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EY & Primary Resources
For updates relevant to all key stages visit our News page.
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The summer holidays are approaching fast, but that doesn’t have to mean no geography. In fact, holidays offer an excellent opportunity for geographical learning. Here, Kathy Alcock suggests some activities for encouraging younger pupils to explore their holiday destinations beyond the sun lounger. Happy holidays!
Download: Here Comes the Summer (PDF)
(11.06.09)
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Two new games have been added to the Barnaby Bear website, 'The Continent Name Game' and 'Countries and Capitals'. The games are designed to help young children identify the seven continents and a selection of European countries and capitals. 'Countries and Capitals' comprises three separate games each with three difficulty levels to enable children to work their way up.
Visit the Barnaby Bear website.
(09.06.09)
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The geography section from the fourth issue of Primary Subjects is now available for GA members to download. It features articles on 'Geography & creativity: changing our school grounds', 'Geography - a "living" subject' and 'Fieldwork to live for' and includes a round up of CPD events, weblinks, journal articles and publications.
Visit the Primary Subjects page for this and previous issues.
(15.05.09)
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| Primary National Conference - Young Geographers: Our Future! |
Tuesday 16 June 2009
Central London
Would you like the opportunity to think creatively about the geography that you teach and how this can support learning across the wider curriculum? Are you enthusiastic about developing primary geography and keen to be part of a growing initiative that wants to inspire all young people to think of themselves as Young Geographers? If so then this one day conference may be just what you need. Visit the Primary National Conference page for further information and online booking.
(07.05.09)
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| Primary Support - Your Thoughts |
As you're probably aware the primary curriculum is currently under review and it's likely that from September 2011 it will have changed substantially. The GA, as always, is working to support primary teachers throughout these changes, and we welcome your thoughts on the best ways to do this.
We are planning to identify useful themes from across the primary curriculum, using an interdisciplinary approach whilst ensuring that quality geography can always be identified and exemplified.
What topics/themes would you like to see covered:
for 5-7 year olds?
for 7-11 year olds?
Send your comments to GA Publications Manager Fran Royle.
(02.04.09)
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Ictopus (ICT online primary user support) is a free support service for primary education. Anyone can sign up to receive their weekly magazine Sharing Good Practice and set of activity suggestions, plus regular email newsletters. All magazines are archived on their website along with a variety of classroom activities and other resources. The latest issue focuses on outdoor learning.
(01.04.09)
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| Young Geographers - Latest updates |
Two new sets of KS1 resources have been added to the Young Geographers project pages, Habitats in the School Environment and Can I Make a Difference?.
The 'Young Geographers' project was a three-month pilot project funded by the TDA, which aimed to support teachers in planning for and carrying out a short unit of work with a focus on Living Geography. Teachers were asked to design some locality fieldwork, thinking about aspects of ESD and personalising planning to suit their school context. View all of the resources.
(25.03.09)
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| Barnaby Bear Letters Page |
The Barnaby Bear website now includes a brand new Letters Page featuring some of the letters and drawings sent to Barnaby. He is always delighted to receive correspondence, either by post or email, so why not encourage your children to write to him and they could have their work featured on the website. You can contact him at Barnaby Bear C/O The Geographical Association, 160 Solly Street, Sheffield S1 4BF or email barnabybear@geography.org.uk
(03.03.09)
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| Why Farming Matters - New Teaching Packs |
Let students discover the relevance and importance of agriculture to everyday life with the NFU's Why Farming Matters teaching packs. The packs have been produced in conjunction with education charity FACE (Farming and Countryside Education) and cover a wide range of farming topics. They contain three sets of picture cards and a DVD containing interviews with farmers about their lives and work. They include booklets containing a series of activities for children. The packs can be ordered for free from the FACE website.
(21.01.09)
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| Developing the Sustainable Primary School |
11 February 2009
Elvin Hall, Institute of Education, London, WC1H 0AL
This one day conference organised by the Institute of Education's Department of Early Childhood and Primary Education will provide an overview of current and creative approaches to the teaching of sustainable development in the primary school. Download a programme and booking form from the IOE website or contact Sue Grant (020 7612 6588) for further information.
(15.01.09)
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| Teacher Training for Outdoor Learning at the Northmoor Trust |
The Northmoor Trust in South Oxfordshire is offering a number of primary teacher training events that explore how learning can be taken out of the classroom. Based on the Trust's many years of experience of teaching in the open air, examples of best practice will be considered and participants should learn many valuable skills. Courses include 'Taking your termly theme outside', 'Engaging boys in the curriclum through the outdoors' and 'Gifted and talented learning in the outdoors'. For a full list of events see the Northmoor Trust website.
(09.10.08)
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Back in July the first issue of Primary Subjects was sent out free of charge to all maintained primary schools in England. The second issue has just been published and focuses on Gifted & Talented. The Council for Subject Associations (CfSA) has kindly agreed that each subject association who contributed can make their material available to members - visit the Primary Subjects page to download the geography resources from issues one and two.
(07.10.08)
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Around one hundred pupils from Thomas Walling Primary School were treated to a special field trip along the north-east coast thanks to funding from the Frederick Soddy Trust. They walked from Bamburgh to Seahouses, visited Alnwick Castle and sailed out to the Farne Islands!
Deputy Head Derek Gott sent a thank you letter to the Trust, together with a report produced by the pupils. An adapted version is available here.
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If you feel inspired by Thomas Walling's fieldtrip, why not apply for a Frederick Soddy Award for your school? Every year five awards of between £250 and £500 are given to primary and secondary schools to encourage students of all ages to participate in field studies.
Further information about the scheme is available on the Frederick Soddy Trust page.
(03.10.08)
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| Primary Geography Resources from the GA |
A catalogue has been produced showcasing the GA's new resources for Foundation and Key stages 1 and 2. Also contains complete list of publications and an order form. All of the resources in the catalogue can also be purchased online at the GA shop.
Download: Primary Geography Resources Catalogue
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| National Trust offers new 'Out of Classroom' experiences |
The National Trust is offering exciting 'Out of Classroom' experiences at their two new education centres in the Lake District; The Footprint, Windermere and Tarn Hows, Coniston. You can choose from a number of full or half day programmes especially designed for Key Stages 1 and 2. All of the programmes are based upon the themes of environment and sustainability and include the opportunity to explore an oak woodland and the underwater world of a Lake District tarn. All sessions at both sites are led by the National Trust's dedicated Learning Officers.
The Footprint: See the Footprint website for more information and photos of this fascinating project and its construction, or visit the National Trust website. Alternatively, contact Kelley Sproston on 015394 46402.
Tarn Hows: See the Tarn Hows page on the National Trust website. For booking or more information email Jessica Worlock or contact Jessica on 015394 41951.
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| Geography and Creativity: an overview |
Creativity is traditionally associated with the expressive arts. In this article Stephen Scoffham shows how we are in fact always being creative throughout our daily lives. The article then goes on to consider how creativity and geography are related.
Download: Geography and Creativity: an overview (PDF, 68k)
Here are some related articles from Primary Geographer that explore creativity in geography:
Download: Creating the space to think (PDF, 324k)
Download: The art of geography (PDF, 514k)
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| Globes and Atlases: an overview |
This short article by Stephen Scoffham considers why the use of globes and atlases is still important in the classroom and suggests some ways in which they might be effectively used.
Download: Globes and Atlases: an overview (PDF, 163k)
Download: Eckert IV projection (PDF, 1.48M)
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Primary Handbook Extension Project |
This new section of the Geography Teaching Today website contains teacher developed materials that build on the excellent resources and ideas introduced in the Primary Geography Handbook - a must have book for all subject leaders and teachers from Foundation to KS2.
From an exploration of the school grounds to a field trip in France, from the discovery of distant places to the geography of books, you will be sure to find something to inspire and invigorate your teaching. Each section contains ideas and examples for different age groups.
Visit the project homepage on the Geography Teaching Today website to find out more and view the resources.
(Updated 25.06.08)
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Primary Project Box Online
Lesson plans, resources, and links from all five units of the Primary Project Box are now available online. The units are: 1. Our classroom and our school, 2. Inside outside, 3. Our wider world, 4. Our changing world, and 5. Our future world.
Visit the Subject Association website to download the free resources.
The Primary Project Box KS1 is available to buy from the GeographyShop priced £89.99 or £59.99 to GA members. E-learning credits can be used to purchase this resource.
(02.06.08)
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| Primary Curriculum Review |
The Primary Curriculum is undergoing both independent and government reviews and associated consultations are currently taking place. Further detail about the reviews, GA responses, leading letters and keynote speeches can be found on the Curriculum Review page. You can also contribute your comments to the consultations.
(Updated 21.04.08)
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The National Year of Reading (NYR) began on Tuesday 1 April and is a year-long celebration of reading in all its forms. It aims to help build a greater national passion for reading in England - for children, families and adult learners alike. Find out more about the initative and what part the Geographical Association will be playing on our Year of Reading page.
Take a look at our Primary Book Reviews page and the list of geographically relevent storybooks for primary-aged children on our Primary Geography Booklist.
(14.04.08)
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| Year of Food and Farming 2007-08 |
An exciting campaign to help children find out more about the countryside and where their food comes from through memorable, first-hand learning experiences.
Throughout the Year, farmers, food producers and lots of other organisations will be offering up a bumper crop of ideas and events, information and teaching materials for participating schools. As the Year goes on, more and more food and farming resources, news and offers will be appearing on the official website.
If you register you will also receive teacher newsletters that are packed full of inspiring ideas and activities that are linked to the curriculum. There are programmes of study to make teaching and learning around the themes of food and farming more accessible and fun.
Register now and get on the Megamap!
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The Primary Project Box is designed to offer primary schools a practical, affordable means of ensuring that their subject work with Key Stage 1 children is excellent, enjoyable and based on sound subject knowledge and pedagogy.
The Primary Project Box will be in stock from mid-January. You can order a copy online or by sending in an order form which can be found on the back of this flyer.
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Barnaby Goes Geocaching
A new page has been added to the official Barnaby Bear website, all about Geocaching and Barnaby's adventures in Australia. Visit www.barnabybear.co.uk to find out more.
Primary Book Reviews
Visit the Primary Subject Leaders section for a selection of book reviews.
Geog Blog
Wendy North, Primary Projects Leader for the Action Plan for Geography, has created a blog page called Everyday Geographies. The blog aims to 'share good ideas about primary geography with teachers and other educational professionals'.
Sustainable Schools Leader Pack - Free Download
The Sustainable Schools rural urban linking project was funded by the Yorkshire and Humber Global Schools Association. It ran from January to July 2007 and linked four rural schools in Craven, North Yorkshire with four urban schools from Bradford or Keighley. The resulting activity pack can be downloaded free from the YDMT website. If you have any further questions about the pack or the project please contact Judy Rogers, Community Officer at YDMT on (015242 51002).
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A range of transition initiatives has been introduced both locally and nationally over the past few years. One of these is the Moving On pack. The Moving On pack is the result of the collaboration of a number of primary and secondary school teachers and headteachers. It is intended to support the LEA Key Stage 3 strategy by helping to ease transition from primary to secondary school and to provide Year 7 teachers with additional information about individual pupils.
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Moving On Pack
(1.1M)
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note: this file requires the Adobe Acrobat Reader.
If you do not have this you can get it free from the Adobe website. |
New QCA teacher assessment activities for geography
QCA has developed new geography materials for the Teacher assessment activities series for Key Stages 1 and 2. Designed to reinforce existing classroom practice and assessment methods, the geography materials provide examples of assessment activities to help teachers identify, track and enhance pupil progress in the classroom and during fieldwork.
Topics covered include:
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- Homes, Our school, Our local area, and Our neighbourhood, including practical fieldwork and identification of patterns of land use
- Localities in Kenya and the Gambia, including learning from artefacts
- Rivers, including expressing views about how environments can be damaged and improved (using appropriate geographical vocabulary)
- Using sources and mapping techniques that incorporate the use of ICT
- Recognising human and physical features of different localities and providing explanations for the location of features.
Ordering information and sample activities showing the structure and format of the materials are available on the QCA website.
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A document entitled Suggested Fieldwork Enquiries for Common Entrance and Scholarship Candidates has been prepared by the GA's Independent Schools Working Group. Download it free from the ISWG page.
Many resources reduce the population of Earth to 100 to better illustrate the people who live here, their beliefs, health, abilities and living conditions. Miniature Earth is an online video created by the Sustainibility Institute based on an original report by Donella Meadows entitled 'State of the Village'.
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The Becta geography lesson plans mailing for July is available to download as a Zip file below.
Thanks to Becta for permission to reproduce these resources. If you would like material delivered directly to your inbox, sign up for the Direct2U mailings on the Subscription Services page of the Becta website.
Download previous lesson plan mailings from the Becta lesson plans page.
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This month's pack includes:
Year 1: My school visit
This activity encourages the children to look closely at photographs and to make observations on them. It should support speaking and listening skills, including predictions and inference. Although the activity is designed for use on a school visit, it could also be used to support work on the local area and the school grounds.
Year 2: School visit quiz
This activity encourages the children to make predictions of what a map of a location is showing. It develops the concept of a map showing what is in a specific location. The map can be adapted to suit the needs of the children, the best choice probably being a sketch map drawn by the teacher. Although the activity is designed for use on a school visit it could also be used in conjunction with work on the school grounds or the local area.
Year 3: Listen to the sounds
This activity gives an opportunity to use a map on a field trip. Whatever the reason for the visit, this mapping activity can be used. A map of the location of the visit is shared and discussed before the visit. Sound recordings are then made at various locations on the day of the visit. The locations where these were made are marked on a map.
Year 4: What was the weather like on our trip?
The activity uses the opportunity of being in a different place to collect weather data for a contrasting locality. Some form of digital data logger could be used, but if this is not possible the activity could be completed using non-ICT devices such as a whirling hygrometer for taking a temperature reading. Other data is also collected to give more data for comparison, and the give more experience of fieldwork skills. Included with the lesson plan are a recording sheet W62 Geography Y4X and a blank MS Excel file for data entry W62 Geography Y4X1.
Year 5: Viewpoint survey
This activity involves taking photographs from a viewpoint. It encourages the use of a compass and makes good use of a digital camera. This work will help the children to understand what is shown on a map, relating it to the photographs taken. Included is a recording sheet W62 Geography Y5X for use at the viewpoint.
Year 6: Route planning
This activity makes use of internet route planners. It can be used in context of a school visit, making the activity more meaningful. This activity provides a good opportunity to demonstrate that information found on the internet should be assessed for its usefulness, suitability and accuracy.
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As a taster from the Early Years Handbook (edited by Max de Boo) download ‘Why won’t my seed grow’ by Jane Johnson. Buy the book from the online shop.
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| Teaching the geography of China |
Sarah Maude (GA International Committee) has compiled a list of resources for teaching about China, from key stage 1 to key stage 4 and beyond. View a range of images of China here.
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Doing a unit on rivers with your key stage 1 pupils? Tony Richardson provides some starter activities and a wordsearch - which enables pupils to revise river vocabulary in a fun way.
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| Elsewhere on this site... |
If you're delivering country studies, have a look at the Image of ... China, southern Africa and Kenya in the GA's Study Tours section. There are lots of images which have short descriptions (supplied by the GA's International Committee) and some are accompanied by ideas for investigations of particular topics or themes.
Want ideas for using images or maps in geography? Then visit the Past Themes section and the Our Wonderful World poster activities for use with your primary pupils.
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