Jewish New Year

The Jewish New Year, or Rosh Hashanah (“head of the year”), begins tomorrow. The celebrations to mark the start of Jewish Year 5770 will begin at sunset on September 18 and continue until nightfall on September 20. 

During the two day festival, no work is permitted and much of the time is spent in the synagogue. It is a time for judgement, when Jews believe that God reflects on a person’s behaviour over the past year, and decides what the next year will be like for them. 

One of the customs is the blowing of a shofar made from a ram’s horn. A hundred notes are sounded in a special rhythm – you can hear a demonstration here. 

Special food is also eaten, with an emphasis on sweetness, which Jews hope will characterise the year that lies ahead. Meals often include apples, honey and carrots. You can find all kinds of recipes here if you would like try to make something yourself!

I am hopeless at cooking so will be playing safe and sending e-cards  You can find a wide selection here.

When looking at Judaism in the classroom, you might also find the sample video below useful, from the Key Stage 1 Religious Education  module of the gallery.

L’shanah tovah (“for a good year”) everyone!

Title of clip	Learning Hebrew
Curriculum location	Primary Module A  > Religious Education  >  Key stage 1  >  Unit 2A: What is the Torah and why is it important to Jewish people?  >  Section 1: What is the Torah?  >  Learning Objective: to learn about the way the Torah is treated and what this shows about Jewish beliefs
Description	Report on a Jewish boy preparing for his Bar Mitzvah: he is being tutored by a Rabbi to read in Hebrew correctly from the Torah; he tells of the stories in the Torah and the difficulty of writing Hebrew; he uses a yad to mark the place whilst reading from the scroll; a passage is recited about the use of a Tzittzit and how it helps to remind Jews to follow God’s commandments.
Duration	1 minute 44 seconds

 

Television that inspires learning

Carl Sagan

I was recently lucky enough to get hold of a copy of the Cosmos television series on DVD. This is a 13-part ‘personal journey through space and time’, written and hosted by Carl Sagan. The TV series ran in the early 1980s and was an inspiration to many people, in no small part thanks to Sagan’s enthusiasm and powers of communication. It’s fair to say that this series had a profound impact on my own interest in science, the universe (and everything), and to an extent helped influence some of the choices I later made about my educational pathways.

Readers in the United States can access the entire series through Hulu, but unfortunately this service is not available in the UK. There are some clips available on YouTube, and I’ve posted one of my favourites below.

I’ve just started re-watching the entire series with my 10 year old son, and although TV special effects (not to mention some of the science) has moved on, the series still stands scrutiny as an insightful and moving programme.

This has got me thinking about what a powerful influence well-crafted television can have as an inspiring learning experience. One other that I would pick out as an influence on me (earlier in life!) is Sesame Street. I can’t think of any other programme from my early childhood that so effectively blended great characters, humour, variety and learning. Apparently it is still running in the US, and here is an amazing statistic:

A 1996 survey found that 95% of American preschoolers have watched the show by the time they are three years old

If you were going to devise a programme that would touch 95% of a country’s populace before they were four years old, could you come up with anything better than Sesame Street?

If you have any of your own favourite television progamming that has inspired learning then please feel free to comment. I may even compile a top ten…

500th anniversary of Henry VIII’s accession to the throne

by James

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Tomorrow is the 500th anniversary of the proclamation of Henry VIII as King of England. He was later crowned King on June 24th 1509 and turned 18 just a few days afterwards. Although famed for his six wives, the Reformation and end of Roman Catholicism in England, war-mongering, and huge appetite and obesity in later life, it seems as if there are many aspects to Henry’s life and personality that go far beyond the things that usually spring to mind when we hear his name.Here are a few suggestions for web resources that you might find useful when looking at the famous king in the classroom. As you might expect of such a well-known historical figure, there are many different accounts and resources of Henry available:

• The BBC is always a good place to start and this slideshow provides a great introduction for students to view themselves. There is also an interactive activity where the children are asked to help put Henry’s armour on, but should be careful not to make him angry! For a more detailed biography from the BBC see here.
• This is perhaps the most detailed biography that I came across. Alternatively, the Woodlands Junior School homework help page is another that students could use themselves.
• This Brims page is a great website for KS2 students, and has a range of resources and information on Henry and all of the Tudors. Some interesting facts from the page:  Henry VIII had over 78,000 people executed while he was King (that equals about 5 people every day for 38 years!), and at one time had a gambling bill for £3242, when the average weekly wage was about 5p!
• By the end of his reign, Henry had accumulated 55 palaces – you can see images of them, and the things that Henry liked to fill them with, here.
• According to many accounts, Henry was intelligent and extremely well-read. You can read some of his works here, and also listen to poems and songs that he composed.
• The National Archives website has a range of original documents from Henry’s reign, and a special tool that can be used to hover over and magnify them.
• Henry’s favourite warship was the Mary Rose. The website of the ship’s museum has several interactive resources and a movie for KS2 students to explore the warship and what life on board was like.
• This article gives an insight into Henry’s diet (‘he may have eaten up to 13 dishes a day … and he may have drunk 10 pints of ale a day as well as wine … a 28 stone man-mountain’), and suggests that it was possibly a jousting accident that turned the king into the tyrant often portrayed in historical accounts.

There are several whole units (QCA History Units 7, 8 and 19) of Henry VIII and Tudor-related clips in the gallery, which you can see for free by taking out a 30-day trial. They cover the great Tudor explorers and their discoveries, Tudor kings and queens, and Tudor houses, clothes, and leisure activities. Here are two examples:

Title of clip	The Tudor Kings and Queens
Curriculum location	Primary Module A  >  History  >  Key stage 2  >  Unit 7: Why did Henry VIII marry six times?  >  Section 1: How many times did Henry VIII marry?  >  Learning Objective: to locate the Tudors within the context of the history of Britain
Description	An animated timeline showing the Tudor Kings and Queens: King Henry VII 1485-1509, King Henry VIII 1509-1547, King Edward VI 1547-1553, Queen Mary I 1553-1558, Queen Elizabeth I 1558-1603.
Duration	40 seconds

 

Title of clip	Life on board the Mary Rose
Curriculum location	Primary Module A  >  History  >  Key stage 2  >  Unit 19: What were the effects of Tudor exploration?  >  Section 3: How did people explore the world in Tudor times?  >  Learning Objective: to collect information from a range of sources and draw conclusions about life at sea
Description	The story of the Tudor warship the Mary Rose, complete with re-enactments of what conditions were like on board, plus information about the historical finds yielded after its sunken remains were excavated and raised: almost half of the many finds excavated have now been either restored or conserved; it is a true example of a time capsule as many of the artefacts would not have survived anywhere else; a number of dice and coins were found indicating that gambling was a popular pastime for the crew; the longbows recovered are probably the only surviving examples of the weaponry used to such devastating effect against the French in many of the battles of the time; animal bones excavated from the wreck suggest the food consumed by the crew – beef, pork, fish and venison were all eaten; a gallon of watered-down beer per day was given to each crew member; the officers had music as an extra with their meals.
Duration	4 minutes 38 seconds

 

Please note that these are example clips provided through our YouTube channel and do not reflect the actual quality of clips in the gallery

Happy Easter

by James

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Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/22863752@N06/

Hopefully you’ve all had a great term and are now making the most of the holiday and warmer weather – it’s bright sunshine here in Oxford!

We’ve had a busy term again on the HVG blog and so I thought that I would summarise what we have covered, and highlight once more some of the great example clips that we have posted over the last few months. You can also see them all together on our YouTube channel.

The good weather this morning is quite a contrast to the cold and snow that we were experiencing at the beginning of January when we made our first post of the New Year. It included a clip from the primary literacy section of the gallery about how cold weather affects people, wildlife and landscapes around the world.

The first KS3 Geography clip that we posted looked at how volcanoes form, and has been our most popular example video of the year so far.

We celebrated Chinese New Year at the end of January, looking at the superstitions and traditions behind the festival. Hopefully the Year of the Ox is proving to be fruitful and prosperous for everyone, although I’m not sure if Chinese astrology takes credit crunches into account

It was the 250th anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns next. We posted another literacy example clip telling the story of Tam O’Shanter, one of Burns’ most popular poems, and which also explains how the Cutty Sark got its name from a petticoat!

In February, one of my favourite clips from the gallery (‘The Mystery of Little Red Riding Hood’s Ice-cream‘!) featured in a post about insulators and keeping things cool. We also posted a KS3 Geography clip about the effects of oil spills as a huge slick off the Irish coast made the headlines, thought to be from a Russian aircraft carrier.

March 1st was St David’s Day. Our post featured an example clip showing the natural beauty of Wales, and suggested plenty of resources to mark the day in the classroom. We included two primary science example clips in the next post about the Earth, Sun and Moon – very useful if you are trying to explain how the planetary bodies interact with one another as part of Unit 5E of the QCA Science Scheme of Work.

We marked St Patrick’s Day on March 17th by exploring who St Patrick was and the legends that exist around him, along with resource ideas and another KS3 Geography clip showing the fantastic landscape and scenery of Ireland. This was followed by an artistic example clip about the four seasons and discussion of when Spring starts, and we wrapped the term up last week with a post to mark April Fools’ Day – did we manage to catch any of you out?!

Have a good break and see you again in the new term, when we’ll have news of new primary and secondary modules. In the meantime, here is a taster (excuse the pun!) of one of our new primary maths problem solving clips. Try to concentrate on the questions!

Title of clip	Question of chocolate
Curriculum location	Primary Module C  >  Maths problem solving  >  Block E  >  Year 4  >  Section: Tables practice  >  Derive and recall multiplication facts up to 10 × 10, the corresponding division facts and multiples of numbers to 10 up to the tenth multiple
Description	A series of five chocolate based arithmetic problems that require either multiplication and division operations to answer: chocolate eggs travel along conveyer belt in factory; chocolate eggs halves in row upon row of moulds; green sweets covered by liquid chocolate on wire rack and then decorated with pistachio nuts when solid; chocolate blocks travel along factory conveyer belt; foil-wrapped chocolates coins dropping off conveyor belt.
Duration	1 minute 57 seconds

 

Please note that these are example clips provided through our YouTube channel and do not reflect the actual quality of clips in the gallery

St David’s Day

by James

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Dydd Gwyl Dewi hapus! (Happy St David’s Day!)

Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nikonvscanon/

This Sunday, March 1st, is St David’s Day in Wales. St David, or Dewi Sant as he is called in Welsh, is the patron saint of Wales. St David lived in the sixth century and travelled widely on pilgrimages, including to Jerusalem where he was made an archbishop. He eventually settled at Glyn Rhosyn (St David’s) and established a  religious community which became influential throughout Wales and the Christian world. He is alleged to have performed several miracles, one of the most famous being when he caused the ground to rise up whilst preaching so that he could be heard by a greater number of people!

The Welsh rugby team could mark the national festival by winning their Six Nations match  against France on Friday evening, and equalling the record currently held by only France and England of nine Six Nations matches without defeat. Of course, in the interests of maintaining sporting impartiality on this blog, we must also wish England good luck for their match against Ireland on Saturday

In the meantime, here is a video and a few resource suggestions that you might find useful if you are planning to do anything on St David’s Day in the classroom. The video is from the KS3 Geography Unit 1: Making connections section of the gallery, and is designed to assist students with describing the geographical context of an area. It is easy to see why Wales is renowned for its beauty, with magical castles and fantastic coastal and mountain landscapes.

Elsewhere on the web, and primarily for Key Stage 1&2 pupils, Activity Village has a range of printable resources, including colouring pages, craft ideas, and puzzles. If you want to give your students a challenge they could also attempt to do the electronic St David’s Day-related jigsaw puzzles!

For an overview of the life of St David and the background to the national day I would recommend the National Museum of Wales page, or that of Woodlands Junior School for the children to look at themselves directly.

Finally, try Newsround’s St David’s Day Quiz – after doing a bit of research for this post I was able to get 5 out of 6 correct, but slipped up on whether St David was a vegetarian or not?!

Title of clip	The Beauty of Wales
Curriculum location	Geography (secondary)  >  QCA  >  Key stage 3  >  Unit 1: Making connections  >  Section 2: How is our place connected to other places?  >  Learning Objective: to describe the geographical context of the local area
Description	A series of images to give a broad perspective of the landscapes and scenery of Wales: clouds billow over silhouetted peaks of Snowdon; clouds shadows traverse rocky outcrops on Mount Snowdon; Green Bridge of Wales (natural archway formed by coastal erosion), Pembroke Peninsula; Skokholm Lighthouse perched high over coastal cliffs; ruins of Cardiff Castle surrounded by moat, the Welsh flag flies from the tower; flock of sheep grazing in meadow; government and other buildings on Cardiff’s waterfront; Severn Bridge spanning between England and Wales.
Duration	1 minute 56 seconds

 

Please note that this is an example clip provided through our YouTube channel and does not reflect the actual quality of clips in the gallery

100 Best YouTube Videos for Teachers

Thanks to MJ Page for a good post about using video in school. Her post also pointed me in the direction of 100 Best YouTube Videos for Teachers, which includes a great resource list of YouTube channels and vidoes for use in the classroom. The list is organised by topic (eg History), and also includes some ‘How-to’ and ‘Technology’ links. Some of the resources tend to have a US curriculum focus, but many are applicable to other countries and curricula.

Unfortunately our own HVG YouTube channel isn’t on the list, but hopefully if the list gets updated this year, it soon will be.

Animoto: professional videos for your classroom

Thanks to Mashup Media Design for alerting us to the education version of Animoto.

Animoto is an online application that analyses images and music to produce a professional, completely customised video in minutes. And now there is a version specifically for education.

Below is a sample video from an international school, entitled ‘Time to make a difference’. The video’s creator explains:

“This video introduced over 300 visitors to our grade 5 Exhibition. In three minutes, it told our story with images, narration, and music. People learned about the central idea that we explored, the inquiries that it generated, and the action they led us to take.”

- Tod Baker

You can read more about Animoto here.

A chilly start to 2009

Happy New Year everybody! Hope you all enjoyed the Christmas break and feel refreshed ready for the start of the new term.

Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/powi/

What a cold start to 2009 it is proving to be – the thermometer on my car showed a reading of -6C this morning as I scraped the thick ice from the windows. Other areas experienced temperatures as low as -12C overnight, and apparently the big freeze is going to continue until the weekend. The coldest temperature ever recorded in Britain was -27C in the Scottish highlands in 1995 (you can see all of the Met Office’s extreme weather statistics here).

Hopefully it isn’t going to get that cold this winter as the arctic conditions are already proving to be problematic. Some schools in Cumbria and Wales are closed today, pipes have been bursting, and motorists struggling on the icy roads.

The example video below illustrates how people, wildlife, and landscapes around the world are affected during cold weather. It comes from the Primary Literacy section of the gallery and can be used as a kicking off point for children to plan, and then write or talk about, the next stages of a story.

Wrap up warm and take care if you are out in the snow!

Title of clip	Whiteout
Curriculum location	Primary Module B  >  Literacy  >  Year 6  >  Narrative  >  Unit 2: Extending narrative  >  Section 1: Speaking  >  Use the techniques of dialogic talk to explore ideas, topics or issues
Description	Images with accompanying voiceover illustrating how people and wildlife cope and the landscape changes when heavy snow falls: snow covered trees; frozen waterfall; people walking along streets in heavy snow, Ukraine; snow plough clearing drifting snow from country roads; Alpine scene with pine trees and ski lodge; smoke rises, above snow covered building, glowing in the morning sunshine; abandoned Inuit village; Polar bear lies deep in a snow drift protected from the storm; herd of Saiga antelope in blizzard; penguin chick covered in snow and ice, flapping wings.
Duration	2 minutes and 23 seconds

 

Please note that this is an example clip provided through our YouTube channel and does not reflect the actual quality of clips in the gallery.

Halloween

Love it or hate it, tomorrow is Halloween. It’s the time of the year to get your vampire teeth, fake blood, witches hats, broomsticks, and white sheets with holes in them ready and take part in some spooky fun.

Another integral component of Halloween is of course the pumpkin, or Jack o’lantern. About 99% of pumpkins marketed within the UK are used as Jack o’lanterns at Halloween, and the world record for the fastest pumpkin carving is just 37 seconds! (Other Halloween related facts can be found on this page)

Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wildcat_dunny/

Jack o’lanterns have been made at Halloween for centuries and stem from an Irish myth about an unsavoury character called ‘Stingy Jack’. When Jack died he was unable to get into heaven and had also made an agreement with the devil which meant that he couldn’t get into hell. As a result, he roamed the earth with a piece of burning coal in a carved-out turnip to light his way. Irish people began to refer to the ghostly figure as ‘Jack of the lantern’, and then simply ‘Jack O’Lantern.’ You can read more about the story of Jack here, and in these technologically advanced times, you can even create your own virtual jack o’lantern…

Art has never been one of my strong points  

This is a great clip from the new Primary literacy section of the gallery, complete with an authentic witch’s cackle! Don’t get scared now…

Title of clip	Hubble, bubble, toil and trouble
Curriculum location	Primary Module B  >  Literacy  >  Year 3  >  Narrative  >  Unit 4: Authors and letters  >  Section 1: Speaking  >  Sustain conversation, explain or give reasons for their views or choices
Description	Images from the world of witches and wizards: time lapse footage of the moon rising behind a tree and behind a mountain as clouds rush overhead; the full moon in the night sky; a lightning storm; a forest path at dusk; a selection of black cats and a puma; snakes coiling around gravestones; a cauldron being stirred over a fire and the animals that might be stirred into a potion – a newt, a frog, a bat, a puppy.
Duration	2 minutes 11 seconds

 

Please note that this is an example clip provided through our YouTube channel and does not reflect the actual quality of clips in the gallery

Divali

Next Tuesday is the beginning of Divali. I was recently in Leicester and driving along Belgrave Road (‘The Golden Mile’), it was great to see all of the preparations underway and the fantastic light displays being put up. Divali is one of the major Indian festivals and lasts for five days, the fourth day of which is the Hindu New Year. Today it is also celebrated by Sikhs, Jains and the Buddhists of Nepal.

There are loads of great resources and activity ideas for Divali related lessons available out there. This page from Woodland’s Junior School gives a great overview, there are recipe details for special Divali dishes here, and you can send a Divali e-card from this page.

Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/an2/

Divali actually means ‘rows of lighted lamps’, and relates to the story of Rama and Sita’s homecoming after they were banished to a forest for fourteen years. The people of Ayodhya lit divas (oil lamps) in rows to guide the couple back to the city where Rama was crowned king. During Divali Hindus believe that Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity, will be attracted by the lamps and visit them to bring good luck in the coming year. This clip from the gallery is a useful introduction to the festival. 

Title of clip	Divali Celebrations
Curriculum location	Primary Module A  >  Religious Education  >  Key stage 2  >  Unit 3B: How and why do Hindus celebrate Divali?  >  Section 2: Why do Hindus have divas?
Description	Hindus celebrate Divali festival of lights: the gods Rama and Sita return to their Kingdom at Divali, they were guided home by rows of lit divas, it is a celebration of good over evil, fireworks are set-off, evil is banished.
Duration	36 seconds

 

Please note that this is an example clip provided through our YouTube channel and does not reflect the actual quality of clips in the gallery