If you’re back in school this week then you might find our New Year resolution activities useful. If you type NewYear into the Quick find you will get a Question Path, print activites, photos and useful weblinks to get you started.

This year we’re working hard on big updates and improvements to KnowledgeBox, we’re looking forward to telling you all about it after the Easter break.

Hope you have a good start to the term.

Kate, KnowledgeBox publisher

In 2009 I was thinking about Hannukah, I can’t believe that little boy standing in front of the menorah is now in year one… Hannukah this year starts on the 21st December, they’ll be lighting the very same menorah from 5pm if you’re in the Oxford area.

In 2010 the focus was on KnowledgeBox resources past and present that might be useful at this time of year – still worth a look.

And if you were here in 2008, Catharine had great suggestions for a Christmas-related Toys topic.

It’s been a busy year for us all in the KnowledgeBox office and we’ve got lots of exciting things to tell you about in the New Year. So on behalf of the whole team I’d like to wish you all a very Happy Chirstmas and look forward to seeing you back here next term.

Kate, KnowledgeBox publisher

Hopefully being green and eco-friendly is already important to you and your class. Maybe you’ve already talked about how to be green at Christmas?  How many classes in your school send Christmas cards to one another? 30 children in a class sending 30 cards each - work out how many cards and envelopes that might be in your class and also in the whole school? Do they all get recycled? Perhaps you could gather ideas for a more environmentally-friendly way of sending one another Christmas greetings, maybe a class or school Christmas message board? One large sheet of paper that can be put in the recycling bin at the end of term – saving the planet and pennies too. What other ideas do your pupils have? We’d love to hear and share them.

So what is our latest Video Extra offering – Eco Warriors all about? It’s aimed at years 5 and 6 and includes eleven great videos using footage from BBC Motion Gallery. The focus areas are

• Animals
• The world environment
• The environment at home
• Personal change

We’ve included the usual wide range of quality print activities and some detailed teachers notes to support your teaching of this popular topic. We begin by asking pupils to consider what being an eco-warrior really means, and how they perceive people who are connected with green issues and campaigns.

The main focus areas involve activities that consider endangered animals and the use of animals in product testing, the rainforest and the way of life of the people who live there, environmental issues in the UK such as bypass construction and the creation of an artificial reef, and we consider how we can adapt out own lifestyles and contribute to the conservation of the planet through personal change.

Inspired by that lot I’m off now to write my Christmas cards (made from recycled paper of course) and to order my free-range Christmas turkey.

Kate, KnowledgeBox publisher

Talk 2 is full of fun, interesting and useful activities for developing and encouraging meaningful speaking and listening in the early years classroom. It’s also a useful resource for older children with language or communication issues or learners of the english language.

There are eleven videos in this title, each one carefully chosen as a prompt to stimulate discusssion and talk about different aspects of the world around them. The follow up suggestions offer a range of practical classroom ideas and activities through which aspects of talk such as turn taking and listening and responding can be developed

Find Talk 2 in the Video Extra folder in the contents panel.

As always, we’d love to hear your feedback

Kate, KnowledgeBox publisher

My favourite

Just before you all go off for a half term break I need to let you know that on Monday 24th and Tuesday 25th October we need to carry out some essential maintenance and upgrades to the KnowledgeBox servers. On these dates KnowledgeBox will not be available.

This only affects KnowledgeBox Online and Homeview, KnowledgeBox PLE will not be affected.

We apologise for the disruption to your service during this time and hope this does not cause you too much inconvenience.

Wishing you all a very relaxing half term holiday.

Kate, Knowledgebox publisher

So you’ll hopefully already have found our first Video Extra offering for this term -  Homes for years 1 and 2.

Following that, in October we’ll be publishing Animals for years 3 and 4.

The second part of our ‘Talk‘ series for Foundation stage publishes in November.

And rounding things up in early December we’ve got  Eco-Warriors for years 5 and 6.

All of these titles can be found in the Video Extra folder in the contents panel, each one contains a wide range of exciting suggestions for teaching the topics in a fun, cross curricular way.

Any questions or queries, then, as always don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Kate, KnowledgeBox publisher

There are some great videos in this month’s offering, including footage of evacuees recounting their personal experiences, the work of the home guard and the role that women played during the war years. All of our footage is taken from the wide selection of clips available from the Heinemann Video Gallery, if you’re enjoying the videos then why not take out the 30 day free trial and see what else HVG has to offer? World War II has been written for years 3 and 4 but could easily be adapted for older or younger children.

I’m currently overseeing the publishing plan for the rest of the year, we’ve got a range of different titles lined up including two titles for Foundation stage based around the theme ‘Talk’, with vidoes and ideas for promoting and encouraging the development of speaking and listening skills.

What other topics would you like us to cover – and what do you think of Video Extra so far? Please do contact me directly with your feedback, we really value your opinions here at KnowledgeBox. I can be contacted at kate.pick@pearson.com and I’m looking forward to hearing from you.

Kate, KnowledgeBox publisher

Each of these BBC Active resources is built around carefully selected BBC video clips, with dozens of activities for each topic to prompt discussion and engage all the children in your class, on and away from the whiteboard. So here’s a quick summary of what you can expect.

Sacred Books and Stories provides highly interactive and engaging content with strong support for non-specialist teachers, both on-screen and in the teacher’s book. It covers Judasim, Christianity, Islam and Sikhism, looking at their sacred books, their key messages and important faith stories. The title covers key elements of locally agreed syllabi and the QDCA non-statutory National Framework for RE in England.

Who Are We? People Place Identity is an exciting new topic for your creative curriculum which investigates what it means to be part of a community. It looks at how communities change as people move and settle – from early settlers to post-war immigration, through the movement from countryside to urban living, to why people leave the UK to live abroad.

Both titles provide a wealth of stimulating resources, video and planning support all in one place. Speak to our friendly customer services team on 0800 587 8032 now to access these titles on your KnowledgeBox.

Kate, KnowlegeBox publisher

Whilst you’ve been away we’ve been busy here in the KnowledgeBox office and have created the latest instalment of our Video Extra module. You’ll find ‘The Beach’ in the Video Extra folder in the contents panel - open the the KS1 folder and you’ll find a wide range of videos and some detailed teacher notes and worksheets to support topic teaching about  the beach for years one and two.

My particular favourite is the Sculptures on the Beach video, I find the images of Antony Gormley’s figures staring at the horizon quite inspiring, I’m amazed that there are 100 of them. The videos provides a great starting point for contemplating what artwork you could undertake at a beach. I’ve always liked Antony Gormley’s scuptures and was quite suprised to discover that we have had one here in Broad Street in Oxford since 2009. I must have walked underneath it many times without knowing it was there – can you spot it?!

Next month from Video Extra – WWII for years 3 and 4. We’ve got some great clips lined up for you, I’m looking forward to it already.

Kate, KnowledgeBox publisher

Full of exciting activities for years 5 add 6, Your Body Your Choice explores making healthy lifestyle choices, it helps pupils to decide what the alternatives are and encourages them to take responsibility for the choices that they do make.

Remember that all of the video clips used in Video Extra are taken from the Heinemann Video Gallery  and added to KnowledgeBox as part of your subscription . If you’ve enjoying using them and would like to see the full range of clips available then do visit the HVG site and sign up for a 30 day trial. More details are also available from the Pearson Schools and Colleges website.

You will also notice from the homescreen that we’re adding two new BBC Whiteboard Active titles for you to buy, these will be available from the 4th April. I’ll provide more details about these titles and how you can get hold of them on your KnowledgeBox in my next blog post.

So how are you enjoying Video Extra? From the comments and emails I’ve received since we launched our new module it seems that its going down well with you all – we’ve even had some suggestions for future topic areas that you’d like us to cover later on in the year. It’s alway good to get your feedback, so please do get in touch - kate.pick@pearson.com

We’ve had a very green couple of months here at KnowledgeBox - we started off with the Woodland iPoster in January, then we started to think about ways of making the world Greener and Safer in February, and on Monday we’re joining the rest of the Pearson publishing team on a  ‘Give it some Welly for Woodland’ event  – good timing as it coincides with climate week and the start of spring.  We’re tasked with planting 50 trees each – it could be a challenging (and worthwhile) day!

Kate, KnowledgeBox publisher