Heritage Key allows users to explore virtual reconstructions of great historical sites from around the world. At present, Heritage Key features a highly accurate 3D reconstruction of Stonehenge and the tomb of the Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun. The site also provides a wide range of educational resources and community tools for those interested in learning about history.

http://heritage-key.com

I’ve just spend some time wandering around the environments within Heritage Key and I’m impressed so far. It’s great to be able to walk (virtually) around these different locations, whilst learning the history behind them. This is something that could definitely be of great value in the classroom.

Percy Parker is a groovy grandad who has been popular in schools for many years now. He sings songs which help children to learn their times tables and there are some free downloads from Percy’s CD on Teaching Ideas.

Percy is now back with a brand new cross-curricular resource called ‘Percy Parker’s Flying Bathtub’. There are songs and resources covering a wide range of history, geography, science and other curriculum topics. If you’re studying the Tudors in class, for instance, there’s a fifteen-minute scene (including two songs) based on the Tudors that you can read through in your classroom and perhaps perform simply in an assembly. If another year group is studying Food Chains or Vikings or Outer Space, there are scenes for them too. And if you want to put on a full-scale school production, just put everyone’s scenes together and hey presto – a musical!

Andrew Holdsworth, the creator of Percy Parker, has kindly allowed me to have a look at the resource and I’m extremely impressed. It includes:

• A folder full of scripts, musical scores, lyrics, costume ideas, production and choreography advice. There is also background information about the curriculum area that each scene relates to.
• An audio CD containing all 15 tracks from the production (with and without vocals) as well as relevant sound effects which you can use.
• A CD-Rom with teaching ideas, choreography ideas, editable scripts, projectable backdrop images and lots more.

Percy Parker’s Flying Bathtub (Tudors to 20th Century) is available now here. Two other packs have also been produced:

• ‘Ancient History and Invaders’ will be available from May 2010.
• ‘Science and Nature’ will be available from September 2010.

FREE DOWNLOAD – You can also find out more at Teaching Ideas and get yourself an exclusive free download from the resource.

Here are details of two fantastic resources for those teaching Literacy / Music / History linked to the topic of Ancient Greece:

‘Heroes of Troy‘ is a music resource for school children aged 9 to 11 and offers 7 songs to learn, each linking to an episode of the Trojan War. The website is audio-based, but also includes Teachers’ Notes, words and music for the songs, backing tracks…and well-known music presenter David Grant is on hand to teach all of the songs.

www.bbc.co.uk/schools/troy/

It’s intended to target a range of music objectives at Key Stage 2 but also links to the history topic Ancient Greece while offering opportunities to link music with literacy and performance.

Winged Sandals offers animated versions of different Greek myths, along with games and other online activities to try. This has always been popular with children whenever I’ve used it at school.

www.wingedsandals.com

A new series of virtual field trips is being distributed over the Internet as video podcasts on the web site www.meetmeatthecorner.org. Each video is linked to fun websites and a Learning Corner of questions and extended activities. New episodes are uploaded every two weeks.

This week you can take virtual field trip to San Diego. The young host Robert interviews and tours the USS MIDWAY and learns what life was like aboard a city at sea.

3D History have new images of the Roman forts at Mamucium (Manchester) and Ardotalia (Peak District). Ideal for KS2 'Invaders and Settlers' to show what the smaller auxiliary forts and the associated Vicus looked like. They also have a new animation that illustrates the building of a Medieval Cruck Hall. This is similar to the animation of the Tudor House and I'm sure it will prove to be just as popular. This is useful for KS1 Unit 2 'homes a long time ago'.

Link: http://3dhistory.co.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 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

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 

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

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