We've been looking forward to the Olympics this summer and have recently produced a new activity for schools - you can get your class involved by comparing the sporting abilities of humans to those of the animal kingdom.
The resource can be used as a one off activity or extended into a larger debating, creative or homework project.
Included in this resource you will find;
The materials are generally designed for KS2, but can be easily adapted and differentiated for your needs. Once you have completed the activity, email us the names of the top three animals in your class (or if you'd like to scan in you student's work we'd love to see it) along with your name and school address, to animalympics@rspb.org.uk and we'll send you a copy of this fantastic poster.
You can find the activity and a little more information here.
If you enjoyed Big Schools' Birdwatch, I think it's fair to say you're going to like our next annual nature survey - Make Your Nature Count, which takes places between 2nd - 10th June.
Take a step for nature by spending an hour recording the summer sightings of wildlife in your school garden, we'll also need to know a little bit about what your garden is like, and if you've also spotted any non-avian species such as moles, hedgehogs and squirrels.
This activity is really easy for you to do in school with your class - instead of your garden at home, simply use your school garden or grounds!
If you register now, it's easier for you to submit your results - plus you will receive a fantastic 10% discount on our online goodies in the birdfeed and wildlife categories - a great incentive to stock up on your wildlife essentials at school.
We have recently become content partners on the Times Education (TES) website - which means we can upload and share our resources directly with the 1.8 million teachers that search their resource database. This is a fantastic scheme which gives us some great promotion whilst at the same time showing we are serious about producing quality educational resources that are relevant for teachers to use in (or outside) their classroom.
So imagine my pleasure yesterday when I discovered our school resources have been featured on the TES Primary landing site this week, which regular daily tweets from the primary team at TES!
After discussion with the TES primary adviser yesterday, it was so good to hear how interested he was in our resources and how important he thought it is to engage children with the nature around them.
Small steps really can make a big difference!
If you haven't found your way to our TES profile yet, you can see it here.
You may well have already heard this morning that the question of how to connect more children to nature is back in the news again?
The National Trust has launched a new report highlighting the issue, as well as an online enquiry to gather public opinion on what should be done.
In a week where the Government has vowed to maintain protection for special places, and finally launched a planning framework that puts the environment on an even footing with the economy, it begs the question of what they are going to do to make sure people are inspired and able to get outdoors and connect with nature...
Why don’t you have a look at what our conservation director thinks about all this, or simply just tell us – and the National Trust’s enquiry – what you know works already?!
Eleanor Bentall (rspb-images.com)
It's been another bumper year for Big Schools' Birdwatch with nearly 90,000 schoolchildren and teachers taking part. Almost 3,000 classes from over 2,000 schools across the UK spent an hour watching and recording the birds that visited their school grounds.
Find out a bit more about who made it into the top of the bird league tables this year, and discover what the survey has revealed about our wildlife on our website.
Congratulations!
Many congratualtions to the winners of our prize draw this year, Manor Fields Primary School, Salisbury - we hope both your students and the birds in your school grounds enjoy their prize.
Big Schools' Birdwatch 2013
Join us between 21st January - 1st February 2013 for next year's Birdwatch, we're looking forward to it already!
While you're waiting for next year...
Find out more about Animalympics, our new resource for schools here. By making comparisons between the athletic abilities of humans and animals, this activity is designed to allow your students to research, investigate, present and debate.