My Life is a free interactive resource produced by The Children’s Society which aims to help children aged 7 to 11 develop the skills they need for a healthy, happy childhood.

www.mylife4schools.org.uk

The content is separated into different units, covering friends, family, learning, beliefs and keeping healthy. There are links to the National Curriculum, Every Child Matters and SEAL.

The resource has information for:

• Teachers – with online activities, case studies, activity sheets and teachers’ notes.
• Children – including animations and online storybooks.
• Parents – showing what the activities are about and how to get information and support.

Practical Action are a development charity who are offering lots of free resources for schools, linked to their work in helping some of the world’s poorest people to transform their lives for the better.

www.practicalaction.org.uk/education

The Education area of their site has a wide range of content for teachers and pupils, including:

• Videos showing how designers make their sustainable products (useful for DT).
• A sustainability handbook for teachers of Design and Technology.
• Free posters, homework activities, wordsearches, classroom activities, videos and songs linked to renewable energy.
• A selection of experiments, demonstrations and activities which can be used to support work linked to climate change.
• Cross-curricular videos and lesson activities.

Here are details of two sites which can be used to support work on road safety:

Safety Matters is designed for 7-11 year olds (and their teachers / parents) and offers free and interactive resources. Safety Matters provides teachers with lesson plans, assembly plans, student worksheets and interactive whiteboard tools which deliver road safety messages whilst supporting the Key Stage 2 PSHE, literacy and numeracy curriculum.

www.safetymatters.renault.co.uk

The pupil section of the website contains fun and interactive games, exercises, downloadable screen savers and a glossary, all designed to reinforce learning objectives. The parents section provides useful safety information on subjects such as cycling and the Green Cross Code.

Think! Education is made by the Department for Transport, offering road safety information and resources for primary-aged pupils, teachers and parents.

www.dft.gov.uk/think/education

The resources are designed to be used flexibly, with mix and match lesson ideas. Resources have been provided in a variety of formats to suit different learning styles. There are posters, online big books, stories, songs, interactive whiteboard activities, activity sheets, homework sheets, audio clips and videos. You can download these from the site, but teachers can also order free printed copies of some of the resources.

Following on from my previous post about free teaching resources from My Money, the site has just announced two competitions for UK schools.

The competitions aim to get pupils engaged in personal finance education in an exciting way by combining their knowledge of personal finance with their opinions on the value and importance of money. They then produce a piece of artwork to represent their knowledge and opinions.

www.mymoneyonline.org

The competitions are supported by specially created lesson plans, which lead pupils from specific personal finance education curriculum learning materials into producing a competition entry.

Competition prizes include Nintendo DSs, iPod Touches, digital cameras, books, cash for schools and a private tour around the Bank of England and the British Museum! The closing date for the competition is 2nd April 2010.

Find out more on the My Money site.

Caitlin’s Wish is a new book written for children who have a sick / disabled parent, sibling, relative or friend, and are finding it hard to come to terms with being a young carer. Caitlin’s Wish is a magical fairy story with a twist!

www.caitlinswish.co.uk

It has been written for young carers, and has an underlying message within it to help the child to see their life more positively! A useful resource for schools and their pupils.

A new educational DVD has been produced to encourage children to speak up to their teacher if they are being bullied. Find out more at the related site or watch this Youtube video to see some clips from the DVD.

Go Givers is a free site for primary and middle school children (aged 5 to 14). It contains a wide range of free, engaging, and interactive citizenship-rich cross-curricular resources.

www.gogivers.org

There are areas for teachers, parents and children. The teachers’ section has free lesson plans and downloadable resources, which all aim to develop a sense of personal responsibility and concern for the world that we live in.

A report from Ofsted claims that some schools in England are struggling to teach citizenship properly. From the BBC report…

“…in some secondary schools, pupils have “important gaps” in their knowledge. However, inspectors say lessons have improved since they were made compulsory seven years ago.

The article goes on to say that…

“Often citizenship shared a timetable slot with Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education, but the time allowed was “too little to do justice to either subject”, inspectors say.”

Image – Writing Exams

However, on the positive side…

“Ofsted chief inspector Christine Gilbert, said: “Citizenship is becoming a well established part of the school curriculum and this report highlights the ways in which schools are successfully promoting social responsibility, community involvement and political understanding.

“It is important that the good practice featured in the report is replicated more widely.”

How do you feel about the teaching of citizenship? Do your pupils have ‘important’ gaps in their knowledge? Is there too little time to do the subject justice?

Year Dot is a documentary which followed the paths of 15 young people over one year, as they pursue their goals across a range of subjects. Their stories give an insight into their respective fields: Business Management, English, Politics, Performing Arts and P.E, to name a few. They also document the journey taken in transforming a school time passion into a full-blown career.

Alongside these academic insights, the documentary provides an intimate portrayal of some difficult and relevant social subjects. The community engagement of these individuals is also inspiring, making the videos a valuable resource for opening up social issues in the classroom, and bringing curriculum subjects like PSHE and citizenship to life.

www.yeardot.co.uk/resources

The Year Dot site allows you to search for video resources and catch up clips linked to different areas of the curriculum.

Tony Crowley has created a number of career education publications which can be used by primary schools and younger secondary school pupils. They are freely downloadable and aim to support the government’s plans to bring certain aspects of careers education into primary schools.

The resources contain games, group activities, quizzes, questionnaires and worksheets. One of these documents is embedded below and the others can be downloaded here.