On Monday 15th October 2012, we presented at TeachMeet Cambs (www.3x3links.com/tmcambs).
We presented about:
'Using your smart phone in your classroom'
'Ten web tools for the classroom':
Friday, 19 October 2012
Monday, 15 October 2012
Registration Ideas Part II
In our packed timetables it is important to make use of every minute that is available to us. Below are some more ideas that we use to start the day:
Mobile gaming: In our school we have a suite of 15 PSPs with copies of a brain training game. Over the week every child has a go on one of the brain training mini-games. Scores are correlated and over time we can create class scores, compare and, for the really competitive people amongst you, have leagues. Even if you do not have access to this sort of thing through mobile technology, you can make use of online games to achieve the same thing. The important thing is the competition is motivating and children are able to get their brains going before the day.
Sharing poetry: In our class we have a Poem of the Week. At the beginning of the week the poem is introduced and then a range of activities can follow. Pick words from the poem and find synonyms, create similar descriptive passagea, find rhymes and look at the cultural background to the poem. This allows you to share famous, or not so famous poetry that does not necessarily come up in literacy lessons. So far this year we have had poems from Tolkien right through to Maya Angelou.
Art activities: When I have visited museums recently, we have been able to buy black and white versions of famous pictures to be coloured in. We have shared the original art on the board and then invited children to make their own versions. For the more able artist they are able to create their own interpretation, whilst the less able can use the templates purchased at the museum.
Image credit: www.flickr.com/photos/e-strategycom/1054179588
Speeches: A really simple one. Play famous speeches on mp3 in the class then discuss the historical significance of them. For more detail, try analysing the word choices made.
Speeches: A really simple one. Play famous speeches on mp3 in the class then discuss the historical significance of them. For more detail, try analysing the word choices made.
Thursday, 20 September 2012
Three Worders
After previously using this idea
at the end of a lesson I have now started using it at the end of each
day.
Image credit: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00p2dfq
On Simon Mayo’s BBC Radio2 Drivetime show he asks listeners to sum up their day in three words and send them in for him to read out. I decided this would be a good way to sum up each day in our classroom. So, I purchased an academic diary and each day I pick a child to sum up their day in three words. The three word recounts can also be found here.
If Twitter is micro blogging I’m
not sure what this is! The children enjoy it. It’s another way of making them
think about their writing and at the end of the year it’ll be nice to look back
over as a record of our year.
So go on, get your class into ‘Three
Worders’. Text or Tweet them to Simon and he might even read one out!
Thursday, 19 July 2012
Apps for Your Primary Classroom
The below list of iOS Apps was originally stored at http://web.me.com/thisisliam. These apps have all been used by us in our Key Stage Two classroom. Although this list links to the iTunes Store many of these apps are also available on other operating systems too:
Geography
History
Literacy
Maths
Basic MathMFL
Music
Other
Photography
Puzzles
Science
SEN
We'd welcome your additions. Add them as comments below and to our previous post about apps. Since this post, we've blogged about more apps here.
Tuesday, 10 July 2012
The Angles Roller Coaster
We believe that to give learning purpose and ignite interest it's important to link learning to real life situations. We have demonstrated this in some of our previous blog posts.
For this post we are looking at a real life situation for measuring and drawing angles in maths. We decided upon roller coasters as a good subject to base our lesson on. Roller coasters, after all, are all about angles!
Firstly, reading the angle of rises and falls on roller coasters involved looking at pictures of roller coasters. Then, drawing on lines to show the angle to be measured and then measuring this angle. We discussed what angles made the best roller coasters and why different angles were used. Below is an example of this:
Next, came drawing angles. Using the knowledge gathered from the 'reading angles' lesson the children had a go at drawing their own roller coasters. They then peer assessed which roller coasters they liked the look of, which they did not and why:
Give it a go. See what stomach churning rides your class can come up with...
Thursday, 5 July 2012
School Twitter Account (Part 3)
Image credit: twitter.com
Below are some examples of school's Twitter feeds. Have a look at what they're Tweeting about:
If you have or know of a school Twitter account that would be good to look at please add it to the comments below.
Read 'Part 4'.
Read 'Part 4'.
Friday, 29 June 2012
Revelling in Probability
When learning about probability we use Revels.
Yes, the chocolates. The whole brand of Revels is about which flavour you will
eat, the likelihood of getting one you don't like and hoping for your
favourite. That's probability in the 'real world' of a Key Stage Two child!
Step one is to introduce the children to the
language of probability and particularly why it's important to be careful when
using 'certain', 'impossible' or 'even chance'. Do 'Play Your Cards Right',
coin toss and other examples if needed. Then go back to discuss the likelihood
of getting a certain flavour when selecting a Revel. We found the children
expected there would be equal chances of picking out each flavour. We have used
some of the Revels TV commercials to further explain the marketing behind this
product:
We placed a packed of revels on each table to be
shared between 6 to 8 children. Now, in order to be able to state the
probability of getting a certain flavour we need to find out if the Revel
flavours are evenly distributed. Well, there's only one way to find out! Next,
comes eating and tallying. The children eat the revels and tally the total
amount of each flavour eaten.
Gather the information from each table about how
many of each flavour were in their packs. This now offers the opportunity to
calculate some averages. For example, Toffee: 7, 8, 9, 9, 14. From this data
the mean, median, mode and range for each flavour per packet can be calculated,
then maybe even converted into percentages.
It now becomes apparent that the spread of
flavours is NOT equal and in fact quite consistently biased towards one
flavour! In addition to this the range can be quite broad from one packed to
another. After looking at the data and discussing what it shows we wrote letters
to Mars (address is on the packet) and hope to get a response from them. The
letters offered a link to our persuasive writing topic and involved the
children needing to include data to back up their arguments.
A fun filled lesson or two. The children learned
a lot about probability and also had the opportunity to write to a real company
about their findings.
Image credits: www.revels.co.uk
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)