Posted by admin | Posted in Analyze, Apply, Art, Evaluate, History, Knowledge (remember), Primary Elementary, Secondary Elementary, Teacher Resources, Understand (describe, explain), Websites | Posted on 02-11-2010
What it is: This is the last of the Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery sites, it is just as great as the others! BM&AG for Kids is a fun site where students can learn more about Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, Victorians, World War 2, and the Art Gallery and Museum. The site aims to give students a chronological understanding of these historical events, knowledge of the events, people, and changes in the past, organization and communication, and historical inquiry. Each section has a collection of online related activities and printable activities.
Ancient Egypt- students can learn about ancient Egypt, explore a virtual Egyptian tomb, and explore real mummies.
Ancient Greece- students can learn about ancient Greece and design their own Greek pottery.
Roman Empire- students can learn about the Romans in Britain and dress a Roman soldier for battle.
Victorians- students can learn about the Victorians and explore a Victorian painting.
World War 2- students can learn about the war, assess a bomb damage report, and view pictures of Birmingham from World War 2.
Art Gallery- students can view paintings and learn about landscapes.
Museums- students can explore 6 museum activity zones where students can explore each museum.
How to integrate BM&AG for Kids into your curriculum: The BM&AG for Kids is a good site to incorporate into history lessons. The site does an excellent job of helping students relate the different time periods above chronologically through an interactive timeline. The online activities help students understand each time period, giving them activities that will help them make connections in their learning. The BM&AG for Kids site is a good place to begin a study on a time period. The site provides students with just enough information to whet their appetite for more. Many of the activities offer basic information that could then be connected to primary sources. For example, in the tomb exploration, students are asked to find items in a tomb. In the activity, there is a basic explanation of each item. A great extension would be to find primary sources and photographs of the actual items to share with students (or better yet, let them find the primary source!). Students could then create their own “tomb” either online using online pictures and a creation platform like VoiceThread or Glogster, or an offline tomb with printed primary sources.
Tips: BM&AG for Kids was created for the Birmingham Museum and Art Collection. They have several excellent websites that I will have reviewed. To view all the Birmingham Museum sites, search “Museum” or “Birmingham Museum” in my search box above.
Please leave a comment and share how you are using BM&AG for Kids in your classroom!