Below is a list of sources (books, CD ROMs, leaflets, brochures, organisations, websites and posters) which teachers may find useful in undertaking a topic about rivers. The list is by no means definitive: new material about rivers is being published all the time.

Books for teacher planning

Packs

CD Roms

Personal photographs
Personal pictures provide a good starting point. Friends or relatives may have pictures of rivers they have visited on holiday. It's worth asking whether pupils have photos of rivers they have seen or visited - this stimulates immediate interest in a topic.

Non-fiction books for teachers and children

Fiction books and poetry for teachers and children

Leaflets

To contact Southern Water Services:

For leaflets, ring the Education Service on 0870 3330425 (Fax 0870 3330440) or write to P.O. Box 6005, Tockwith, North Yorkshire, YO26 7YH

Visits to Bewl Water: ring 01892 890 661

Visits to Water Supply Works or Waste Water Treatment Works: ring 0870 3330425

Posters from Southern Water Services

Atlases

Videos

Brochures
Many travel agents have brochures which show pictures of rivers. Brochures with holidays to Egypt (Nile Cruises) and Germany (Rhine Cruises) are particularly useful. Thomson and Kuoni have excellent Nile Cruise brochures.

Newspaper articles
When a river disaster occurs, particularly flooding, all newspapers have articles for the duration of the event. It is worth while cutting these articles out, keeping them in a book about the event or mounting them. They can then be used as a resource when doing work on flooding etc.

One particularly good example is the Kent Messenger's Flood Special dated 14 October 2000. It is available from Kent Messenger Ltd, New Hythe Lane, Larkfield, Aylesford, ME20 6SG.

Web sites
The sheer volume of information (often, it has to be said, of variable quality) may easily overwhelm. With close supervision, children may use search engines to locate specific information. It's vital to narrow down the search by using river names and carefully-chosen keywords. The same is true for waterfalls and other features. The more specific the search, the more likely the desired information will be found.

Ifield School's web site has a page with search engines that are safe for children to use.

Pictures may be copied from any web site by right-clicking on the picture, clicking Copy, then pasting into a document. However, all Web images must be assumed to be copyright, unless there is a clear statement in the terms of use that copies may be taken.

Freefoto is an excellent resource of royalty free professional pictures. However, we cannot guarantee there is no adult material on this site and we advise that teachers check out searches beforehand, and closely supervise children's use.

Compton's Encyclopedia has many articles, photos and maps to do with specific rivers and river features. The lengthy articles may overwhelm pupils, unless they are able to scan for specific information. For pictures, untick the Articles option and tick the Pictures option, then enter a keyword (such as the name of a river).

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