Tag Archives: National Geographic

May 28, 2013 · 10:20 pm

Videos for the Classroom: A Day in the Life…from BBC History

As we here at the Neighborhood sit patiently while Governor Cuomo calls us for an interview, I found this cool series of videos.

In my year teaching ancient history, the BBC has been a veritable lifeline, along with National Geographic, Discovery Channel and PBS. BBC’s History site is particularly instructive, in that it includes games, projects, lessons and dense (REALLY dense) readings on many important aspects of history–mostly from a British perspective, obviously, but it works.

“A Day in the Life…” is a series of short videos about a kid’s point of view through British history. Since Ancient Rome is on the menu to end the year, I’ve included the life of Roman kid in Roman Britain. It isn’t entirely accurate, but it is fun, and cool to share with kids for a laugh.

You can go to BBC History for this and other videos.

Videos for the Classroom: National Geographic Presents Thanksgiving Unstuffed

It’s that time again, when the classrooms fill with Pilgrim hats, feathers in the hair and massive pageants celebrating the “first” Thanksgiving at Plymouth in 1621.

Last year, the Neighborhood spent a series debunking the holidays, starting with Thanksgiving. This year, we’re taking a lighter approach to the holidays. National Geographic produced a fun half-hour program, Thanksgiving Unstuffed, which combines history, culture, and science to explore the holiday in most depth. I found the beginning bit about cooking a turkey most interesting–the science of why the breast always dries out, no matter how much gravy you drown it in.

Have fun with this in your classrooms. Next up will be a piece on Franklin Roosevelt’s controversial tinkering with Thanksgiving, the infamous “Franksgiving.” Stay tuned.