Mapping Our World

The Mapping Our World website was set up by Oxfam to educate children about mapping and globe projections. This is required material in the Geography curriculum for 5th and 6th classes, falling under the Maps, globes and graphical skills unit in the Skills and Concepts Development strand. The site is made up of 3 seperate lessons, each of which has around 40 minutes of material including videos and interactive activities. Teacher notes are supplied for each of the lessons, making using the website foolproof.  I really like this website and the children do too. The site has won a Geographical Association Gold award and a BAFTA award for primary learning so they must be doing something right.

Planet 10 – The Solar System

The Solar System is a topic that children find interesting and are eager to learn and with the help of the Planet 10 website learning about the planets becomes even more fun. Children enter a virtual Solar System with accompanying eerie music, where they can take a tour of the Solar System, zooming in and out on different planets and changing the viewing angle. Children can also find out information about all the planets, the Sun, comets and asteroids.

The website also includes a great game where children create their own planet. They get to chose the size, tilt, chemical make up, position in relation to the sun and a whole host of others before launching the planet into the Solar System to see how it gets on.

While on the topic of the Solar System I recently discovered, thanks to a 6th class student, that you can explore the Moon and Mars using Google Earth and it is also possible to explore the stars using Google Space.

Lastly, if like me you are frustrated by youtube being blocked in school I have found a website called videojug which is not blocked in schools and has some educational videos including the following, relating to Earth and the Solar System:
All About Earth
The Planets Explained
The Seasons Explained