More Earth as Art!

8CDr's turn this time, and some fantastic work which you can have a look at on Geogtastic's Flickr page. This one was my favourite today... Well done Liam!

If you want to make your own:
- find yourself a beautiful view in Google Earth
- save it as a png or jpeg file
- go here

Have fun!

Cold Photo...

As promised Year 8, Laurel McFadden's fantastic blog about her adventures north of the Arctic Circle is here:

Plenty more about the Northern Lights here...

And for those of you who were interested in setting up your own blogs, go to www.blogger.com and click Create Blog!

You will need to have a Google account to do it - you can do that either through Blogger, or by going to www.google.com and then clicking Sign In in the top right hand corner - you will then be put in your password or create an account... (Even if you decide not to set up a blog, having a Google account is a good idea because it will allow you to use all sorts of excellent applications!)

Have fun!

Britain's Favourite View

A while back, ITV ran a series called Britain's Favourite View, where minor celebrities waxed lyrical about their favourite view in Britain, and tried to convince the public to phone in and vote for them... The winner was Wastwater in the Lake District:



The series has been the focus of some of the work that Year 8 have been doing this week - looking at the 16 views that the public voted for and making their own adverts. You can find out more about the series and the views from the ITV website here and on the Guardian website here. 8CDr had some interesting discussions about whether they should choose to promote a view that was famous and that they knew lots about already, or whether they should be encouraging people to find out more about places that were less well-known, and about whether "our" favourite view should be a natural one or a man-made one (or indeed if the "natural" views were really natural!). We also wondered about whether we should be basing our decisions solely on the photographs - we all agreed that Blackpool looked rather nicer in its photograph than any of us who'd visited Blackpool had experienced!

What is your favourite view in Britain? And why?

San Francisco bag ban!

Year 8 did some work earlier in the year on plastic bags, and how they affect the environment, so they will be pleased to know that San Francisco plans to be the first US city to ban bags made from petroleum products.

Lots of other countries, for example, Bangladesh, made this move a while back, and in Ireland there is a 9p tax on each plastic bag. Should we be following suit? Or are the biodegradable/re-useable bags that supermarkets such as the Co-Op are now handing out enough?

Leave a comment and let us know what you think! Do you use supermarket carrier bags? What happens to them?

Fairtrade Fortnight is almost here!

26th February to 11th March is Fairtrade Fortnight, and 8NSq have been working hard to plan some events to help you learn more about Fairtrade...

Tutor time quiz - these will be appearing in register folders early next week - show us how much you know about Fairtrade, and win some prizes!

Tasting Sessions - lunchtimes on 1st and 2nd March in H5... Come and find out how nice Fairtrade products are!

Fairtrade Treasure Hunt - open to teams of upto four students in Yr7 and 8... lunchtime on 8th March...

Fairtrade Raffle - buy some tickets and win some fab Fairtrade goodies!

Look out for the posters and notices in registers for more details... learn more, join in, help farmers around the world to improve their lives, and spread the word!

Barcode Yourself - Round 2!

8DLe - HOMEWORK!

You need to:
- visit the site below (click on the picture)
- type in your details, barcode yourself and scan your barcode - make a note of how much you're worth!
- try a couple of variations - different age, different gender, same person but living in a different country - make a note of how much you would be worth...
- come back to the blog, and leave a comment, making sure that you include your first name, or your initials.

If you have problems, or can't find a computer to use, come and see me!

Would you drink this?

This is what the nearest water supply for many people in developing countries looks like...

Yr8 had some interesting discussions this afternoon about some of the problems that a lack of clean water and sanitation can cause, and some of the conflicts that arise as a result.

The videos that I was trying to show Yr8 but that wouldn't work at school are here on the WaterAid website... Worth a look around the rest of the site as well, with various games to play...

Fab Fairtrade Photos!

Dan Raven-Ellison - geography teacher extraordinaire from Reading - has put together this excellent "virtual transect" of a cocoa farm in Ghana. The farm is one of many that sells beans to Kuapa Kokoo - the co-operative that supplies Divine and Dubble Chocolate (ask my Yr8s about these... or better still, go buy some and try it for yourself!). Thanks Dan!

"The World as you've never seen it before!"

Below is the map that this morning's Yr 8 lesson started with... What do you think it shows?

This, and hundreds of other maps, are part of a fascinating project called Worldmapper... The maps, or cartograms, show 200 world territories, re-sized according to different variables.

The one below shows toy exports!

Click on the map to explore the Worldmapper site... Leave a comment and let us know about your interesting finds!

A good day at school?

Although they have no school building, and the country has an average of 70 to pupils to each teacher, these children in Mozambique are lucky... Unlike 80 million children around the world, these children have the opportunity to go to primary school.

Find out more about why this is, and what you can do about it by clicking on the picture...

Dubble Dubble...

My Yr8 group were very lucky today to have the opportunity to talk via video link to Louise, who works for an organisation called Trading Visions whose aim is to increase awareness and understanding of Fairtrade. Louise has been to Ghana and stayed with some of the cocoa farmers there - she told us all about where chocolate comes from and how it is produced, and explained how Fairtrade helps these farmers, and then we had an opportunity to ask some questions (which we did very well!).

Clicking on the Fairtrade logo will take you to the website of the Fairtrade Foundation where you can find out lots about Fairtrade, how it works and the Fairtrade products you can buy (it's not just chocolate, you know!)

While we're looking at the logo... What do you think it shows? I've heard lots of very interesting suggestions and ideas when I've asked groups this in the past!

Louise also talked about Dubble and Divine chocolate - both of which are produced by the Day Chocolate Company. Yr8s tasted some Divine chocolate yesterday and it's sold in Sainsbury's and other supermarkets so you can try it for yourself... Dubble is sometimes available in supermarkets, but you can definitely buy it in Oxfam shops. The Co-Op also sell loads of Fairtrade products, including their own brand Fairtrade chocolate.

Click on the pictures below to find out more about Dubble and Divine, sign up to be a Dubble Agent, and watch out for events (and chocolate tasting opportunities!) in school during Fairtrade Fortnight - between 26th February and 11th March... If you have ideas for Fairtrade activities or would like to help out, email geogtastic@yahoo.co.uk or come and see me in H5!

Barcode Yourself!

Apparently I am worth $4.38!

This is the site that Yr8 need for their homework... but is well worth the rest of you having a look as well.

How much would you be worth if you were the opposite gender? Older or younger? Or if you happened to be born in a different part of the world?

And how reliable are the statistics used for this site? Where have they come from and what do they mean?

Click on the picture to Barcode Yourself... Then leave a comment and let us know how much you're worth!