Congratulations to BBC Newsround on being awarded a Bafta for it’s ‘significant contribution’ to programming. The website provides a news service for children and is a fantastic resource for teaching current affairs. It has recently received a major update and has been given a much more modern look. Many stories are kept in the archive service and their are games, word searches and video clips based on the topics covered.
Thanks to Rob for sharing Show Me, a website which showcases all the best bits from the UK’s museums and galleries.
Mr Haughton’s online, child-friendly encyclopedia contains easily searchable information and activities linked to popular curriculum topics. Click here.
I have just been shown a great website called Where’s The Path. Enter a location or postcode in the box in the top left hand corner and the screen will display the OS map on the left and a Google Earth aerial photo view on the right. Very useful for comparing map data to what is really on the ground.
For a more detailed explanation, Tim Rylands, (who always seems to be one step ahead of the game!) has relatively recently discovered it and shared it too!
Climate Choices – Children’s Voices is aimed at teachers of children aged 9-11 years (Years 5 and 6) who want to help children begin to understand the challenging and complex issue of climate change. It is full of excellent information which is linked to real people.
There are a number of sources of free digital maps of the UK. I have been using Multimap www.multimap.com as this now includes Ordanance Survey Maps and aerial photos of the UK. For some locations there are also higher quality aerial photos in the Bird’s Eye view section. The terrain feature in Google Maps http://maps.google.co.uk/ is also worth a look. Other sources of maps include MS Live http://maps.live.com/ and the Ordanance Survey site which also includes games and activities to improve children’s mapping skills. www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk
To create our own maps we used the map making activity on the Teacherled website www.teacherled.com/2008/06/01/map-maker/ before looking at World Maps through Google Earth. http://earth.google.com/
Your carbon footprint is the amount of greenhouse gasses you produce in a year. If you have been wondering how much that is, you can work it out with BP’s carbon footprint calculator.
At the end of the process, you are given the number of tonnes of CO2 you generate in a year and can compare this to your country’s average. Click “What you can do” and “Quiz” on the left of the site to find suggestions on ways you can cut down your CO2 emissions.
On a similar theme the Climate Cops from NPower help teach children about saving energy in a fun and engaging way. There is also a site for adults with energy saving tips.
Another great resource highlighted by Ictopus is the BBC learning Zone which:
“provides rich audio-visual material for use in primary and secondary schools and colleges. These short videos have been selected to match the curriculum; they can be used in many ways, from the stimulation and engagement of students to the delivery of very specific learning points. Try searching by subject and topic or by keyword”.
Regular visitors to the Coxhoe Durham or Snaith Primary websites will appreciate just how useful it is to have all those online educational resources in one place. I have just read about a new one called Topic Box on the Little Miss Teacher blog and have been to have a look around. The brightly coloured and easy to navigate website aims to electronically replace those dusty old plastic storage boxes which look promising but generally fail to deliver. Already there are 2131 resources in 174 different topics which can be rated by anyone who downloads them. Tell your friends and let me know if you come across any other similar sites.
I had a quick look at the Global Eye website at the Wiltshire Primary Geography Conference today. It has lots a good detail about different countries and focus topics. The latest addition is all about the Nile and focuses on Water. Click on ‘back issues‘ and you have access to an archive of previous issues covering a range of countries and topics.
Primary Nuggets 