Children Write the Knowledge Organiser

So, you're likely familiar with knowledge organisers and have written your own or downloaded some from online. 

Recently, we've undertaken a Canada study with our Year Six pupils that culminates in the writing of travel brochures. At the start of the work, we were looking for ways to make the children familiar with different parts of the country. In our Year Six, we have four classes; so each class took on the job of researching a different city and producing a knowledge organiser about it that the other classes could then use throughout the term. We linked the sections of the knowledge organiser to end of year geography knowledge expectations. 

In the past year, the good chaps at 'Mr A, Mr C and Mr D Present!' have given us access to their site*. (We'll have another post about them coming soon...) We used knowledge organisers off their site as the basis for this work. 

Firstly, their 'North America' knowledge organiser provided an example text:

Next, on the site there are editable knowledge organisers, so we downloaded one and edited it slightly:

And, the outcome for the city of St.John's, NL came out like this:

At the end, we have knowledge organisers about four Canadian cities, researched and produced by the children themselves. They can now be used by all the children to aid their work.

Studying a new topic? Get the class or classes in your year group to research and present their findings, as a knowledge organiser, for the children all to use at a later date...

*Our access to the 'Mr A, Mr C and Mr D Present PRIMARY SCHOOL · KS2 EDUCATION WEBSITE' was provided free of charge by Mr A, Mr C and Mr D Present. This was not with the purpose or expectation of this blog post being written. This is, as always, the view and opinion of two full-time class teachers/school leaders about something we use in the classroom. 

Bonza Vocabulary

A few weeks ago, I came across an app. Bonza is its name. Cheers Alex for the Tweet about it. So, it's a word game. The parts of the puzzle need to be put back together to form a crossword. Before the puzzle comes up, there is a hint as to what the puzzle's topic may be.

Gave the game a go. Enjoyed it. Thought about uses in school. After investigating the app a little, found it is rated 12+ due to some of the vocabulary and subject content within the app. However, here are some ideas for using Bonza and/or Bonza-style puzzles in class...


1. Create a puzzle and then project to a screen from your own device. Complete the puzzle together. We've blogged about this approach in the past.

2. Create a puzzle and print it out to be cut and stuck, or the answers written out.

3. Create a puzzle and the. Recreate it in Word, PowerPoint or similar.


What could the puzzles be about? A spelling rule, verb tenses, topic-based vocabulary, revision and, well anything that involves words really.

Another tool to add a bit of variety to a classroom and learning. Age rating of the app just a tad irritating. NB, puzzles can only be completed in the app and not through a browser either...

Here's one I made to go with our Year Five's rivers topic (also pictured above).

Flightradar & The Skies Above

Over the summer, I've spent some time sat outside, particularly in the evening. With the clear skies for viewing and no cloud to mask sounds, I've notice how many planes and how frequently they pass over my home. I'm located in the home counties, within easy reach of many of our major airports - its a busy air space.

After watching plane after plane passing over, I started to wonder where they'd come from and where they were going to. Step forward the Flightradar24 app. I could now find out about each plane.

Then an idea came to me:

At school, download the app or use the website. Go out onto the playground. Look for a plane of two. Go and research the origin location, the destination, the flight (frequency/duration etc), the airline, the aircraft and more...

After looking at the Flightradar24 site, I came up with another idea too. Zoom the map out. Simple question: What do you notice?

That's just for starters. It intrigues me the more I look at it. Maybe it could be a writing prompt too? I'm sure there'll be a maths link. Have you seen the map shows night/day? Comment below if you come up with any further uses...

Flags & Emojis

So, last month I saw the below Facebook post from a friend.

It got me thinking; do the children know the answers?

So, here's what we did:

- I gave them tablets (iPad);

- Got them to open a document and, from the Emoji keyboard, insert a flag that contained a Union Flag.

- Next, find out where the flag is the flag of, why it contains a Union Flag and some of the history of the country*. They used the internet, books and each other for help.

-> Of course, this could be used for any flag in the Emoji keyboard, "Whose is it?" "Why that 'pattern'?" "Why those colours?" and so on... 

Here's some of that they produced:

*Not all of them are countries!

The Weather Tree

Another post that is in response to a Tweet we received.

@kallicanl @PrimaryIdeas @WeathermanABC looking for ways to record the daily weather with yr4.Apps or ideas

— Laurence T (@tocky44) 8 February 2017

So, here's something we did a fair few years ago...

To start with, the tree is empty and each day a leaf is added. The colour of the leaf is dependant on the temperature outside. On the leaf, other observations and readings about the weather can be added. 

What is creates is a very visual display of the temperature changes across the year. On closer inspection, further information about the day's weather can also be seen.

The leaves were kept in coloured pouches at the bottom that had the key written on them to explain what the colours referred to.

Mystery Skype with the Family

I've know about Mystery Skype for some time and it's been one of those things I've wanted to do and not got round to (until now). I'd contacted other teachers, via Twitter, and tried to arrange times, but often - for various reasons - it didn't work out.

 Image credit: http://twitter.com/Skype

A Friday recently, I was in school and I knew that before lunch we would have about half an hour of spare time. So, I got my phone out and via the wonders of Whatsapp, contacted my sister (in Sydney). One hour later, we were Mystery Skyping my sister, sat in her apartment in Australia trying to guess where in the world she was. We asked questions. She replied either 'yes' or 'no' and eventually we worked out her location. She then showed us the clock in her room, the harbour, the lit up bridge and the dark outside, lots of dark - oh and a thermometer for temperature comparison. A fantastic half an hour that captivated my class. I intend to carry out my Skype link ups as Mystery Skypes (with other classes and friends & family) and as general chats or information sharing/gathering. 

Got a friend or relative in another country? Mystery Skype them! 

What is It?

Firstly, this is not our idea. It's stolen, er sorry, 'magpied'. So, if Sarah is reading this, yes we listened during your staff meeting, yes we liked your idea and yes, now we're blogging about it so the country, continent and wider universe can find out about your idea too...

Below is an example that could be used for a history lesson. We've adapted this for a geography lesson about map knowledge too, but it can be adapted for any subject and age group. The idea is to show different parts of a picture or object 3 or 4 times and ask the children to work out what is being shown.

For example, the wives of Henry VIII:

Firstly, showing shoulders, then hands, followed by eyes and so on. Children make predictions, based upon previous knowledge and think about how their predictions change as they see more and more detail. So, hence forth and give it a go. Oh and thanks again Sarah, if you're reading. 

Padlet Beats Sugar Paper

Have you seen Padlet (was WallWisher)? It's on online 'wall' where sticky notes can be added. It allows anyone with the link to the page to add to the content of the wall.

Here are three examples of its use:

http://padlet.com/wall/BHJRLMLiteracy 

http://padlet.com/wall/BHJRLMMaths 

http://padlet.com/wall/TudoriDiscover

My newest idea for using Padlet is as a replacement to sugar paper. How often do children in your class work collaboratively while huddled around a piece of sugar paper passing a marker pen between them to add content? How about providing them a Padlet wall to write on? Either one for the whole class, or one per group. Start with a blank wall or possibly start with a prompt in the middle (a photograph for example). Then at the end, the class teacher can project the results or get each child in turn to visit the other walls to see what's been written. Also, there's no need to store rolls of paper for future reference. Just keep the links!

The walls above are on going throughout the year and therefore all posts are moderated. If I was using a wall within one lesson I'd probably leave it unmoderated so results were put live instantly.

If you have other uses for Padlet please let us know.

Who Dares Wins

On Thursday, I was thinking of something new to do with my literacy class. Then, all those hours of watching Saturday night television came in useful!

I decided I'd add a game of 'Who Dares Wins' into my lesson.

Image credit: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b008g90y

We had been studying dramatic conventions. So, I based my game of Who Dares Wins on 'How many features of a playscript can you name?'

It could be done with prime numbers, factors of XX, European countries, verbs, parts of a plant, Kings & Queens and so on...

Oh, now if you don't sit in on a Saturday evening watching The National Lottery, here's how it works:

You introduce a topic, in the case of my idea it was 'How many features of a playscript can you name?' Then the children work in pairs or two teams to decided how many they can name. One person or team would say how many they can name. Then, the other person or team will say how many they can name. This carries on backwards and forwards (A: 'We can name 2', B: 'We can name 4', A: 'We can name 7') until one person or team can not beat the amount the other say they can name. They then ask the other person or team to name the amount they said they could name. If they name the amount they said they could then they win. If they can't then the others win.

It worked really well in my literacy class and I'm now looking forward to using it in other curriculum areas. It showed easily who had a better grasp of the features and who required some more support.

Austin The Travelling Bear

While completing my Primary PGCE six years ago, I undertook a placement in a Year Two class. While at that placement I acquired the idea of having a bear that could travel the world and return with stories to be told to the class. So, thank you Mrs. Koletzki (if you're reading this) for the idea! I suppose it's also an extension of the Barnaby Bear Key Stage One resource.

Since completing my training, I have only worked in Key Stage Two, but have had my own class bear (Austin), who spends most days sat in the classroom observing all that goes on. But, every now and again he goes off on adventures. I have a photo album that contains photographs of the places he has visited, a write up of what he did and a post card from each country. In addition to that, I also have newspapers, coins, flags and some other artifacts from each country he has been to.

The children enjoy looking at the pictures of where he has been, seeing the different post cards and, without realising it, developing their knowledge of countries and cultures from around the globe.

This of course all started as a classroom resource, but it's also started to make Austin quite a special bear because of all the places he has now been to: China (twice - including visiting the Great Wall and the Olympics), Finland, Germany, Israel, Jordan, New Zealand, Rwanda, South Korea, Spain (twice), Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, UAE and Wales. He is, at the time of writing, in the USA. He's had quite a busy six years taking in Europe, Africa, Asia, Oceania and North America.

I must extend my gratitude to friends and family who willingly take him away with them on holiday (often asking for him) and then provide resources from the countries for the classroom.

You can find Austin online here: AustinTheBear

He's certainly better travelled than I am!

Interactive Classroom Displays

 

In my classroom I have a display board that I refer to as the ‘Interactive Display’. This display is composed of four parts:

• Country of the Week
• Number of the Week
• Park it Here, Let’s find out!
• This is Good Because…

It is a part of the classroom where the children contribute the content to the outline I have put in place. This is how I have used the four parts:

Country of the Week

This part of the display was put in place partly due to me being a geographer, but also as an opportunity to help the children widen and improve their geographic knowledge through their own independent research. Firstly, it highlights the children who already have geographic knowledge as they can add to the display first thing on a Monday morning. It then, throughout the week, provides a discussion about children’s research and where they acquired information. This part of the display is a laminated piece of A3 paper that the children write onto with whiteboard pens. I change the country each week on a Monday morning.

Number of the Week

The idea of having a number of the week came from a colleague. Again, this became part of the display partly through my enjoyment of maths, but also to provide an opportunity to look at the children’s knowledge of number. This display is also a laminated A3 piece of paper that the children write onto with whiteboard pens. On this one there are prompts like ‘factors’, ‘half of it is’, ‘double it’ and so on. Although I have shown 100 and 1000 in the two examples below the numbers used range through 45, 88, 125, 366. Again, I change this number each week on a Monday morning.

Park it Here, Let’s find out!

This part of the display is a whole school approach to ensuring questions that are asked during a lesson do not go unanswered. The idea is that when a question is asked that the teacher cannot answer or a question slightly off topic comes to light, it is written onto the Park it Here display. The teacher and the class can then research this question so that it does not go unanswered, but is answered at another appropriate time.

This is Good Because…

The final part of the display is for the pupils in the class to provide each other with some public feedback and praise. When I come across what I perceive to be a ‘good’ piece of work I take a photocopy or photograph of it and then put this on the display. I then write on it why I thought it was good and then the rest of the class can do the same. A little coaching in what to write is required, but the comments are excellent once the children have got the hang of it. When the piece of work is taken down the child gets to keep the copy of their work and the comment slips that were added to it.