Primary Teacher UK

Webcams

The BBC have compiled a list of webcams from around England. From cities to animals to famous landmarks all of the webcams are BBC approved which generally means they are suitable for use in the classroom. Very useful for comparing and contrasting locations in Geography.

Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/england/webcams/

Quo Mapping Version 2.0

I wrote an article about Quo Mapping in December last year. I used it for a while as my own mapping software for walking / cycling but then found the interface just too messy and went back to Memory Map. I was pleasantly surprised when I downloaded version 2 of their software early last week.

Version 2 however has had a totally rewrite by the look of it and after a few short days trialling the software I'm ready to purchase my maps and pay out for the Pro version. The new interface is totally different and now very simple to use - they have obviously listened to their customers!

The reason that I'm mentioning the software on here is that the free version, there are two versions (Quo Go and Quo Pro), both initially come with an atlas style map of the UK and allow you to download individual map tiles at very cheap prices.

How can this be used in school?

? You could download the map tile with your school on - a OS 1:25,000 tile is £1.95 and OS 1:50,000 is £0.99)
? Maybe download the aerial tile with your school (10m - FREE and 1m is £4.95).
? You could download the map tiles of areas that you are studying - Llandudno for example.
? Once the tiles are downloaded how about looking at the 3D views? Or planning your trip on the 1:25,000 scale map?
? Maybe you could use the maps to teach the children about contour lines in conjunction with the 3D views.
? Or just let the children explore the map that comes with the software.

I know that there is already a lot of free mapping software on the internet (Google Earth being the best example) but I really believe that our children need to use real OS maps (both computer based and paper). At such a low cost the software is a real winner and should be added to your list of free resources. I believe that there will also be educational pricing in the future so it could be even more of a bargain.

Link: http://www.mapyx.com/

Free Flight Simulator on Google Earth

Here's something that I saw on The Gadget Show which children may like in class - a flight simulator built into Google Earth.  Can they fly the plane to the capital on England, Wales and Scotland?

Download the latest version of Google Earth (http://earth.google.com/). Load up Google Earth as usual, click on the globe, and hold down CTL + ALT + A. This will bring up a dialog box allowing you to choose a plane, and a runway ... and get flying!

The plane can be controlled by the keyboard, mouse or a joystick. The full controls can be found at the Google Earth website.  Once you've activated it, the Flight Sim can be entered and exited through the Flight Simulator option in the TOOLS menu, allowing you to change plane and airport.

EDIT: On some PCs you to need hold down CTL + WINDOWS + A instead of the above.

The Potato Story

In support of the “Year of Food and Farming”, McCain have created “The Potato Story” www.thepotatostory.co.uk. The website is fully aligned to the National Curriculum (Key Stage 2) and aims to help with teaching primary school children about food origins, plant growth and nutrition. There’s lots of interactive modules to make it more exciting for the children and it is a great resource for teachers.

Children to manage their own time

Last week was our Multi-cultural week and the children have really enjoyed the activities they've completed.  I thought that I'd give my class (Y6) the opportunity to manage their own time. Each child was given a sheet of activities (and some relevant resources) to do with Mexico, six of which they had to complete, by Friday lunchtime.  Some tasks, such as the dance and games task needed to be completed at certain times during the day obviously.

The result is rather surprising - All but two of my children managed to complete all six activities, with a number of them completing all the tasks  (usually finishing them at home as self-administored homework!).  For me the week was rather hectic, not knowing what each child was planning to do was awkward on Monday, but by the end of the day it had settled down.  The hardest part was keeping on top of everyone, especially those who find it more difficult to manage their time!

Most importantly for me was that the children (well most!) proved how they could manage their own time reasonably well and that they enjoyed the week, learning a lot about Mexico, it's history and it's customs.

For those that are interested, you can download the sheet I created for the children and the resources above.  Let me know if you want the 'original' Word file to alter.

Intrepid Berkeley Explorer

Next week we are scrapping the normal timetable for our annual 'Multi-Cultural Arts Week'.  During this week we each pick a country base all our work around it.  A teacher at school gave me a link to Intrepid Berkeley Explorer, a website with free videos and pictures of famous locations and landmarks around the world.  A lot of the pictures are large and it takes a long while to download them, even on a fast connection, but it's worth looking at if you're ever teaching about another country.

Link: http://www.geocities.com/intrepidberkeleyexplorer/

Friendship Friday and School Link

Save the Children's fundraising day for primary schools is Friday 25th May this year.   Friendship Friday is a day for children to learn about their peers around the world, fundraise for them and explore friendships.

All schools wishing to take part will receive a pack containing friendship activities, fundraising ideas and, if they would like, blank friendship fun-bands to decorate. Schools that take part and send in donations will be offered the chance to make global friends through Save the Children's School Link resource as well the chance to win a visit from children's author and illustrator Nick Sharratt and Blue Peter presenter Konnie Huq.

School Link, is a web-based key stage 2 resource that uses the real life of children living in both Pakistan and China as the focus for the learning, gives pupils the chance to explore the everyday lives of similar aged children, helping them to discover what it's like to be a child in another country. Included on the website are stories, interactive games, facts and photographs from the countries.

There are also free resources including downloadable lesson plans and creative methods for teaching upper primary curriculum subjects such as Citizenship & PSHE, Geography, ICT and Literacy once you have signed up.

Link: http://www.school-link.org.uk/

Quo Mapping

I've mentioned different mapping software before but I thought that I'd bring Quo to your attention as it's free and could be useful when studying the UK or local area.  The main software is totally free and it includes an Ordanance Survey mini-scale map of the UK.  I have the software running at the moment (mainly for my own personal use) but I can see potential uses in the primary and secondary classroom.

Google Earth still has many advantages (especially when looking on a world wide scale) but the speed and ability to purchase specific locations in detail, such as the 40km x 40km location with your school in or comparative location could be very useful.  Even without purcahsing any maps being able to plan routes, measure distances and add pictures and text to the maps could help children identify locations with in the UK.

Link: http://www.mapyx.com/

Edit:  Just read a post on the Google site saying they have purchased Endoxon, an Internet mapping solutions company based in Lucerne, Switzerland.  The post continues by saying that they hope that by having a dedicated team in Europe they can bring a distinctively European focus to their Maps.  Updated aerial photographs maybe?

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

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.