Category Archives: Transition

A year in the life of Barnhill P7

 Our P7 pupils at Barnhill were involved in keeping a pictorial and video diary of the year. We then created a movie file and used free music from glow to play over the top of our images and videos. Have a look at the video below which is streamed through our glow wiki page. The children loved making this and enjoyed the ICT aspect  but also learned much about working co-operatively.

https://wikis.glowscotland.org.uk/@api/deki/files/30368/=Barnhill_P7_end_of_year_film.wmv

Interactive White Boards in Early Years

I have recently been lucky enough to have been given a Promethean Board to use in the Active Learning Zone area I work in. The children in P1 are well used to using the board in the classrooms with the teacher but I needed them to use the board with little or no adult support. The youngsters know how to calibrate the board so I was confident they could do this with support from their fellow pupils if necessary.

I decided to allow the children to use the Active Inspire software and just let them play with it. They drew pictures, wrote their names, changed colours, pen size and drew shapes. The only support I gave was to show them how to do something if they asked, eg. How do I get a new page? How do I change the background colour? Children choose the Promethean Board as an activity and up to three can go there at once although only one can use the board at a time. The children watch patiently and give instructions and help to the person on the Promethean Board when needed.

We have moved on to drawing with a purpose. A recent health topic looked at the different parts of our faces. I had a display next to the Promethean Board to remind them of the different parts of the face and gave instructions that the activity on the Promethean Board today was ‘drawing your own face’. I also left a mirror for them to check how they looked so they could copy. The children were asked to write their name on the flipchart page before they finished. Here are some of the pictures they drew.

The children have become really confident with the Active Inspire software and really enjoy creating and sharing their creations with each other and on their P1 blog. We also print off some of their activities do keep in their individual Folio of Work which is a reflection of their time in P1 which they can share with their parents. The children have become confident individuals who can share their learning with others.

Lorraine Munro, READ Early Years Practitioner, Dens Road Primary School, Dundee.

The Land of Me

The Land of Me, Eric, Buddy and Willow have finally arrived in Dundee for some exciting adventures with our Early Level community! I think they’ll love it here as they’ve already enjoyed so many adventures with children throughout Scotland and England.   Not content with being the birthplace of marmalade and the home of the fabulous new V&A building, our Dundee school children will now be welcoming three furry and feathery newcomers to our classrooms.

Following the incredible early success of The Land of Me project run by the Consolarium with our Dundee Nursery Schools, our Primary Schools wanted to get on board and continue to promote transition and active learning.  

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/-txFGOzPhek" width="693" height="560" allowfullscreen="true" fvars="fs=1" /]

 

The Land Of Me has been fully promoting ICT, Active Learning, Creativity and Language skills with our Early Level pupils in our Curriculum for Excellence.  Pupils have been engaged and motivated to progress through the exciting chapters, discover the characters and continue their adventures away from the computer with the multitude of printable resources.  They have been engage in imaginative play, collaborative tasks and have had great fun and enjoyment doing so!  The animation is beautiful and it’s been a real joy sharing this fantastic resource with our community of early level pupils and practitioners in Dundee.  Find out how Bernadette Donald from Wallacetown Nursery has been pioneering the use of The Land of Me.

Land of Me can be found in the Start Programs menu on Dundee curriculum computers.  If you have any feedback about the resource I would love to hear from you.  Just leave a reply to this blog post.

Sharing our learning

This blog is managed by all education staff and pupils across Dundee. It allows teachers and pupils to share and celebrate learning. Tell everyone what is happening in your class, school or cluster. You can add a link to your Glow Group, blog or wiki to share all the exciting learning that is taking place within our nurseries, primary schools and secondary schools across Dundee.
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