Over the summer and for most of the past year we’ve been very busy here in the KnowledgeBox office with lots of exciting plans and things for the term ahead. Please do watch your inboxes and check what  has been delivered in the post over the next few weeks as we’re sending out a lot of information to you this next half term. Also don’t forget to check the homescreen as we’ll be updating it with some useful information very soon.

I hope the good weather lasts!

Kate, KnowledgeBox publisher

If your pupil are staying with you or just if you want to, there are plenty more useful certificates to print off and give out.

So as I’m sure you’re all aware by now, this is a very busy and exciting time for the KnowledgeBox team. In case you missed the recent communcations about KnowledgeBox we’ve added the last one to your home screen. We’ll be updating this with all our exciting news and much more from September.

Happy summer holidays!                                                                               

Kate

KnowledgeBox publisher

Don’t forget to use the Easter Question Path with your classes in the next week or so. You’ll find it in the RE Question paths in the contents panel. There are versions for KS1 and KS2 and there are also useful worksheets, photos, pictures and weblinks. 

Hopefully you’ll all get lots of Easter eggs and time to endulge in hot cross buns, plenty of Simnel cake and perhaps an Easter egg hunt or two.

We’ll be back after Easter to tell you about the exciting things in store for all Knowledgebox schools for the summer term and beyond.

Kate, KnowledgeBox publisher

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