Two wonderful songs sang by Nina Simone - both related to black history month and issues of discrimination, racism and inequality. One song - Missisippi Goddam - was very controversial for the time. The lyrics express her anger, especially at recent atrocities committed against black people in some Southern states. at the time. To be free is a classic expressing the desire to have freedom and equality. Both songs allow for listening activities before a wider discussion. These songs and the themes raised in the lyrics are ideal for Black History Month discussions and music and history lessons.

A simple website research/inquiring challenge - students use the Ducksters website to help answer the questions. First I introduced the topic of the Industrial Revolution (Our unit of study is on Technology so I felt this is an era of history that needs to be taught as it changed our World). I had my class (Grade 3) do this using one Chrome book between 2 but it would work just as well as an individual research activity. The questions were written to not only improve reading skills, but also encourage some deeper thinking of the impact of this significant era in history.

An example of a letter written by a member of the teaching staff to the head of school - trying to persuade the head of school/principal to give the students extra recess time each day. The letter example gives 3 reasons, cites real evidence, and uses persuasive (emotive) language. There are 7 questions about the letter for the students to work through to check for understanding and think about the language being used and how it has been carefully organised.

A great maths resource that includes 10 different challenges/lessons based on exploring our world. Students get to learn about our World while practicing maths skills including addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, number, negative numbers, calculating averages and data handling. Special lessons/challenges include work on the continents of the World, famous explorers, the World’s highest mountains, the World’s largest lakes, the World’s longest rivers, the whales of Antarctica, Africa’s deadliest animals and even a lesson on the creature with the most painful sting - the bullet ant! The resource includes several videos to accompany some of the lessons.

This is a complete play/show I wrote from scratch that could be used for an assembly or end of year stage performance. It connects the themes of Earth and the Solar System/Space with the performing arts and includes an originally written song based on Nina Simone’s - Ain’t Got No. I have made a video with lyrics and the karaoke version of the song to make it easier for the children to learn. The moral of the play is about being ‘yourself’. It is therefore as much about social and emotional health as science. My children performed it last summer and it got rave reviews - to quote the head of school - “It was the best assembly I’ve seen in my decade as a school head”. The children made the roles their own and added a lot of the ideas during class discussions (e.g. using a hula hoop for Saturn, or doing a cartwheel for Uranus). For the song, the children also improvised the actions for the different lyrics - again this was a big part of the learning (we were doing a performing arts unit so working on improvising moves to words/choreography was part of this). While my students were Grade 3 (8-9), this play would definitely work with older children too. After all, the play is just the idea - it is the actors that bring it to life and make it their own!

Simple daily routine (differentiated) to help children work on time and the language associated with describing their daily routine. Also includes blank clock faces and clock faces with some hands drawn to help practice telling the time. After completing their daily routine, I have the children act it out in pairs/threes with a clock - something they really enjoy.