Year 13 meet an Antarctic explorer...

If you were asked to name a famous Antarctic explorer, chances are it might be Robert Falcon Scott or Ernest Shackleton... But probably not this man!

The Yr 13 geographers though, were lucky enough to "meet" Tom Crean - sometimes referred to as the "Unsung Hero" of Polar exploration, via a videoconference with the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich last week.

Crean, who grew up near Annascaul, a small village in Co. Kerry, was part of three major South Pole expeditions - Discovery and Terra Nova with Scott, and Endurance with Shackleton. Unlike Scott and Shackleton, who both died on expeditions, however, Crean returned to Annascaul, where he married Nell and opened a pub called the South Pole Inn. He died in Annascaul in 1938, from a burst appendix...

Fab cloud picture!!

Just spotted this fab cloud picture taken by soarvalleygeography on Flickr...

And don't forget... get out there with your camera (in between visiting bookshops) and take some cloud pics of your own to enter into the Geogtastic Cloud Photo Competition!! (Scroll down for details...)

G is for...

Geography in Bookshops!

If you're at a loose end over the holidays, then go shopping - and do your bit for the Give Geography its Place campaign at the same time!

Many bookshops have loads of great geography books... But if you want to find them, chances are you'll have to trawl through the Travel, Local History, Natural History, Popular Science, Maps, Reference, Lifestyle, etc. sections! GGiP want to see all bookshops giving geography its place, with proper, clearly-labelled Geography sections containing a good selection of Geography books...

So, what can you do to help??

Visit your local bookshop(s) and see:
- whether they have a Geography section
- whether it is called Geography
- what types of books are within the Geography section
- how long the Geography section is

If you're impressed with what you see, tell them - and take some pictures to send to GGiP (or send them to me)... If you're not impressed with what you see, tell them!

Leave a comment here and report your findings! Thank you!

Water in the Middle East

There is an interesting article (especially for the historians amongst you!) on the BBC website today - Obstacles to Peace: Water - looking at the Arab-Israeli conflict as a conflict over water.

The picture shows the Sea of Galilee, which is the main source of fresh water in Israel.

Thinkingeography...

Thinkingeography is a new website that I have just come across via Alan Parkinson's GeographyPages website... Lots of interesting stuff to explore, including a new competition... Check it out!!

Grapheety!

Another excellent site pointed out by a "virtual colleague"...

Grapheety is a site which allows you to add tags with photos, stories, interesting info, etc. about a particular place...

And as the only place tagged in our area is Nottingham Forest Football Club, it's high time we got all signed up and started putting some interesting stuff on there!!

Click on the picture to link to the site... Sign up, and get some interesting East Midlands stuff posted!

Photo Competition!

Thank you for all the excellent entries to the photo competition - and apologies for taking so long to announce the winner.... well done Josh, 8NSq, who took this fab photo of Carr Naze Point near Filey, on the Yorkshire Coast.

With half-term fast approaching, it's also time for the new competition... This time, we'd like your CLOUDS photos! For some inspiration, check out the Cloud Appreciation Society website... The closing date is Friday 15th June, the competition is open to all SHS students, staff and parents, and entries can be emailed, or brought in on a CD or memory stick...

Get snapping!!

And while you're out with your camera, why not take some pictures to send to Geograph or try some GeoSquishing?!

Oh no!!

Yet another excellent distraction from working/cleaning...

Flickrvision is a world map that updates every second to show you the latest photos that have been added to Flickr, and where in the world they were taken! Hours of fun...

Mini Geogs...

Alan Parkinson (Geography Pages man) introduced the idea of MiniGeogs a couple of years ago... Here is one of my not-so-brilliant attempts... Can you work out what it's meant to be?!



Visit GeographyPages to look at some other examples and make your own... Send them in - geogtastic@yahoo.co.uk - and I'll post the best ones... Who knows - there might even be a prize!!

The Mend of the World...

5th June is World Environment Day... Click on the banner above to find out more...

And leave a comment to tell us what you will be doing to help the Mend of the World!

Who ate all the pies?!

And what effect will it have on their eco-footprint??

According to an article in the Guardian yesterday, the eco-footprint of today's FA Cup Final is likely to be more than 3000 times the size of the Wembley pitch, and each fan's eco-footprint will be ten times bigger than it would have been if they had stayed at home to watch the game!!

Click here to read the story and find out why...

South Georgia...

...is looking a bit chilly today!!

Click on the picture or use the link on the right to check out the webcam...

Have you spotted any more good webcams yet??

Where does the sky become space?

Find out the answer to that and lots of other questions with the Earth Guide - another great spot from Tony Cassidy.

Coastal Erosion

Some interesting - and rather worrying - clips from Look North about erosion on the Holderness Coastline, sea level change, etc.

Good revision for Yr11 and Yr13!

"I survived the Folkestone Quake!"

That's the slogan on t-shirts that are being sold to support the Salvation Army to thank them for their help for people made homeless in the recent Kent earthquake.

The picture above shows Sam Millen, who came up with the idea... Click on the picture to find out more...

What do you think?? Good idea??

Year 13!!

An interesting Chinese proverb from Scottish geography teacher friend Val Vannet on her Higher Geog Blog...

And loads of useful stuff for Year 13, both for A2, and for those of you who are resitting AS modules...

GeoJuice!

Another great spot from GeoBlogs - GeoJuice is a new site with loads of superb geographical photos...

I am rather liking the "Random Image" feature... One of them is below... Where is it and what does it show??

Geogtastic in GA Webwatch!

Thanks to Alan Parkinson (GeoBlogs) for the mention in Webwatch in the GA Magazine!!

And if you're here because of the article, welcome! Leave a comment and say hello!

Great Britain in 2050??

What do you think Great Britain in 2050 will be like?

The Ordnance Survey are running a competition, with the theme "Mapping the future of Great Britain" to find out what you think... And you could win yourself an iPod Nano, and your entry might be used for the OS corporate Christmas card!

More details here...

Thanks to Emma for letting me know about this!

A very helpful man by the name of Noel Jenkins!!

I've pointed out Noel Jenkins' very useful summary of the idea of levels marking before, but as some of the Yr11s at today's revision session who are not in my group and who have not been fortunate/unfortunate enough to listen to me wittering on about it for months were unsure about it, here it is again... http://noeljenkins.wordpress.com/2007/01/13/level-marking-at-gcse/

And while I was looking for that link, I noticed that Noel has got LOADS of useful information/links/resources on his blog for GCSE students... http://noeljenkins.wordpress.com/ . His last few posts are GCSE related, but to check that you have seen everything, click on the Yr11 label at the bottom of one of the posts, and that will take you to a page with all the Yr11 posts...

Don't forget though, not everyone is doing the same course as us (OCR 'C') - just because something is covered on a revision site doesn't mean you need to know it... If you spot something you are concerned about, check your course overview sheet, or come and see one of us!

Noel is also doing some work with his Yr 8 students about personal geographies.... Well worth a read anyway, but of particular interest to Yr9 who are looking at some similar ideas, particularly the concept of place and "My Place"...

Enjoy!!

Etna Eruption...

Hot on the heels of the weekend's earthquake in Kent (which you will no doubt know all about by now!) Mt Etna is erupting as I type... Click on the picture to read the story from the Telegraph website... There is also some video footage on the BBC website.