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.

My Money is a £10 million investment by the Department for Children Schools and Families (DCSF) to deliver joined up lessons on personal finance in schools until 2011. As you may be aware, one of the key outcomes of the Every Child Matters agenda is for young people to achieve Economic Wellbeing. A major contributor to this is their ability to have the skills, knowledge and attitudes to manage their personal finances successfully.

The My Money Mathematics Resources were launched recently and comprises six themes built around different practical aspects of money. They are:

Money…

• what is it? – local trading schemes leading to currency exchange
• earning it – the world of work and take home pays
• spending it – buying and running a car
• investing it – savings accounts and investing in shares
• risking it – gambling and fruit machines
• being enterprising with it – setting up an ice-cream business (geometric investigation)

Mathematical demand increases throughout each theme, from National Curriculum Level 1 (Entry Level 1) to National Curriculum Level 8 (GCSE Grade B+) but can be easily extended to challenge the brightest pupils. The activities have been designed to give teachers the freedom to create their own units of work, as recommended by National Strategies, but individual activities can also be used within discrete starter–main–plenary lessons.

Download the resources here.

mathsticks was launched recently as a means of sharing mathematical resources with other teachers around the UK, and beyond. The site was created by John Duffty, a lecturer at Chester University, and offers to support teachers, students, parents, carers and children develop their mathematical teaching and learning. The fundamental aim is to make learning meaningful (and to make maths stick!).

www.mathsticks.com

Once you have registered, you can access a huge collection of free mathematical games, visual aids and interactive materials together with strategies and lesson ideas.

A new website has been launched to help schools teach pupils about sustainable living and the key role that scientists and engineers will play in tackling the challenges of climate change.

The online resource, 3MWorldlyWise is designed to boost young interest in studying the STEM subjects of science, technology, engineering and maths from GCSE to A-level and on to university.

www.3mworldlywise.co.uk

This free website  contains lots of helpful tips for living a ‘greener’ life, along with resources for teachers, and is particularly aimed at students aged from 11-16 years old (although it could also be used by upper KS2 children, I’m sure).

Mangahigh.com is a games-based learning site focussing on maths for secondary school students, although some of the games could be useful for upper KS2 children too.

The site features commercial quality gameplay, rewarding students with achievements that celebrate their progress. I had lots of fun playing ‘Ice Ice Baby’ which challenged my estimation and approximation skills.

You can play many of the games online for free, but the site also offers a subscription service which allows you to monitor students’ progress and create ‘to do’ lists of activities for them to complete.

Quantum Theatre provide educational shows for schools in the UK. The company was originally set up in 1988 with the aim of using educational drama to support schools with their teaching of numeracy and science. Over twenty years on, nearly three thousand schools each year see Quantum performances, using them to introduce or reinforce these topics.

Some of the shows currently available include:

• The Big Drip - materials and their properties
• Captain Cholesterol & the Grannies from Mars - health & nutrition
• Bin Raider - the environment, re-cycling and energy-saving
• Lights & Sounds of Tinseltown - light and sound
• The Missing Link - animal & human biology
• The Mysterious Disappearance of Mr. Winchlever - forces & mechanics
• On the Trail of the Countback Kid – a new show which covers place value, number operations, the four functions, a variety of mental methods including approximation, partition and number bonds, times tables and written methods of addition and subtraction – a Maths lesson with a difference!

Find out more about the Quantum Theatre productions at www.quantumtheatre.co.uk.

Rod Krause, a teacher in Australia, has set up NumeracyHelper to share software that he has developed for teachers in his department. There are lots of interactive resources shared on the site, all of which support maths for primary-aged children.

www.numeracyhelper.com

There are a few ‘modules’ for sale on the site but there are also a considerable number of free resources to use. These would be great for use on the interactive whiteboard, or for individual pupil use at a computer.

BuzzMath is a new website that focuses on middle school mathematics. It’s interactive, fun, and captivating and has tons of quality problems with immediate detailed feedback. It also aims to improve students’ motivation, proficiency and understanding, allowing them to progress at their own pace.

Here is a video tour of the site which allows teachers to find out more…

The site is still growing and the developers are keen to receive feedback, so take a look and let them know your thoughts!

The countdown to Sport Relief 2010 kicks off this month with the launch of exciting, free education resources for primary, secondary and early years groups. The resources, spanning the English, physical education and citizenship curriculums, bring alive the stories of young people in the UK and overseas. Sport Relief’s School Kits are available to order for free at www.sportrelief.com/schools. The kits provide teachers with all the tools they need to get set to ‘Rise to the Challenge’ and inspire their students to get active to help some of the world’s poorest people, both at home in the UK and overseas.

Sport Relief’s free to order resources range from lesson and assembly plans to photos, videos and real stories about children and young people supported by Sport Relief funded projects.

Sportacus, from BBC’s LazyTown is back to excite and inspire early years groups with a host of learning ideas. Early years kits will also include a full colour story book, helping children to understand the differences between their lives and those of other children around the world.

For primary and secondary schools, Sport Relief offers English, PE and citizenship lesson ideas and resources for key stages one to four, including lesson plans and activities that will get students thinking like journalists, with a dedicated area on www.sportrelief.com/schools for them to upload their reports on the issues affecting them in their communities, for all to see.

Get Your Socks on for Sport Relief with the Sport Relief Sock Deposit Scheme for schools. An easy way for schools to fundraise, simply pay a deposit for an order of Sport Relief stripy socks from the website and sell the socks in your school. For every pair of Sport Relief socks ordered through the Sock Deposit Scheme, Sainsbury’s is kindly giving one Active Kids voucher to the school. The Sport Relief sock will also be available to buy in UK Sainsbury’s stores for £2.

The Sport Relief fundraising campaign kicks off in January, when schools will be able to find a wealth of ideas to inspire kids of all ages to rise to the challenge and raise money for Sport Relief.

Important date for your diary – 19^th March 2010: Sport Relief Friday across schools in the UK kicks off the Sport Relief weekend of fundraising fun!

The Kent ICT blog recently shared a link to this wonderful Maths dictionary.

The site has explanations and engaging activities to help children learn (and remember) the meanings of a huge collection of mathematical vocabulary.

A great resource for schools, which would also work extremely well on interactive whiteboards.