I've always felt a strong affection for all things British -- tea, double-decker buses, bangers and mash, their charming accent, the Beatles and, of course, all things ROYAL.  Let's face it, if my great-grandpa hadn't decided to jump on the bandwagon to Canada, there's a good chance that I could have married...wait for it...Prince William [no offense to my husband if he's reading].  Instead of being a farm girl from Saskatchewan, I could have been raised a blue-blood and eventually taken my rightful place as a princess (insert your jokes here), then eventually the Queen of England.  I think I would have been good at it...I like pretty dresses, jewels, crowns, living in a castle, and I've even practiced my queen wave from time to time.

But I digress...

I guess it should have come as no surprise then that I would also fall in love with the BBC...and more specifically, their AWESOME websites for education.

Today's Fresh Look Fridays review features just one of the amazing sections of their education site -- Bitesize.  Essentially, this website contains small clips and activities (bitesized, if you will) that either explain a concept or provide a problem solving game to practice a skill. 

Reasons Why I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE This Site:

1. There is an unlimited amount of clips, practice quizzes, activities and games for all grades and subject areas

2. Their information clips are absolutely HYSTERICAL! But with their great accent, British humour and strong sarcasm, I wouldn't expect anything less.

3. The games activities are really interactive and work well as a small-group activity on a SMART Board

4. The information clips are super informative, engaging and really easy to follow.  All students in your class will definitely benefit from hearing another explanation using different analogies.

Check out 2 of my favourites:

1. Causes of World War I -- funny, historically accurate and VERY entertaining, they cover everything from the Boer War, the Race for Africa and Nationalism.  My favourite joke? When they liken forming the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente to choosing soccer teams...

2. Probability Game for Elementary Math -- see the original location here or play the embedded version below.  Attention advanced SMART Board users: some of these activities can be downloaded as a .swf file and inserted directly onto a Notebook page...saves you time having to navigate to the proper page and hope that the Internet isn't having issues that day.

When you get a chance in your busy lives, I strongly recommend that you take some time to explore the Bitesize section of the BBC.  I promise, you won't be disappointed!

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Vanessa