Site Update: 30th June 2006

We've added 25 new resources to the site this week. Many thanks go to all the contributors for their resources this time and to those great teachers who continue to share their lesson materials with others. We really appreciate it! Find out how you can support the site by clicking here.

MATHS: Adding Two 4-digit Integers Y5(LA), Y5 T3 U6b Solving Problems & Puzzles Days 1-3 (ppt), Y5 T3 U8 Shape and Space Days 1-4 (ppt), Investigating Capacity (1 Litre) Y1, Magnificent Maths Shop (ppt), Number Patterns & Relationships Y5 (Activ)
ENGLISH: ai-oo-oa Activities, Alphabet Match, 'th' Words, '-aw' Words, Animal Plurals
SCIENCE: Bubbles Investigation (Smart), The Planets (LA)
HISTORY: Researching Famous People from WW2 (ppt), Research Famous People Worksheet, Famous People: Pelé Y2 (ppt)
GEOGRAPHY: Japan WWtbaM Quiz Y2 (ppt)
LANGUAGES: French: The Body
OTHER: WC'06 Pool Results Activities, World Cup Tables Y1, Order the Shirts Y1, World Cup (Research) Quiz, Star of the Week, TILA/WILF display

Engineering Interact

http://www.engineeringinteract.org/
Engineering Interact is a science and engineering website aimed at 9-11 year olds. It covers the topics of light, sound, forces & motion, the earth & beyond and electricity. Each section has a story, science facts and a quiz. There's also examples of real-life applications of the science. The teacher's section shows how the site links to the National Curriculum. The resource bank is also useful as it allows you to view the facts, quiz and applications slides without going through the main story. The graphics aren't of the highest quality but it's still a great site.

Pollen Park

http://concer-tina.co.uk/pollenpark/
Some of the best sites I've come across recently have been produced by final year multimedia degree students. Pollen Park is an excellent site by Christina Handford. It's designed to cover the material in QCA Unit 5b Lifecycles. You take on the role of a bee collecting pollen and as you travel around Pollen Park you learn all about flowering plants. The more activities you do, the more pollen you collect. It's a lot of fun and very well animated.

Power Discovery Zone

http://www.powerdiscoveryzone.com
I particularly like the safety section on this electricity themed site. There's also projects to carry out, printable worksheets (including the history of electriciy and details of how electricity gets from power stations to the home), quizzes and games.

Film Street

http://www.filmstreet.co.uk/
Film Street is a superb new website commissioned by Culture Online. It's aimed at six to nine-year-olds (and their teachers) and has been designed to "unlock imaginations, introduce the joys of film and encourage expression through filmmaking". There's lots of interactive activites, information and movie clips together with worksheets, lesson materials and links to useful resources for making films in school.

Site Update: 23rd June 2006

We've added 40 new resources to the main website this week and also put 12 new images in the photograph section. Full details are below. Thanks to everyone who sent in contributions!

MATHS: Adding to 10 (Smart), Adding 3 Numbers Within 10 (Smart), 1 More 1 Less (Smart), Missing Numbers Y1 (Smart), Place Value Y1 (Smart), Clocks Y1 (Smart), Basic Addition up to 10 20, Capacity Problems Y4, Real Life Maths Probems Y2, Y3 Division (Rounding Remainders) (Smart), Solving Real Life Problems Y3 (Smart), Y3 Maths Revision (Smart), Lunar Theme Park Challenge (Activ) & (Smart)
ENGLISH: Upper Case Alphabet (Smart), Y1 and Y2 HF Words (Smart), Verbs Past and Present Y1 (Smart), Lower Case Alphabet (Smart), Capital Letters Y1 (Smart), Reception HF Words (Smart), Phonetic Alphabet Picture Chart
SCIENCE: Balanced Diet (ppt) Y5
HISTORY: Matching Evidence (Smart)
RE: Sikh Symbols (ppt), Sikh Symbols Worksheet
GEOGRAPHY: The Caribbean (Medium Term Plan) Y4
LANGUAGES: German: Lesson 4 Colours, 5 Consolidation, 6 Weather Y4/5, German: Weather Vocab, German: Colour Flashcards, German: Colours Vocab, Spanish: Making Friends (ppt), Spanish: Making Friends Worksheet
OTHER: Maths Mission - Football Board Game, World Cup Y4 Maths Word Problems
ASSEMBLY: Anglo-Saxon Class Assembly, Fireworks Class Assembly, France Class Assembly
PHOTOS: Additions this week... Science: Plants (2), Flowers (4), History: Tudors (6)

Big Bad Read

http://www.bigbadread.co.uk/
Vote (and get your students to vote) for your favourite literacy villain on this site from Bloomsbury and the National Reading Campaign.

The 'baddies' up for nomination are...

• Artemis Fowl (Artemis Fowl - Eoin Colfer)
• Aunt Sponge & Aunt Spiker (James and the Giant Peach - Roald Dahl)
• The Big Bad Wolf (Red Riding Hood Classic Fairy Tale)
• Bill Sikes (Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens)
• Blofeld (James Bond - Ian Fleming)
• The Child Catcher (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - Ian Fleming)
• Captain Hook (Peter Pan - J.M. Barrie)
• Cluny The Scourge (Redwall - Brian Jacques)
• Count Olaf (A Series of Unfortunate Events - Lemony Snicket)
• Cruella De Vil (The One Hundred and One Dalmations - Dodie Smith)
• The Demon Headmaster (The Demon Headmaster - Gillian Cross)
• Domdaniel (Magyk - Angie Sage )
• Draco Malfoy (Harry Potter series - J.K. Rowling)
• Dracula (Dracula - Bram Stoker)
• Fagin (Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens)
• General Woundwort (Watership Down - Richard Adams)
• The Grand High Witch (The Witches - Roald Dahl)
• The Grinch (How the Grinch Stole - Christmas! Dr. Seuss)
• Heathcliff (Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte)
• The Joker (Batman - DC Comics)
• Lex Luthor (Superman - DC Comics)
• Long John Silver (Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson)
• Lord Voldemort (Harry Potter series - J.K. Rowling)
• Magneto (X-Men - Marvel Comics)
• Miss Letitia Slighcarpb (The Wolves of Willoughby Chase - Joan Aiken)
• Miss Trunchbull (Matilda - Roald Dahl)
• Mr McGregor (The Tale of Peter Rabbit - Beatrix Potter)
• Mrs Coulter (His Dark Materials Sequence - Philip Pullman)
• Professor Moriarty (Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
• Napoleon the Pig (Animal Farm - George Orwell)
• The Other Mother (Coraline - Neil Gaiman)
• The Queen of Hearts (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll)
• Sauron (The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien)
• Shere Khan (The Jungle Book - Rudyard Kipling)
• Silas Brimstone (Faerie Wars - Herbie Brennan)
• The Warden (Holes - Louis Sachar)
• The White Witch (The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis)
• The Wicked Stepmother (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Fairy Tale)
• The Wicked Witch of the West (The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - L. Frank Baum)
• Zaphod Beeblebrox (HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams)

With such a superbly diverse list and lots of primary friendly nominations you're bound to be able to have lots of interesting class debates about which is the best villain from that selection. Maybe it's an opportunity to introduce your students to some villains from texts they haven't read before?

Environment Agency Resources

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/fun
The 'Fun & Games' section of the UK Environment Agency's website has a large collection of online activities and resources. The topics include air pollution, energy & recycling, land use, climate change, lifestyles, resources & waste, water and wildlife.

Primary Extra Summer Offers

http://www.primaryextra.co.uk/store
Summer savings on 'Greg Arious & the Lexicons' and 'The Labours of Heracles' double packs only available through the Primary Extra store...

• Save £5 when you buy the double download
• Save £7.50 when you buy both teaching packs on CD
• Save £15 when you buy both school editions

Artchive

http://www.artchive.com/ftp_site.htm
Due to the large number of adverts and pops ups this site isn't one you'd use as an integral part of a lesson. It is, however, a great place to get hold of large, quality images of the work of many famous artists such as Kandinsky, Picasso, Hockney and Klee as well as fine out more about their lives and the ideas behind their art.

Cyberchase @ PBS Kids

http://pbskids.org/cyberchase/games.html
There's some interesting games on the Cyberchase website from PBS in the US. The ones I particularly like are the Stop the Creature game (function machines), the Symmetrizer activity, Numbersense and Vortex (which is just quite good fun). They're probably most suitable for Year 5 and 6 (and older) but there's other games for younger children at the main PBS education site.

Bring on the World

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/education/resources/bring_on_the_world/

Oxfam has sent me details about this site...

"Get beneath the glitz of the World Cup... Oxfam has launched a series of free online activities for 9-11 year olds. Bring on the World uses football as a springboard to explore global issues including the sportswear industry, whether competition is 'a good thing', and the inequalities between participating countries. It helps pupils learn about the countries involved in the World Cup, and includes a 'country trumps' card game, mapwork, debate, and photo activities.

Bring on the World offers teachers the choice of either five mornings (2.5 hours x 5) or five whole days of activities (2.5 + 2 hours x 5) - ideal for an Activity Week in the Summer Term. The resource uses different teaching and learning methodologies which engage all pupils, and emphasises foundation subjects, literacy and English. It develops thinking and debating skills, research abilities, and teamwork. There is comprehensive background information for teachers, and a scheme of work."

Britain's Bayeux Tapestry

http://www.bayeuxtapestry.org.uk/
This site by the Reading Museum Service allows you to view the Victorian replica of the Bayeux Tapestry online. It explains the story told by the tapesty scene by scene. There's also a small collection of teaching resources including an interactive activity (where you can make your own tapestry scenes online), sequencing sheets and a sample topic web.

Site Update: 16th June 2006

Thanks to everyone who sent in contributions this week! We've added 23 new resources to the main website and also over 40 new images to the photograph section. Full details are below. Please note that the World Cup resources have been moved to the 'Other' resources section.

MATHS: Repeating Patterns Y1 (Easiteach), Number Bonds to 10 Y1 (ppt), Bridging through 10 Y1 (ppt)
ENGLISH: Comparing Things (er or est) Y2 (ppt), Adverb Maker (Smart)
SCIENCE: Variations (Unit 2c), Teeth WWtbaM (ppt), Inner Defence Systems
ICT: Robolab Online Lessons x 4,
HISTORY: Florence Nightingale Quiz, Great Fire of London Quiz, Samuel Pepys,
LANGUAGES: French: What time is it?, French: Time Questions
MUSIC: Orchestra Instrument Cards
OTHER: My World Cup Team, World Cup Match Report, World Cup Acrostic, World Cup Project Ideas, England WC'06 Squad Data,
PHOTOS: Additions this week... Maths: Clocks (3), Everyday Numbers (2), Science: Flowers (17), Fruit and Vegetables (1), Geography: Rivers (1), D&T: Bridges (2), Shelters (2), History: Tudor and mock-Tudor Buildings (13)

Film Education

http://www.filmeducation.org/
For those who haven't come across it before, Film Education is a charity that's funded by the UK Film Industry and the BFI. It aims to support teachers who want to give students the opportunity to analyse and evaluate films and other media in the classroom. Film Education produce a lot of excellent material that is available to purchase but there's also a lot of free resources that you can download via their website. Resources for primary schools include generic study guides, such as Cinema & Maths, as well as material based on specific films, like Wallace and Gromit and Nanny McPhee. (The British Film Institue website also has some useful free resources for primary teachers.)

World Cup Football Websites

Apparently there's some sort of association kickball tournament on at the moment. :) Here's some sites that may be useful...

Active Maths World Cup Football Games
http://www.active-maths.co.uk/worldcup/
This site features three nice Flash games involving different areas of mathematics.

Naace Primary World Cup Activities & Resources
http://www.mape.org.uk/WorldCup2006/
Lots of different World Cup activities and resources including powerpoints, databases and spreadsheets.

Sport Relief
http://www.sportrelief.com/schools/teach/lessons/711/milefbquiz.shtml
Learn about Alex's life in Guatemala City and about the history of the football World Cup.

WSGfL World Cup Maths Problems
Click here for the link
A document containing activity ideas suggested by West Sussex maths co-ordinators.

Kent NGfL World Cup Links & Resources
http://www.kented.org.uk/ngfl/festivals/worldcup/index.htm
Links to good World Cup sites and a small collection of useful resources from the Kent grid.

World Cup 'Math'
http://www.mrnussbaum.com/soccer.htm
Test your maths skills in this penalty shoot-out game.

Free Widgit Summer Pack

http://www.widgit.com/resources/classroom/summer2/index.htm
Widgit Software have just released a free pack of resources for the summer. Designed for parents to use with their children it includes over 20 activities, puzzles and games. The pack is available as a PDF that anyone can print or as Communicate: In Print 2 files that can be altered to produce your own resources.

Man in the Moon

http://www.maninthemoon.co.uk
'Man in the Moon' is a nice little poetry website that features some interesting poems by students and also some great work by adult poets. Of particular interest are the interviews with Michael Rosen, Allan Ahlberg, Moira Andrew, Gerard Benson, Miriam Moss, Roger Stevens and Wes Magee. There's also some poetry writing ideas and a selection of recommended reads.

Children's Compass

http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/childrenscompass
Children's COMPASS is a British Museum site. It contains online tours of objects from the museum on lots of different curriculum-linked topics including the Romans, the Anglo-Saxons and Ancient Egypt. As well as the photographs of interesting exhibits there are some lesson resources and activities. The site is made more accessible for younger children and SEN by the inclusion of a text reading facility.

Junior Mastermind

"Do you have a ‘Junior Mastermind’ in your class who deserves a place in the famous 'black chair'? If so, the BBC are looking for children born between 1st Sept 1995 – 31st August 1996 to take part in a brand new series. If you have a student has what it takes to become ‘Junior Mastermind’ call 0161 244 3480 or e-mail james.waring@bbc.co.uk to find out how to take part"

Site Update: 9th June 2006

We've added over 40 new resources to the main website this week and also put 30 new images in the photograph section. Full details are below. Thanks to everyone who sent in contributions!

MATHS: Dice Probability Game (Smart), Football Word Cup Winners and Venues, Football World Cup Quiz, Types of Triangles (ppt), Weekly Planning Sheet, Probability Lesson Y6 (ppt) x 3, Probability Cards, Y2 Clocks Timetable
ENGLISH: Y1 Phonics Street (Smart), Y1 Phonics Body (Smart), Y1 Phonics Garden (Smart), Weekly Planning Sheet, Short and Long Vowel 'ea' (ppt), Adding 'y' (Smart), Homonyms (Smart), Revolting Recipes, Simile Cards, Similes, A Holiday on Earth
SCIENCE: Plant Cycle Dominoes, Sorting Animals Carroll Diagram, Constructing Animal Sorting Keys, Matching Animals and Habitats, Measuring Forces Y4/5 (ppt), Measuring Forces Using a Newton Meter, Alive-Once Alive-Not Alive, Alive-Not Alive (Smart), Seeds, Effects of Electicity
D&T: Money Containers Booklet (Y4)
RE: School Policy & Supporting Docuuments, Symbolism in Hinduism (ppt),
HISTORY: John Lennon (ppt), Victorian Child Diary, The Victorians (Test), The Aztecs (Test)
LANGUAGES: French: Days of the Week Crossword
ICT: Spreadsheets Y5/6 Teacher Sheets, Spreadsheets Y5/6 Worksheets
ASSEMBLY: Healthy Eating Assembly,
PHOTOS: Additions this week... RE: Tissington Well Dressing (10), History: Victorian School (20), Classroom Displays: Other (1)

SymbolWorld

http://www.symbolworld.org/
I've been aware of Widgit's rebus symbols and excellent software for years but I only came across this great site for the first time today. Designed for people who use Widgit's communciation symbols it contains stories, personal contributions and learning resources. It also features a monthly online magazine for older readers with news, film reviews, fun and games, features and recipes.

My Friend Needs A Teacher

http://www.sendmyfriend.org
Last year the theme of the 'Global Campaign for Education' was 'Send My Friend to School'. I know a lot of you got involved by getting your class to make little friend figures to send up to the world leaders at the G8 summit. This year the campaign's focus is 'My Friend Needs a Teacher'. In order to reach the United Nation's target of primary education for all children by 2015 over 15 million properly trained teachers are required. The G8 leaders are meeting in Saint Petersburg in July and the meeting will have a specific emphasis on education and improving the quality of professional teacher training. This is a great opportunity to remind them of their promises to education. Just like last year you can get your class involved by using the lesson resources on the site and making one of the new giant teachers (using the templates provided online) to send off to the G8.

Department for Transport Resources

http://www.databases.dft.gov.uk/primary/siteindex
The UK Department for Transport site has a collection of lesson plans and worksheets linked to the themes of transport and road safety. The resources cover elements of geography, ICT, literacy, numeracy, PSHE and Science for years 1 through to 6.

It's Up to You

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ni/schools/uptoyou/
BBC Northern Ireland have created this site on exercise and healthy eating. It's designed for Year 3 and 4 pupils and has a nice animation about football and food, food facts, tips on how to be healthier, interactive games and an end of unit quiz. Details of new education sites from the BBC is available in their monthly schools newsletter.

Back to Normal...

I hope everyone who had half term last week enjoyed their time off. Everything is back to normal at Primary Resources this week with the usual educational links in the blog and a new update of the main site due on Friday.

Random Half Term Link #4: Coverville

http://coverville.com/
Another 'completly random not related to primary education half term' link! I have a bit of obsession with cover songs and like collecting new material whenever I can. Coverville is a great podcast by Brian Ibbott in Colorado. Each episode features about six covers together with chat from Brian. It's a really good listen if you like cover versions or just music in general. The podcasts are easy to download and if you have iTunes you can subscribe from there. Make sure you check out some of the archived shows as well including the excellent show #195 with special guest Richard Cheese.

Random Half Term Link #3: Pimp That Snack

http://www.pimpthatsnack.com
When we were young Cadbury's Creme Eggs seemed huge and Wagon Wheels were as big as your head. The contributors to 'Pimp That Snack' try to recreate these youthful memories by producing giant versions of sweets and snacks.