On Friday we had visitors!  It was great to finally meet KimP (aka Mrs P from the allstars!) and her headteacher Gail.  We’ve been exchanging blogging comments for a couple of years now and have developed ideas and use of ict in a similar way, often exchanging or inspiring ideas. The class were very excited to meet someone new, especially someone from Australia!  Thanks to Mrs V for bringing them along.

We could have been there all day, the list of questions was endless.  That was great to see, enquiring minds.  It was a Friday afternoon, so anything would have been a miracle, but to get such good listening and questioning was excellent.  We also showed our visitors some of our ICT resources, all be it in a Golden Time style!

Before we met the class we had a bit of a chat downstairs and Gail asked us what we used ICT for, especially in regard to gaming.  This gave us the opportunity to actually think of all that we have done, even in the last year.

• Piloted Buzz the Schools Quiz, and still use in Mental Maths, Language, Golden Time and to improve General Knowledge.
• We use some Web based services for brain training type things, notably Tutpup and Spelling City.
• We have invested in Education City as a school and use it in many curricular areas, especially in the Early Years and Enhanced Provision classes.
• We have been using Big Brain Academy on Wii in Language and Maths.
• We used Sonic and Mario at the Olympics as a simulus during the Olympics!
• We use Wii Sports for Maths.
• We are planning projects using Guitar Hero on PS2 and Endless Ocean on Wii.
• We have used a number of web based games (e.g. samorost) for creative writing.
• We have used and will continue to use Myst for creative writing.

I feel we are just scratching the surface with what we could do. But obviously we have Active Learning, Story Line and other approaches being promoted within the school, so there needs to be a balance I guess!