See also - TECHNICAL SUPPORT         OTHER VICTORIAN WEBSITES

- The series and the website are aimed at Key Stage 2 (9-11)
- This website is closely tied to the series and is designed to be used after viewing each programme in the series.
- Some sections can be downloaded easily and quickly with no special software e.g. The Omnibus Diaries, Background Information and the Time Line.  The Omnibus Diaries offer a simple reading excercise.
- For other sections, especially the Reading Task sections, you will need to install Macromedia Shockwave if you do not already have it. See Technical Support. NB These sections are probably the most educationally useful!


THE DIARIES
The programmes in the series hinge on the diary kept by Maggie Johnson from the time she is a 10-year-old schoolgirl to when she is a mother of two at the turn of the century. The Literacy component is as important as the History, and this dual operation is made even more apparent on the website. In the website the children discover that it wasn't just Maggie who kept a diary - so did all the other main characters. By reading these diaries they learn the important historical lesson that the same event can be viewed and recorded very differently by different characters.

ACCESSING THE DIARIES
1) The Omnibus Edition.
-  This contains four separate days for each programme, each recorded by, on average, four different characters.
-  If you print this off, you could use it very nicely in the Shared Reading section of the Literacy Hour with different children taking the parts of different characters.
-  The text for each day should be only one page when printed out. If it runs to two pages, you can resize by altering the settings in your browser. For instructions go to TECHNICAL SUPPORT.
-  The different characters write in different styles, and the children will soon notice that neither Susan nor Bessie spell very well!

2) The 'Reading Task' versions.
If you click on the 'Episode' buttons, you will be offered the option of
'Reading Task + Sound'.
This is potentially the most useful part of the site. There is a different 20-minute ICT/Literacy activity for each episode. It is for children to access on their own, or in pairs. In this case there are diary entries for just one day per programme.
-  Each episode will take about three minutes to download, and while this is happening, children are invited to try a Victorian quiz.
-  Children then choose whose diary they want to read by clicking on the red arrow to activate the animation.
-  If they click on the Ear symbol, they will hear the voice of the actor reading the words, which will obviously help the slow reader.
See Sound in TECHNICAL SUPPORT.
-  Once the children have read the diary entries, they can click on the 'Diary' symbol to activate the interactive writing exercises.

WRITING TASKS
There are five different Writing activities - one for each programme.
Episodes 2, 3 and 5 are interactive. After the students have typed in their text and wish to print out what they have written, they should go to the print button and click the right hand mouse button and click on print in the dialogue box that comes up. If the childen's text has not printed out then you have not downloaded the latest version of FLASH. Do so now by clicking on this icon:

                                                       

OTHER SECTIONS
a) Fact Files:  This offers simple background information relating to each episode.
b) The Quiz:  (They may already have seen some of the questions while they were waiting for the Read/Write sections to download.)
c) A Time Line:  This relates the incidents in Maggie's life to what was going on in the country at large.
d) Fashion Parade:  Here the object is to dress a Victorian Lady - from bloomers and corsets upwards. There is no 'right answer', but children will thoroughly enjoy this one!