never cease to learn.

John Cotton Dana

“Digital Leaders” is a fascinating concept, and one that is gathering strength, and pace, in schools far and wide now. The Digital Leader Network, draws together those who are exploring the ideas, power and potential, of this movement.

Empowering learners, teachers and sharers of discovery in so many ways.

The Digital Leader Network is a collaborative blog where digital leaders and teachers can showcase the inspirational work that is going on in their schools. It was started by passionate teachers in 2012 and has gone from strength to strength thanks to the community of people who contribute to it.

The network aims to spread the good work of digital leaders far and wide in an attempt to create more sustainable solutions to ICT developments in schools. Each Thursday at 9pm (gmt) members of the network join in #DLchat, on Twitter, and share their thoughts, ideas and what their digital leaders have been doing.

Have a read of this collaborative document where people have shared their experiences of starting digital leader projects in their schools.

The challenge today? To carry on a story of discovery, in small groups, and retell that tale with the support of some inventive, digital delights.

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To work in a group adds additional challenges that these children experimented with ways to master ~ finding a common path; valuing strengths and supporting weaknesses; assessing the best way to allot time, resources, and “man-power”; getting something “done well”, inventively and in the most remarkable and effective way.

Well done all. More to follow…

The MIT App Inventor is a Google supported platform where you can get to create apps using just drag and drop. It enables you to customize the look & feel of your apps, add buttons, attach objects and much more. (Requires a Google account).

The second, of three, full on days at Linaker Primary School and Children’s Centre, in Southport, in Sefton.

Today took the theme of travel, discovery, and exploration in to Key Stage One, for a couple of adventures with two groups of 60 Year 2, and then 60 Year 1, voyagers.

Discovery isn’t just about movement though. To discover, to contemplate, to consider, to question, to wonder ~ also takes a bit of standing still. That is something we, as human beings, can often overlook. In the world of education, too, we can sometimes forget the power, and potential, for “holding back”, for “waiting a while” before rushing onwards. The pressures of time, of timetables, of curriculum structures, of targets, can lead us, too easily, in to constantly “moving on”.

It was a joy to “not travel too far, geographically” with some intrepid children, and teachers, but to cover great distances in ideas, imaginations, and more wanderings in the wild wonders of words.

ePubBud collect free Children’s eBooks for the iPad, nook, and other readers. Browse eBooks files others have shared and import them for free.

You can also create an eBook write, edit, and publish your own masterpiece. Alternatively, upload any document you want to read, share, or publish, and they’ll convert it to an ePub. You need to create an account, but then your books are set free.