Site Update: 30th September

I've added over 30 new resources this week to the site. New resources are indicated with the orange NEW image. Click here for a full list of additions.

I've also spent a lot of time converting some of the existing teaching tools and presentations into different formats. Over 120 of our powerpoint files are now also available as online Flash files which allow them to be viewed on a computer without Powerpoint (or the free Powerpoint viewer) installed. Many of the Smart notebook files have been converted to either Easiteach files or Powerpoints. More of the Flash interactive games are now downloadable.

Roller Coaster Simulations

In the Summer term I used a great little online roller coaster simulator with my class of Year 3. You had to click and drag the slopes of the roller coaster to make your course and test it out to see if it achieved the target score. If the acceleration was too much you'd cause the passengers to black out and if it was too shallow then they would find it boring. I was going to post a link to it here but I totally neglected to store the address on my home computer and can't seem to find it in an Internet search.

My time wasn't totally wasted, though as I managed to find two other great little simulations that do a similar job. The Discovery Channel's Build a Coaster game lets you drag sections of track onto the screen to build your own roller coaster. The 'fear-o-meter' rates your progress.

A more complicated simulation is the Funderstanding Roller Coaster. There's lots of variables that you can play with on this one and if you don't get things right then the carriage won't make it to the end of the coaster.

PaPaPaa Fairtrade Resources

http://www.papapaa.org/
Ah... chocolate. A subject close to my heart (well my stomach). Comic Relief have been selling their (yummy) Dubble fairtrade chocolate bar for quite some time and now they've produced a website with fairtrade (and chocolate!) teaching resources.

The site include great visual key facts presentations about Ghana and how chocolate is made (perfect for iwbs). There's lesson plans and activity sheets to support them. The resources are split up into units on chocolate, who grows it, fairtrade, shopping for a better world, thinking about fairtrade and changing the world. As with any Comic Relief resource it's very well produced and very usable in the classroom. Well worth checking out.

Teachers can also order a DVD and photopack for £8. It's most suitable for Key Stage 3 but I'm told sections are useful for KS2 as well.

Gipsy Moth Project

http://www.gipsymoth.org/
I've had an email from the United Kingdom Sailing Academy about their Gipsy Moth project. The yacht Gipsy Moth IV made history in 1967 when it completed the fastest circumnavigation of the globe. The GM project has restored the yacht and is providing young adults throughout the UK that have severe learning difficulties or are from disadvantaged backgrounds or are suffering / recovering from cancer to take part in a voyage of a lifetime. The Gipsy Moth will circumnavigate the world again, this time via the trade winds route, stopping at 25 countries.

The yacht is able to broadcast video footage and images from a variety of cameras onboard, and the project team is inviting schools across the UK to follow the adventure over the next 2 years.

On the projects website they are posting a large number of related lesson plans, which link with QMS and national curriculum objectives The material is primarily designed for Key stage 2. All schools taking part in the project will receive a world map, statistical data sheets for the countries visited, climate sheets and access to live video from the boat. They'll also get access to all the electronic resources available through the website. Sounds great for covering not just geography but a whole selection of different national curriculum subject areas.

The yacht started her journey yesterday but there's plenty of time left to get involved as the voyage will take over 22 months. Click here to sign up for project resources.

Site Update: 23rd September 2005

Over 40 new resources have just gone up on the main Primary Resources site. Click here for further details.

Teacher's Blogs

There are a lot of teachers who post blogs on the Internet. I've written about Andrew Ross' blog before and it's got even better since I last mentioned it. Take a look at http://primary-teacher-uk.co.uk/ to see his latest entries.

Andrew mentions another teaching blog on his site. It's produced by one of our regular contributors... you may well have used some of her powerpoints. Check out Little Miss Teacher.

Both the sites have RSS feeds so you can get the latest updates in your newsreader (if you have one).

Oh, and don't forget about our very own 'In the News' blog for a lighthearted look at UK education news stories.

The Tudors

http://www.tudorbritain.org/
This National Archives site is part of their Learning Curve material. Students can learn all about life in Tudor times and can even take part in a jousting tournament. Developed with the Victoria & Albert Museum it contains lots of great images and, as with all the National Archives sites, it features unique documents from the historical period. Well worth checking out if 'The Tudors' is a topic your class is going to be studying.

Google Earth

http://earth.google.com/
Google Earth has got to be one of the most amazing programs you can download for free at the moment. Best on a PC with a good graphics card, it allows you to 'search' the entire world. Type in a destination and the world spins, the camera zooms and you find yourself flying towards the point you've selected. Watch in awe as you fly over the alps. Zoom in on famous world landmarks.
The quality of the satellite imagery varies depending on the area you're looking at (the UK images on the whole aren't brilliant but there are some really detailed sections). You can spend hours just playing about with it. It's really well worth checking out.
Google have been offering a free pro licence of the software to schools and teachers (***Thanks to Mark Warner for letting me know that Google have been so innundated with requests for this that the offer has been discontinued at this time***)

A Selection of Links...

I get an awful lot of requests to add links to the main site. I don't really update the links pages very often so this blog will be the main place I'll mention sites if I find them interesting. Here's a couple of requests from my 'inbox'.

Sophie Bear
http://www.sophiebear.co.uk
This site documents the adventures of Sophie Bear and Little Bear who are special teddies that the children at Westlands Community Primary School in Chelmsford look after. It's an nice little site aimed at Early Years children.

Monster Puppets
http://www.monsterpuppets.com

These monsters are just so cool! If, like me, you were brought up watching 'Seasame Street' and 'The Muppets' then you'll love the monsters that these guys create. It's a US based site but they will ship overseas.

Site Update: 16th September 2005

Primary Resources' biggest ever update is now online. It includes over 300 new resources as well as lots of other additions and changes to the site. Click here for full details.

Andrew Ross' Teaching Blog

Primary teacher Andrew Ross has sent me an email asking if I'd mention his new Primary Teaching blog at www.primary-teacher-uk.co.uk (updated link). He's only recently started it and at the moment it mixes personal comments with reflections on recent education news stories and useful links.

It looks interesting and I've added it to the list of blogs I keep an eye on. Andrew has also put up a useful article on RSS which might give a clue as to why there's an orange button on the top right of this page. Don't know what RSS is or how to use it? Then check out Andrew's blog.

New Update Coming Next Week

There will be a large Primary Resources update online next week. I'd hoped to get it up for this weekend but it's not quite completed. Details of the new update will be sent out by email to all those on the mailing list as usual when it goes online.