A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to be able to attend the recording of one of this year’s Royal Institution Christmas Lectures. These lectures have been inspiring children and adults alike since 1825. They were initiated by Michael Faraday at a time when organised education for young people was scarce.

As the Royal Institution site explains… “In this year’s Christmas Lectures, Prof Sue Hartley will show you plants as you’ve never seen them before. They are complicated, cunning, beautiful and with plenty of tricks up their sleeve. And what’s more, we humans are dependent on them in ways you’d never imagine. As well as much of our food, our drugs, medicines and materials are all by-products of this epic 300 million year war.”

I thoroughly enjoyed watching the recording of one of the lectures. It was full of practical demonstrations, amazing facts and Sue presented it with a huge amount of enthusiasm for the subject. It was one of the most enjoyable Science lessons I’ve ever had and I can’t wait to watch it all over again on TV!

If you would like to see the lectures yourself, they are on More4 from 21st to 25th December at 7pm. Find out more here.

Following on from my previous post about Christmas ideas and activities to try in the classroom, I’ve collected together another set of useful resources that you might be able to try in the final weeks before the big day!

All about Christmas

WhyChristmas answers lots of questions that you might want to ask about Christmas. The site is nicely organised, easy to use and it also has some interactive online activities to try.

Teaching Ideas

I have added a selection of new Christmas resources to the Seasonal section of Teaching Ideas. These include:

• Santa Welcome Mat (PDF) – Contributed by The Literacy Club, this file can be completed and coloured by younger children as part of their Christmas celebrations.
• Christmas Wordsearch (PDF) – A set of differentiated wordsearches… some of which involve recording co-ordinates and directions of the words in the grid. Choose the one that is most appropriate for the ability of your children.

The latest update to Primary Resources also includes a number of new Christmas resources that have been added over the past few days.

10Ticks also have a special Christmas page with lots of free resources to use at this time of year. You might have to register to download some of these, but registration is free.

Interactive Sites

I’ve also discovered a selection of fun Christmas sites via Twitter recently. These include…

• Christmas Reindeer – Play this musical game on your interactive whiteboard. To play the tune, you have to click on the reindeers’ noses!

• Portable North Pole – A wonderful site which lets you create personalised videos from Father Christmas. Great for sending messages to family and friends… although remember your Internet Safety rules about sharing personal information!

I hope that the last few days of teaching before Christmas are enjoyable for you, and that some of these resources are useful!

The team from Sparkteaching are aiming to put together an online advent calendar, which schools are invited to take part in.

As their website explains, “each day, from December 1st to 25th, the calendar will display a piece of artwork uploaded by elementary / primary aged children from anywhere in the world on the theme “What Does Christmas Mean To You?”

Any children can take part, the incentive being that they could see their artwork online, viewed by hundreds, as part of the advent calendar.

It’d be great to see you get involved, particularly if the children in your class might provide a different perspective on what Christmas means to them. Obviously we’re looking for the first pieces of artwork by the 1st and then on throughout December (if you get in first, your artwork will be displayed for longer!)

Any artwork will be accepted (if it’s scannable, it’s acceptable!) Please scan and send as an attachment to: competition@sparkyteaching.com together with the artist’s first name and location (and age if you wish) and your school’s website address (we’d be happy to link to this if you’d like us too!)”

Even if you don’t take part, don’t forget to visit the online advent calendar from the 1st onwards to see what Christmas means to those who do…”

Find out more about the competition on Sparkyteaching’s site and view the calendar here.

Lots of schools here in the UK and around the world are preparing for Christmas. We’re putting up the decorations at my school this week, so I thought that it might be useful to share a selection of ideas, activities and resources that can be used as part of Christmas activities over the next few weeks. If you have any idea, why not add it to the comments at the bottom of this page?

Learn about Christmas…

The wonderful Woodlands Junior school site is a fantastic source of information for those who would like to learn more about Christmas traditions in Britain:

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/xmas/

The-North-Pole.com also has information about how Christmas is celebrated around the world.

Lesson ideas and resources…

Visit the Christmas sections on Teaching Ideas and Primary Resources to discover lots of lesson ideas and activities. Why not get your younger children to write to Santa… or make a class Christmas tree?

You could also try making an Origami Christmas tree. Thanks to Mister G for sharing this on Twitter.

The BBC also has a useful site giving information about Victorian Christmas activities, with videos showing how to try lots of different crafts.

DK.com has a selection of Christmas clip-art which could be used as part of craft activities, or to liven up your interactive whiteboard slides.

Sparklebox also has a large collection of Christmas resources to download and enjoy. Don’t forget to use TeachrSearch to find Christmas teaching materials on a selection of fantastic sites.

Christmas Music…

Listen Live has a selection of Christmas radio stations that you can listen to. Feels like Christmas has some free (and legal!) downloadable Christmas music. Don’t forget to try the Dancing Santa at Northpole.com too!

Interactive sites to try…

Visit some of these sites to find Christmas / winter games to use on an interactive whiteboard, or as part of children’s independent activities using computers:

• Make a Flake – make your own snowflakes onscreen. This could be used as a starting point for making your own snowflakes with paper and scissors.
• NorthPole.com – an enormous site with lots of interactive and educational Christmas activities.
  
• Snowman Maker – create a snowman by dragging and dropping the different features.
• Winterbells – Children in my classes have always loved this game. How high can you get the bunny to bounce?

Simon Haughton has also created a list of interactive sites which he will be posting to his school website each day. Take a look at the Kent ICT and Northumberland NGfL sites for even more useful places to explore!

Do you have a favourite Christmas activity / resource? I’d love to hear about it in the comments…