primary education

Presenting Data – How your students can display detail

As sad as it may seem, these days no one seems to have enough time to look at things in detail, from text language to finding information, we want to know what we need to know as quickly as possible. Maths has been doing this for some time now with… Read More

Bloody Mary: Did she deserve her reputation?

This teaching activity is about reputations, what they are, how we can acquire one and how we can change or lose one. The 18th February marks the 500th anniversary of the birth of Mary I, the lesser known daughter of Henry VIII and sister of Elizabeth I. History today remembers her by… Read More

Museums

Why do we have museums and do they have a place in a society where today we can look up everything online – even to the extent of enjoying a virtual tour of some museums. One of the best is that of the Smithsonian in the US. Take a look here… Read More

National Tree Week

National Tree Week gives us the opportunity to celebrate one of the stalwarts of the English outdoors; the tree. We may think that it simply provides a feature in the landscape or shade or shelter but there's a whole lot more to trees that this set of activities will help your pupils discover. Read More

Traditional Tales

There’s got to be something about traditional tales for they have stood the test of time, hence the term ‘traditional’ but traditional tales are not just about being old, they have elements of traditions in them and in many cases they are used to impart learning or to consolidate or… Read More

Distant Places Matter a Lot

How do children form their ideas about other peoples and countries?  The answer is that they usually draw on a number of different sources. Parents, peers and the mass media will undoubtedly be important influences.  Pictures, videos and stories will feed their imagination.  Many are stimulated by their interest and… Read More

English – The Women’s Institute

  © The National Federation of Women’s Institutes of England   A hundred years ago, when it finally dawned that the Great War wasn’t going to end as quickly as many had hoped, a group of women decided to do what they could to help the war effort. The… Read More

Science – how we work

There’s plenty of information about the human body that we learn from science and from PE but there are also a lot of questions children ask that go unanswered in the science and PE curriculum. In this set of activities we look at some of the questions about our bodies… Read More

Science – Micro-organisms

Sixty years ago this March, one of the world’s most famous scientists, Alexander Fleming, died. Ten years earlier he was credited with discovering penicillin, the first antibiotic, which went on to save millions of lives around the world. Penicillin is a substance derived from a mould, a type of micro-organism. Read More

10 ways to increase enthusiasm for reading in your classroom

Enthusiasm: Make sure everyone understands that reading enthusiasm – regularly choosing to read even when there’s no adult around – correlates strongly with academic success, even in maths (PISA; IoE et al). Enjoyment of reading improves children’s life-chances! Self-identification: Focus all colleagues on the job of generating enthusiasm for reading:… Read More