The creators of the popular resource site Edgalaxy have recently created a number of new sites that teachers can use:

• Ultimate Titanic has appeared just in time for the 100^th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic.  It contains great content for teachers and students to learn about the most famous maritime disaster of all time. There are a number of amazing images, videos and text based content that will definitely appeal to teachers and students without overwhelming them with irrelevant information on Titanic. Best of all Ultimate Titanic must have one of the biggest collections of lesson plans and teaching resources based around the Titanic covering all key learning areas and ages. The Titanic is one of the most amazing industrial feats of all time wrapped up in a story that Shakespeare himself could not have scripted and still appeals to students and learners of all ages. There is something here for everyone.

• Scribbled.com.au is a highly creative site for those who want to learn about innovative art and craft ideas. Scribbled is packed with activities to suit all abilities but best of all everything is laid in step-by-step directions with photographs to support them.  There are a number of themed ideas for all major events of the year with new crafts and activities being added each week. Teachers will also love the video tutorials and printables to jazz up their classrooms.  There are also  activities and games particularly aimed at younger children. Take a look at scribbled today and release some of your creative energy.

The creators of the popular Blitz School site (previously featured on Teaching News here) are now running Victorian Invention Workshops for primary schools. The new workshops aim to ‘provide a valuable insight into the groundbreaking Victorian age of invention and innovation with a full five hours of interactive activities designed to maximise the learning of your pupils and take them to the heart of this wondrous era.’ The workshops sound like great fun, with opportunities to handle artefacts, investigate steam power, dress up in the Victorian photographer’s studio and take part in and end of day quiz.

Their site offers full details about the workshop and the objectives that it covers. There are also information about Victorian inventions and lots of free resources that all schools can use. Take a look!

The British Library site is a wonderful resource for teachers. It’s full of different activities and content which cover different areas of the curriculum.

Some of the resources include:

• Victorians – A huge collection of digital resources which children can use when learning about the Victorians.
• Playtimes – Explore 100 years of children’s songs, rhymes and games. The Kids’ Zone has some great video clips of children playing in the past… how do they compare with children playing on your school’s playground today?
• Sounds Familiar? – This area of the site shares sound recordings which highlight the different regional accents and dialects around the UK.
• Mapping History - A large assortment of digitised maps and information about mapping over hundreds of years. This also includes an exploration of how and why maps lie between fact and fiction.
• Visits and Workshops – The British Library also offer free workshops, tours and activities for groups.

Here are 15 sets of resources that you can use to help your children learn about Remembrance Day which takes places this week (on 11th November):

1. I recently made a number of Remembrance resources which are posted on Teaching Ideas. These include a display banner, lined and plain paper templates and an acrostic activity.
   
2. Learn about Remembrance Day at the Woodlands Junior school site. Simon Haughton’s excellent Infant Encyclopedia also has a section about Remembrance Day which younger children can use for research.
3. The Royal British Legion have a fantastic site that is full of useful information and resources for schools.
4. CBBC Newsround have produced a guide to Remembrance Day for children with key information and video content.
5. Primary Resources has a number of assembly and lesson ideas that you can use this week.
6. Purple Mash have an interactive tool which children can useto write their own report about the topic.
7. Mr. Donn’s site has links to a number of resources for those teaching children about Remembrance Day.
8. Primary Treasure Chest also have lots of free downloadable resources, including flashcards, posters, page templates and activity sheets.
   
9. Elaine’s Remembrance Day Poem page has a number of poems which can be read at the time of Remembrance. Could you also use them as inspiration for your own poems?
10. TES have collected all of the Remembrance resources and shared a list of them here.
11. The Twinkl team have produced some lovely Remembrance Day resources which you can print and use in your classroom.
    
12. Topic Box (one of my favourite sites) also has links to lots of great resources and interactive sites about Remembrance Day.
13. The BBC have a special site about Remembrance with a ‘Remembrance Wall’ which gives information about the soldiers who fought in World War 1.
14. This video shows the gathering of different groups of people at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Day in 2010.
    

    Click here to view the embedded video.

15. The ‘Remember Me’ site (suitable for upper primary and secondary schools) has lots of information, resources and teachers’ notes from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

The amazing Simon Haughton has completed his Primary School History Encyclopedia. The site is perfect for primary children, giving them a place to research different historical periods. Teachers can be confident that the information there is appropriate for young pupils to learn about history independently. Each period in history has pages about a number of related topics with easy-to-read text and photos / illustrations too. The site has taken over a year to create and you can read about its development here.

Simon has a number of other great resources for schools, including:

• The Infant Encyclopedia - http://www.parkfieldict.co.uk/infant/
• Primary School Geography Encyclopedia - http://geography.parkfieldict.co.uk
• ICT Club Activities and Games - http://www.parkfieldict.co.uk/ictclub/
• Junior ICT Companion - http://www.parkfieldict.co.uk/ictcompanion/

Blitz School offer educational workshops with exciting activities to help children to learn about World War II. They are based in Greater Manchester and offer services to schools in the surrounding areas. For schools who are further afield, their site offers some valuable resources if you are teaching children about this topic.

If you look in the Free Resources section, you will find a fascinating video lesson, fact files about a number of objects from the period and lots of other teaching resources. The site appears to be updated regularly and new resources are promised. You can also follow Blitz School on Twitter.

Artifaqs provide a wide range of artifacts which can be used to teach ‘hand on history’. The resources come with descriptions, suggestions for use in the classroom and a photocopiable worksheet too.

As well as the items in the shop, the site also offers lots of other useful articles and resources for free. Their How 2 section gives instructions showing how you can make your own historical items. There are also free downloadable resources, facts pages, and a glossary.

Find out more in the video below and visit the website at www.artifaqs.co.uk.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Here are five of the best teaching resources that I’ve discovered online this week:

1) Ready for Ten - This is ’a parent-powered website for mums and dads of 6-9 year olds. It’s a place to connect with other parents and share advice and support on the highs, lows, and uncharted territory of the years before ten.’ This is certainly something that can be shared with parents at school and there are also some useful ideas and resources for teachers too. Recommended by @GillDeCosemo.

2) Stencyl – This free software lets you create your own flash games. It’s ‘Kid Tested’ so it could certainly be used as a learning tool in the classroom. Recommended by Andrew Field.

3) How do snowflakes form? – This free video from Twig-it explains how snowflakes form… although this topic might not be relevant for readers in the UK at this time of year, the rest of the ‘Twig-it’ site looks very interesting as it offers Science videos which are accompanied by related learning activities. There is a selection of free videos on this page. Recommended by Carol Allen.

4) Time Toast – Here’s another great free online resource. This one has a wide range of timelines which can be used in different areas of the curriculum. The site also lets you make your own free timelines which could be used as the starting point for work in the classroom… or could you ask the pupils to make their own using the site? Recommended by sites4primary.

5) Howtoons – Howtoons provides ‘engaging content that teaches kids how to build things, combining instructions with storytelling.’ They have amazing sets of comic strips in the form of instructions which you could be used in the classroom. Could your pupils make their own comic strip instructions? Recommended by Tom Barrett.

Have you discovered any useful resources online this week?

Here are another five wonderful teaching resources that I’ve come across recently:

1) Walk to School Week – This week (16th to 20th May) is ‘Walk to School Week’. To support the week, there are lots of resources on the Walk to School site. Thanks to Simon Haughton for recommending these on Twitter.

2) Teaching with Comic Life - Comic Life is a fantastic piece of software for Windows, Mac and iPad which lets you create comic strips using your own digital photos. Lots of schools are using it and it’s been a great success whenever I’ve used it in my own classroom. Digmo has a fantastic guide to Teaching with Comic Life which you can download for free. A fantastic read!

3) BBC Domesday Reloaded - In 1986, the BBC published the Domesday Project and over a million people contributed to this digital snapshot of the country. People (including schools and community groups) were asked to record what they thought would be of interest in another 1000 years. Now, on the BBC Domesday site, you can rediscover and explore images and articles from the original project to find out how life in Britain has changed… and how some things have stayed the same. In addition, you will be able to update the project by re-photographing the images today and updating text entries. Could this be a project for your school to get involved in?

4) ICT Magic – This site is a new wiki which is bursting with links to lots of useful sites. They are all organised by subject / topic and the site is being updated regularly. Thanks to The Whiteboard Blog for bringing this to my attention.

5) Quite Tube – The Ideas for Teachers blog has a great post about the Quiet Tube service. Simply add ‘quiet’ before ‘youtube.com’ in the address bar of any Youtube video (e.g. http://www.quietyoutube.com/watch?v=-ZJDNSp1QJA) and the video opens in a plain window without links to other videos and comments… this is great for teachers who want to show videos without the other (sometimes inappropriate) content on the Youtube pages. Don’t forget that you can find educational Youtube videos on our other site, Teaching Videos.

What new resources have you discovered this week?

The Youtube video above gives information about a new offer from British Pathé. Their archive of 90,000 films and 12 million photographs covers an enormous range of subjects including modern British and world history, news, fashion, sport, entertainment, travel, warfare and 20th Century social history.

This archive is available to all schools in the UK through a special education subscription. Schools who subscribe have access to the following additional features:

• Unlimited downloads of British Pathé material for use within the classroom,
• Curriculum-specific collections created by teachers,
• Permission to publish films on Secure Learning Platforms.

Many state schools in the UK already have access to free British Pathé downloads under agreements with their Regional Broadband Consortium or Local Authority, so it’s worth checking to see if your school already has free access.

You can also follow British Pathe on Twitter at @patheschools.