Alien Ink (graphic novel, videos, social media) - A graphic comic tackling teen issues e.g. Knife crime, peer pressures, bullying etc. This is perfect for PSHE and citizenship lessons.
Battle of Britain: Squadron 303 (flash game) - A fun and historically accurate game about the Polish Squadron 303 in the British Airforce during WW2. This is great for history lessons, but also citizenship as it teaches about diversity in the British armed forces as far back as the 1940s.
Battlefront 2 (TV programme, online videos, game) - A second series of this TV programme and website featuring 11 campaigns run by young people on themes from autism, to equal pay, to lowering the voting age to education in Ghana. A fantastic resource for PSHE and citizenship teachers.
SuperMe (games, videos, quizzes) – This teaches young people how to “live life better”, how to be more resilient and take control of their happiness. Inspired by the Resilience program and featuring celebrities young people look up to such as Pixie Lott, Speech Debelle and footballe Shaun Wright Phillips, this is a great site full of videos, games and quizzes to engage people in citizenship and PSHE issues. Expert psychologist advice also makes this relevant to psychology classes. Here’s an example of one of the videos:
Making the Games is a new project designed for teenagers and as a resource for teachers. The site features individuals who have taken practical and vocational learning routes and are now helping to deliver the London 2012 Games.
There is a teachers’ section with ideas for using the site’s resources in the classroom. You can also find out more at the site’s accompanying Twitter account, which currently has a competition where you can win £50 music vouchers every week till the end of June and a trip to the Olympic Park for a group of ten.
The Speak up to your Teacher DVD was featured on Teaching News in February. The DVD offers a musical performance which encourages pupils to think about bullying and how they can help to stop it. Since my last post, the creators of the DVD have set up a new website which has lots of useful information.
The site has information about the DVDs and videos of the musical being performed in schools. There is also a useful online book with bullying advice for children, along with lesson ideas and resources for teachers.
Research by Samaritans shows that the pressure to achieve high marks is one of the biggest worries for nearly a third (30%) of young people aged 18-24. Exams can bring a whirlwind of emotions from panic and fear of failure to anxiety about the future, and students need to know they are not alone.
They may require a wealth of assistance but may not always feel they can approach members of staff at school. It’s therefore important that they know all school staff are there if needed. The personal experience of education staff can be of great encouragement and comfort to those who are struggling.
If you are worried about any of your students or they come to you for advice then youth mental health expert, Dr Mike Shooter has some useful points to remember: helping your students to prepare well in advance is key. Plan a session where you work through a revision plan together, making sure it is broken into manageable chunks; and encourage them to keep things in perspective. While we should remember the importance of exams, failure is not the end of the world and they are not their only chances at success in life.
Teachers and other education staff who want to join in a discussion on how they can support their students, can log onto a live webTV show where Dr Mike Shooter and student Edel Buggy (who did her A-levels last year) will be offering their advice and support.
Join them live online at www.studiotalk.tv on Thursday 27th May at 7pm to discuss exam stress.
Cancer Research UK is encouraging primary school pupils to learn how to enjoy the sun safely by taking part in the 2010 SunSmart Competition. You can win a state of the art shade canopy worth over £3,000 for your school playground. Key stage 1 and 2 pupils are eligible to enter and the deadline for entries is 18th June 2010.
To make it fun and easy for teachers to engage their pupils with the competition and learn about sun safety, the charity has also developed free classroom resources including a downloadable animation for interactive whiteboards, lesson plans, stickers and class worksheets. In addition to covering points on the PSHE syllabus, the competition activities and resources can also be tied into a school’s ‘creative curriculum’.
Friendship Funday is Save the Children’s national fundraising day in primary schools. They are on a mission to find schools that want to have fun, celebrate friendship, and help save children’s lives.
Your school can join the fun and:
enrich your teaching of children’s rights,
deliver aspects of the global citizenship curriculum,
strengthen the ‘friendly’ ethos of your school,
deliver on the Healthy Schools initiative and SEAL’s relationship-themed topic,
demonstrate the values of Every Child Matters.
More than 100,000 children have taken part in recent years. The online friendship is already buzzing with activity. Want to join them? Register online or call the charity on 020 7012 6400. Once registered, Save the Children will also send you stickers, posters and balloons and may be able to arrange for one of their volunteer speakers to visit your school –a perfect way to introduce their work and the difference your fundraising will make.
Here is a Youtube video showing how your Friendship Funday can help people in Kroo Bay, Sierra Leone.
As the summer weather approaches, many teachers will be thinking about ways of teaching children the importance of staying safe in the sun. Sunwise Learning is a new site offering games and activities for children, as well as lots of lesson ideas and resources for teachers.
As a teacher, you can also register for a free newsletter. Each week during the summer term the Funshine News will be delivered to teachers inboxes, packed full of links to teaching resources, sports news, jokes for the classroom, weather forecasts and much more. There is also a special competition where primary school children have to design a PE kit for The Sunwise Set who are NIVEA SUN’s ambassadors in school. The winning schools will win a personal visit by The Sunwise Set plus lots of other fun prizes.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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