Sphere

Sphere

Sphere - 360 Camera - Android Apps on Google Play

Sphere - 360º Photography on the App Store on iTunes

This is a fantastic FREE app available on both Google play and IOS. It can be used quickly and easily in the classroom as a starting point to transport pupils to a different setting.  You device becomes and immersive window to another place, when you move your tablet rounds a pupils can see a 360 view. 

See Paris from a hot air balloon, feel the energy from the American ldol stage, and hold onto your raft as you approach Hubbard Glacier. With Sphere, your device is a movable window you control.

This has huge potential in the classroom - allowing pupils to explore an environment before they write about it (writing), find out what another place actually looks like and compare it to home (geography), look for historical evidence places around the world, or create a 360 view of their own.

We have recently used this to help pupils write a detailed story setting based in a cold environment. This app gave pupils the chance to explore what could be seen and really get a feel for what was below their feet, above their heads and what might be behind them!

Yakit kids app

Yakit kids

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/yakit-kids/id794546203?mt=8

Yakit kids is a fun iPad app that allows you to bring photos to life. This app is really easy to use, just follow the steps, photograph an object, add a mouth and facial features and your ready to go. Children can then record sound clips to create a scene. 

This app is great in the classroom for bringing play scripts to life, getting someone else to read poetry / writing for pupils that are less confident speaks or for teachers to create interesting stimulus for writing. Maybe the objects could even re-explain key concepts pupils have learnt during a lesson as a fun assessment tool. 

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/yakit-kids/id794546203?mt=8

Collaboration using Google apps

Google apps for Education

https://www.google.com/edu/

How to hit some of the key elements of the new Computing curriculum is an issue for many schools. We have been using Google apps for Education to ensure that we are encouraging pupils to be using computer networks (including the Internet) and the opportunities they offer for communication and collaboration (A key element at KS2). I will be posting several examples (in the coming weeks) showing how we are using the range of products on offer in a practical way to enhance Computing across the curriculum. Today is the turn of Google Slides!

Google slides is a free product offered to all that have a gmail account (or much easier a school that has signed to Google apps for education - also free!

This is a presentation piece of software, that looks very similar to other products both teachers and children may have used in the past and feels immediately familiar.  However there is one main difference - the fact that it is web-based. This allows multiple students to be working upon one presentation simultaneously (collaborating and communicating via the web!). Here are a few easy steps to get you going and some ideas showing how we have used this in reality!

If you want to know how to access slides check out this link (http://www.google.co.uk/slides/about/), or load your Google drive (if you have gmail you have this!) and click, create, presentation.

The main element I am concentrating on is the collaborative working element of Google Slides for use in the classroom. Create a blank presentation with slides for each child in the class (ctrl and m to add a slide)

Once you have completed this step, the slides need to be shared with the pupils, use the blue share icon to do this and enter the pupils gmail addresses (or use Google classroom - I will look at this at a later date)

Once you have completed this step, pupils should see the presentation appear in their Google drive (under shared with me). They can now all contribute to the presentation simultaneously.

Once you have created a blank presentation, there are many features you can work with (adding slides, changing backgrounds, inserting pictures etc..) .  Further instructions can be found here - http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2014/04/9-simple-steps-to-create-good.html


Top Tips and ideas!

• Give each child a numbered slide and discuss how the presentation should flow before they begin, this way they all have an idea what is expected on their slide!
• Class research at the start of a topic is always a good activity, with each child having a different focus. 
• Creating a whole class story, each person creating a chapter (or be brave and create a multi pathway story)
• Pre-populate each slide with a simple sentence, let each child improve this and then share.
• Ask each child to look find something that ..... makes them smile, makes them cry, a hero .........
• Create a teaching presentation explaining a maths concept. 
• Any other ideas?

Some examples of work our Year 3 pupils have produced can be found here https://sites.google.com/a/southbournejuniors.co.uk/displaywork/ 

Create free animations using Wideo

Wideo

www.wideo.co

Wideo is another free online resources that can enhance lessons! This one really hits the New Computing curriculum as children will be sequencing different events, designing a small video to communicate with others. 

This free online resources offer pupils the chance to choose from pre-loaded backgrounds and characters, or they can use other drawing programmes to design their own which can then be uploaded. 

Once a wideo has been created it can be used on student websites, blogs or just shared with others.

This can be used in the classroom for a range of teaching ideas 

• Ask the children to create a video presenting something they have been learning - e.g. what is the definition of, explaining how to solve a maths problem, making a conclusion in science.
• It could be used as a stimulus for writing, children creating video stories before turning them into text. 
• Creating persuasive text through video an advert for a product.

The possibilities are endless

Socrative

Socrative

www.socative.com

This free web-based resource is a fantastic way to design Interactive quizzes to assess pupil knowledge at points during in a Learning Journey. Socrative gives you the freedom to design a bespoke quiz for your pupils related to what you are teaching, ask questions and get an instant response, or use a quiz created by other teachers. 

With apps for available for Chromebooks, iPads and a web version - this resource is quick and easy to access. 

Once you sign up (for free!), you will be faced with the following screen :

Students need to load the Socrative site, either via the app or the website, select student log in and enter your room number. You are then ready to go!

If your keen to get going try a simple quick question, you will be faced with a choice :

The easiest starting point with a class is True / False. If you select this option you can verbally ask the class a questions, the pupils are then able to select their response and you will receive immediate feedback.

Now that you are up and running, try some of the other option - all of the quick quiz question types need a verbal question from the teacher. 

If you would like to design a longer, structured quiz as a form of assessment, maybe to assess prior knowledge at the start of a unit, select the manage quizzes option from the homepage. From here you can create a quiz, or upload one of the many hundreds that can be found online (http://www.tes.co.uk/teaching-resource/Socrative-Quiz-Bank-6398266/)

For a detailed guide looking at how to create your own quiz, step by step, check out the following site (https://snapguide.com/guides/create-a-socrative-account-quiz/)

Padlet - Live 'Post It' Notes!

Padlet

 www.padlet.com 

Have you ever used 'Post It' notes as a means of gathering ideas, key words or phrases, to assess prior knowledge?

Padlet is a free, interactive 'Post It' note board that enables pupils to types comments, add picture or internet links to a live 'Post It' note, shared instantly on a class pin-board (displayed through your whiteboard).

We have used Padlet in the classroom as a quick way of sharing ideas in the classroom, the following board was a result of a lesson looking at features of the Human body and the use of a colon in writing. It was a quick way to assess the information pupils had gathered and their ability to use the punctuation mark to add further detail.

Padlet can be accessed via any piece of technology that has an Internet browser - Chromebooks, laptops, iPads or tablets. There is even a Chrome app and extension if you have Chromebooks or Chrome browser in your school.

The easiest way to get started quickly is for the class teacher to set up an account and create a new Padlet.

Using the settings tab (modify this wall), you will find the address pupils need to put in their web browser to access your wall. You can also change the appearance, layout, make the wall private and set comments so they have to be approved                                                                 before they appear.

Now 'Post It' away!

Welcome!

Welcome to my Blog! As a Leader of a Junior school I am interested in how Technology can be used across the curriculum to enhance teaching and learning. Drawing upon the ideas that my staff are using in classrooms, I aim to share practical ideas, showing how different technology can be used to enhance everyday classroom practice.