The Guardian Reports on the CP3 Conference

Long time readers of this blog may recall the summer CP3 Conference I attended in the UK in July (report here)

During the five day event I met Jerome Monahan, former teacher and now freelance journalist. We discussed some of the innovation taking place in schools in the UK and Asia. Jerome's report on the conference was published in the Guardian and can be read here.

Why not create a city?

Year One will be investigating a new program called Simple City in ICT over the next few weeks, but for those who would like to create their own metropolis, you can do so online using the great tool City Creator.

A simple drag and drop menu allows users to create simple cityscapes. Click here to visit City Creator.

30th Anniversary Celebrations

What a great day we all had yesterday! Everybody seems a little tired in school today, the celebrations must have taken their toll!

We had great fun messing around with some of the photos and managed to produce an impressive looking display using an online photo manipulation tool. It's certainly worth a look if you're outsde the ICT or Music rooms in the next week or two.

Amstead Newsletter

Last week in I.C.T Y7 looked at a newsletter that was fake! We didn't even know it! A few people commented that it was a dark and lonely place, and then afterwards, our I.C.T teacher told us it wasn't real! It was called 'What's on?' and it was from a place called Amstead. Our task was to design the front cover of the August issue. Mr. Dawes gave us the text and the picture, we just had to place them.

Here is the website.

Is The Digital Divide a Gender Thing?

Good question!

There is certainly some differences in the way that boys and girls embrace and work with technology, but, of course there is no difference to what they can achieve.

I love this video made as an entry to the Interwrite Competition... a great response to the problem, perceived or otherwise.

Y7 Text and Graphics Unit

Year 7 are working on creating a newsletter for an imaginary town.

Please post any questions or problems in this thread. Maybe somebody else in the class can help out..

A polluted world doesn't make a happy life!

Yes, a polluted world does not make a happy life - Not just for you, but for all the future generations to come. If you are environmentally friendly then at some point, you might be able to change the world just go to this website:

www.greensimply.com

It shows you how to be a greener person and also proves that you can actually change the entire world.

Sean (Y7)

Blog Action Day

Monday 15th of October is Blog Action Day, a campaign launcehd at highlighting environmental issues. Maybe we could all try a little harder next week to think about our environment as we enjoy our holiday? Simple things like turning down the air-conditioning or switching off unnecessary lighting will help, as well as trying to be more efficient in how we recycle our waste.

Let us know how you get on.

You can find out more about the campaign by clicking here.

P4 - Using Photoshop Elements

P4 have been using Photoshop Elements to manipulate the portraits they have taken of each other. Using filters in the software has allowed them to add some weird and wonderful effects to their images.

A slideshow of some of their work is below. More to follow soon!

Google Sketchup

Every so often a piece of software comes along that could have a serious impact on the classroom and Google Sketchup clearly fits into that category. A 3-D modelling program that can be used to design the simplest of shapes through to virtual and real-world cities through to complex engineering drawings. And for an added bonus it's absolutely free!

We had a brief look at Sketchup last year, but now Year 7 have started investigating what it can do. Both P5 and P6 can also expect to spend some of their ICT lessons working on it later in the year, too.

Not only are there a range of creative, ICT related activities that can be carried out with Sketchup, but aspects of the D&T curriculum can also be tackled.

You can download Sketchup for free by clicking here.



Model created by Zach Moore. Textures created by Matt Brown

Powerpoints

Last week Year 7 made powerpoints about themselves! It was very interesting, we had to mark each other and say good things about their powerpoint and things they could improve on.

http://www.teach-ict.com/software/ppt/powerpoint.htm

This link is to help you with your powerpoints!

Too Much Fun!!

P1 have been spending time investigating the different environments in Boohbah. Based on the TV show, Boohbah offers a number of fascinating problem solving screens which allow students to make things happen in an attempt to find solutions to various scenarios. From simply changing colours, making dogs jump, to moving the Boohbahs into the correct place, there's lots to do. There are no instructions on the site. Pupils need to work out the different scenarios for themselves, using their thinking skills to progress.

As one of the P1s said.... "It's too much fun"

You can visit Boohbah by clicking here.

Year 7 Tests

Year 7 had a special test taken online. Those tests help the Year 7's prepare for the Exams later in the decade. These tests are called 'Midyis Tests.' They are exciting but also hard. In the test there is stuff like Picture sequences. Hard ones. And the maths? Oh dear! Hard!!!

P5 Vector Graphics

Students in P5 have been investgating the use of vector based graphics in Microsoft Word. They have been looking at creating shapes and experimenting with symmetry, rotational symmetry and tesselation.

They have also tried to build a 2-dimensional plan of their rooms using the tools available to them. Here is the slideshare showing work by last year's students to help them.

Picnik

One of the issues constantly asked at meetings when teachers sit around and discuss ICT is "When will schools stop buying software?"

The evolution of the web has meant that many software packages used in school also have some kind of alternative which can be used online... for free. Schools have to make the decision whether they continue to buy expensive software or whether they use online versions. It's possible that in the future Microsoft Word and the Office suite in general become so expensive that schools stop buying them and go online instead.

We are currently considering upgrading our graphics software in upper Key Stage Two, so it was with great interest that I investigated Picnik, an online photo editing facility that has a stunning range of tools for manipuilating photos and other images. Whilst it may not have the range of a piece of software such as Photoshop Elements, it does the simple things for free. An added bonus is that it works seamlessly wth Flickr and Picasa.

Some of our students in P4 have started to use Picnik to do simple editing, such as red-eye removal. Future developments for Picnik look really exciting and it's definitely worth a visit.

You can go for a Picnik by clicking here!