Sunny Ireland

NASA satellite photo of Ireland taken on Monday, 26 March 2012.

This is a great photo of sunny clear Ireland, taken by NASA, click on the photo to see it bigger. Normally Ireland has at least some cloud cover, in this satellite photo we have none.

Try and spot each physical feature of Ireland, with no clouds it is easy to find the mountains, lakes and islands. You can also spot the urban areas of Dublin, Belfast, Cork and Limerick.

An interesting point on the map, notice the orange area west of Limerick City on the River Shannon, this is Aughinish (the largest alumina refinery in Europe).

26 March 2012 – A very clear day across Ireland.
28 March 2012 – Great photo of a cloudless Ireland / Different Angle

Snow Across Ireland

NASA photo of Ireland and the UK taken on Wednesday, 22 Dec 2010

This is a great photo of snow covered Ireland, taken by NASA on Sunday, click on the photo to see it bigger.

View Full Size (large file sizes over 5MB):
Thursday – 25 November, 2010 (Before the Snow)
Saturday – 27 November, 2010
Sunday – 28 November, 2010 (Great Photo)
Monday – 29 November, 2010
Tuesday – 30 November, 2010 (Great Photo of Connacht and Ulster)
Wednesday – 01 December, 2010
Thursday – 02 December, 2010
Friday – 03 December, 2010 (Ireland Very Overcast)
Saturday – 04 December, 2010 (Snow Covered Ireland, Look at Lough Neagh)
Sunday – 05 December, 2010 (Excellent Photo)
Monday – 06 December, 2010 (Cloudy)
Tuesday – 07 December, 2010 (Cloudy)
Wednesday – 08 December, 2010 (Fantastic Clear Photo)

Sunday – 19 December, 2010 (Very Snowy Northern Ireland)
Monday – 20 December, 2010 (More Snow)
Wednesday – 22 December, 2010 (Great Photo, Clear Day)

I have put together a quick PowerPoint slide of Ireland using satellite images from the past week, download it today for a quick activity to use with your interactive white board.
Irish Weather PowerPoint (1.6MB)

In the new Know Your Europe 2.2, you can do your own weather forecasts. Go to the Study Section, select Countries and pick Ireland, click on the weather icon to bring up a map of Ireland and the weather symbols. This is only available in version 2.2 which was released in August 2010. A great idea is to use a video camera or your mobile phone camera in the classroom to record each students weather report, this is an excellent way to practice and improve their Irish language too.

View average weather maps from across Europe too in Know Your Europe. Go to the Study Section, select About Europe, now click the button at the bottom Large Satellite Map of Europe. Here you can view a large map and click on the month to see what Europe typically looks like in that month. A great way to illustrate the weather across Europe at different months in the year.

Know Your Ireland – Top 10 on TeachNet

In the latest podcast from TeachNet, Michael Hallissy speaks with Robbie O’Leary, the principal of Sacred Heart SNS, Killinarden in Dublin. Since the nineties Robbie has been at the forefront of ICT integration into Irish education, writing and lecturing extensively on the subject and also developing a range of educational digital content.

Robbie lists his Top 10 digital resources for primary schools, our software Know Your Ireland is included.

You can listen to the full podcast at the teachnet.ie website or direct below.

Top 10 List:

  • Any Children’s Word Processor & Digital Camera
  • Microsoft Encarta (www.microsoft.com/products/encarta/)
  • Maths Made Easy (www.prim-ed.com)
  • Maths Circus (www.4mation.co.uk/cat/circus4.html)
  • Know Your Ireland (www.edware.ie) [1:01 into podcast]
  • e-Gaeilge (www.readingtracks.com)
  • BlackCat Literacy Activity Builder
  • Who Took The Book (www.diskovery.ie)
  • Badger Trails (www.sherston.com)
  • Photo Stories from Microsoft

Know Your Ireland – anseo.net

Know Your Ireland - Top of the Class Award from anseo.netKnow Your Ireland was reviewed at anseo.net today, and it’s a really great review. Know Your Ireland received their “Top of the Class” award and I am very pleased with the feedback, thanks guys.

“Know Your Ireland is in my opinion the definitive solution for any teacher teaching Geography classes. There is nothing else out there that looks better, works better or teaches better. There are a number of other solutions out there but I think this is the very best.” anseo.net – 31 March, 2009.

To read the full review visit the anseo.net website:
http://www.anseo.net/review-know-your-ireland/

What is anseo.net?
Anseo.net has grown from humble beginnings as a basic blog to a fully-featured magazine-style web site. The basic premise of Anseo.net is opinion. The authors, all practicing primary school teachers, write about things in education that they are passionate about.”

INTO Magazine – Know Your Ireland

This months INTO InTouch magazine (Issue 92 / March 2008) features a great article by Robbie O’Leary on software for the classroom. Know Your Ireland is featured and gets an excellent write up, “[Know Your Ireland] is another superb example of home-produced software that attains the highest professional standards”.

Know Your Ireland www.edware.ie
This (newly updated) program is another superb example of home-produced software that attains the highest professional standards. It incorporates a wonderfully attractive and stimulating way for pupils to learn everything there is to know about Irish geography. It is extremely comprehensive and contains great photography, web links to Wikipeia and Google Earth, but in particular, a very well designed series of games and activities to help children explore their own country. I particularly liked the feature whereby pupils are given the precise time it took them to complete and exercise, so that teachers can introduce a competitive element.

Robbie O’Leary is principal of a large Dublin school. He is well known for his involvement in ICT in education and has written and lectured widely on the subject.

You can download the entire March 2008 issue of InTouch Magazine from the INTO website, turn to page 37 of the digital version for the article.

The same article was also featured in the March 2008 issue of the IPPN Magazine Leadership+, issue 43. This is great exposure for Know Your Ireland and we greatly appreciate publicity.

The INTO InTouch primary school teacher – trade union magazine has a monthly circulation of 38,000 across the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

“deserves to be in every school in Ireland”

We got a very nice e-mail today from Robbie O’Leary regarding our newest software title, Know Your Ireland 3.0. Robbie was extremely impressed with it, “simply superb piece of software, highly professional, fully comprehensive, easy to use, engaging and interactive. It deserves to be in every school in Ireland.” Robbie O’Leary, Sacred Heart SNS, Tallaght.

Thanks for the kind words Robbie.

For further information about Know Your Ireland 3.0 please check our website, find out more.

Know Your Ireland 3.0 – Sneak Peak 8

Sneak Peak 8:
We have updated all areas of Know Your Ireland 3.0 and we think you’ll agree that using our software is now easier and better. The Teach section has been completely redesigned and renamed the Quiz Section which better reflects the section and is more fitting. We have also updated how the quiz works that make it quicker and easier to play. The Quiz section is now very similar to the Counties of Ireland: Mini Quiz game available to play for free on our website. We have also added an optional timer which adds exciting to the Quiz and enables users to keep track of fastest times and best scores.

Other improvements include the Factbox in the study section giving users a quick fact about each topic. The included Screensaver & Desktop Wallpaper has also been updated and feature fantastic scenic photos of Ireland.

Know Your Ireland 3.0 – Sneak Peak 7

Sneak Peak 7
We have added to the topics of Ireland featured in Know Your Ireland 3.0, every major geographic feature of Ireland is now covered in detail:
  • New About Ireland Section
  • Provinces
  • Counties
  • County Towns, Major Towns & Cities Expanded
  • Mountains Expanded
  • Rivers
  • New Lakes
  • New Islands
  • New Bays, Headlands & Peninsulas
  • New Points of Interest
  • New Oceans & Seas

The Study Section now includes a brief description of each feature too, it is no longer just limited to the Counties, and with the new Wikipedia links the level of knowledge available is almost limitless. Coupled with over 50 scenic photos and Google Earth links enhances the learning experience even more.

Know Your Ireland 3.0 – Sneak Peak 6

Sneak Peak 6
We have updated the Control Panel in Know Your Ireland to make it even better. The Control Panel is only available with the School Site License Edition of Know Your Ireland 3.0. The main features of the Control Panel are included below.

Custom Quizzes, you can select which feature you want in each quiz and exam. So if you only want your class to learn about the cities of Ireland, just select them and create a custom quiz. Or if you want to concentrate on the counties of Northern Ireland, select them and make a custom quiz. You can also force the quiz so your students have to take the custom quiz.

Edit Feature Names, Hints & Tips, this is great for creating your own hints ideal for editing our software to suit your local area. We have also provide instructions for recording your own audio for Know Your Ireland, all you need is a microphone and audio editing software.

User Groups, have a computer room which is shared among all students, create Groups of students for each class.

User Progress & Scoreboards, it is now possible to view and print a report of students progress, we have also added a scoreboard so you can check the top and bottom students at a quick glance.

Advance User Management, even easier to edit, delete and add students to Know Your Ireland.

Even more Game Options, want to check for capital spellings, disable students from creating accounts, enable the game timer, hide the name of each county in the puzzle, disable web links, disable printing all this and more can now be enabled or disabled through our improved game options.

Remember the School Site License can be installed on an unlimited number of computers at your school including each teachers home computer.

Know Your Ireland 3.0 – Upgrade Pricing

For a limited time only, until 31 December 2007 we are offering an early bird discount price for Know Your Ireland 3.0, this is available to all our customers for the month of December only on the School Site License.

Pricing:
Upgrade from Know Your Ireland 2005 Site License: € Call Us
Upgrade from Know Your Ireland 2005 Single User Edition: € Call Us

All our customers will receive details in the mail over the coming week regarding our upgrade pricing and our new brochure. If you have any questions please contact us.

For home use the Home Edition of Know Your Ireland 3.0, no longer available.