October 2006 - Posts
Find this at http://www.editgrid.com/home
You can explore and create a spreadsheet with chart for free, and then register if you want to have your own workspace for saving things. With your spreadsheets and charts, you can keep them private for your own use, or allow public read/write access - (you mail the link from the file to friends/pupils).
I have only just discovered it and I am exploring its use for inter-colleague or inter-school collaboration. I have an idea that it could be very useful.Just not sure what the catch is!!
Carolyn ![Smile [:)]](/cs/emoticons/emotion-1.gif)
On a similar theme to the last posting, www.bekonscot.com/virtual_village/ is great fun, and a welcome alternative to MyWorld Make a Town. It fits into the Modelling (Year 1) and Simulation (Year 3) units, and possibly has some relevance in Geography!
Click a building or feature, then click on the map to place it. Click on the train to send it on its way. NB On the Options tab, you can turn off the irritating background sound, but you have to do this each time.
Helen
Follow this link
http://www.redbox.gov.uk/index.asp?AG=0 to a planning simulation with lots of scope for Upper Junior Financiers. (I went bankrupt several times before I got the hang of it!!) However, it may prompt for an ActiveX update before working.
http://www.arkiveeducation.org/
K. Brooker at York Road Juniors recommends this site as a rich source of information about different species. It's linked to Arkive, a source of copyright-free images dedicated to the preservation of endangered species. It also links to Planetarkive for 7-11 yr olds with games, factfiles, lesson plans and teaching ideas.
http://pbskids.org/ is another recommendation, with music, games and colouring activities, and an indexed teacher resources section.
Helen
Free posters, labels for topic displays and other materials are at:
http://www.schoolslinks.co.uk/resources_displays.htm
There's a wider selection for sale, but the free materials are plentiful.
Registration is required, but only takes a few minutes.
Helen
Here's a useful resource to complement a locality topic, or study of change since Victorian times.
http://www.spatial-literacy.org/UCLnames/Surnames.aspx
Enter a surname in the box. There is a choice of 1881 or 1998. Frequency is then plotted on a map of England, Scotland and Wales.
It's very revealing when tried with East Kent names, such as Burvill (as in Judy!). Gambrill is another, I'm told. Comparison between 1881 and 1998 is a good indicator of population mobility.
I'm from the West Midlands and I tried it with my great-great grandmother's name - Raybould. It gives a good indication of 20th C mobility. This makes me think that Kentish folk may have been less mobile in the 20th century, living on a peninsula and all that - there's an idea for your class to test!!
Of course not all pupils have British ancestry - see the last posting!! The 'frequency and ethnicity' link sheds light on origins. 'Geographical location' provides further information for anyone researching their family history.
Helen