In this weeks newsletter - Ofsted report Good with 11 outstanding areas, Puffin Assembly, Kingfisher Assembly, Primary Conference, Teddy Bear Picnic, Last day of school arrangements.
Download the newsletter here - Hunnyhill Press 16-07-10.pdf (457.25 kb)
On Wednesday we exhibited at the Primary Conference in Cowes Yacht Haven. The team showed off their fantastic ICT skills and wowed the delegates with their presentation skills, LIVE Google Talk video feed and collaborative work between our Cowes and Newport teams as they constructed a presentation using Google Docs.
The children used several online tools and other software including Microsoft PowerPoint, Audacity, Picnik and Soundation to put together the presentation that you can view in the video below.
We also demonstrated some of our ICT equipment and how we use them. The webcam was very popular with some of the other children exhibitors as we can superimpose hats and other facial accessories onto their live video image. This is great for story telling especially when you use avatars and of course its fun! We also had portable USB microphones and recordable speech bubbles and video recorders.
As the Ofsted report comments we
“have embraced the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) so that it fully contributes to their (the children’s) learning and is integral in all lessons.”
“Thank you for supporting the conference with your inspirational stand” - Duncan Mills — Commissioner for Early Years and Primary Education
Picnik Photo Editor – For all your usual photo editing tools and the ability to unleash your creativity with effects, frames and stickers.
Soundation – An online tool for the creation of music tracks. Mix your songs and then download a .wav file of your finished masterpiece.
Audacity – Free audio editor that we use with our fantastic Snowball Microphone.
Watch out presentation below…
The ICT Suite will be open every school morning from 08:15am to 08:45am from May 17th for all children accompanied by an adult.
This is a great opportunity for the children to get extra sessions of RM Maths and Mathletics and energise their minds before school starts.
NEXT GENERATION LEARNING…
A big thank you to all the children who took part in Alpha Club and helped us explore some new technologies.
We looked at Lego Wedo which combines design & technology with ICT and takes us beyond our use of Bee-bots to experiment with control. The children created two Lego models, a boat and a crocodile. The boat rocked backwards and forwards in response to the simple program run from the laptop. The crocodile was more complicated and used a sensor to detect when to close its mouth. Watch the video the children made below to see how it all works.
Another piece of software we investigated was Microsoft Kodu. This software is a visual programming tool used to create games. It is has been available on the XBOX 360 for some time but is now available on the PC as a technical preview. Designed with children in mind a 3D world can be created and populated with programmable objects. The programming consists of a very simple rule, WHEN something happens DO actions. Multiple sets of these rules can be built up on each object hence allowing very complex interactions between objects in the world.
The whole club have also been creating their own personal blogs. Telling each other what they are doing at home and in school. The ability to leave comments for each other has been very popular. Only they can edit their blog and only other members of the club can view and leave comments. We have also used the blog to discuss what we are going to do each week in the club and what groups we are going to be in.
I hope you all had fun exploring.
In this weeks newsletter – A note from the Governors, Global Rock, ICT Thursdays, Safeguarding Children Together.
Download the newsletter here - newsletter 22.pdf (271.91 kb)
In this weeks newsletter - Arts Master Class, Parent Interview Slips, World Maths Day, Parent Governor Vacancy, Grazax Asthma Prevention Study and ICT Thursdays.
Download the newsletter here - newsletter 21.pdf (274.12 kb)