Posts Tagged ‘England’

History of British Kingdoms for Kids

March 24th, 2022

David Nash Ford: History of Early British Kingdoms

(www.earlybritishkingdoms.com/)

All grades, with parental supervision

This website provides the history of the rise of Celtic nations and kingdoms (in what is now England and Scotland) after the end of the Roman occupation in the Dark Ages.

It’s divided into two parts:

1) The main site is for older students about ages 11 and up (grades 6-12) and beyond. Use the link above to access the main site.

2) There is also a section especially for kids ages 5-10 (grades K-5) that you can access through an alternate link that is posted below.

When you get to the main site you’ll see a menu of topics including:

  • Kingdoms – Learn the history and timeline of the early kingdoms and explore maps of the territories they occupied.
  • Arthur – A terrific account of King Arthur, the Knights of the Round Table, and the many engaging legends.
  • Archaeology – See the ruins of ancient castles, abbeys, and churches and virtually examine artifacts.
  • Saints – Read the biographies of Celtic saints, and learn about their gifts and sacrifices.
  • Adversaries – Learn about ancient warring Celtic tribes.

Click on any one and a new page opens with a menu that allows you to explore the topic in depth through text, illustrations, and pictures.

As mentioned above, just for youngsters, the site offers a Kids Page here: Early British Kingdoms for Kids

Fun, cartoon art illustrates the answers to questions about:

  • The Dark Ages
  • Why the Romans left Britain
  • Britons, Saxons, Scots, and Picts
  • King Arthur, the Sword in the Stone, and Arthurian legend
  • Other Famous Kings
  • Minstrels
  • Saints, Monks & Nuns
  • Life in Farms, Villages, and Towns
  • Christianity and Pagans
  • Runes
  • Weapons
  • Treasures

And much more! You’ll even find printable coloring pages!

European Geography Games!

March 10th, 2022

Toporope

(www.toporopa.eu/en/)

Grades 3-12, with parental supervision

Hone in on your geography skills with the interactive games on this website.

This sister site to the previously reviewed World Geography Games website focuses on the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Europe. Games include:

  • Interactive maps in which the player identifies the location of a given place for:

  • Countries & capitals
  • Seas, islands, peninsulas, and straits
  • Mountains and volcanoes
  • Rivers and lakes
  • England
  • Scotland
  • Wales
  • Ireland and Northern Ireland
  • Cities
  • Regions, Boroughs, Counties, Council areas, Principal areas, and Districts
  • And more

  • Drag and drop the countries to the correct location on the map with the Countries puzzle
  • Choose what country a flag represents
  • Identify the countries of the European Union
  • Locate countries that have a reigning monarch
  • Pinpoint the countries that use the Euro as their official currency

All the games are easy to play but challenging to master as the student commits the information to memory.

Tour Stone Ruins Throughout Europe

February 4th, 2022

Stone Pages

(www.stonepages.com/)

All grades, with parental supervision

Many people know about one of the most famous stone ruins called Stonehenge in England. However, there are hundreds of stone ruins throughout the United Kingdom and Europe, including standing stones (like Stonehenge) and many of them are much older than Stonehenge. They document early man’s habitats, customs, rituals, defense, observance of cycles in nature like the seasons, and much more.

Today’s website offers the most amazing compilation of information on stone ruins in the U.K. and Europe. When you get to the site you can click on the following destinations to open new website pages devoted to these ruins:

  • England
  • France
  • Ireland
  • Italy
  • Scotland
  • Wales

You can take virtual tours of these remarkable historic sites through photographs and text — and in some cases through quick time movies. You will be astounded by the sheer number of these ruins, and what archaeologists have been able to piece together about early humans from them.

You can take virtual tours of:

  • stone forts
  • stone settlements
  • stone circles
  • standing stones
  • tombs
  • burial chambers
  • and many other formations

Allow plenty of time on your first visit to this site to get your bearings. You’ll want to bookmark it to visit each country and the many ruins offered for virtual tours.

Teach History With These 100 Items!

November 4th, 2021

The British Museum: Teaching History with 100 Objects

(www.teachinghistory100.org/browse/keystage/all/date/all/from/3/theme/all/curriculum/all/)

Grades 1-9, with parental supervision

Using 100 objects from museums in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales and from the British Museum, this website strives to help teachers to teach “the new national history curriculum in England.” But nonresidents of England can reap the benefits of this website as well as it provides a wonderfully unique way to explore British history.

On the home page, there are several ways to begin exploring the objects. Items can be sorted and displayed by:

  • Key Stages – in the U.S. these are like grade levels (approximate equivalents are: KS1 = Grades 1-2, KS2 = Grades 3-6, KS3 = Grades 7-9)
  • History curriculum topic – Events, people, time periods
  • Date – specific time frames
  • Places – include Africa, Americas, Asia, Britain, Europe, Oceania
  • Theme – Beliefs and ideas, Conflict, Empires, Rules and rulers, Social and personal life, Technology and arts, and Trade and contact

You can use a combination of these search methods to narrow the selections down. Once you have input your desired search selections, images of all available objects meeting that criteria will populate on the page. Select the object image and the page will open. On the object page, there will be a larger image of the item, a brief description and much more information about the object including where it was from, what period, culture, what material it was made from, its dimensions and more. Use the right-hand sidebar menu to dig deeper by selecting:

  • About the object – more in-depth details about the item
  • A bigger picture – explanation of the objects purpose and similar items
  • Teaching ideas – ways to use the item to explore history
  • For the classroom – Download the image and related images and find links to activities.

All the items have downloadable PDFs of all the information and images for the objects.

Add this website to your “go-to” list for British history.

What Is Daylight Savings Time?

November 1st, 2021

C. G. P. Grey: Daylight Saving Time Explained

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84aWtseb2-4)

Grades 2-12, with parental supervision

C. G. P. Grey, an American living in England, cheerfully shares his insights on history, politics, and more, by means of illustrated videos.

This YouTube video explains Daylight Saving Time and why we change the clocks in the spring and fall.

Once you understand Daylight Saving Time, you can go to Mr. Grey’s site and see more of his featured videos. His YouTube videos are surprisingly fun to watch, well-made, and highly informative. Even if you find yourself disagreeing with some of them, they are still good launching points for discussion and further study. Some of the math-related videos are:

  • The True Cost of the Royal Family
  • What is a Leap Year?
  • Which Planet is the Closest?
  • Social Security Cards Explained
  • and more.

As always, parents should preview the site and the videos to determine suitability of content, and supervise all Internet use.

Explore the World with Videos

April 16th, 2021

ProjectExplorer.org

(www.projectexplorer.org/kids-home)

Grades 3-12, with parental supervision

 

Bring the world to your classroom with the educational videos and material at this website from the non-profit organization, ProjectExplorer.

When arriving at today’s link, select your grade level then choose your desired location from across the world. A sampling of the video tours include: 

  • The song and dance of South Africa
  • A sugar shack in Canada to see how maple syrup is made
  • Climbing the Sydney Harbor Bridge in Australia
  • Teotihuácan pyramid in Mexico
  • Caves of Belize
  • See the Orang Utans in the Singapore Zoo
  • The food of Mumbai, India
  • Palo Verde National Park in Costa Rica
  • The Caspian Sea
  • The BBC in England
  • And so much more.

Each video tour is accompanied by a diary-like entry providing more details and information.

To access the teacher lesson plans, you will need to register for free. Once you have confirmed your registration, select the “For Teachers & Parents” link in the drop-down upper menu. Then you can search for lesson plans by country or by subject. Lesson plans include objects, standards and benchmarks, rubrics, worksheets and more.

Bookmark this website to come back to time and again to supplement your geography and social studies.

css.php