Primary Teacher UK

LearningCurve.gov.uk

The past is just a click away according to Learning Curve, a free history resource for teachers.

Using documents and images from the National Archives, the website offers short lessons, in-depth investigations, activities, games and classroom ideas. Try out the snapshots page and learn how the crown jewels were stolen, why a man called Bussa fought for freedom in the Caribbean and what it was like to be an airman in the World War II.

Link: www.learningcurve.gov.uk

Google Education

Google is launching a website with resources and news for teachers. The free online materials show how to adapt Google Maps and Google Earth for classroom use. Google says it will support lessons in history, geography and citizenship.

History topics include the slave trade, castles and the British Empire and geography topics include climate change and natural disasters - based around information integrated with Google's online maps. While these are based mainly for secondary pupils there is certainly potential for some of the materials and ideas to be used with KS2.

Link: http://www.google.co.uk/schools/index.html

Titantic Dive with the BBC

A new online learning journey on the BBC takes you 12,850 feet down into the freezing, pitch-black depths of the North Atlantic to the wreck of Titanic. There you can discover the science and technology behind this extraordinary dive to the ocean floor, viewing exclusive footage of Titanic and learning more about the history of this great ship.

Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/titanic 

3D History

If you haven't visited the 3D History page for a while now is the time to do it.  Over the last few months they have added some fantastic artwork and animations to the site including: a Tudor House, a Celtic Roundhouse and an interactive illustration of a Roman Auxiliary fort that, as well as for use with the Romans and Tudors, can also be used for "Houses through the Ages".

The images are of superb quality and best of all there is no cost to use them.

Link: www.3dhistory.co.uk

History resource packs

Stuart at The Memorabilia Pack Company has emailed to let me know about the history packs that his company produce.  They produce small "replica packs" on various subjects such as Victorian Household, Home Front, etc.  At the moment we supply these to museum shops for £2.95 to sell for around £5, but we find that teachers seem to love them as children enjoy them.  The minimum order is just 12 packs.

Current titles are:

• Victorian Household
• World War One
• Home Front
• Blitz
• Golden Age of Steam Trains
• "Wish you were here" (seaside holidays)
• RAF at War
• 1950s Household
• Cruise Liners
• Home Guard

The next title will be Suffragettes followed by 1960s Childhood.

He is currently putting the finishing touches to a new title (1960s childhood), but needs something small and papery which relates to school days.  He's already got plenty of material on toys, etc, but needs a school report, school rules, sports day card, or something similar.  If anyone is able to help him please get in touch by email: stuart@mempackcompany.com

Help the BBC with their Primary History Website

Are you a user of the BBC Schools Primary History sites? If so they are looking for people who can tell them how they use the sites and how they’d like to see them developed. Your feedback will help them to improve their history sites.

If you’re interested in getting involved then email (schools.primary@bbc.co.uk) the BBC with your name, the age group you teach, the name of your school and your local LA.

Local History Competition

Here are details of a competition from Teachers TV for the budding local historians reading: Come up with an innovative class project involving local buildings and you could win complete funding for it (PLUS a digital camera) in our Hidden House History competition. There's even an opportunity for pupils to win a new laptop and digital camera with their own innovative ideas.

Co-sponsored by The History Channel and Ancestry.co.uk the competition ties in with a range of fascinating programmes that can help actively engage pupils with local history.

Two examples are available online to give you some ideas and a bit of inspiration, as are links to top-notch resources and a number of short video clips with great tips on investigating the history of your local architecture and landscape.

Go to the Hidden House History homepage now to start planning a local excursion that could wake up the future historians, archaeologists  and archivists in your classroom. And don't forget the 30 June deadline – be sure to start brainstorming before the competition is history!

Tudor History

For those covering the Tudors next term have a look at the 3D History website.  They now have a presentation explaining the origins of the Tudors from the start of The Hundred Years War, through the Wars of the Roses to the defeat of Richard III by Henry Tudor.  There is also detailed information, and an interactive re-enactment, of the Battle of Bosworth in which Henry Tudor defeated King Richard III to take the throne of England and establish the Tudor Dynasty.

Link: www.3dhistory.co.uk

Perseus and the Gorgon

Following on from the excellent Hercules Resource pack, Gareth, from primaryresources.co.uk, has released a new pack based on 'Perseus and the Gorgon'.  The pack contains both the tale of Perseus and a redrawn version of the King Midas story.

As with the Hercules pack it features printable versions of both stories, interactive whiteboard presentations, story sequencing sheets and copies of the cartoon images. It is available now for £5 (download), £7.50 (single teacher) and £15 (school licence) from the Primary Extra website.

Look for a full review soon.

Timelines

Every time we cover a history topic we end up making a time-line with the children.  It's essential to give them a perspective on when the topic happened.  Timeline Helps is a website, written by a homeschooling group, which has more information about time-lines than you ever thought you could know!

The site looks at different types of time-lines (wall, portable and notebook), games and resources, colouring and figure tips.  There are also various resources on the site, some which you need to purchase, others which you can download for free.

It's a certainly given me a few ideas for our next topic.

Link: http://www.homeschoolinthewoods.com/HTTA/TimelineHelps/