Coding with Whiteboards & iPads

Our Year 1 and 2 learners have been very busy in our Exploration Station over the last few weeks.  As well as creating videos and using a green screen we also looked at how we can get technology to do what we want using code.  

While the learners were in the space we also talked about how computers need specific instructions to make sure they do the right thing.  Mrs Lee showed us how computers can be a bit silly sometimes and they do something different to what we wanted them to do because we haven't given them the right instructions.  

To help us think about this concept the learners created their own coding grids and then worked in pairs to be the computer or the coder giving the computer instructions.  We coded our computers (plastic animals) to go on adventures through our coding grids.  It was tough and we ended up in the learning pit because we had to really think about each step the computer needed to make. 

If you want to create your own coding grid at home you can download and print this one.  We coloured our grids in and drew pictures on them to make our coding adventures more interesting.  

Coding Grid

Our Year 2 learners also went on to test our their coding skills using Scratch Junior (and iPad app).  We started off by getting the scratch cat to move and managed to work that out pretty quickly.  

Our learners were able to make the scratch characters move, talk and even change colour and disappear using the coding blocks in scratch.   Scratch junior uses blocks to code rather than the arrows we used in our coding grids.  

If you have an iPad at home you can download the Scratch Junior app here.  You can also use the more advanced version of scratch on a Chromebook or another laptop/computer.  Both versions are free.

Going Green with Our Littlest Learners

Even our littlest learners visit our Exploration Station and it was fantastic to welcome our year 1 and 2 students to the station over the last few weeks.  They were very excited to be in a new space and have a go at using a few different apps on their class iPads. 

Our focus in the station this term has been SHINE Online particularly staying Safe and Strong online. While in the station we listened to a few stories and watched a Hector's World video that helped us to think about how we can stay safe and strong online.  We reinforced our knowledge about asking a trusted adult before we go online and keeping our personal information safe.   The students in year 2 particularly liked the 'our online neighbourhood' video we looked at by Common Sense Media.  We have a link to it on our Level 1 Safe and Strong page in our SHINE online website.

The learners decorated their own characters to talked about how to stay safe and strong online and then used them to make a Green Screen movie to teach others about staying Safe and Strong online.  Mrs Lee helped our year 1 learners to put this into the Doink Green Screen app and our year 2 learners had a go at doing this themselves.   

Here are a few photos of us working through the video and green screen process

To help us work through the process we used this slide deck: 

This was the first time we've used a green screen and the Doink app we're still learning how it works and all about what makes a great video.  Here are some of the videos we created...