Panorama: Drinking our rivers dry

This week's Panorama programme (on Monday evening) was about rivers, and whether the water industry is doing enough to protect them - it's available on iPlayer here http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b013pzns/ and my group need to have watched it and written a summary of the key ideas by Monday.

Tropical storm names...

Those of you who were asking last week about the naming of tropical storms (hurricanes/cyclones/typhoons) might like to have a look at these two links:

World Meteorological Organisation

National Hurricane Center

Year 11 - Controlled Assessment

Welcome back Year 11!

Those of you who have not finished your Fieldwork Focus Controlled Assessment (for whatever reason) will need to get it completed as soon as possible.

There will be after school sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays, starting on Tuesday 13th September (room to be confirmed).

If you have any questions/concerns, please come and speak to me.

Year 10 Homework

Greetings new Year 10s...

The first part of your homework is to cover your book with a geographical theme.

The second part of your homework is to leave a comment on the blog, with an interesting geographical fact. Do your best to tell me something I don't know already... There might be a prize for the most interesting fact!

To leave a comment, you need to click on the "Comments" button at the bottom of this post. Type your comment, and then enter the "captcha". You should not need to have a Google account to leave a comment (although it is useful to have one anyway). Your comment will not appear straightaway, as they come to me to be moderated first, but I will make sure I check regularly and publish them as soon as I can. Please make sure that you are writing in "proper" English (ie nt txt spk), and also, put your FIRST NAME (not your surname, although if there are two people in your group with the same name, the initial of your surname as well would be helpful), and if you are in my group VEl and for Mr Mattia's group NMa in your comment.

Young Geographer of the Year 2011

Could you be the RGS's Young Geographer of the Year 2011? Click on the flyer below to go to the RGS's website where there are more details about the competition and what you need to do.

Year 10 Controlled Assessment

Some bits and pieces that might be of use for your introduction:

Background information:
http://www.eurosion.org/shoreline/57holderness.html
http://www.hull.ac.uk/erosion/
http://www.bgs.ac.uk/research/climatechange/environment/coastal/coastalErosion.html
http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/regions/yorkshire_and_the_humber/ourwork/shorelinemanagement.aspx
http://www.withernseatowncouncil.co.uk/

News stories:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/a-town-under-siege-by-the-sea-since-its-beach-was-washed-away-withernsea-on-humberside-is-cracking-up-from-twicedaily-poundings-at-high-tide-1511370.html

http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/around-yorkshire/local-stories/coast_erosion_calls_time_on_pub_1_2387512

Map links:
http://digimapforschools.edina.ac.uk/login.html (You will need a login name and password for this site - speak to your Geography teacher.)
http://wtp2.appspot.com/wheresthepath.htm
http://magic.defra.gov.uk/website/magic/

Don't forget about Google Earth and Google Maps as well.

You might also like to have a look at David Roger's blog - he is Head of Geography at Priory School in Portsmouth. His Year 10 students are working on the same Controlled Assessment title as you, and he has put various resources on his blog to support them.

Year 10 Homework - Dharavi

Several links with pictures, video and audio about Dharavi and life there:

The Places We Live explores four slums across the world, including Dharavi.

This is an audio slideshow from The Guardian.

Article and photo gallery from the National Geographic.

BBC Interactive tour of Dharavi.

Your homework is to explore these links (and any others you find - there are lots of clips on YouTube too), and to leave a comment explaining:
- whether you think Dharavi is a "slum of hope" or a "slum of despair"
- what you think of the redevelopment plans for Dharavi.

Your comment should explain your ideas with reasons - not just a sentence or two - and should include your first name (not full name... if there are two of you with the same name, put the inital of your surname too).

Some SDME links...

A handful of St. Lucia links here. If you find any more that might be useful, leave a comment or send me an email so that everyone can benefit.

SDME preparation

By now, we're well underway with preparation for the SDME exam which is on Thursday 20th January. Remember that with a thorough understanding of the resource booklet, you should be able to get a C grade, but those of you aiming for grades above a C will need to be bringing in some of your own knowledge...

There's plenty of St Lucia information available on the internet for you to get your teeth into - if you find any particularly good links, leave a comment or send me an email so that everyone can benefit.

Mark Howell, a Geography teacher in Northampton, has put together an SDME revision podcast which is well worth a listen.