My use of the internet.

After signing off i thought i'd just check out the weather forecast for the weekend for my trip away. So number one website http://news.bbc.co.uk/weather/forecast wish i'd never bothered as it shows heavy rain ALL weekend!!  Bang goes my nice leisurely stroll round Bath! So then i checked out number two website http://www.aquaterra.org/bath-sports-and-leisure-centre/swimming.aspx and number three website http://www.romanbaths.co.uk/. So looks like we'll be hitting the Roman Bath museum and then finsihing off in the swimming pool. Harry will be in his element. Need to remind myself that this was meant to be my weekend and try and sneak off to the SPA baths. Better go and check out the price first. I've been on the internet for my own personal use more tonight than in the last couple of months put together. It amazes me how easy and quick it is to find out anything. I have found out all the information within no more than 10 mins, it was probably 5 but i was too busy admiring all the lovely photo's attached to websites. Now i really am signing off. Night night

SKYPE

Technology has been on our side this week!! Hooray! As part of our Comenius week the children have been able to Skype our fellow countries each morning. For those of you like me who up until a few weeks ago hadn't heard of Skype, it's basically free video calling that can be done on your computer providing you have a webcam. The children have loved it, especially the juniors. I think the infants have been a bit overwhelmed by it all and become much quieter than normal when they see their image at the bottom of the screen. I think it's amazing that children from other countries can talk to each other at school and see what each is doing real time. When i was at school it was a good old fashioned pen and paper that allowed us to keep in touch with penpals. I wonder if i'd had the technology available today if i'd still be in touch with them now? I used to find it such a drag putting pen to paper. Eh oh, enough of reminicising. There has been a big increase in the use of the internet this week also, with each class looking up information on the country their class has been allocated. I'm amazed at how much my 7 year old has told me about Italy! Again, years ago it would have been a trip to the library or the encyclopedia britannica. Crikey how times change, and even i have to admit in this instance i think for the better. The information that children have available to them today is amazing, through ICT i believe  there are so many more learning opportunities open to them.
My little boy was on http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks1bitesize/ earlier. I couldn't believe how quick he was flying around the screen, without any support from myself. Quite amazing as he only goes on the computer a couple of times a week at most and not for a great deal of time. Their ability to grasp how to do things so quickly is mindblowing, but to him it's the norm. He can't understand it when i tell him i didn't have computers at school.
Well it's late now and i've got things to get ready for our open evening tomorrow. Roll on Friday and half term. Only 3 more days and i'll find out if my premier inn booking was done right! Hope so. To any of my readers i hope you have a fab half term and a well deserved break. TTFN

Inset Days

One of the things i have always said in school is that i think we should have an inset day dedicated to ICT. Yes Forest School inset was great as was setting up an art area, as was how do children learn. Not so great was the cleaning of the art cupboard and other associated cleaning duties, although they are essential i know. But i have to ask myself the question how much knowledge do any of the staff have in the use of ICT. I know they know the basics but how aware are they of what we can actually do with all this software and do they utilise it as best they could. I've spoken with my fellow TA's and the only knowledge they have of the software is what they've picked up through trial and error. As Walton and Goddard state in their book Supporting Every Child "Education in the twenty first century will almost certainly involve the exploitation of ICT and both teachers and teaching assistants will be required to acquire ICT capability for it's effective integration into the classroom". Even Becta, the government agency that promotes the effective and innovative use of technology in education, states that they know that technology has the potential to transform learning. They also go on to say that they are commited to inspiring education providers to realise that potential, and equip learners for Britains future success. If this is the case why isn't more been done to give us the opportunity to acquire this knowledge and so enabling us to transfer these skills into the classroom. Without this course i wouldn't have dreamt that there was so much technology available to children in school. As teachers and TA's we need the knowldge so we can pass on to our children. Without this some children may not have another opportunity to learn these skills if ICT is unavailable to them at home.

Assignment

Well another week over and a new one about to begin. Last week was a complete write off with regards to ICT in school but i'm positive this week will be better. It's our comenius week in school and as i mentioned before Nursery's country is Latvia. On Friday the plan for the week involved making Rye bread ( a Latvian delicacy that i couldn't take to) and doing lots of Latvian crafts. However, I'm hoping that there will be an opportunity for me to show the children where Latvia is using the internet even if it's in our circle time after the register. I've been on some sites today and found a couple that would be nice for the children to see. I'm also able to show my photostory that i'm looking forward to and on Thursday technology allowing we are hoping to have a live link up to our fellow comenius countries. I can't wait to see the children's faces if that goes to plan.
Although i've done my resource and carried out the lessons which went really well and that the teacher was pleased with i look at everyone else's resources and panic that mine isn't in anyway as detailed. I do feel confident that the resource enabled the objective to be met and keep reminding myself that i am only in the Nursery class and they are only there for 2 and a half hours a day. By the time they sit for the register, have toast and milk, tidy up, go outdoors there's probably only about an hour to an hour and a quarter of actual teaching time (or should i say learning through play time) and when there's 30 in the class a focused activity can take the whole week to complete. Sometimes 2 weeks. Eh oh, i just have to keep telling myself that my lesson was aimed at mainly 3 year olds and if i am given the opportunity next year of moving out of Nursery i'll have lots of ideas ready to go to the teacher with. Thats if i keep practising and don't forget how to use everything i've learnt.

Technophobia!

What a fab word. After reading about technophobia in Steve Wheelers book Transforming Primary ICT i've decided that up until a few weeks ago that was me. In fact i think most of my teacher friends are technophobes as well. Whenever i ask them what they use ICT for their response is always the same... " as little as i can get away with using". So for all those of you who may read my blog here's what it means... an extreme negative response to ICT which may be the result of fear or anxiety. Yep, that was me. As Wheeler says "No matter how good a technology is , it will fail if people either find it too difficult to use or percieve no use for it". Yep, that was definatly me! However... after spending several sessions looking at different aspects of ICT and how they can support the children's learning, as well as been able to play around with the software at home, i'm definatly a convert. Don't panic Mandy, i'm not ready to take over your ICT class yet.. infact never, but i am more in the corner of using ICT than i was before. Infact i better sign off my blog as i've got some work on textease to do. Who would have believed i would be using textease to make games a few months ago.. certainly not me! Good night.

The big clean

So far this week i can report on NO ICT useage in school. To be fair to the teacher it is because we have been having the biggest clean up and sort out of the class on record. I can't believe how much can be acquired in such a few years. I have touched the ICT equipment when i was putting it in our new super duper storage but don't think that quite counts as useage!! At least it's all together now and we've sorted out the broken from the unbroken, as well as investing in many batteries! I'm quite looking forward to going into work tomorrow, knowing how easy it will be to find the ICT equipment for the children to play with.
I did use the internet last night to research any games that i could use for my year 5 /6 literacy support. Even though i don't have access to a computer when supporting these children i thought i might be able to adapt them for their lessons. The website that i found really useful was http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/eng/index-new.htm. We have used this in nursery a few times but i didn't realise i would be able to access it myself from home. Another one to add to my favourites now i know how to do it!!

2Animate

I have to say i'm glad there are no more sessions of ICT! Not because i didn't find them interesting but completely the opposite. So interesting, that all i've spent today doing is downloading the Notebook for the Smart Board and 2 Animate and playing around with them. Also done another photostory. Nothing else is getting done! I've just shown my son how to use 2animate and have attached his first attempt. Better than mine i have to say. He loves it and wants to move onto the advanced one but i've said to practise on the simple first. Partly because i need to get my head round the advanced mode before he does. I don't want him showing me up!

Things i'd forgotten to blog!

1. My teacher loved my Latvia photostory. I couldn't quite believe it actually worked in school. It'll be used for Comenius week which is the 14th Feb.
2. Thank you Mandy for getting Textease back on my PC. You're a lifesaver.
3. Completed my ICT activity with the children that i did the resource for and was really pleased with how it went. The children loved it and want more games making!!  I'm already thinking of how i could have improved it and what else i can do using ICT to support their learning if given the chance. I also remebered Mandy's top tip of hitting the F5 button to get rid of the icons at the top of the page. This was a life saver and prevented any of the children been tempted to touch things i didn't want then touching.
4. Even used ICT in this weeks PE lesson! The Learning Objective has been for the children to crawl properly. Trying to demonstrate to the children proved amusing so we turned on the IWB, dusted off our PE resource box, took out the disc, inserted into Laptop and hey presto a full interactive demonstration of how to teach a 3 year old to crawl! Yes, i thought they could all crawl anyway, but it's far more technical than you would think. Honest!
5. I'm starting to use the internet more to order things on line and so far so good. Everything has turned up as planned. I've even managed to changed credit card details etc. Have also started using online banking more, although i'm still very sceptical of how secure it actually is. I even managed to book a weeked break in a premier inn for half term. Fingers crossed i did it right and when we turn up they have our booking reservation! Oh ye of little faith!!
6. Still can't fathom out how to renew library books on line. Have tried again this morning. Will have to resort to the good old fashion telephone!

Digital Camera

After making Chocolate Rice Krispie cakes with my 3 and 4 year olds on Mon and Tues ( Very Yummy) i spent the last half of the week on a focused activity with them using the Digital Camera. The activity gave them the opportunity through ICT to experiment with the digital camera and they were all given the chance to take photo's of their classmates playing in their favourite areas of the class. The photo's taken are been used to complete an activity of 'Our daily routines' but i've also made a photostory out of them so the children can watch on arrival at school. The children love looking at photo's of themselves and are engaged in what they see as a little film show.
As with all activities some children fared better than others. Some were extremely confident taking hold of the camera independantly and able to focus themselves and take the photo. Others needed lots of support to take the photo's, with some who were even unable to hold the camera for themselves.  On Monday i'm hoping to have the time to show a few of the children how we can print these photo's off, giving them the opportunity to learn more skills.

IWB / Smart Board

Well thank goodness this weeks over. Harry's had something on every night and all day yesterday which ultimately means i have something on every night been the taxi!!! Thankfully it's raining today which means football cancelled so i'm taking the opportunity to get my blog updated.
On Wednesday we learnt about the IWB or Smart board as also known. Carol Elston in her book Using ICT in the Primary School describes the IWB "as an erasable writing surface that interacts with a computer to capture writing electronically and enable interaction with a projected computer image. IWB's work by either using a special pen or finger touch. As the pen or finger is moved across the whiteboard the mouse cursor follows. Tapping the screen twice with a finger provides the same action as double clicking the mouse."
I couldn't believe just how much it could do. It was amazing. I didn't even realise there was a notepad on it that could be used. All i've ever seen it used for in 3 and a half years is as a projector for the laptop. The teacher will either find a website that can be used interactivly or it's used for the children to draw / mark make using Tizzy. As with Textease and Photostory I'm looking forward to been able to start having a play around with it on my own and hope at some point next half term to make an elctronic book to help the chidlren with their number recognition which will re-inforce the work i've been doing with them over the last few weeks. I've also managed to acquire 2Animate, ( Thankyou my friend... you know who you are!!) and am also looking foward to having a play around with that. My 7 year old loves drawing ( he wants to be an artist when he's older!! i keep trying to persuade him to be a doctor / vet or architect but no such luck yet). and i think he'll love 2Animate when he sees what it can do. Might have to invest in another laptop, with all this fab software to use we'll be fighting over who gets to use it.