Mathletics

My little brother is in year 5 back in Japan and since I was teaching year 5 for my GPP, I often asked him what he did in school. He told me he did a lot of Mathletics and he really enjoyed it because he could compete with people from around the world.

I think Mathletics is a great way to get children to practice their skills and improve their arithmetic fluency. However, my brother also told me that he did a lot of Mathletics, Maths is Fun and similar activities where he would just answer questions to get points/coins. It was fun but when there was something he didn't know, he'd just read the hints and clues to find out the correct answer without really quite understanding the mathematics behind it.

I feel that although online math activities such as Mathletics can be a great resource, it is easy to fall into the trap of not doing enough teaching and exploring. I think that in schools, teachers should allow students to use practical resources and explore patterns, then do some whole class teaching, and then use websites such as Mathletics for homework where the students can practise the skills they have learnt at school.

Making games on scratch

To build my confidence in teaching computing using Scratch, I created a simple game after watching a tutorial.

The aim of the game is for the dog to touch the key without touching the bat. The bat moves up and down to guard the key. 

1. The bat needs to move up and down

Needed to do change some of the values so that the bat moved vertically. 

 2. The dog needs to move according to the arrow keys

3. The game needs to stop when the dog touches the bat

4. The game needs to finish when the dog gets the key. 

Although I watched a tutorial, I tried to figure out the instructions myself. I did end up using the tutorial to help me out with how to finish the game.  Using Scratch is a great way to get children to problem solve and figure out ALL the steps necessary. It's quite challenging but can be quite rewarding when sprites finally do what you want them to do!

Creating a game on scratch is best used as project at the end of a half-term in which students demonstrate the skills they have learnt. An interesting game on Scratch requires the students to understand the concept of variables, sequencing, repeating events and conditional events and be able to use the appropriate instructions. 

KS3 - Creating games

I observed a computing lesson in KS3 which discussed about how to create a game using a computer programme.

Pupils watched a video about a game developer discussing what the process of game making and the elements of a good computer game. The students then discussed about other elements of a good computer game such as good characters, gameplay, sound effects and etc.

The students then played flappy bird and discussed the following questions.
a. What is the purpose of the game?
b. What objects did you have to use? (e.g. computer mouse)
c. What were the sound effects?
d. What was the background?
e. Who is the targeted audience
f. Was the game appropriately challenging?

The students were then told that they would be creating their own simple game using Scratch.

Although this was a KS3 lesson that I observed, it can be easily adapted to a KS2 lesson. Children can play a simple game and discuss what they need to think about when creating a game. Students need to be aware the games need a targeted audience and purpose.

Using books in KS1

Books are a great resource to teach children about e-safety, especially in KS1 where children enjoy picturebooks.  Kidsmart provides some books available in pdf format about e-safety.

The first book deals with Smartie the penguin asking an adult when strange images / ads pop on the screen, and when getting an email from unknown people.  There's a song that the children can sing as well. This book is probably for pupils in reception / year 1.

The second book is probably more for older children in ks1. It deals with Digiduck who thinks of sharing a silly photo of his friend. In his dreams, the Wise_owl shows what will happen if Digiduck shares that photo - his friends won't invite him to playdates and parties as they are not happy with what Digiduck did. After getting up, Digiduck realises that it is important to make sensible choices online. 

The storybook format is appropriate for pupils and it will be very relevant to them as friendship is an important aspect of being in school. 

There are a few questions at the end that can be used for a class discussion as well. There is a guidance for parents as well on how to keep their children safe. Most parents are probably unsure of how to deal with e-safety and may not have any rules for how often their children can use computers. A story book like these with guidance gives parents an idea of how they can educate their children to be safe and responsible users of the internet at home.

GPP - Interactive games for maths

ICT was a great way of making maths enjoyable. I used interactive resources a lot for increasing children's competence with fractions. Here are some that the children enjoyed a lot.

The first one is 'racing on', where the bikes can move by 1/4, 1/2 or 1. It can be played by either 1 or 2 players. For the lesson, I printed out the race course as an A3 sheet, laminated it, and created my own fraction cards so that children can play the game in groups of 5.



Children absolutely loved the game element and were practicing counting on fractions whilst having fun.

Another interactive resource I used allowed children to match equivalent fractions as a class. I picked students to come up and pick a pair of equivalent fractions. The timed element made the activity a little more exciting. There are three levels so the game can be easily differentiated.

GPP - Flip videos for end of topic project

At the end of our topic on Ancient Greece, the children started their project on creating a 'Horrible Histories' type film using all the knowledge they have learnt about the life in Ancient Greece. It was the children's (and my) first time to use a flip video but they are EXTREMELY easy to use. Just a few buttons so it's the perfect equipment for schools. It's easy to import the videos into the computer as well and the students can quickly edit their films using an editing software such as iMovie.  

Using a flip video to create videos is a great way to demonstrate children's learning at the end of a big topic. Children enjoy it and are enthusiastic about sharing all they know, and it's an effective way to encourage children to link their learning from different subjects. For KS2, children should be able to use the flip videos themselves and film each other. Perhaps for KS1, it is better for the teacher or TA to film the children.