Building the Curriculum

I have really enjoyed teaching the Year 8 curriculum so far. Our focus has been history and we have looked at Victorian crime and Pirates. Coming up is coasts...

Richard Allaway has provided some excellent resources, but with one downfall - they are all ICT based and require unfettered ICT access. With this in mind I have done a rewrite (and offered Richard the revised unit back as we should share and share alike!).

Imagine delivering Richard's unit to a class of 28 as is. It is perfect. Alas I have problems resourcing it for 14. Hats off the Richard for the sheer scope of his unit, and resources permitting many activities are very doable. I just want access to 15 pcs to let my kids take advantage.

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coast sow.doc (128 KB)

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Reasons to be cheerful...

I've just had a brilliant day with the MFL department planning for the new KS3 Curriculum. It was a perfect example of trust, collaboration and fantastic ideas!

Sad news is my course on 2nd July is cancelled, I may never discover how to teach KS3 Maths! The Maths faculty now have access to my delicious bookmarks and enjoyed a whistle stop 10 in tour of the web.

Kids back in tomorrow, and quite looking forward to it!

Competition Maths

I found tutpup.com through Ewan McIntosh. I thought I'd give it a try, see how it went. I launched it Friday, and out of 40 students I already have 13 signed up and playing! I look forward to my students having better maths recall and may even set a test to see the effect!

Now to find who greyturtle23 is....

Getting Year 7 into Languages.

As part of our new KS3 curriculum review, we have decided to bombard year 7 with a weekly 10 minute activity on language learning as a general idea during the first 1/2 term. We need to stress the use of language learning skills, and provided a context for French. Charged with thinking, I put a plan together... What do you think?

Week 1
Images of France Activity
Influence of France on culture

Week 2
I'll never go to France
French speaking community

Week 3
5 Phrases to survive (mystery language!)
Higher order thinking

Week 4
Languages in School
Identify areas of school and related languages

Week 5
I'd really like to learn…
Justify a choice of language

Week 6
Poster - Learn a language
Persuade others to learn a language