Blurb blogging - Danny the Champion of the World.

As you may have read in my last post about the benefits of blogging in the classroom and in homework, I am very impressed with the written work my class have produced over the last few weeks.  The children should take the credit for their writing with the effort they have been putting in.  Using the iPads in class is also a major advantage as the children have access to the blog at their fingertips.

Children are currently undertaking a Novel Study, focusing on one of my favourites, Danny the Champion of the World. They have been:

Learning about the form and function of a blurb.

Writing their own blurbs for the book.

Writing for different audiences.

The success criteria for a good blog (which the children had a hand in negoiating themselves) was:

They are short in length.

They use attention-grabbing words and phrases. (WOW words if possible!)

They tend to use question and exclamation marks.

They often use three full stops at their ends (an ellipsis) to leave the reader asking questions...

Blogging gives the children the perfect opportunity to showcase their blurbs and show awareness of writing for an audience.

Have a look in the comments section below at some of their early drafts.

Using iPads in our Reach for the Stars theme.

Flipped Classrooms.

In the last week it has been full steam ahead with our theme, Reach for the Stars. The children have been looking at the planets and other celestial bodies. I have been looking at ways to implement a 'Flipped Classroom' and I found that using the app Book Creator is a perfect way to do this.  In the classroom we have a range of non-fiction fact books. The children looked at the layout of these books, the images, captions and how text and facts are presented clearly. After looking at this initial information provided by myself, the children took charge of their own learning by creating digital fact books about a planet in the Solar System. They were able to access content online as well as from a range of traditional texts available in the classroom. Have a look below at some of the fantastic pages they created.

Coding and Programming.

In my class we are always trying be as innovative as possible and use iPads and other technologies to develop critical thinking and problem solving skills. The range of coding and programming apps is growing, however it was good to get back to basics this week and use one of our favourite apps, Scratch Junior. It has a very simple user interface and allows children a number of options to control their sprites. A great thing about the app is the multiple number of backgrounds and sprites related to Space. The children were able to develop their problem solving skills by making their Astronaut sprites disappear into a spaceship before it blasted off out into the atmosphere. This required them to write a number of scripts for the movement of multiple sprites. Have a look below at some of their simple scripts. It was an excellent way to implement programming through our theme.

Space themed blogging homeworks to improve writing.

Since I introduced this blog last October, the improvement in the children's writing has been amazing.  The children are now understanding that they are writing for an audience - a pretty big audience hopefully made up of whoever across the world reads this blog!  They are very keen to ensure that their writing is clear, concise, interesting and contains correct spelling and grammar. 

This has definitely translated into children's everyday classroom practice as their creative written work shows fantastic improvement as the weeks go by.  I am begged everyday to set more and more homeworks using the blog by the children in the class.  You can probably see it that it adds an extra dimesion to homework.  I hope it makes it more enjoyable for the children to complete and that they pick up new information from the activities that I set.

Tonight the children will continue to learn about Space by conducting some research of their own to answer the following questions.  Have a look at the comments below to see their responses.

1)What was the first creature sent into space?

2)Who was the first astronaut?

3)Who was the first man on the moon?

4)What other interesting facts can you find?

Digital Leaders 2015 Applications.

As it is January, it is time to begin the process of appointing our Digital Leaders. Last year was the first year we introduced Digital Leaders and it was a huge success as the children got the chance to develop their leadership skills. They helped to promote and inspire ICT in our school by teaching groups of children, implementing e-safeguarding, reviewing technologies and encourage others to use ICT more effectively.

This year there will be responsibilities added to the position of Digital Leader.  Children will have to present information to parents regarding E-Safety, monitor the use of iPad apps across the whole school and help with the planning and organistion of Minecraft across the school.

To be considered for interview stage, the children have had to answer the following questions.

1. Why do you want to become a Digital Leader?

2. Give an example of something that you are responsible for at home or in school.

3. What skills do you have that would make you a good Digital Leader?

4. What is your favourite thing about ICT either at home or at school?

Take a look at the children's applications in the comments section below.

Check in again to see who has made it to interview stage.

Collaborative planning for Reach for the Stars theme.

In preparation for our new theme, Reach for the Stars, the children have been collaborating both online and in groups.  They have been thinking about what they would like to know about Space, the planets, stars and even celebrities as they 'Reach for the Stars' themselves. Today the children set the agenda and wanted to find out more about space travel. 

I found some great online clips from the Discovery Channel website about how space travel has evolved since the 1950s.  After initial discussions in class, I set the children the task of thinking of a few questions they would like to ask about space travel.  This will spur them on to take charge of their own learning and try to find the answers from a range of digital and traditional texts.  Have a look at the comments below to see their questions.

New Year Resolutions.

 

 

 

It was the first day back today and as with it being the New Year, it is time for some New Year resolutions. 

 

First of all the children spent the morning composing their holiday tweets.  They had to write down their favourite moments from the Christmas break and compose them in a 'Twitter' post of 140 characters or less. Take a look at how the children developed their Digital Literacy skills while writing their 'Tweets' above.

In the afternoon I set a homework activity involving New Year resolutions. The children had to log on when they got home and reply to this post with their New Year resolutions.  Have a look at the comments below.

How to set up MinecraftEdu on the C2K network.

With the turn of the new year, and after having a brilliant couple of weeks off with my wife and 7 month old son Anraí, thoughts will soon turn towards the new term at school.  The theme of the next few weeks in my class will be Space, the Solar System and Reaching for the Stars.  I will shortly begin planning the integration of opportunities of digital learning across all areas of the curriculum, but particularly looking forward to using iPads, continuing programing / coding activities and using MinecraftEdu throughout our exploration of Space.

In the last few weeks I have received requests on how to install and run MinecraftEdu on the C2K system in school.

First of all I have to thank Paul Wade from St.Mary's College Derry and Daniel O'Reilly from the AmmA Centre for their advice on how to download and install the program across the network, thanks Paul and Dan.

As with any installation of new software, I had a good look at the minecraftedu.com website to guide me through the purchasing stage. I bought one server licence to manage MinecraftEdu throughout the school, costing $41 (American website) and 11 client/student licences costing $18 each.

As MinecraftEdu can only be used in educational institutions, I had to provide them with evidence that it was in fact going to be used in a school. I sent off a few screen dumps of the school website and my user account within the C2K system. A few minutes later I received confirmation of my purchase and I was ready to download MinecraftEdu on the C2K system. 

Excitement spread like wildfire around the children in school with the news that MinecraftEdu was nearly available to use.

I had to first of all download the Multiplayer Server licence on to my computer in the classroom.  I installed it into the C:/ drive to ensure it was permanently installed on my computer, but I also copied the server installation software onto my desktop.  This meant that when I logged on to other laptops and desktops in the school, the server licence would be easily accessible on my desktop and the installation program just had to be copied into the C:/ drive of each computer. 

Above is the installation screen for the server licence. I only had to install one server licence so the MinecraftEdu Server Tool box was checked when installing on my workstation. When installing the student licences on other workstations the Minecraft Server Tool was left unchecked. 

Below is the Launcher Menu where children can access the MinecraftEdu world.

After setup was complete, it was just a matter of logging into MinecraftEdu as a teacher, jotting down my Minecraft Server IP address, then logging into MinecraftEdu as a student on another workstation and entering the Server IP address which means that 11 users can simultaneously work on the same activity in the Minecraft World.  As a teacher I can also access the world at the same time, have complete control over the settings and monitor the children's progress.

As you may have seen in my previous blog posts, the children and I had been having a MinecraftEdu trial in December, even using it as the basis of a movement and direction Numeracy lesson for a visit from the ETI.

So far it has been very successful in allowing children to embrace technology as a tool to aid learning in all areas of the curriculum. I expect this to continue in the new year.