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

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 >>>>

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

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 >>>

Create a virtual landscape

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.

NEW Website: Global Gardens

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

Chembakolli - a village in India

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.

Ideas for using images

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!

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

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 .

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

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

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

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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Workshop: Geography & Food

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

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?