Primary Teacher UK

History of Travel

For those that ever need the history of travel here's a great little site recommended by Reuven.  The site encourages children to study the evolution and future of travel with a full lesson plan.

Link: The History of Travel : http://teachinghistory.bravehost.com

The 'Workload Agreement'

I've found an interesting topic-board on the TES website that talks about the 'National Workload Agreement'. The debate is questioning why teachers are still expected to put up displays in their classrooms. Personally I like to put up my own displays and feel that it is a complete waste of time explaining to other staff how you would like to have the work displayed when you can probably do it in half an hour anyway. Does anyone not agree? Let me know what you think...

Also I feel that the 'Teachers should not need to spend time duplicating required resources...' idea a little ridiculous. I feel like saying "Who else is going to do it?", and even if someone was employed what an absolute waste of money when that adult could be hearing readers, providing an intervention scheme or helping me to make 28 felt purses!

I don't know what the solution is but any comments are welcome!

Don't forget eBay

Shopping on eBay is very easy to do and there are a number of great resources there for teachers. I picked up a 5 different types of number line (0-100) for £1.99, no postage and packing because you download it and I've bought dice, phonics flipcharts, text books...all sorts of stuff!

Please remember to always check the seller's feedback rating (number next to the stars by their name) and the higher the better! I've been really plased so far with the resources available for teachers and you can get to them here...

Educational 'Stuff' -Everything is here. I've bought old games, shape dominoes, a map of London...

Educational Books - A good source for old '100 Numeracy Lessons' or second hand copeis of 'Letts Key Stage 2 Revision Guide' Always good prices just check postage & packing isn't too costly.

Making payments via 'PayPal' is very secure and I did have a problem last summer which they sorted immediately. Please post anything you have bought on eBay or on any other online store selling educational resources.

Just a quick one...

Camping was great, if very wet - cycled 16 miles in pouring rain - before deciding that the weather wasn't going to clear!  The pub meal at the end was worth it though!  As I've not been back long I've got a load to do for HMI on Tuesday and Wednesday so won't be posting until Tuesday evening at the earliest.  Here's an interesting website to keep you occupied until then.  I got to 'above average' before getting caught out!

The Idiots Test : http://www.addictinggames.com/theidiottest.html

School Trips (BS8848)

Two interesting articles today about trips.  The first is about Anne Jago, a ex-deputy head from Kent.  Before one trip in 2002, Mrs Jago judged one particular boy to pose a safety threat to himself and to fellow pupils, so she sent a risk assessment to the centre.  After Mrs Jago was found guilty of professional misconduct becuase she had undermined the head teacher by sending the risk assessment.  The headteacher had wanted the child to go on the trip.

It's an interesting dilemma.  Obviously she must have had very strong reasons for not wanting this child to go on the trip so why didn't the head support her?  On the other hand though the buck stops with the headteacher and what they say goes.  Either way I think it's unfair that she's be tarnised with professional mis-conduct.

The second article about trips is a call from parents who think that trips should comply with a safety standard.  The poll also show that 33% of parents do not know who is in charge when their children are away on a school trip.  The draft standard (BS 8848) which is being discussed at the moment will apply to all schools and universities.  It aims to give one person overall responsibility for every trip and to give accountable and defined roles to the rest.

I'm not sure what I think about this?  I've already posted about how safe school trips are before and I think that this sort of 'standard' is going to encourage less trips as teachers become more afraid of being sued or even locked up for simple accidents.

Online Flash Games

Sandfields Comprehensive school have a number of online flash games that are useful for the primary age range.  The games include Hangman (based on your own word-lists), Lingo Bingo for modern languages, Blockbusters (I'll have a P please Bob) and Who Wants to be a Millionaire.  An superb set of high-quality games and teaching aids.

Many thanks to Stewart Davies for bringing his site to my attention!

Anger Management in Primary Schools

This post surprised me when I read it this morning - "Primary School calls in Anger Management Expert."  So what's so strange about that?  Certainly the last couple of schools that I've worked at have had children working with anger management specalists.  The article even says, "Officials at Education Authority Suffolk County Council said it was not unusual for schools to use a range of behavioural experts."

So why the big article about a school that using one, in the TES of all places!

stARTing Art

Nicky has emailed me a wonderfully inspiring site for art in the primary school.  Nicky's email continues: "The site, stARTing Points, covers painting, collage, 3D art, textiles, drawing and printing.  It shows examples of finished work across Foundation Stage and both key stages together with detailed schemes of work that incorporate all the necessary skills that need to be taught.  I has used it in part for my year 2 class with some very pleasing results!  Looking at all the examples throughout the site gives you plenty of new and inspiring ideas that are easily adaptable according to the age group that you teach!!  It's a lovely site that is well worth a visit."

Link: http://www.jeron.je/stARTing_points/

Any more sites worth visiting?  Let us know using the contact us links on the left.

World Atlas

Victoria has emailed me with details of a great website for use in Geography and History lessons. The site World Atlas has free outline maps for continents and countries etc. It also has facts about each area, useful for research. Vicki continues by saying that she used it to prepare her resources for Ancient Greece and also for a specific country for her geography week topic.

Link: http://www.worldatlas.com

Thanks Vicki. If anyone else has any useful sites that they want to share please let me, or one of the other writers know. We can be contacted using the email address on the left.

Where am I?

Research by the National Geographic children's magazine has revealed that one in five British children cannot find the UK on a map of the world.  It also showed that one in ten children were not able to name a single continent and more than 20,000 children in London did not know that they lived in the capital.  Other facts gleamed from the report include:

• boys have slightly better geographical skills than girls, with 65% being able to locate a number of countries around the world compared with 63% of girls
• Scottish children were regarded as the most geographically aware with 67% being able to identify the most countries, out of England, the US, France, China and Iraq on a world map.
• More Scots youngsters (98%) were able to name London as England's capital city than English children (97%)
• 60% were able to locate the UK's closest ally, the United States
• 86% failed to identify Iraq

You can read more disturbing facts about our Geography knowledge on the TES website.