Building our temporary classroom with MinecraftEdu.

The children started to integrate MinecraftEdu very quickly into their learning during our introductory period in December. With the building work commencing at Phoenix in Term 1, the children decided to join in with the construction work. As we are in our temporary classroom, the children thought it would be a good idea to make a scale model of the temporary classroom in our first class world. With very little direction from myself, the children used laptops and workstations to collaborate with each other through Minecraft. I was very impressed with how well they worked with each other, using the scale of 1 metre to 1 block in the MinecraftEdu class world.

Sharing learning with parents - morning workshop.

On Thursday 18th December the children's parents were invited to the classroom to share in a morning of learning using iPads.

The children took the lead in the session, showing their parents how to use Book Creator to create a digital storybook for the children in P1 and P2.  The parents got the opportunity to take photos from traditional storybooks, insert them into the Book Creator app, record their voices and add text.

The children and parents then published their books to iBooks so that the Foundation Stage children could enjoy traditional stories on iPads in a digital format.

Minecraft Update in Primary 6.

There is great excitement in Primary 6 for the new year as we have been trialling MinecraftEdu since the beginning of December. The children have been studying the topic Passport to Europe. Can you identify the European Landmark they have been building on Minecraft?

Keep an eye on the blog for further Minecraft updates in the new year.

Hour Of Code In Primary 6.

An excellent morning of coding took place today. We used our iPads to access resources on code.org. We spent our morning writing code for a new Angry Birds game. We are learning to be programmers for the future!

Mr Black and Phoenix in bid for Green Teacher of the year!

On Thursday 13th November 2014 we will be attending the MAC Theatre in Belfast for the Green Teacher of the Year awards. Our very own Mr Black has been nominated and we really hope he wins the award.  Have a look in the comments section of this post for some of our thoughts on the hard work Mr Black does in Phoenix along with the whole school community.

New arrival Phoenix at Belfast Zoo.

Today we were amazed to learn that recently at Belfast Zoo, the first Red Panda has been born in 18 years.  Even more astounding was that it was named Phoenix! This is great news as this year is our 10th Anniversary.  We have been busy researching facts about the Red Panda.  Have a look in the comments section.

Young Enterprise.

We had a great morning working with Young Enterprise and Bank of Ireland! We learned about the countries where our everyday products come from.  We got a chance to make our own products, trade with different countries and save money in the World Bank.

10 Year Celebration Memories.

Here are a collection of our favourite memories from our time at Phoenix so far.

My best thing about Phoenix was starting Year 4.  I met new friends . Chloe.

MY FAVOURITE MEOMRY IN PHOENIX WAS IN YEAR 1 WHEN I MET MY TEACHER MRS GRAYDON . ELLIE-MAE.

My favourite memory at Phoenix was in Year 5 when Miss Sinnamon took us to Lagan Valley swimming pool and we all had fun. Katy.

My favourite memory was in P4. We had an end of year water fight and it was so fun.  We all got drenched from head to toe. It was the best water fight I ever had.  Caleb.

The best memory I had in Phoenix is starting P1 and meeting new friends and the teacher Mrs Graydon she was really kind. Rachel.

My favourite memory at Phoenix is having a water fight in P4.  We drenched Miss Major.  It was one of my favourite water fights ever. Stefan.

My favourite memory in Phoenix was in Year 4. We had a water fight. We got bins and a hose and water guns and we soaked Miss Major and Eddie.  Aimee.

My favourite memory at Phoenix so far has to be in Year 2 when our teacher was off having a baby and we had Miss Hurson.  On her last day everyone was crying and we got some treats.  Emma.

My favourite memory at Phoenix was our water fight with Miss Major . Charlie.

My favourite moment at school is having water fight with Miss Major. Matthew.

My favourite moment was playing the recorder with Miss Sinammon. Keegan.

My favourite moment was when I first joined Phoenix and Year 1 was that I got 2 new friends, Nikola and Matthew.

My favourite moment was when I met my first friends in P1.  His name was Stefan and he helped me out a lot. Codie.

My favourite moment was when I came to this school and I had friends on the first day. Reece.

My favourite moment was when I started Year 1. I was so nervous but when I had a little look around I felt like I has at home. Molly.

My favourite memory is when I started school in P1.  It was scary at first when I didn’t know anybody.  A couple days later I made new friends,  Molly and Charlie. Emma.

My favourite memory of Phoenix was in Year 1 when I made friends with Rachel and Emma.  Ellie.

My favourite memory is meeting my friends in Year One. Emily.

My favourite memory was having the water fight in Year 4. Calum.

My favourite memory was in Year 1 when I got to meet my new teacher and to meet my new friends.

My favourite memory is when we had a water fight in Year 4 and when Mr Black took a bucket of water and threw it at us. Nikola.

My favourite memory is my first day in Phoenix. I met new friends and my teacher.  Joshua.

My favourite memory was meeting all the teachers. Louise.

My favourite memory of Phoenix is all the great PE we have had in the playground. Nathan.

Welcome to our new Class Blog!

Katy, Emma, Louise, Emma, Calum, Chloe, Matthew, Ellie, Rachel, Charlie, Molly, Sky, Nikola, Reece, Caleb, Ellie-Mae, Kristians, Emily, Keegan, Codie, Stefan, Joshua, Nathan, Leah, Aimee.