Everyday Geographies

Geography and the Global Dimension

2011-11-03T19:52:00.002Z

We start the second year of this DfID funded project tomorrow at Wortley Hall, South Yorkshire. You'll find links to the PowerPoints that I'll be using over the weekend in the Slideshare banner to the right of this post. An online CPD unit and the outcomes from this project will be appearing on the Geographical Association website from December to July.

Celebrating 5 years of the Primary Geography Quality Mark

2011-02-19T17:43:00.000Z

Nine primary schools from across thse country came to Sheffield on Wednesday 16th February to help us to celebrate the PGQM fifth birthday. This is the first time that we've held an event that involved children from different primary schools and the day was hugely successful. The children behaved in such a mature way in our out of school environment and many of them said how good it had been to meet and work with children from different schools. I think it will be a day they remember for a long time. The youngest children were Year 2's (6 years old) while the oldest were eleven. Teachers and children worked together in different workshops which included: `Philosophy for Children (P4C), investigating chocolate and the Cote d'Ivoire and creating route maps on the back of T-Shirts. Our workshops were led by Anthony from St Peter's Smithills Dean Primary, Bolton; Arthur, Matthew and Laura from Liverpool Hope University and Ann, a freelance writer in education and P4C facilitator in Sheffield.

To find out more about the Primary Geography Quality Mark please go to http://www.geography.org.uk/eyprimary/primaryqualitymark/

Blipfoto: reading and creating photo journals

2010-10-21T21:41:00.001+01:00

I realise that I've been rather negligent of this blog since June and I'd just like to say that it's not all down to my new obsession with `Blipfoto'. I really have been very busy and when I get a few more minutes I'll share some of the ideas linked to my new project: Geography and the Global Dimension.

However - I have become a little obsessed with this photo-blogging or photo-journaling website since a friend told me about it. There are several things that appeal to me about the website: first it keeps me in touch with a friend who now lives in Spain and we can share some of the things that interest us (I know many people use Facebook to do this but I quite like the different `tone' of Blipfoto), second I can keep my own journal which I hope to be able to look back to in future years and third MOST IMPORTANT from my point of view is that I can read the journals and look at the images of people who live in and beyond the UK. Doreen Massey (OU Emeritus Professor of Geography) said something like `Space' is the meeting point of a thousand stories and Blipfoto certainly is that. One of my favourite journals is written by HPX who lives in New Zealand. It has felt quite a privilege to read her journal entries about the latest New Zealand earthquake and to gain a sense of how the earthquake has affected her and the people of Christchurch and district. I hadn't realised how long and how frequent the aftershocks of an earthquake can be. It has been a real eye-opener for me to read her entries and see the way she weaves in the normality of everyday life with the constant terrifying threat of what the next `rattler' might bring.

I also love the story of `Brian the Snail' - why not follow his adventures for the rest of the week. I think this very simple tellingof a photo-story is something that we could use with children.

Where's the path

2010-10-21T21:10:00.001+01:00

Many thanks to teacher advisers in Stockport for showing me this website. This is a fantastic site if you want to compare a map and aerial view. View `Where's the path' >>>

Mountain views taken in Banff - Using Microsoft Photosynth

2010-06-25T10:19:00.001+01:00

Mike McSharry has recently returned from a holiday in Banff, Canada and had put together this great shot using the FREE software from Microsoft called Photosynth.

You can find out more about how to do this on his blog: http://mikemcsharry.com/2009/11/12/leicestershire-photosynths/

Primary History & Geography National Conference in Manchester - 15th June 2010

2010-06-16T06:46:00.002+01:00

The GA (Geographical Association) and HA (Historical Association) ran a very successful primary conference in Manchester yesterday. Photographs from two of the geography sessions (which was held at The Hive in Lever Street) can be accessed by clicking on the photograph. You are welcome to download photographs from my Picasa page (I know some people in the afternoon event were interested in obtaining photographs of the mapping activity to use with their students). I will be updating my PowerPoint presentation and making this available shortly.

In the footsteps of Katie Morag

2010-06-01T14:30:00.003+01:00

I'm just back from a week away on the remote Scottish Island of Coll, the inspiration for the setting of the Katie Morag stories, written and illustrated by Mairi Hedderwick. I've always had a soft spot for the Katie Morag books and also for the artwork of Mairi Hedderwick which can also be found in her books for adults. I particularly enjoyed `An eye on the Hebrides' . If Katie Morag is new to you - try the Random House - Katie Morag website.

`Katie Morag and the Two Grandmothers' was used as the basis for a KS1 scheme of work for Year 2 children called `An island home' (though looking at it now I can see that it is both dated and rather uninspiring). I always did think that `Katie Morag delivers the mail' and `Katie Morag and the new pier' provide a much better geographical insight of her island.

Visiting Coll has brought home to me the historical setting of these books and how much the island has changed since `Katie Morag's' time. It's also made me think about how important it is to remember that Struay, the fictional island that Katie lives on is not Coll, though Mairi Hedderwick cleverly incorporates many of the features of Coll into her map of Struay. Why not download the map from the Random House website and have a look.

I've begun to add some of my own images of Coll onto my Flickr website and also to have a look at other websites that feature the island.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Any study of geeography is best enhanced by asking geographical questions. Why not use the websites below to help you discover:

What Coll is like
How the island landscape, environment, climate, location influence what people do there
How the island is changing
How people who live on the island seek to enhance and protect their environment

My first choice would be Google Earth (GE) or alternatively Google Maps if you don't want to download GE onto your computer. Street View is now available for the island which gives a very good `sense of place'. Additional photographs from the Panoramio website show places that the Google streetview camera misses - so lots of useful resources to complement a study of `Island Life'.

Geograph would be my second recommended website - people have been very busy uploading their images onto this site. The `OS photo locator map' on the site is very interesting because it shows the popular places for taking photos. It also shows places where no photographs have been taken (something incredibly rare in the Geograph world). The absence of photographs occurs where there are no footpaths and the islands terrain is made up of moorland, rocky outcrops and boggy hollows - the inaccessibility of some areas of countryside is something you could share with children.

There are several island websites that I've found very useful. Visit Coll has wonderful photographs as well as lots of information about the island. You can also download a pdf brochure about the island from I Love Coll. I've also found a website/ blog set up by Annette Pyrah (which sounds like a good Yorkshire name to me): Isle of Coll Cottage which I've enjoyed and which has provided me with links to the history and wildlife of the island.

I'm in the process of trying to put an article together for Primary Geographer magazine - so more on Coll to follow.

Please let me know if you find any of this useful.

Open Data: new map site from the Ordnance Survey

2010-04-02T17:43:00.000+01:00

The Ordnance Survey has now made some of their map data freely available for viewing, download and embedding into other web projects.

You can read more about this project on the Guardian website >>>>

I've had a very quick look this afternoon and I'm not totally sure how useful I'll find it - though it may be too early days yet. I started with Street View, a very attractive street map, which I've used very successfully with children during the OS/BECTA map pilot for schools. The map displays very quickly but in a long narrow band which restricts visibility.

I tried downloading the SE grid square (100k square) and as this turned out to be 800+mb in size I quickly stopped downloading on my very slow broadband connection.

I'm sure that I need to give this website a little more time yet but as I can access OS 1:25000 and 1:50000 maps via BING maps (and these display at full screen size) I'm not entirely sure what use I'll make of the OS map data yet.

For secondary schools however, OS has made available different data sets which will work with GIS software which should make obtaining this data much easier than at present.

New resources for primary geography on the Geographical Association website

2010-03-31T06:10:00.000+01:00

The latest resource for primary geography has just been published on the GA website. Though these are called CPD units they contain lots of practical ideas for teaching primary geography and are well worth exploring.

This unit brings together geography with creative writing:
"This CPD unit will help you to engage children in quality geography through senses-based creative writing. In the three classroom sessions detailed here, children will get to write about their own journeys to school and compare these with journeys in other parts of the world, culminating in a performance piece."

Visit the Geographical Association Young Geographers Go Global page to find out more >>>>

Where in the World?

2010-03-20T18:13:00.001Z

An excellent example of children using Google Earth to explore the Amazon Rainforest appears on `Techno Stories'

Bev writes, `On this occassion we were using Google Earth as a research tool using the ‘Global Awareness’ layer to investigate websites and organisations with links in this area.' Read the blog post to find out more >>>>

Sharing Ideas for the New Primary Curriculum - `The Curriculum Catalyst'

2010-03-14T07:55:00.001Z

Tom Barrett has recently initiated a very interesting project which he calls `The Curriculum Catalyst'. The idea is that interested teachers/ practioners (from around the world) collaborate via online voting and Google Docs to choose a particular `theme'. The most popular idea is then chosen and everyone is invited to share their ideas. The first theme is `Sea Life' which has sparked quite a few ideas in my own head, though I found myself gravitating to the idea of `Oceans, seas and sea-life' as this lends itself much more to geographical (and historical) thinking too. I also wanted to encourage an `enquiry' approach to learning as I feel I'm seeing far too little of this in those schools where I have had recent contact. The New Primary Curriculum emphasises `Learning and Thinking Skills' as making a significant contribution to `Essentials for learning and life' and geography can have a significant role to play in helping children to think through the issues that we face in the world today. I also think that Philosophy for Children (P4C) has much to contribute to the development of thinking through issues and can encourage high levels of debate in the classroom. This prompted me to come up with one of my ideas, i.e. `Is it right for us to eat wild fish caught in the ocean?' What kind of ideas do you have for the New Primary Curriculum and how could you be involved in sharing them with others?

You can find out more and join in with the project by visiting Tom Barrett's Blog >>>>

Are you new to coordinating geography?

2010-03-10T17:22:00.001Z

We held the second of our 2010 Quality Geography Conferences in Sheffield yesterday. It was good to meet so many teachers, some of whom had travelled quite a way. There were quite a few teachers who had recently been given the role of geography coordinator by their schools and this day was not really aimed at them. I think very practical ideas for going out and `doing’ geography might have served them better but unfortunately this was never the intended purpose of this particular day. The real problem is that outside London there are not enough courses about `primary geography’ for teachers to choose from. Thinking about the needs of coordinators new to the role prompted me to put together a few ideas.

In the past I’ve shared the attached sheet on my new coordinators courses - Ten Tips for Effective Subject Co-ordination in the Humanities which is aimed at supporting new coordinators to think realistically about what they can achieve.

If you or your school are GA members you should be receiving the Primary Geography journal. I tend to have a pile of these magazines, which I’ve built up over the years, and flicking through them I can usually find something that sparks my interest. Sometimes I look online for back issues – you will need your school membership log-on to access these: http://www.geography.org.uk/Journals/Journals.asp?journalID=2 If you haven’t got it I guess someone in school should be able to help (if you are a GA member).

In terms of websites – I always recommend that people start with the Young Geographers project as these ideas were developed and implemented by practising teachers – there are lots of ideas for Early Years as well as others for KS2: http://www.geography.org.uk/projects/younggeographers/resources/

If you prefer something in book format then for Early Years and KS1 I’d highly recommend:

The Early Years Handbook (Foundation Stage) - http://www.geography.org.uk/shop/shop_detail.asp?ID=449&section=2

And for KS1: http://www.geography.org.uk/search.asp?searchfor=Primary+Project+Box&searchin=shop This can now be bought at a much reduced price as a curriculum box for all of KS1 or as individual units.

I still like `a sense of place’ (BELAIR), by Barbara Hume, Frances James and Ann Kerr – though published in 2005 it is one of those books that has lots of really useful ideas in pictures and words. I’ve used it quite a lot in the past. It’s available from Amazon – New from £5.99 and second hand for approx. £3.00 with p.p.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0947882537/sr=8-2/qid=1268202147/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&qid=1268202147&sr=8-2&seller=

The Primary Subjects leaflets have lots of ideas and can be accessed for free from the member’s only site of the GA: http://www.geography.org.uk/eyprimary/primarysubjects/ I’m attaching the latest one on Geography & Story.

You can find more about using `story/ picture books’ on this blog.

Young Geographers Go Local

2010-03-06T15:29:00.000Z

A new set of resources to help you teach about your `Local Area' is now available from the Geographical Association website.

There are lots of ideas here to help you get started with using ICT and digital mapping in the context of your school grounds and local area. I chose to focus on how children `felt' about their local area in order to engage them directly with their `everyday geographical experience'. Please don't be put off by the `online cpd' label on the GA website - these are all practical ideas that have been shared elsewhere on this blog.

Access this resource at: Young geographers Go Local

A view from the top!

2010-03-06T14:49:00.003Z

We went up on the Sheffield `Big Wheel' yesterday for the first time as we felt the weather was quite good. The aerial photos are on Flickr - not great images as the light was dodgier than I thought and the perspex exterior of the carriage was badly scratched.

There was a whole lot of drama around Coles (John Lewis) (yesterday) with fire engines as well as a BBC mobile unit (which was on the spot by sheer coincidence). Apparently there was a small electrical fire in perfumery - info courtesy of the Sheffield Forum where you can find out much you want to know and very definitely a whole heap that you never needed to know - especially from anonymous writers.

Leading the way in primary geography

2010-03-05T11:32:00.003Z

I'm running a series of conference at the moment focused on `Quality Geography' and the Primary Geography Quality Mark and have been doing some additional thinking about subject leadership for a conference seminar, held at the Birmingham NEC, yesterday. In practice this proved to be a bit like performing in the middle of a circus ring with the whole Education Show going on around me - not really my style! I did meet some very nice and positive people who smiled at me and nodded just when I needed the reassurance. I've just been looking up the word `seminar' in an online dictionary and the following definition: `any meeting for an exchange of ideas', is much closer to my own understanding of the word than anything that was possible yesterday.

Leading the way in Primary Geography

View more presentations from Geoprimary.

I've become really interested in the idea of `leadership and vision' and the way this can help to shape the kind of curriculum we offer children. Having a vision for what we want to teach and why within a subject context is going to become increasingly important as we move towards a more integrated curriculum following the Rose Review. If this doesn't make sense as a freestanding PowerPoint I'll be very happy to chat about it if you want to contact me or leave a comment here.

As part of the session I also introduced this interactive `Nine Number Grid' to explore the idea of what contributes to `distinctly geographical activity'.

What is geography?

View more presentations or Upload your own.

A CPD unit designed to support Primary Geography Subject Leadership, written in collaboration with Paula Owens, has just been launched on the Geographical Association website. We'd love to hear from you if you find any parts of it useful.

Learning about Australia at St Andrews Primary School, Weston. Mrs Collins Blog!

2010-02-02T09:26:00.001Z

It great to read about the fantastic work Mrs Collins did with her class on Australia. They were fortunate to have Dan, who comes from Canberra, to correspond with via video clips. Have a look at their work - there are some some great cross curricular ideas. I'm particularly interested in seeing work about Australia at the moment as I'm in the process of writing a KS1 geography toolkit for the GA (Geographical Association). let me know if you've been working on an Australia theme.

Why not check out their blog for yourself >>>

New look three column blog

2010-01-21T09:31:00.000Z

I was acquiring so many widgets that I seemed to scroll down the page forever and I've been thinking for sometime that it was time to re-structure the blog page. I'd like to thank Three Column Blogger for the very clear instructions on how to amend the HTML code. I've searched around the internet for help and this is the site I'd recommend. I did have initial problems because my Twitter widget was too wide for the revamped site but having sorted that everything else seems to have worked OK.

NASA UK Snow map and Climate Change

2010-01-20T09:28:00.002Z

I've just read this blog post from Robin Butler on the Ashden Directory Blog site. It focuses on all of the interest generated around climate change by the recent publication of the NASA snowmap. It's well worth reading. You can access it on the Ashden Directory >>>>

The Ashden Directory is a new find for me and well worth reading.

My Place, Your Place, Our Place

2010-01-15T16:35:00.003Z

My Place, Your Place, Our Place
Sustainability and community cohesion are ideas at the forefront of educational agendas but what do they mean in practice for learners in primary education? This family of courses explores the relationships between identity and place by drawing on some key geographical processes and understanding.

Find out more >>>>

Cool Tools for Schools

2010-01-15T16:24:00.002Z

Thanks to Alan, a work colleagues (who will be in the thick of BETT right now), for sharing `Cool Tools for Schools' on the pages of Webwatch in the latest edition of the GA Magazine. It's great to have a list of all of these useful WEB 2 tools in one place.Some of these I already use, for example I've just discovered ISSU for publishing which I think is amazing.

Create a virtual landscape

2010-01-15T10:32:00.002Z

Create virtual landscapes with `This is sand' pixels drop like grains of sand or snow - change colour and create new patterns. The gallery has some wonderful examples. When it loads the page looks grey and blank - there's a small box on the top left - click on it for instructions. Thanks to Bev on Technostories for this idea.

Jewel of Muscat - a new website

2010-01-13T15:05:00.002Z

`Videos, photos and information on how Oman and Singapore are reconstructing a 9th-century Arab ship.'

It's great to find a website that can help children in the UK understand a little about how trade and exploration happened in other parts of the world. This one focuses on the reconstruction and sea voyage of a traditional Muscat trading ship. There's an interactive trading game that children will enjoy. It will introduce them to trading ports in Asia that they might never have heard of. The educational activities I looked at appear rather limited in scope - but this is still early days for this site. There is much here to recommend and I think it will grow into a very useful resource. Click here to view >>>

UK snow 2009 - field boundaries tessellate in the landscape below.

2010-01-10T17:32:00.005Z

Snowy landscape, originally uploaded by wendyn56.

Taken on a BA flight from Manchester to Heathrow - see previous post.

River Thames - photographed on flight from Manchester to Heathrow

2010-01-10T17:23:00.004Z

River Thames, London, originally uploaded by wendyn56.

We leave Crane Moor at 5am, black ice shining in the orange glow of the street light as we set off across the Pennines. Arriving in Manchester we find rain.

Flight from Manchester to Heathrow

Soggy greens and browns appear as we take off … quickly followed by field patterns that tessellate black and white below.

Twenty minutes into our journey the River Thames comes into view and familiar London landmarks appear below.

Finally we arrive at Heathrow airport – Terminal 5 where flashing screens and pink butterflies distract us while we wait.

(These photographs were taken in February 2009 en-route to India. They form part of the India collection that I'm slowly uploading to Flickr. I thought that teachers might find them useful as some of them show field and settlements patterns in the snow below. There are also some very useful images of landmarks along the River Thames.)

UK Snow - NASA satellite view from the University of Dundee

2010-01-07T19:41:00.006Z

http://www.dundee.ac.uk/pressreleases/2010/prjan10/snow.htm

This must almost be a once in a lifetime view of the UK from space as it is so very rare for the whole of the UK to be covered in snow.

The satellite view from the University of Dundee can be downloaded from their website. You will need to register to obtain a password.

Once you have your password try looking in the gallery section. If you are a non weather techie, like me, I think you will still find some images that make you go WOW!!

Heights of Mountains, Lengths of Rivers

2010-01-07T16:45:00.002Z

If you are studying Mountain Environments or need maps of the US or historical maps of the UK and Europe it would be worth checking out David Rumseys Map Collection. It's a fantastic website and there is lots here that will interest primary and secondary teachers.

NEW Website: Global Gardens

2010-01-06T17:47:00.003Z

This is a new website jointly produced by the Reading International Solidarity Centre and Tessa Willy of Roehampton University. It is very clearly set out and there are very useful links to other publications as well as framework that will guide you through developing a curriculum that incorprates the `global garden'. Highly recommended.

http://www.risc.org.uk/gardens/globalgardens.php

BBC News Audio Slideshow: Life on the water

2010-01-05T20:52:00.002Z

http://ne

ws.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8411943.stm

This is a really good short audio slideshow of the Can Tho floating market in the Mekong delta. Short stories of three (4) peoples lives.

Helping children to understand the diversity of India

2010-01-01T17:46:00.002Z

The popularity of the QCA schemes of work has meant that many schools have introduced their children to Chembakolli. Alongside this village study I've encouraged teachers to study Bangalore as this is the nearest large city to Chembakolli. Earlier in the year I visited the city as part of a teacher's study visit. I've recently added some additional images to my Bangalore set on Flickr and I've also created a Google map to show the locations where photographs were taken.

View Snapshots of Bangalore in a larger map

Video tutorials for Web2 applications - including Etherpad

2009-12-30T14:35:00.003Z

PrimaryPete (Twitter @primarypete_) has produced a set of very helpful videos on using Web2 technology. The link is to his tutorial on using Etherpad - he also has videos on how to use Photostory3, Wordle and a whole host of others - why not check him out.

Updating my Flickr pages with images stored on my computer

2009-12-30T10:57:00.005Z

I've been spending some time over Christmas adding images to Flickr. I've got thousands of images stored on my computer (most of which are backed up elsewhere).

Apparently there are now more digital photographs in the world than house bricks!!

You can view my latest updated images within the Flickr badge at the top of the left column. This provides a direct link to my Flickr pages.

Chembakolli - a village in India

2009-12-29T20:16:00.011Z

We used drama, sense impressions, art, creative writing & data handling to help year 3 & 4 children to gain a sense of what it might be like to live in ` A Village in India'. Originally taught in 2002, this geography unit set out to embrace citizenship, art & drama and speaking & listening which fit very well with the broader approach to developing a `creative curriculum'. I created a website to share resources (though some of the pictures that I sourced from the internet are now looking very dated). The activity plan for the unit can be downloaded from the website.

I've now provided an update for this unit by creating a chart to show where the learning acitivities fit into the >>>> (click on the red text) New Primary Curriculum (NC 2011).

You can download this from here.

Silvepura - A village in India

2009-12-29T20:02:00.005Z

Silvepura is small village in Karnataka State, 28 kms NW of Bangalore, India. It is a largely Christian village which is unusual for this part of India. I've just been creating cpations for a new photopack for India that will be available in the New Year from the Geographical Association. It felt really good to re-visit these images and to be reminded of our very special visit to India.

CABE: Education grant winners 2009-10

2009-12-22T10:28:00.004Z

At the end of 2009, six schools were awarded CABE education grants of £1,500 to support imaginative teaching about architecture and the built environment.

CABE is the government’s advisor on architecture, urban design and public space.

If you haven't come across them before their RESOURCES are well worth a look as most are FREE.

Christmas Greetings

2009-12-21T19:42:00.003Z

Christmas looks like being a white one for us this year. It snowed quite a bit on Sunday afternoon and then cold weather (from continental Europe) looks like keeping the temperature around freezing. I've been experimenting with some publishing software called ISSUU which I think is great. Christmas Greeting to all.

Ideas for using images

2009-12-21T16:14:00.004Z

Lots of good ideas for using images in this Google presentation - though not all of these ideas are focused on geography (a few are) many to them can be adapted. Why not share some of your own ideas and help to build this resource. It was started by Anthony Evans of Redbridge LA. He'd welcome your ideas too!

UK Snow - track the current snow storm in the UK

2009-12-20T20:18:00.005Z

I've been fascinated by a website that uses a Google map to track the current snow in the UK. You can help to track the course of the snow as it crosses the UK by posting to Twitter.

Click on the link to be taken to >>>> UKsnow

West & South Yorkshire Primary Geography Champions

2009-12-15T14:01:00.003Z

As the new Primary Geography Champion for West and South Yorkshire I am very keen to develop networks of teachers who can share creative ideas for geography.

The Primary Champions have been recruited from across England and support primary geography through an online Networking site or NING.

There are lots of good ideas for teaching primary geography on this site already. People share ideas in the form of `blogs’ which appear on the home page and there are some particular contributors that I would highly recommend you follow. My favourite being the The Hampshire Primary Geography Network which is run by Sharon Witt.

I’ve now set up a group page for West & South Yorkshire.

See the full flyer below. Click on the page (and then again if you want to enlarge further).

The Story Of Cap & Trade

2009-12-12T08:43:00.005Z

I have lots of personal reservations about leaving carbon management in the hands of big business. This US video explains the process in a way that makes sense to me though I'm not sure everyone would agree.

The Story of Cap & Trade from Story of Stuff Project on Vimeo.

What do you think?

`Copenhagen Climate Conference' - at what age should we start to focus on `climate change' with primary aged children?

2009-12-11T18:03:00.004Z

Climate Change is very much at the forefront of everyones mind at the moment and we've been thinking about what we have available on the GA website to support primary teachers. Not much is the simple answer. While searching the web I came across a very interesting article by Leo Hickman in the Guardian. Why don't we stop hurting the planet?

Leo has just written a new book called, `Will Jellyfish Rule the World?'

As I find suitable website I'm starting to list them on Twitter - see bottom left column of this website or on Twitter @primarygeog

Who Do We Think We Are? Week 21st – 27th June 2010 Exploring Identity, Diversity and Citizenship

2009-12-08T15:57:00.006Z

Who Do We Think We Are? Week 2010 - Grants for Schools Now Open

Grants of up to £500 are available for schools to develop activities linked to the ‘Who Do We Think We Are?’ Week programme for 2010 (www.wdwtwa.org.uk).

Who Do We Think We Are? is an annual programme of advice and curriculum support that helps schools explore the issues of identity, diversity and citizenship at the local and national scales through four key themes:

• School and community
• Relationships, belonging and faith
• History and settlement
• Britishness, national identity/values and the 2012 Games

The programme culminates in a national week of events and activities taking place in the week of 21st – 27th June 2010. During 2009, the project awarded 10 grants to maintained schools across the English regions to develop activities. Projects explored issues of identity, diversity and citizenship, involved students and people of all ages, across many diverse British communities and served to highlight the ties that bind us together in our local communities and nationally.
As part of ‘Who Do We Think We Are? Week’ 2010, schools are again being offered the opportunity to apply for grants of up to £500 to develop activities linked to the focus week. Further details of the application process can be obtained by visiting: http://www.wdwtwa.org.uk/news/1536/grants-for-schools-now-open.html. Applications will be accepted until 12th February and should be submitted to the Project Officer at wdwtwa@rgs.org .

Finding high quality images for geography

2009-10-30T16:55:00.003Z

I prepared this PowerPoint for my seminar at the TES Education Show in London (02/10/09) and then decided that I didn't have time to share it - so I've chosen to share it here instead.

Photographs for geography

View more presentations from Geoprimary.

Flip Flotsom - exploring the idea of sustainability through the journey of the humble flip-flop in Kenya

2009-10-27T18:15:00.007Z

I've just come across this poem and video on YouTube (though you may know it as it's been around since at least 2003). I think both are wonderful - the poem and video are lyrical explorations of what happens to a `flip-flop' from the time it is manufactured to the time it is recycled.

Flip Flotsam

This is the beach
where the flip flops come
at the end of their
flip flop trip.

And where does a
flip flop trip begin?

the floor of a flip flop factory;
on the shelf of a flip flop shop;
or the foot of a flip flop fan?

See Elspeth Murrays website for a full version of the poem (and lots more too!) She sounds really great and has done lots of work in schools.

You will find the video on You Tube

This video is also available from Jouneyman Pictures who have lots of documentary videos available to support geography though not all are suitable for primary children.)

50 plus Creatively Simple Ways to Teach Primary Geography

2009-10-21T10:49:00.007+01:00

Following in the footsteps of Tom Barrett and Tony Cassidy I've started a collaborative Google Presentation. The idea behind this is that people with an interest in sharing ideas for Primary Geography work together to pool ideas. SO I NEED YOU TO SHARE TOO! There are two ways you can do this - preferably you send me your e-mail contact address and I add you as a collaborator so that you can edit the Google Doc. If you don't feel very confident about this then please send me your idea and I will add it myself. I'd like this to be a collaborative endeavour - please contribute. e-mail: wnorth@geography.org.uk

Primary Geography Champions

2009-10-09T12:35:00.001+01:00

Visit Geography Champions

Why not join us on the site - we're trying to establish this network to support teachers in the UK and beyond.

Map IT Picture IT Write IT - Course Handouts

2009-10-03T17:26:00.004+01:00

Course handouts and the City of the Week powerpoint that were shared at my seminar (see next post below) can be accessed via the following links:

Download Course Handouts below:

1. MapIt PictureIt WriteIt - website guide

2. A Guide to creating maps using Quikmaps

3. Conversations between characters `At the skatepark'

4. A Different View:Images and Activities

5. Four senses frame (see, hear, smell, feel or touch)

6. What's in the square (Nine Number Grid)

7. City of the week PowerPoint Presentation You will need to download this presentation from the Slideshare website in order for the links to work.

`MapIT Picture IT Write IT' seminar at the 2009 TES Education Show in London

2009-10-03T12:07:00.015+01:00

It was really good to meet everyone at my seminar session at Olympia yesterday and absolutely fantastic to meet so many people who are enthusiastic about geography. I've updated the PowerPoint and credited photographers & schools where appropriate. I'll send everyone who left me their e-mail address a copy of the PowerPoint (probably later this week) and I'll also be sending you an invitation to join the Primary Geography Champions NING - though if you don't want to wait you can click on the link above and register today. If you'd like to contact me directly my contact details are on the Geographical Association website.

The PowerPoint has been split into two halves to make the download size more manageable:

Map It Picture It Write It Part 1

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Map It Picture It Write It (Part 2)

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Japanese Anenome, Garden August 2009

2009-08-15T17:47:00.002+01:00

Garden August 2009 Japanese Anenome, originally uploaded by wendyn56.

I'm taking a well earned rest from geography for a few weeks over the summer. I've been experiementing with close up flower shots in the garden. I thought it was time that I used a few different settings on the SLR rather than using it in program mode all of the time. I was quite pleased with some of these images so I've added them onto my Flickr site.

Starting with geography: using picture books to plan an integrated topic in the primary school

2009-07-25T08:35:00.006+01:00

If you are looking for alternative starting points for planning an integrated topic in the primary school – then a picture book could provide a very accessible way in. I think this particular book could provide a starting point for Year 2’s (6-7 year olds) to Year 4 or maybe even Year 5 (8 – 10 year olds).

First the book that you choose has to have a strong geographical theme running through it. My chosen book, `What if …’ is about recycling so it fits very nicely into the theme of ESD (Environment & Sustainable Development). This is a theme that is shared equally strongly with science and also with citizenship. So we have a very good basis for a geography/science/citizenship integrated topic.

Now I realise that all over the land in the world of the English primary school the words `we’re delivering a skills based curriculum’ are currently `hot’ but I want to argue here for thinking about concepts. We need to start with the `big ideas’ of a subject.

I want to start by explaining how to do this where geography is the lead subject. First I developed a planning grid of empty boxes with headings that focus on both geography’s `big ideas’. In terms of `big ideas’ I want to highlight PLACE, SPACE & SCALE as being the most important for primary geography though you’ll notice in my planning grid that I’ve linked together `place & scale’ and then `location & space’. On the exemplar sheet I’ve prioritised `environmental interaction (including ESD)’ as this is essentially what the book is about. Though I’ve also included `interdependence & connectedness’ – two very important ideas that were largely neglected in the current English National Curriculum programmes of study for geography, and then `changing human & physical processes’ and `cultural understanding & diversity’. On the blank planning sheet I have left the boxes under `curriculum links’ blank. Though as I read through the text of `What if …’ I realised that the book also embraced art, science and citizenship – so I added these headings onto my sheet.

So how did I use the planning sheet?

First I read through the book and listed all of the ideas that the book suggested to me. These are in black type.

Next I looked at these ideas and though about `activities’ and the kind of ideas that might be developed into activities and I listed these in blue type.

I haven’t done the next stage – but what I would do next is to choose three or four of these ideas/activities and develop them into an outline for a medium term plan.

If anyone uses this idea and adapts it for use with their own class I’d love to hear how it goes. Please add a comment or get in touch by e-mail. You’ll find contact details on the Geographical Association website.

`What If ...' start with a book

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Using picture books to develop geographical ideas

2009-07-24T11:01:00.003+01:00

When teaching an integrated curriculum it is important to understand how the `big ideas’ from different curriculum subject or area can contribute the developing children’s understanding of the world.

Place space and interconnectedness are three of geography’s `big ideas’. Here they are used in conjunction with `key questions’ to help you plan the geography component of a study starting with a picture book that has a strongly geographical theme.

Using Picture Books to develop Geographical Ideas

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Using story: `One World’ by Michael Foreman

2009-07-24T09:46:00.003+01:00

One World

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Starting from Picture Books – The Sea and Coast

2009-07-24T09:37:00.003+01:00

Approaching curriculum planning with GEOGRAPHY and CREATIVITY in mind:

Use the books to provide you with the outline plan for a short or medium term unit. Three books that could provide a useful starting point for a KS1 & lower KS2 link ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY through GEOGRAPHY & SCIENCE.

One World, Michael Foreman 0-09-983480-4
High Tide, Low Tide, Mick Manning & Brita Grandström 0-7496-4181-9
The Rockpool, David Bellamy & Jill Dow 0-7112-1386-0

Use the book in conjunction with an outline planning frame to identify key learning concepts that will be the focus of work with your class. An exemplar frame has been provided for `What if? (Mick Manning & Brita Grandström)

Decide which are the two/ three most important geographical concepts listed on the frame. These will form the basis of the children’s learning so highlight them. Do the same for other subjects. The time that you are able to devote to this unit/project will influence your choice.

Identify additional resources that will help you provide more in-depth learning in relation to identified concepts.

Plan activities to support learning.

WHOLE SCHOOL PLANNING

To ensure whole school continuity and progression you will need to identify where key geographical concepts will be taught by each class in school and map this onto your whole school plan.

Making Geography Happen

2009-07-17T17:20:00.010+01:00

The photograph that forms the new banner for this blog was taken at a recent meeting of the `Making Geography Happen' group. This project, set up by the Geographical Association, involves teachers from two secondary schools and three primary schools. The teachers involved have been devising and teaching geography themes designed to motivate learning and to demonstrate how good teaching `can make geography happen' in classrooms.

To find out `what works' the teachers have involved their pupils in the evaluation. They have also been looking at what things help children progress in their geographical understanding.

I particularly liked this Year 7 (11-12 years) project on `The school of the air' in Alice Springs. One very motivational element of the project was the final presentation where pupils were encouraged to present their `reflection logs'in any way they chose. There were crocodiles with tongues that unravelled to show the logs. Rugby balls that opened up and even a `shopping trolley'.

Ideas and resources from this project will form a new section of the Geographical Association website. I'll put up a new post when the project goes online.

Nelamangala Market

2009-05-21T11:04:00.007+01:00

We visited the market during our visit to Southern India in February this year. (This is a my experiment to find out what happens when I embed a Flickr slideshare into this blog.)

Dual Maps

2009-05-18T20:41:00.006+01:00

Dual Maps is a stunning combination of StreetView Google Maps and Virtual Earth. Thank you to Noel Jenkins for sharing this website. I think it's great!

A new photo pack for Chembakolli

2009-05-09T16:01:00.009+01:00

Action Aid recently published a new photo-pack for Chembakolli: Life in an Indian Village.

This is definitely the best photo-pack of the village to date. I really like the way that the writers of the pack have chosen to combine a full sized photograph on one side of a card with information and photographs on the reverse as this really helps us to see `the story' behind the picture. Something that I feel is crucial element of any resource on distant place.

I usually look at the photographs in a pack with a fairly critical eye, even more so since my recent visit to Southern India. The photographs in this pack are of good quality and show very positive images of the people who live in the area. These photocards also raise a number of issues about the lives of people in the village which could usefully be explored using a 'Philosophy for Children' approach. If you are still using the original pack and want to continue to teach about village life in India, then this pack is very worth considering.

You can find out more about this resource on the Action Aid website.

Further details can be found on the Action Aid website. If you order by the end of May you will get £10 off the catalogue price by placing a telephone order on 01460 23 8000 and quoting "Gudalur".

Mapping Images the Digital Way

2009-04-18T05:38:00.006+01:00

I'm sharing the presentation that I created for my workshop at our recent conference in Manchester. My aim when preparing the presentation was to create slides with links to other useful web-sites and to provide one or two `how to ...' sections. These include `How to locate images that have been shared under the Creative Commons Licence' on Flickr' and a slightly updated version of creating a `Google My Map'.

Mapping images the digital way

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Getting ready for the GA Conference in Manchester

2009-04-13T09:47:00.007+01:00

I've just about completed my presentation for the Geographical Association Conference in Manchester (17th - 18th April).

I'm running a session called `Mapping Images the Digital Way' as an introduction for teachers to the use of online image galleries and online mapping. The central aim is to create a `My Walks' map using Google `My Maps' and to introduce the Northumbria University website called My Walks.

I'm currently experimenting with the integration of the Google suite of programmes and this post is a result of `clicking on' the Blog link at the bottom of the Picasa 3 editing page. I think Picasa is one of the best of the free photo-editing tool and it now comes with some great new features, for example a simple tool to create a video from still images. Because it is so straightforward to use I will be recommending it for simple editing projects in the classroom.

As the focus of the session is on creating digital maps to display the location of photographs I will be demonstrating how easy it is to drag images from the online gallery onto the online Google Map. I intend to use my Dartmouth collection to demonstrate how easy this is.

Silvepura a village in India

2009-03-29T07:36:00.012+01:00

I'm slowly trying to sort out my ideas and thinking about my visit to India. I've begun to add images to my Flickr India gallery.

As someone who likes to be able to locate places on maps one of my first activity has been to build a customised map of the locality of Silvepura using Google `My Maps' which you can see on the left. (Click on the link above to be taken to the website.) This is a work in progress and I intend to keep adding images to this and possibly some short personal `stories' too.

Cat and Caroline wrote a`blog' for the children in their school while we were still in India which gives a wonderful sense of our visit.

I kept a journal while we were in India and I'm slowly adding some of my journal entries to my other blog site, Primary Geography.

Originally I set this second site up because I wanted to learn how to use Edublogs. I think Edublogs is probably a more trusted site for use with children I decided to use this site as a way of sharing my experiences of people and places around the world and hope some of the ideas and entries might prove valuable.

In the Picture

2009-03-13T14:10:00.008Z

Last Monday (9th March) saw me supporting a group of Wakefield NQT's to use digital images in their teaching of the humanities.

I have been developing activities around the use of ICT frames for some years now. The idea being that the teacher inserts an appropriate image into a pre-created ICT framework.

I wrote a CPD unit on this theme a couple of years ago which can be viewed at Geography Teaching Today website and I've added other resources at various times to the Geographical Association website under the heading Visual Geography

In my introduction to the day I shared with the teachers some thinking about the links between visual literacy and print based literacy, drawing on an chapter in the GA Primary Geography handbook that was written by Margaret Mackintosh. You can view the introductory PowerPoint below:

In the Picture: developing visual literacy through geography and history

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New networking site for Geography

2009-03-08T12:14:00.007Z

My energies in terms of blogging have had to be shared out recently as the Geographical Association here in the UK now has a geography networking site and I've been busy sharing ideas, photographs and resources on this new Geography NING. This site now has almost 500 members from the UK and abroad - why not have a look. You will need to join before you can gain access, though this is a relatively simple thing to do. Click on the link above to be taken to the appropriate web-page >>> GEOGRAPHICAL NING

Teacher Study Visit to Silvepura in India

2009-03-08T11:52:00.006Z

I've just returned from a teacher study visit at The Sangam in Silvepura (approximately 25 kms NW of Bangalore). This was my first visit to India and I've returned to the UK absolutely wowed and determined to go back.

The village of Silvepura is well away from the normal tourist haunts though the villagers are well used to seeing European visitors because of strong links between the village church and European churches.

Early on in the visit Imo Sahi (one of our hosts) suggested that we all went and found ourselves a spot in the village where we could observe the life of the village without necessarily having to interact directly. Perhaps we might sit and sketch she suggested. I'm not sure whether she's ever tried doing this in the village (or anywhere else for that matter) because the minute you start to draw you invariably collect a crowd of onlookers. These were my onlookers. Several of them contributed sketches of their own to my notebook. By the time this photograph was taken I'd resorted to taking photographs and showing the children their image in the viewer on the back of the camera. Both adults and children are very happy to have their photo taken so that they can have a look at themselves. Seeing themselves in the back of the camera proved to be an occasion to celebrate for everyone concerned.

I've returned with a huge number of resources which I'm now considering how to use. More to follow.

Crane Moor in the snow

2009-02-05T18:44:00.003Z

Crane Moor in the snow, originally uploaded by wendyn56.

Being a part-time worker has it's advantages and meant that I could go out for a walk instead of struggling into the office in Sheffield.

PicLits

2008-12-21T19:55:00.004Z

Thank you to Tom Barrett for introducing me to the Pic Lits website . I think it's fantastic.

See the full PicLit at PicLits.com

Commemorate 20 years of Chembakolli with an interactive online march and new story book

2008-12-08T13:40:00.006Z

Christopher Rushbrook Schools Marketing and Promotions Manager ActionAid UK has sent me the following information which I thought I would share here:

For UK primary schools, Chembakolli is probably the most famous village in India and December 08 sees the start of celebrations to mark 20 years of village life.

26 September 2008: Chembakolli, a village in southern India, was reclaimed following an unprecedented march in December 1988 by 10,000 Adivasi (indigenous people) from the Nilgiri Hills. Coming together to reclaim their tribal rights to live in the forests near the town of Gudalur, the march was a huge success, winning the respect of the government and local people. The Adivasi were able to settle in many villages on the land, including Chembakolli, as well as establish their own school and hospital.

To celebrate this anniversary, ActionAid is launching an online march, enabling teachers and pupils to create their own character and personalised placard before joining the virtual march.

Starting in Gudalur, the virtual route follows the footsteps of the real march, twenty years ago. In the town, the marchers can click on local landmarks, including market stalls, the hospital and school, and meet real life people and read their stories. As more people join the march, the route will extend into Chembakolli where visitors can learn about life in the village by clicking on parts of the village, local people, and an elephant.

As part of the celebrations, ActionAid has also produced The Chembakolli story, a beautifully narrated audio CD accompanied by a story/activity book and poster. The CD covers the events of the past 20 years in six parts, each with descriptive sound and music clips recorded in the village. It is ideal for classroom listening and interpretive learning and is available for £20 (inc p&p).

To take part go to the Adivasi Lands Right Marc h website

Tom Barrett's Blog - Using Google Earth to plot the journey of James and the Giant Peach

2008-12-03T05:14:00.008Z

Thankyou to Alan (my colleague at the GA) for sharing information about this blog at our meeting yesterday.

Tom has been doing some amazing work with his class on using Google Earth to plot the story of James and the Giant Peach. Start with his final page of the story and then choose the links to work back.

He has also been using Vocaro to record children's voices - which were then embedded into Google. Please read his blog to find out more.

Wordle

2008-11-28T08:31:00.005Z

I've been experimenting with the online word generator Wordle it generates some fantastic word images.

The opening of the new Castleford Bridge - 4th July 2008

2008-10-13T22:14:00.003+01:00

I'm experimenting with adding a link to my Picassa photo album into this post. Click on the image to access the photo-gallery.

Opening of Castleford Bridge - 4th July 2008

Support for the Primary Geography Quality Mark

2008-10-12T09:51:00.003+01:00

I've been very active during the last month moderating the applications from Round 4 of the Geographical Association Primary Geography Quality Mark and providing additional support for teachers who are enrolled for Rounds 5 and 6 of the award.

An overview of the PGQM can be found on the GA PGQM website. Additional support for teachers who are interested in primary geography is available on the PGQM password protected website - access to this website is available to all members of the GA and details of how to request a password are available from the main GA PGQM Site.

My most recent PowerPoint was produced for a PGQM teachers workshop and was aimed at encouraging teachers to think much more creatively about the kind of geography that they teach.

Thinking Geographically

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: guidance pgqm)

Public Profiler World Names Website

2008-10-12T07:12:00.003+01:00

Public Profiler World Names: this website lets you discover how common your surname is around the world. Type in your surname and the website generates a world map to show how popular your name is. It's also possible to zoom in and have a look at regional variations. Keep an eye on the actual `numbers' as the colour coding on the maps can mask a great variety in the actual numbers. A fascinating website and easy to see how it could lead to some fascinating geography and history for that matter. For example, why is there a higher frequency of people per million with the name Church in New Zealand than in the UK? Why are there Hamblen's in the USA and not in Canada?

This site is worth a look.

Geograph: an image for every square kilometre in the UK

2008-09-04T17:47:00.006+01:00

We’ve had a really good August at home this year walking local footpaths and finding places that we’ve never been to before, all within a 5 mile radius of home. The motivator for all of this activity has been the Geograph website.

If you are not familiar with the site, then the aim of Geograph is to collect photographs for every square kilometre within the UK. 88% of England, Scotland & Wales now have at least one photo per kilometre square and 22% of Ireland has been covered.

This is a really useful website if you need images of the UK, first because all images are shared under the Creative Commons License (this means that although the photographer owns the copyright they have agreed to other people using their images). Second because the images are a reasonable size (640 pixels wide) they are very useful for projecting on an interactive whiteboard. So forget those tiddly little snippets that you find through searching Google Images – most of which are covered by copyright – and nearly all of which are useless for projecting and start exploring Geograph.

So log-on to their website: www.geograph.org.uk

Choose a place – it’s not very good at recognising postcodes – so either the place name or a four figure Grid reference work best.

If you want to see where I’ve been walking, then you could start in the west on the Moorland above Langsett ( SE1800 in the search box or http://www.geograph.org.uk/gridref/SE1800 should take you directly there) and try working your way east towards the M1 motorway.

Creating a `My Walks' Map using Google Maps

2008-08-04T17:23:00.005+01:00

Several posts ago I provided a Slideshare PowerPoint to show how to use Quikmaps but I never got round to publishing a `How to create a map using Google My Maps'.

Google `My Maps' uses the Google Maps website as opposed to the downloadable `Google Earth' - so there is no need to download anything to your computer.

It is easy to add images into the hotspots that you create as long as your images link to a photo that is stored online, for example on the Geograph website or perhaps on Flickr or Picasa.

Follow the instructions on the presentation to learn how to create your own illustrated maps.

Create a map using Google `My Maps'

view presentation (tags: online mapping tags digital ict)

Additional guidance is available from Google

Action Plan for Geography: teachers create geography resources for other teachers

2008-06-27T10:48:00.008+01:00

There have been some fantastic resources shared by teachers who have attended the final day of the APG (Action Plan for Geography) Curriculum Making Conferences.

Rosemary Slack of Middleton Primary School in Leeds has shared some great stuff on `Recycling'. This was linked to a visit that she made to Skelton Grange Environment Centre in Leeds.

As their contribution to Citizenship two teachers, one from Bamford Primary School, Rochdale and the other from North Reddish Primary School, Stockport chose to focus on the `Who do we think we are project' that is being supported by the Historical Association and the Royal Geographical Society (RGS with IBG). You can find out more about this project by clicking on the link below:
Who do we think we are?

We also had some really interesting curriculum resources developed around the software mapping programme `Local Studies' and Rosemary Crocker from St Paul's Primary School has provided an amazing account of her work in the local area while several teachers chose to base their work around a village in India.

We are hoping to showcase the more developed projects on the Geography Teaching Today website which is the official website for the APG (Action Plan for Geography) - you will find these on the Teaching Ideas Page (this is an open website) where we already have a number of resources available for teachers of geography to view and download.

Meanwhile anyone who is a member of the Geographical Association can request access to our password protected website for Primary Geography. You will need to e-mail Julie Beattie to access this site. When she has checked out your membership details she will provide you with a user name and password. jbeattie@geography.org.uk

There's been lots going on

2008-06-27T10:23:00.004+01:00

It's over a month since I last added a post to this blog and there has been so much happening that I've only just got round to completing this new post. It has been my grandsons second birthday which took place in his garden - complete with bouncy castle and a bounty of other toddlers (plus some quite grown up children). I had a few days in Spain around my birthday - visiting friends near Almunecar = and since then I've been incredibly busy at work on the Action Plan for Geography.

For work, I've been to Newcastle, Manchester, Birmingham and Cambridge for the last day of the APG `Curriculum Making Conferences' and have spent quite a few days putting some excellent teacher resources onto the Geographical Association password protected website. I'll add a new post about this work. I've also been editing additional resources for the Young Geographers Project - again I'll add a separate post for this. Keep looking - more to follow.

The Ordnance Survey & Becta schools map pilot

2008-05-05T08:11:00.005+01:00

The Ordnance Survey (OS) and Becta have been running a `map pilot' aimed at exploring ways of making digital maps accessible to schools.

The introduction on the E-map site reads:

`The MapPilot enables a range of Ordnance Survey digital mapping to be accessed free by pilot schools and educational mapping suppliers for a trial period. MapPilot is run by Becta, in conjunction with The Advisory Unit: Computers in Education and eMapSite with funding from DfES and support from Ordnance Survey.'

I'm currently registered with the map pilot in conjunction with Methodist J & I and I've finally got around to downloading some maps from the site and using them in conjunction with the software programme `Local Studies'.

The map I chose to use was the `Streetview' map of Wakefield, which was unknown to me before I became involved in the project. It is simple and clear and allows some additional information to be added to the map (via a simple GIS such as Local Studies) without appearing too cluttered and illegible.

We have used a `Streetview' map of the south side of Wakefield city to record our `Top Ten Places in Wakefield'. We also used images downloaded from the Geograph website to populate the hotspots.

`The Geograph British Isles project aims to collect geographically representative photographs and information for every square kilometre of Great Britain and Ireland.'

This is the first opportunity that the majority of the children in the class have had to link data to locations on a Wakefield map (as opposed to maps of the school grounds) and I have been delighted to find out how well many of the children can do this.

The PowerPoint embedded below illustrates work that we undertook during week 6 & 7 of my visits to the school. The children are now fairly accomplished users of Local Studies and the staff in the school like the programme.

(Though I'm still not convinced that I would recommend the software to schools in future as my feeling is that the software company is not keeping it sufficiently updated and compatible with modern school networks.)

| View | Upload your own

Using `Local Studies' the story continues ...

2008-05-04T18:29:00.003+01:00

I've just undertaken a further 3 weeks of work with Year 5 pupils at Methodist J & I, Wakefield. The children needed an opportunity to re-cap and remember how to use the programme. So during the first week of my visit we went back to drawing a map using the programme tools.

I was able to show them a few examples of work about the `local area' that had been undertaken in other schools. They were particularly interested in hearing that Year 1 at Shelley Primary School near Huddersfield had been using `Quikmaps' to record what happened in their village and additionally pleased to know that their own example had been the inspiration for other schools.

The PowerPoint in this post shows the work we started on the 16th April (after a gap of 4 months). I was really interested in the different styles of maps that the children had drawn and this PowerPoint is more of an exploration of what the children did, rather than `how to do' Local Studies.

| View | Upload your own

Do you use online mapping to locate places? If so which ones?

2008-05-03T09:58:00.004+01:00

The current round of voting has now closed. Nineteen people have registered their vote so far – which is pleasing because I recognise that this is a relatively unknown blog.

As might be anticipated Google Maps and Google Earth have achieved the highest scores (though only just) and Multi-Map is perhaps beginning to lose out. This overall score reflects my own current use of online mapping as I much prefer Google Maps to the re-vamped version of Multi-map.

One programme that is well worth a look is the Microsoft website, variously known as Live Local, Maps Live etc. This has not scored as well as Google maps yet for some parts of the country the satellite views are far more detailed than on Google Maps.

The current edition of Web User Magazine 24 April – 7 May 2008, Issue 186 (which I think is excellent), devotes 2 pages to getting the most from `Live Search Maps’, pp. 62-63

www.webuser.co.uk

The Young Geographers Project has been launched on the GA website

2008-04-12T08:00:00.004+01:00

The first of our our Young Geographers project resources, written by Jane Mulligan of Austrey Primary School, Warwickshire has been added to the Geographical Association website. Click on the page image to be taken to the website.

This new project for primary schools focuses on four key areas: engaging in practical curriculum making, 'living geography', Learning Outside the Classroom and Education for Sustainable Development.

An earlier reference to the Sheffield Project can be found in a post I made on this site in January.

Further information about the work of the Canterbury Project can be found on the blog of my colleague Paula Owens.

Geographical Association Conference

2008-04-02T17:16:00.006+01:00

Life has been very busy during the last month so it's almost a month since I lasted shared anything through this blog.

I've just returned from the annual Geographical Association Conference which was held in Guildford this year. It was attended by over 700 people and the overwhelming feeling is that the conference was a real success. Kate Russell and I ran a workshop on behalf of the ICT working group with thirty + enthusiastic geographers attending. Our message to the group was that we need to extend the use of online mapping in the primary classroom. I was able to provide an overview of the work I've been doing with the Y5 class on using Local Studies and Quikmaps. see the embedded PowerPoint below:

| View | Upload your own

Find out more about the conference presentations at:
http://www.geography.org.uk/events/annualconference

See below for a quick guide to creating a personalised map using Quikmaps

| View | Upload your own

Please Keep Voting + some new websites

2008-03-08T08:47:00.004Z

Please can I say a very big thank you to people for voting for the web based map programme that they use. I'm finding this really helpful - so anyone who reads this who hasn't yet voted please can you do so.

I've been exploring two websites that are totally new to me this morning and one that I've seen before but haven't used much.

The first one is a mash up of Google Maps and Flickr called Flickrvision
This shows the latest images posted to the Flickr website over a Google Map. Choose the 3D view and you see a view of the Earth from space. This is fantastic because it shows which parts of the globe have night and which day. It's quite fascinating to see images pop up from different parts of the world.

The second is called WalkJogRun
and enables you to trace a route on a Google Map. It measures the distance, records your route and tell you how long it will take you to complete the journey depend on your speed of travel. Great for walkers and runners but also very useful for route planning activities in the classroom.

The third programme is called Flash Earth and allows you to view your chosen location via a number of different online mapping programmes. Add a comment after this post to let me know if you have found any of these websites useful.

Curriculum Making from Cambridge: using Local Studies

2008-02-16T17:03:00.005Z

Sharing a personal `Learning Journey’

Sue Kelly, a teacher from King’s Lynn, shares how she embarked on the process of learning to use the software programme `Local Studies' through this PowerPoint.

Sue attended the second round of the Geographical Association Curriculum Making Conferences in Cambridge. (These CPD events were offered as part of the Action Plan for Geography.) The Primary ICT sessions were developed around the use of Local Studies Software (Soft Teach Education) andteachers who attended the first day of the course needed to go onto develop their own understanding of the programme in order to use it with children they would be teaching.

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If anyone else has developed resources using Local Studies software that they would be willing to share - please e-mail me at wnorth@geography.org.uk.

Geography & Food: starting from stories

2008-01-29T15:00:00.001Z

Stories provide a wonderful way of proving the `hook' that gets children engaged with learning. The PowerPoint focuses on some of the books I've used and enjoyed and suggests ways that geographical understanding can be developed through story.

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Workshop: Geography & Food

2008-01-28T11:18:00.002Z

My workshop focus for the Outwood Pyramid Conference on the 25th January was `Geography and Food'. This was a shared workshop aimed to encourage teachers to make links between geography and `food preparation. (More cooking/ healthy eating than food technology.)

The PowerPoint that I used to summarise the focus of my planning is shown below:

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There are a number of projects linked to food and farming on the Oxfam Education website, including Making a Meal of It. Activity 5: Unpacking the supermarket bag is referred to on slide 6 of the presentation.

There are lots of links to online materials for teaching about food. Some are strongly geography focused while others focus more clearly on other curriculum areas, e.g. science. I'll be sharing some of these links on this blog over the next few weeks. If you have successfully taught geography through a food topic why not contribute your ideas.

Reflections on a Primary Cross-Curricular & Creativity Conference

2008-01-28T10:49:00.001Z

On Friday 25th January I took part in a conference for a pyramid of Wakefield schools. What follows are a few of my thoughts linked to the keynote presentation.

The first thing that strikes me is the influential role of some of the independent educational consultancies in shaping the direction that primary schools take when reviewing their curriculum. In this case our conference was led by a well regarded keynote speaker from a prominent commercial education consultancy. I heard some conflicting messages.

Some were excellent, i.e. we need to provide `hooks’ at the beginning of a new (topic/ unit/ theme/ project) to ensure children engage with the learning; use questions to focus learning; engage with the local area; help children to make connections about their learning experiences so that they are joined up and make sense in their minds; provide opportunities for pupils to share `what they know’, e.g. through making a video to show to other children in the school.

While others messages appeared muddled, i.e. the synonymous use of literacy/ English and numeracy/ mathematics; the use of sub-grades in subjects such as geography (what exactly does a 5c look like?) and very definitely the Primary School Year 3 planning for geography, `How will Global Warming change my life?’

[I want to return to two of these areas, i.e. the ones that relate to assessment in geography and to Global Warming in a later entry.]

So, do the solutions to the primary curriculum lie with the published advice and guidance that commercial educational organisations provide or do the solutions lie with teachers in the classroom who know their pupils and want to provide a curriculum that starts with the child and takes into account the needs of the child and the community in which the child grows up?

Books & websites for developing an understanding of Global Citizenship and Education for Sustainable Development

2008-01-23T09:29:00.001Z

It was great to meet so many enthusiastic teachers at yesterday's Quality Geography Conference in London.

One of the things we discussed was using books as starting points for learning in geography and I offered to make a book and website list available through this site. Click on the link below (green text) to access a WORD document which lists a selection of books and websites on the theme:

Global Citizenship and Education for Sustainable Development

Young Geographers - access to Word documents

2008-01-20T17:00:00.001Z

The Word documents that were shared on the first day of the Young Geographers Project in Sheffield can be accessed by clicking on the highlighted link.

See below for access to PowerPoint presentations from the day.

Planning with `big ideas'

2008-01-19T10:45:00.001Z

The focus for the second session of the `Young Geographers' project was `Planning with `big ideas' or key concepts. (See below for the introductory post on this subject.)

Currently KS3 are being asked to focus their planning for geography around key concepts. Paula Owens (my job share partner) and I have been thinking about whether a similar approach could be useful in the primary school. We believe that the use of `concepts' as a planning tool might help ensure that geography does not disappear from the curriculum if schools move towards cross-curricular approaches to learning.

The first half of the presentation exemplifies the idea of planning from key concepts or `big ideas.

The second half of the presentation shows `Living Geography' in action in school.

The last three slides provide guidance for project members on the format for writing up their materials to be included on the GA project page - Young Geographers

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Primary Young Geographers Project

2008-01-19T09:52:00.001Z

Via funding from the TDA we have been able to offer a new pilot project called `Young Geographers'. Two project groups are currently running, one in Canterbury (course leader Paula Owens) and one in Sheffield where I am course leader. I'm using this blog page to share ideas from my project group.

Additional information will be shared via the main GA project page website:

We had a very succesful first day yesterday which helped to get the project off to a very positive start. Through the project we are empasising four main elements:

· Engaging in practical 'curriculum making'

· Capturing the sense of motivating 'living geography'

· Learning Outside the Classroom

· Education for Sustainable Development

My introductory presentation was designed to promote reflection on what we might mean when we talk about `Living Geography' and what kinds of activities teachers are using to develop this approach in the primary classroom.

View `Living Geography' presentation.

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The notes that follow may help you to make sense of some of the thinking that went into the presentation:

Who am I? Why focusing on `identity’ is a valuable place to start when thinking geographically.

· The link between place and identity, i.e where we grow up is a key factor in shaping our identity

· The importance of engaging young people with their own place and supporting them to explore their feelings about the place – Quikmaps example, Wakefield. Internet mapping that directly allows an exploration of place and space.

· Involving young people in `changing places’ – the importance of feeling that you can make a difference to your community, learning how change happens, what’s involved, making change happen (making learning real - not just another `school' activity)

· The importance of geographical imagination to the way we think about `place’ – location, first hand-experience, the way the world is represented to us and our emotional response to places are all important factors in shaping our geographical imaginations. Actual journey’s (fieldwork) and virtual journeys (role-play, drama, imaginative engagement with photographs) are valuable classroom activities that both inform and extend our geographical imagination.

· Discussions with others can help us to re-think the way that the world has been represented to us - `What image comes into your head when you are asked to think about Iran?’ [P4C can be a very supportive classroom strategy.]

Our concluding slides ask you to think about `school geography’ and experience of geography in our everyday lives – which kind of experience do we want for the children we teach?

Emoting with maps!

2007-12-01T10:46:00.002Z

The emoticon icons used with the Local Studies programme were drawn by the children and then re-created using the programme Symbol Draw. Unfortunately this programme (or at least the version I possess) is feeling a little dated now and I was unable to import pre-scanned images. Instead I had to re-draw each symbol using the simple draw tools provided in the programme.

My next step will be to explore using the children's icons with Google `My Maps' as I know it is possible to import new icons from scanned jpeg files into it.

Emoting with maps!

2007-12-01T10:32:00.002Z

I’ve just completed my fourth and final session of the Autumn Term with Year 5 at Methodist J & I. This week we learnt how to add text to their Local Studies map and how to add the hotspots which display text and pictures.

One of my aims for this project has been to try and tap into the children’s `geographical imaginations’ by providing them with an opportunity to express how they feel about different parts of the school and grounds.

Well worth reading is an article entitled `Emoting with maps!’, which was written by Diane Swift for Issue 27 of the Ordnance Survey Mapping News. Diane argues convincingly that we should be using mapping as means of exploring the personal geographies inside children’s heads.

“If this geography remains in the head of the learner, it is an educational opportunity lost. If pupils’ geographical imaginations do not find a forum within which they can be shared, developed, refined, critiqued and reviewed, misconceptions may go unchallenged and pupils’ learning become restricted in certain ways. ... Using maps and cartography is one medium into which emotions can be poured. Annotating conventional maps or creating the pupils’ own maps are purposeful activities. Through these activities the geography in our heads, our emotional geography, is revealed. Once revealed it can be used, analysed, and reviewed.” Diane Swift, (2004) p.12, Mapping News Issue 27 Winter 2004, Ordnance Survey

The majority of children have now completed their Local Studies maps. Use of the Local Studies programme has enabled the children to represent their school grounds and the immediate local area creatively and imaginatively. Not only are their maps a real pleasure to look at they are also highly informative about what it `feels’ like to be in certain places. As I write this I’m left wondering about the extent to which some of these messages will prove to be a revelation to the staff of the school.

“… exploring a representation, constructing an argument using cartography is challenging and yet accessible to all. My own children in their reception and pre-reception classes are well used to the happy and sad face in their classroom. Their names are places on the face that best shares the teacher’s view of their behaviour. They can then transfer these familiar symbols, with relative ease, to a simple map or photograph to explain their geographical imagination of a place. Happy is, of course, used to symbolise the treasured places. This map is then used as a resource to support an informed conversation as to why they hold that view of that place, and to see if that view is shared. From there we explore if that view is reasonable, and if not gently challenge the perspective with reasoned alternatives, using geographical information. Through conversation geographical thinking is being refined and the quality of this thinking is raised.” Diane Swift, (2004) p. 14

Hollinger in Antartica

2007-11-24T08:26:00.003Z

Ruth Hollinger, a teacher from A Sheffield school is currently on an expedition in Antartica. She has created a blog called Hollinger in Antartica so that students back in school can follow her exploits.

Ruth is using Edublog rather than Blogger as it is more secure when creating content for pupils.

`Curriculum Making' using ICT

2007-11-24T07:40:00.000Z

One of the things that I've found when working with my Y5 group is that they need lots of opportunity to actually draw their maps and use the drag and drop features of the software.

An internet based programme that I've also been using to explore the children's local area (and one that will zoom out to the wider world) is called Quikmaps - the children have loved being able to zoom in really close and see the detail of their local area.

We have been using the Hybrid view which allows us to see the aerial photograph + some street names.

Not all areas of the world will be displayed at the same resolution. I think we are quite lucky in south and west Yorkshire that the Google aerial imagery is high resolution which means we can see lots of detail on the ground.

Next week I am going to get three children to create a similar Quikmap of their local area based on the children's `feelings' about their own locality. They will gather statements from the other children in the class and compile a class map while the rest of the class are completing their Local Studies project of the school grounds.

I've also been experimenting with My Maps - which is a customizable version of Google Maps (in fact both programmes use Google Maps). The advantage of My Maps over Qickmaps is that you can easily link photographs from an online photo-gallery. See Thornes area of Wakefield

In order to incorporate photographs you need them stored on an online gallery. I use both Picasa (Google) and Flickr (Yahoo).

My online photo galleries are at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/primarygeography/sets/

http://picasaweb.google.com/Wendyn57

http://picasaweb.google.com/wendyn549

Mapping Places: Using Local Studies

2007-11-23T15:36:00.002Z

I've recently introduced the software mapping programme `Local Studies' to some pupils at Methodist J & I Primary School in Wakefield. I'm also currently delivering the primary ICT component on the Action Plan for Geography (APG) Curriculum Making Events and this work with children is providing me with very valuable learning experiences that I can share with teachers on the course.

Children are finding the software very easy to use and have produced some interesting maps to show how the school building and grounds are different to the aerial view & map that we viewed using Quikmaps.

For example the school building is now much longer than the view shown on Quikmaps because of the new nursery and offices on the North East end of the building. The idea that maps and aerial photographs can be inaccurate is useful learning for children as it enables us to talk about how they are only a record of a particular moment in time.
(Quikmaps uses Google Maps)

Local Studies is the only mapping programme that I know that integrates a drawing package with drag & drop symbols. This makes it a very useful piece of software and it can be used from Foundation Stage through to KS3.

However, teachers do find the different ways of saving the programme confusing at first as it can be saved as both a `project' and a `background map'.

Though the children have enjoyed using Local Studies we experienced real difficulties on our very first session as we couldn't save any of the work that the children produced. We asked the school ICT technician to find a way round our difficulties (this was linked to the way that the network is set up to save children's work into their individual folders). We now have a separate folder into which we can save their work.

This problem linked to saving to networks is one that other schools have experienced and I wonder if Soft Teach could help a little more by providing better advice about using this programme on school networks. [There is advice on the CD-Rom - but this did not solve our difficulty.] The programme has been around for some years now and I wonder if it is quite keeping up with changes in technology.

Quikmap - Whittingham School visit Seahouses

2007-05-17T18:11:00.001+01:00

This is my first experiment with creating a map using Quikmap. I have based it on the walk that the Year 4 children from Whittingham Primary School In Northumberland made from the Seahouses Hostel to the seafront in April 2007.

www.quikmap.com

Seahouses Harbour - Collage created using Picasa

2007-05-07T18:30:00.001+01:00

Click here or on the image to be taken to the Seahouses website

I've recently begun to use the Picasa photo-gallery from Google and am very taken with. It has many very useful features, including a time-line that lets you find images according to the date they were stored on the computer. It also has some very useful image editing tools (my only issue with the programme is that there is no re-sizing tool). Web-galleries can be created and shared with contacts via e-mail. The whole package is interlinked to both Google Earth and to Blogger, which makes linking into the Google suite of programmes very easy. I particularly like how both Picasa images and Quickmaps can be viewed in Google Earth.

Meeting with Wakefield Primary Geography Coordinators

2006-12-07T09:18:00.001Z

I would like to say a big thank you to the 15 Wakefield Geography Coordinators who attended yesterdays meeting about school self evaluation and the use of the Primary Geography Quality Mark. The meeting was very enjoyable and people contributed with great enthusaism. It was good to catch up with so many friendly faces.

Looking ahead to the next meeting, on the afternoon of February 14th at Woolley Hall, teachers identified aspects of geography that they are working on now and things they would like to work on next. I thought I could share their ideas through this blog. There seems to be two core groups of interest - those who are focused on developing policy, reviewing schemes of work etc. and those who would like to focus more on cross-curricular approaches and making sure the curriculum is more creative and fun. These do not seem to me to be mutually exclusive and it would be good to try and think how these link together in our next session. If anyone would like to contribute to this discussion - please post your comments below.

What are you working on now?
Developing the use of the Outdoor classroom for KS1
Exciting ideas for IWB’s
How to record monitoring of planning & children’s learning
Review policy & SoW using PGQM – use key indicators to audit with members of staff
Build up appropriate resources
Finalising geog policy for amalgamated school & reviewing resources
Curriculum review – allocation/ re-allocation of topics and resources
Trying to give geography a higher status – reclaim it as part of a broad & balanced curriculum.
Make it fun & exciting.
Develop cross-curricular themes.
Promote Speaking & Listening, use more role-play
Free up time to spend on Geog.
Extend resources
A file of places to visit in Yorkshire
Review geog policy
Audit resources
Skills based learning
Develop a more creative/ cross-curricular approach in KS1
Raising standards & attainment (Core?)
Skills/ fieldwork
More flexible approach – linked to other subjects – making geog fun
Investigations in geog, higher order thinking, G & T in Geog

What are you keen to work on next?
An outdoor maths trail
Update policy
Monitor effectiveness of geography in school
Scrutiny of work + Lesson observations and evaluation
Develop a ` World Week’
Update resources and teaching materials
Develop local aspects of hist/ geog
Use school facilities to enhance geog curriculum
Cross- curric initiatives
Subscribe GA
Meetings with colleagues
- discuss/ develop geog teaching
- scrutinise & level work
X-curricular opportunities
Creativity theme weeks etc

Everyday Geographies

2006-12-06T10:07:00.000Z

Over the last month I have been writing a contribution for the Primary Geography & ICT section of the Geography Teaching Today website - the full text should appear on the web in late December/ early January. I have become interested in thinking about how we use our everyday experience of the world to engage children in geographical learning. The following extract is a quote from the materials that will appear on the GTT website.

Everyday Geography
An exciting and meaningful debate is currently taking place within the geography community about whether we engage effectively with our own and children’s everyday experiences of the world. If you read Primary Geography (Autumn 2006) you might have seen Fran Martin’s article entitled `Everyday Geography’. I would like to use this article as a starting point for reflection on what we teach in primary geography and how we can make this more meaningful for pupils.

In the article, Fran describes an activity that she carries out with her students. This is something that you might want to try now:

`Sit and think for a moment.

If you remember the geography you were taught at school what comes to mind?

Now think about the geographical experiences you have in your everyday life.

How did your own experience compare with Fran’s?

How often do you start from either your own experience of the world or from the children’s direct experience of their world?

Find out more … If you are a member of the GA you will have the Autumn edition of the magazine in which the article appeared. When the full version of this distance learning material appears on the GTT website you should be able to download a pdf copy of the article from the web.

http://www.geographyteachingtoday.org.uk/

New girl on the blogging block

2006-12-02T11:34:00.001Z

I’d heard about blogs – I’d been to conferences where blogging had been a focus of particular lectures but I’d never really got into them. I had an idea that they were some kind of online diary – which is possibly true for some but not all

… and now I’m hooked

So what won me over?

Well first my colleague Nicky showed me how to create an account on Blogger.com – which is a free blog space. It was easy, instantly satisfying and I was inspired to want to create a blog of my own. Though not immediately clear what that blog should be or do.

Next I re-read Alan Parkinson’s article in Teaching Geography which helped me to understand a little more about what blogs are and how they can support geography. I then clicked onto his website:

http://www.geoblogs.blogspot.com/

and began to look at the recommended sites that Alan has included on his website.

I particularly liked:

Geography: My Place and Yours

… in which secondary head of geography, Val Vannett, talks to her students through her Blog.

http://gmpay.blogspot.com/

I liked the personal and chatty style and the choice of activities/ places on the web that she suggests her pupils might undertake or visit.

I thought that many primary teachers would get lots of ideas for creative approaches to geography from this blogsite and that it might provide inspiration for things to try in a primary classroom.