Super Curriculum Guide - Year 9
What is the ‘Super Curriculum’?
• The curriculum is what you study and learn in your lessons
• The extra curriculum is the things you do in school that have nothing to do with your lessons – sports, clubs, volunteering for example.
• The super curriculum is what you do outside of school on your own to go into greater detail about what you have learned in class; for example, you have read a ghost story in class and in your own time you might:
o Read another story by that author
o Try one by a different author
o Research the author’s life and work
o Visit a place associated with the author.
The ‘Super Curriculum’ provides you with a range of activities that take your regular curriculum further. These activities can take many forms including reading, watching videos online, downloading podcasts, attending lectures, visiting museums or entering academic competitions.
Engaging in super curricular activities will help you develop a love for your favourite subject or subjects. Developing a passion for a particular subject, or subjects, can begin at any time so we have provided a list of potential activities that students can try from KS3 - KS5. This list is not exhaustive but merely an indication of the possibilities available to students.
You may come up with some ideas of your own, so these suggestions may just help to get you thinking! We hope you enjoy exploring what interests you and going beyond the classroom on your own.
Key to Activities
Reading Activity
Writing Activity
Watching Activity
Listening Activity
Research activity
Trip or Visit
Internet Activity
Creative Activity
Student-led Task
Listening to song Task
Art
Research artists and imagery by creating your own pinterest board of artworks you find inspiring.
Challenge yourself to draw as much as possible from observation. Buy a small sketchbook and try to make a drawing a day for two weeks. Spend anything from 5 minutes to one hour.
Watch an inspiring series such as ‘Blown Away’
Read 50 Photographers you should know published by Prestel.
Visit Mudam to see artwork from contemporary artists.
When on holiday visit a local gallery or museum.
Take part in drawing events such as Inktober and share your outcomes with somebody.
Enter an International Art competition.
Borrow a book from the Art Library such as ‘Just Draw It’ and Just Paint It’.
Listen to a podcast about Art. https://www.artistsnetwork.com/artistlife/12-art-podcasts-inspiration/
Join an Art Club in or outside of school. Encourage your peers to come along and try a new technique.
Experiment with editing techniques on Photography Apps such as Adobe Sketch, ProCreate or PhotoFox.
For LGBTQ+ History Month in February. Create an artwork that celebrates someone who is in or fights for equality within the LGBTQ+ community.
Visit the famous photography collections of Edward Steichen in Luxembourg.
Set up an Arts based House Competition and encourage others to enter.
Where it all started
Watch the TedTalk on birth of the modern computer from its 16th century origins to the hilarious notebooks of some early computer engineers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EF692
dBzWAs
Listen to a Computing Podcast
Learn about a whole range of topics including: artificial intelligence, cloud computing, data security and the advent of computing
https://player.fm/podcasts/Computers
Learn about KS4 & KS5 Courses
Watch videos, complete resources, view their mini websites and explore the glossaries
http://www.teach-ict.com/
Unisys Computer Museum Belgium
Plan a visit to the Computer Museum NAMIP Henri Blès Street 192A, 5000 NAMUR
http://www.nam-ip.be/NAM-ip-Coll2.html
The British Informatics Olympiad
Enter the computer programming competition
http://www.olympiad.org.uk.
Computing
Raspberry Pi
Why not get yourself a credit sized computer? There are so many projects you can complete with this tiny computer. Take a look here for inspiration
https://projects.raspberrypi.org/en/
Learn Coding
Develop your programming skills by challenging yourself to complete as many tasks as you can, from building websites to analysing data: https://www.codecademy.com/
Doddle Learn
Why not complete the mini quizzes on algorithms, programming basics, binary, Boolean logic, flowcharts and logical operators.
Attend a Coding Workshop
Based in Kirchberg and offers weekend sessions. Starts with simple drag and drop programming and then creating your own animation, story, game or mobile application!
http://www.workshop4me.org/calend ar.html
Real Lives: Alan Turing
Read this book by Jim Eldridge about the famous code breaker and computer scientist.
Join a Coding Club
Why not join a club out of school? It will allow you to develop skills such as learning to program, improving numeracy, problemsolving, design, creativity and collaboration skllls
https://codeclub.lu/
Prepare for GCSE
Develop your Python 3 programming skills and HTML coding by challenging yourself to complete as many tasks as possible on Snakify. There are over 200 exercises and video clips. https://snakify.org/en/
The Universal Computer: The Road from Leibniz to Turing
Read through this book by Martin Davis on the origins of the computer and the mathematicians involved.
The Year 2100
Image that it is the Year 2100. What will the world be like? How will technology have changed? What new inventions will have been created? Sketch a picture of a large city giving a perspective on what you think 2100 will look like.
History of Computing
Watch the short computing videos from the YouTube channel playlist below https://www.youtube.com/user/crashcourse
Drama
Create a Chair Duet, based on the work by Frantic Assembly perform it in an unusual location, film it and share it using Teams.
Use the website http://www.dialectsarchive.com/ to research an accent. Can you work to master this accent? Maybe you can think of a performance that you could incorporate it into.
Learn how to operate the lighting and sound desks in Barthel Hall to assist with technical theatre.
Visit a local theatre or another school to see a performance and feedback to your class about how you found the performance.
Use the website www.digitaltheatre.com to view plays and listen to audio scenes to develop your understanding of theatre.
Volunteer to work as stage crew on a Key Stage 4/5 production. This means you will work back stage helping with props and set as they need and you will get to see how a performance works from the inside.
Watch a live theatre performance at any theatre and spend 15 minutes talking to someone about it. What did you like? Which actor/actress stood out? Why? What star rating would you give the show?
Attend a KS4 Rehearsal to see how GCSE Students work on plays.
Attend one performance on the Arts extracurricular schedule up around school. Feedback to anyone who took part in the event.
English
Find an interesting newspaper or magazine article every month and bring it in to share with your English class.
Do some research on the the Syrian Refugee Crisis to see if you can find other real life stories like Eniaiat’s.
Enter the COBIS Poetry Competition.
Visit one of the WW1 sites near Luxembourg, such as Verdun, to contextualise the war poetry you have read.
Organise a debate with your friends on an issue that is important to you.
Research the background to Of Mice and Men and Mockingbird. How did the Great Depression affect communities in the American South?
Research the life and work of one First World War poet such as Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, Edmund Blunden, or Edward Thomas.
Start a reading or writing club.
Watch a production of Romeo and Juliet that you have not seen in class.
Design a display board or front cover for a book of your choice.
Having read In the Sea there are Crocodiles try another survival story such as IamDavid,Escape from Warsaw or Angelonthe Square
Read one newspaper or magazine article every day.
National Geographic Magazine
https://www.nationalgeographic.com /magazine/
Review an article.
https://www.youtube.com/user/Geo graphyNow
General Geography knowledge
United Nations Sustainable Development Goalshttps://www.un.org/sustainabledevel opment/sustainable-developmentgoals/
Iceland
https://www.inspiredbyiceland. com/things-to-do
Watch Erin Brokovitch - a good film that presents the negative impacts of the natural gas industry and the extent to which large companies are prepared to go to, to cover this up.
Geography
Watch a Hollywood disaster movie. How realistic is it? Write a film review.
Volcano (1997) /Dantes Peak (1997)/ Earthquake (1974)/ San Andreas (2015).
Flood (2007)/ Twister (1996)/ The Impossible (2017).
Expedition volcano
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v =Djn-Ph4zetA
Use BBC bitesize to revise
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/sub jects/zrw76sg
BBC Documentary ‘Overpopulated.’ https://www.youtube.com/wa tch?v=mAZeacE95tg
Keep a scrapbook or notebook collecting stories about China in the news.
Read the bookPrisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – www.ipcc.ch
Research what is going on in the world at the moment.
Emergency Events Database –http://www.emdat.be
Make your own volcano.
https://www.youtube.com/wat ch?v=9b_gltKtERY
Watch the latest series presented by David Attenborough.
History
‘Testament of Youth’ by Vera Brittain ‘A Medal for Leroy’ by Michael Morpurgo
‘My Boy Jack’, 2007 (film) ‘War Horse’, 2011 (film of the book by Michael Morpurgo)
Read a novel by Charles Dickens. ‘Oliver Twist’, ‘David Copperfield’ or ‘Great Expectations’
The World At War, 1974 Documentary series (film)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v =BkYV22344os&list=PL_pRxDYZK5-OrysRhVxM5QXd6WueIzqO
‘They Shall Not Grow Old.’ (film)
Trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=wWIJLAe2pEI
National Museum of Military History, Luxembourg https://www.visitluxembourg.com/ place/national-museum-ofmilitary-history-diekirch
What the Industrial Revolution
Did For Us BBC
https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=qQq22NbsiFA&list=PLBOXjuzxc p8ErvQKKwagOq6E4ZWgtY&index=1
Search for an ancestor who died in the First World War on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website http://www.cwgc.org/
Lucembourg city History Museum
https://citymuseum.lu/en/
Could you Survive as a Victorian Factory Worker?
https://www.youtube.com/watc h?v=hY4ptEzxNwM
Research more information on WWI here:
https://www.firstworldwar.com/ind ex.htm
Listen to episodes from Dan Snow’s ‘History Hit’ podcast: there are hundreds!
http://www.historyhit.com/podc asts/dan-snows-history-hit/
Victorian Education
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v =eqiO1eAZM7o
The Man Who Loved Only Numbers
Read this book by Paul Hoffman about Paul Erdos, a Hungarian mathematician who devoted 19 hours a day to the study of maths.
Letters to a Young Mathematician
Read this book by Ian Stewart, who talks about what he wishes he had known when he was a student.
What is e?
Watch this video by Eddie Woo to see the relationship between compound interest and the number e.
Learn about Srinivasa Ramanujan
Read this article about the most famous Indian mathematician of modern history.
3D Trigonometry
How do you apply trigonometry in 3D, such as in a pyramid, to find missing angles or sides?
Mathematics
Relay
Try to complete this set of relay questions, which was part of the UKMT Team Maths Challenge in 2017.
The Story of Maths
Part 1: The Language of the Universe by Marcus du Sautoy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v =mJbChZrXDJE
The Seven Bridges of Königsberg
Try to find a solution to this famous mathematical puzzle. Then research how Euler’s solution from the 18th century.
Algorithms
Marcus du Sautoy explains the real life importance of algorithms.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v =kiFfp-HAu64
Quadratic Equations
What are the different methods of solving quadratic equations, and what are the advantages and disadvantages of each method?
The Amazing Heptadecagon
Watch the following video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87u o2TPrsl8
Try to make the same ruler & compass constructions as accurately as you can.
Surds
What is a surd and how do you simplify it? Can they all be simplified?
Learn about Isaac Barrow
Read this article about Isaac Newton’s famous teacher. What were his accomplishments and contributions to the field of mathematics?
Journey Through Genius
Read this book by William Dunham about the creativity of mathematical proofs. He takes each theorem and places it within the historical context.
The Collatz Conjecture
Numberphile video about a simple number problem that is hard to solve. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mF pVDpKX70
MFL (French/German)
Watch one newsflash a day on RTL Express and summarise in one line the different reports.
https://5minutes.rtl.lu/photos-etvideos/rtl-express-fr
Watch your favourite film in German/French with English subtitles OR borrow one French/German film from our library and write a short review on it.
Try to eat healthy for one week and keep a diary where you describe what you have eaten each day (French or German).
Find a famous German band and write a short presentation of them. Afterwards pick one song and listen to it.
Watch the daily ARTE Journal Junior and summarise the different news reports in one headline (for each)
https://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/RC014082/arte-journal-junior/
Visit a town/city in Germany or France and order food/drinks in a café or restaurant.
Go to Trier in Germany and visit 3 famous places (Porta Nigra, Dom, Hauptmarkt), take a picture there and write what you have done in German.
Read one French magazine and pick 3 facts you have learnt and explain them in French.
Ex.: Géo Ado Ça m’intéresse OkapiorPhosphore
Find a city in Germany and create one quiz with 12 questions on KAHOOT or QUIZIZZ.
https://kahoot.com/ https://quizizz.com/
Create a vocabulary booklet and add each day 5 new words that you will look up in a dictionary (French or German)
Listen to one podcast a week on the website ‘Coffee break German’
https://radiolingua.com/categor y/coffee-break-german/
Take one photo each day of your holiday and create a timeline with the photos and write one sentence for each photo.
Go to the local cinema and watch a film in French with subtitles in English.
https://kinepolis.lu/fr
Visit the BibliothèqueNationale in Kirchberg and find out how to borrow books. Make a selfie in front of the Bibliothèque and post it on Instagram. www.bnl.lu
Research 5 important traditions in France or Germany and produce a poster with them. Add some interesting details. When? How? Why?
Music
Make a video showing how to build chords on the piano.
Watch a Youtube documentary on an artist of your choice, and do a film review.
Take a free voice or instrument lesson on Youtube
Use Aurelia or Focus on Sound to do some ear training for intervals or melody!
Participate in an Open Mic event.
Learn a cover song on piano and record it on garage band or another free app.
Watch a live music event and write a review
Practice your I-IV-V Chord progressions and write a vocal melody for a chorus.
Learn the Cup Song and take a video of you playing it or playing and singing it!
Create a poster that explains intervals of the major and minor scales.
Take a video of you playing through major and minor scales on your selected instrument.
Give a friend music lessons on the instrument you play.
Find a picture that inspires you and compose a piece of music around it, using garage band or another free app.
Audition for the AMIS festival
Make a video for vocal warmups and let us use it to warm up in class!
Develop the habit of watching TED talks regularly
TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged, and today covers almost all topics from science to business to global issues.
Volunteer Your Time
This does not have to be out of school. You could see if any help is required in the library, school office, with your Head of Key Stage or your Form Tutor. If out of school why not help a next door neighbour or an elderly relative.
Complete a Careers Test
This one gives us 16 personality combinations, and whatever one you fit into will give an interesting insight with respect to career prospects.
http://www.careertest.co.uk/take_test.php
21 days of a healthy habit.
Choose a healthy habit to follow for 21 days. Keep a journal showing the impact on your daily life.
Rules, ideas and motivation, here: 21-days
PSHE
Mindful Mini-Courses
Each course offers video, audio, and transcripts so you can choose your favourite way to engage with each practice.
https://www.mindful.org/practicemindfulness/
Read the News
The news provides information and general knowledge. The news provides information about a country's economic situation, sports, games, entertainment, trade and commerce. Reading the news will widen your outlook and will enrich your knowledge.
Write a CV
Your curriculum vitae is a personal marketing document used to sell yourself to prospective employers. It should tell them about you, your professional history and your skills, abilities and achievements
https://www.myperfectcv.co.uk/cvexamples/cv-example-for-teenagers
The truth about alcohol
Watch the British documentary “The truth about alcohol”, to learn about both benefits and risks, by exploring the science of drinking.
www.netflix.com
Raise Money for Charity
There may be a specific charity that you wish to support. If raising money requires time and/or resources at school then write a brief rationale about what you want to do and pass this to your Head of Key Stage for approval.
Find a Revision Technique
A successful approach to revision needs to be deeply rooted and sustained over time. Practice makes perfect so why not research techniques to find the best ones for you e.g. flashcards, graphic organisers, topic ranking.
Random Acts of Kindness
Live and breathe kindness, share knowledge and lead by example. Try to provide at least one random act of kindness daily
https://www.randomactsofkindness.org
Enter a Student Competition
There are several reasons why participating in a competition is a worthwhile activity, you learn lots, have a better chance of winning than you think and can gain valuable experience for your CV.
https://studentcompetitions.com/competitio ns
PE
Write a short article (150 words) about the most recent World Cup or Olympic Games.
Watch a major sporting event on TV or the internet. Write a 150 word report about what happened.
Listen to a sports podcast. Take a screen shot and send it to your teacher as evidence.
Lead a warm-up or cool down during a PE lesson.
Read about a sports event on the internet. Take a screenshot as evidence.
Attend a live sporting competition or match at an elite level. Take a selfie at the game as evidence.
Attend a Sports Club regularly in school.
Go to the library and select a sports book to read. Write a 100 word report about what you learned.
Go to a local Sports Club to watch/play a live game. Take a photograph as evidence.
Create a four page PowerPoint presentation of any sport, sportsperson or sporting event.
Watch a sports programme on Netflix. Write a 150 word report about what you learned.
Represent the school in a sports competition.
Blast Furnace at Belval, Luxembourg www.fonds-belval.lu
Watch 3 ‘Minute Physics’ videos on YouTube
Use the ‘Britannica School’’ website to write a report about Rosalind Franklin
‘Why Can’t Elephants Jump?’ by New Scientist
‘The Science of Harry Potter’ by Mark Brake & Jon Chase
Produce a project for the Jonk Fuerscher science competition. www.fjsl.lu
Luxembourg Science Center, Differdange www.science-center.lu
Watch 3 videos from ‘Smart Learning for All’ on YouTube
‘Wonders of the Universe’ from the BBC (narrated by Brian Cox).
‘Brief Answers to the Big Questions’ by Stephen Hawking
Find out facts about 3 endangered species from the ‘IUCN Red List’
Make a revision quiz on Powerpoint or Kahoot! for a topic and ask to use it in class