What’s New on the Website
This month we have added links to the following pages:
Other Useful Sits, Documents and Apps: Teach Computing Science – a guide for Early Years and Primary Practitioners;
Coding: Setting Up Teacher and Pupil Accounts for Code
Craft, Design, Engineering & Graphics: Royal Academy of Engineering; Getting Started In Tinkercad; Instructables
Textiles: Material World
Science: Science for a Successful Scotland; Wow Science
Showcase Your Talents!
The infant class at Brownhall Primary School enjoyed their success at a coding workshop with Mrs. Moyes this term. Pupils worked collaboratively, and had great fun solving problems at code.org.
“Hello Ruby – Adventures in Coding” and “Hello Ruby – Journey inside the Computer” (texts written by Linda Liukas) are being used to enhance computational thinking in Primary 1/2 at Brownhall Primary School. We are recreating Ruby’s journey and meeting all her friends from the story along the way. The pupils have been making their own computers and writing helpful algorithms for Ruby. The highlight of this week has been a classroom visit from the real Ruby!!
We love this fantastic video created by a P7 pupil at Calside Primary. The teacher set a homework challenge to “create a Chinese landmark” linked to their topic on China. Callum decided to make his model using Tinkercad, a Computer Aided Design application for children, and recorded a screen-cast of the process.
Love this idea from Carolyn Scott and the P4/5s at Heathhall Primary, as a way to cover a number of benchmarks, including ‘selects and use applications and software to capture, create and modify text, images, sound and video (TCH2-01a)’
Carolyn says: ‘The children researched the battle and we looked at a famous painting done after the battle using Jacobite prisoners for authenticity! They then drew straws to find out if they were going to be a Jacobite or a Redcoat soldier. They had already found out what sort of things each side used and the weapons they would have used.
They posed in their battle positions for a photograph. Next they had to use the “Paint” programme to draw over their photograph to transform themselves into a character from the battle. After two sessions they were ready to save into the shared folder so they could be printed out in colour ready for our display!’
Running an afterschool club, entered a competition or just have some excellent STEM curricular work? Have it showcased in the monthly Full STEM Ahead Round Up.
We know that celebrating success across the region is key in raising attainment and showcasing good STEM practice. If you have a piece of work or activity you would like us to share with fellow learners and practitioners across Dumfries and Galloway, then send a photograph and short description (no more than 150 words) to gw08moyescarol@ea.dumgal.sch.uk and look out for yourself in next month’s issue!
If you do just one thing this month …
- Farm Visits – all visits to farms MUST be organised via RHET who will put together a fantastic and educational day for you and your class. These are really popular, so book at least a term in advance;
- if you can’t get to a farm, bring the farm to you with a visiting speaker;
- their posters are useful for supporting a range of topics;
- and, they’ve got some great videos on the You Tube channel; too late for this year, but next January check out their series about Haggis, Neeps and Tatties.
There’s a lot more to explore, including CPD opportunities for teachers, so visit the site today.
Coming Soon
16-21 April – Dumfries & Galloway Science Festival Week
20 April – Big Bang Festival at Easterbrook Hall, Dumfries
21 April – Science Festival at Easterbrook Hall, Dumfries
14-18 May – National Digital Learning Week
17 May – Outdoor Learning Day
Twilights – book through CPD Directory
17 Apr – Getting started with the BBC Micro:bit @ Annadale & Eskdale venue tbc
18 Apr – Getting started with the BBC Micro:bit @ Stewartry venue tbc
23 Apr – Getting started with the BBC Micro:bit @ Wigtownshire venue tbc
30 Apr – Getting started with the BBC Micro:bit @ Nithsdale venue tbc
That’s well cool!
Carrutherstown Primary P4-7 Pupil
on using Lego WeDo for the first time