Take a Bite Out of Learning at BBC

It’s time for the Wednesday Website suggestion!! For two years, I was the Technology Specialist at a school in Georgia. During that time, I amassed a large collection of websites that I use with my students. You can download my E-Book of Websites for the Elementary Classroom for free from Teachers Pay Teachers or Smashwords, or, you can check back here each week for the Wednesday Website suggestion.

Before I started teaching a British Curriculum, I used the BBC websites as great references with cool games, especially BiteSize.  This year, I am teaching the UK National Standards, and BBC BiteSize has become my go-to site for games, models, student information, and even some videos that help me “flip the classroom”.

The BBC BiteSize is my website suggestion for this week.  It is broken into KS1 (Key Stage 1), which is Foundation through Year 2 or PK – 1st grade, KS2 (Key Stage 2), which is Year 3 – Year 6 or 2nd grade – 5th grade and KS3 (Key Stage 3) Year 7 – Year 9 or 6th through 8th grade.  (Do be warned that if you are teaching US Standards, the UK Standards can be ahead by 6 months to a year in expectations.)

Once you choose your Key Stage, the site is broke into English, Maths (yes there’s supposed to be an S at the end) and Science.  Each subject is also broken down into additional categories.

Then, each sub-subject has games and lessons that are specific to the UK standards for that Key Stage.  My kids LOVE these games because they are interactive and fun.  I LOVE these games because they work on specific skills I need them to work on.  There are TONS and TONS of games and lessons here, but let me show you just one that my kids love.

This week, my third and fourth graders have been working on negative numbers.  They are expected to be able to place a negative number on a number line, compare negative and positive numbers and to add and subtract negative and positive numbers.  This site provides assistance with all of these expectations.

My kids love to play the game – Mission 2nd Negative Numbers. 

 

In the flashy game, the kids order negative numbers from smallest to largest in order to steal the robot’s energy.  It starts with a great tutorial to walk kids through the expectations and even gives them a numberline as a guide.

Then, they can open doors in order to use the keys in ascending order.  At this point, the game also mixes negative and positive numbers.

Finally the students cross a force field by comparing two numbers, generally a mix of negative and positive or two negative numbers.

In addition to the games, there is also a section where students can read through simple explanations of concepts.

Finally, there are quizzes that help give students a chance to check for understanding.

As you can see, this is something the kids can get into and that makes a great math center or math homework.  This is just one of many, many areas available on the BBC BiteSize sites.  Which sections have you used, or would you like to use, with your class?