Get Free Classroom Assets on the New BBC Studying Hub

The BBC Studying Hub is a free, story-driven academic platform created by BBC Studios to help lecturers, college students, and households. Designed primarily for grades pre-Ok by way of 12, the BBC Studying Hub provides greater than 1,000 free classroom assets together with ad-free video clips, standards-aligned lesson plans, leveled studying passages, and printable pupil actions.

We requested Colorado STEM educator Naomi Meredith to check out the brand new hub and provides us her skilled opinion on it. Right here’s her Instructor Picks overview and why she recommends this web site for different educators on the lookout for one place to seek out and arrange high-interest, supplemental assets for his or her classroom.

The BBC Studying Hub has assets for college students in Ok-12. What have been you drawn to as you explored?

After exploring this web site, I undoubtedly noticed one thing for all Ok–12 college students. Youthful grades will benefit from the movies. The articles, that are differentiated for studying ranges, and their associated actions are extra geared towards grades 3–12. As a result of I’m at all times on the lookout for high-interest nonfiction in several topic areas, I plan to make use of the BBC Studying Hub for studying, writing, science, and social research.

The BBC Studying Hub and its assets are aligned to NCSS and NGSS. Did you discover this handy?

Sure, this is without doubt one of the causes I used to be amazed that every part is free. The BBC Studying Hub’s alignment with NCSS and NGSS is essential for STEM lecturers as a result of it ensures the assets help nationally acknowledged requirements, making it simpler to ship interdisciplinary, standards-based instruction that prepares college students for real-world problem-solving, civic engagement, and educational success.

The BBC Hub has a video library and printable assortment. How are you planning to make use of it in your classroom?

Issues that basically stood out to me whereas trying out the BBC Studying Hub embrace:

• Excessive-quality and interesting video library: I’ve at all times discovered YouTube to be laborious to navigate, however every part on the BBC Studying Hub is high-quality and punctiliously curated. Once I was trying by way of the BBC Studying Hub video library, I discovered and completely liked this flamingo video. And the lesson actions are listed proper below every video.

• Video playlist creation: I can’t wait to create extra playlists of my favourite movies that align with a selected subject, which is extremely useful when lesson planning. For instance, if you’re instructing a unit about ecosystems, you possibly can create a playlist of the rainforest, coral reef, and desert with the animals that dwell there. As soon as the playlist is created, you possibly can share it with college students in Google Classroom by way of this platform. I’ve labored in three completely different faculty districts and YouTube was blocked in all three of them, so having this feature the place there are nice movies which are ad-free and targeted on our studying targets is great! 
• Comprehension questions aligned to movies: They assist me take into consideration the way to create an energetic expertise for college students. I’m pondering of posing the questions forward of time to information their pondering whereas watching. I additionally love what number of different assets—vocabulary, writing prompts, and pupil actions—are positioned below every video.
• Leveled articles: Most passages can be found in three completely different variations: Degree 1 (Grades 3–5), Degree 2 (Grades 6–8), and Degree 3 (Grades 9–12). You may print every article, and every part is formatted appropriately (an enormous battle if you happen to attempt to do it your self with AI!). There’s additionally key vocabulary famous on the facet. For those who don’t wish to print, the articles can simply be shared in Google Classroom. 
• Easy login course of: The positioning is free, however login is required for video and downloads. You’ll wish to log in anyway to avoid wasting your playlists, which make planning a lot simpler. I used to be on the location navigating every part inside minutes.
• Shareable pupil web page hyperlinks: Scholar pages look completely different than trainer pages, which makes it really easy to seek out what you want for instructing and to share what you need your college students to see. This actually is such an awesome function that makes lesson planning simpler and extra participating for college students.

How did your college students react to the BBC Studying Hub?

My college students thought the movies have been humorous, particularly the animal movies. They liked seeing how the animals reacted and responded in actual life. Too typically, my college students are studying about animals however not capable of see them, so gaining access to these movies opened up a complete new perspective concerning the pure world. Additionally they actually preferred the video The Secrets and techniques of a Police Canine’s Coaching. They have been guffawing when the video confirmed Scooby the canine’s sneakers initially. Nonetheless, they quickly realized why it mattered. They bought so excited when Scooby bought to put on his sneakers at work when looking for a scent outdoors. They needed to observe extra of the canine movies after I scrolled down the web page.  

How would you sum up your total expertise with the location? 

I’m shocked it is a free useful resource for lecturers! There’s a nice mixture of nonfiction and fiction assets which are fashionable and related for lecturers to make use of of their school rooms.

I loved the choice of having the ability to print assets but in addition share them digitally. Lecturers usually want each choices all through the varsity yr, and simply gaining access to each was nice.

The BBC Studying Hub has some ways to look and save assets. How simple was it to make use of and implement in your classroom?

Entering into the web site was extraordinarily simple, as was navigating by way of the assets and saving them in playlists. It was useful having the ability to kind assets by sort: movies, collections, lesson plans, weblog posts, pupil articles, printables, and information clips. When you clicked on a useful resource sort, there was a search bar the place you possibly can get extra particular concerning the subject.

What makes the BBC Studying Hub particular in comparison with different websites you’ve utilized in your classroom?

The high-quality manufacturing of the assets which are ready-to-use—I didn’t have to click on one million issues to get to what I needed. 

I felt like there was an abundance of knowledge and matters to select from that will connect with the content material that’s taught in school rooms, but it surely’s not overwhelming. Some web sites have TOO MUCH to sift by way of, and lecturers don’t have time for that. They want one thing that hits their studying targets and engages their college students, and I really feel just like the BBC Studying Hub suits these wants. 

This could minimize down on time conducting random Google searches when discovering real-world movies that embrace assets to attach together with your present curriculum. Particularly in case your faculty limits YouTube entry, this protects lecturers a step and has the content material able to go. The function of having the ability to print assets and likewise share on Google Classroom is a time-saver as properly. Lecturers received’t need to format the data to make it work because it’s already performed for them. BBC is a trusted supply, which additionally makes me really feel extra snug sharing these assets with my college students and their households.

How do you propose to make use of the BBC Studying Hub once more sooner or later? 

I’m at all times creating elementary STEM assets to make use of for my very own packages and for lecturers. I’m very choosy concerning the assets I take advantage of for analysis to help my STEM actions, and I’m so glad that I now have one other high quality useful resource in my again pocket.

Seeing the matters which are being created and posted on this platform may even assist encourage me to create hands-on classes that might pair properly with the assets and movies on this web site. I’m excited to proceed to make use of this useful resource and share it with lecturers as properly.

Instructor Picks is a sponsored program accessible from We Are Lecturers. All opinions shared within the overview are trustworthy and based mostly on the trainer’s direct expertise. To be taught extra about our tips and overview course of, click on right here.