ICT assignment

Feeling Challenged!!!!

Well the end is in sight, I have found this module a challenge as I am not very confident using ICT equipment and absolutely hate using the computers as we seem to have no end of trouble logging on and accessing certain sites or retrieving work that it often becomes a chore to even put them on!! I must make time to familiarise myself and also to give the children time to just play with the equipment to see what it does as they are more confident than me!!

Feeling Reflective!!

I must confess I have struggled through this assignment!! I have enjoyed challenging myself by having a go at new ideas through the uni sessions but in regard to the classroom I don't feel I give enough opportunity for the children in our class to experiment. The teachers planning focusses on what we are aiming to achieve and ensure this we just stick to what we know best and we are guilty of not looking for other options. If we are looking at a drawing on the computer or typing we go straight to textease and if we are recording a graph from a tally we go straight to Early Essentials!! We do need to look at other options of possibly achieving the same result. 

From blogging its been good to see what others use well or what doesn't work so well I just wish I had more interesting info to share!!! xx

#100days

Just browsing and having a nose on facebook.....as you do once you get some peace in a mad house - and I came across this fb page where people update a status and share a picture of what brought them joy that day!! I do try and be a glass-half-full person but in an age where we are all under pressure with balancing home and work life, is it possible to capture something thats brought you joy??
I'm sure all pics will be of my little darlings, except when my son is having a strop or my girls are asking for money or to be driven somewhere!!!
Have a look at this article, see what you think!! I may challenge myself to try and find something that brought me joy that wasnt my children or a glass of wine ;)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2609273/Photographing-daily-delights-100-day-happiness-challenge-social-media-users-posting-shots-one-thing-day-brings-joy.html

The wonders of a new phone!!

Well I have been spoilt.....the arrival of my new phone much to the disappointment of my daughters!! RIP the old samsung galaxy and hello iphone!! I must admit I loved my samsung and was a bit like my mother when I used to say I know how to text and make a call....what else do you need a phone for??? But I have to admit my new phone does so much more and I actually love it. To be fair to my 9 yr old son he's walking me through what apps I should get and what I will use them for even though he doesnt have a phone but has an ipod. Its amazing to think in 15 years since my first mobile phone how much things have changed and what we now use a phone for. I have downloaded a walking app which tracks my route, distanced walked and calories burned!! Yet again I'm trying to lose weight and I have my fitness pal to keep track of the food I am eating and you can actually scan the bar code of the food wit the phone and it tells you the calorie content!! Amazing!!! :)

Any recommendations of and tried and tested apps??

Internet Stress!!

Aftee 4 weeks of no wi-fi at home we have now revertex to the old fasioned system of running a cable from the box to the laptop or computer which is hazard when the internet box is downstairs and the computer is upstairs!!! But virgin media assure us that we have a very good connection and have checked if its a problem witb our computer and laptop which were fine before they changed our internet box!!! so i am blogging on my phone which seems to take forever to type :(

Hilarity with Audacity!!!

After the dread of recording our voices, Angharad and I had great fun with trying to record in the first place then we were let loose to improve on our conversation by using effects funnier than our own!! Here's the first recording......please don't expect much!!!
Listen to this episode
Enjoy :)

The promise of Promethean!!

It was interesting to learn of the benefits of a promethean board during Wednesdays session but unfortunately we have activeinspire but we can't use interactively!!

In the last year all our smart boards were removed for c-touch boards which don't need a projector. So far these have taken time for the 'grown ups' to get used to but the children have no problems using the boards. It has been something new to use activeinspire on our other computers. It's nice change to using textease for the children. 

I have to admit I tend to stick to what I know best!! I love the easy-ness of textease and would choose to use that instead of Word for work. I suppose we all need to try new things and realise there may be something that will make our lives a little easier.

Animation Programs

2Animate

Heres my fab animation!!! Thanks to Kirsty for the suggestion as I had no clue what my catchphrase would be.
Can you tell what it is yet??
Comment your guesses below x

Computing Chaos

Why is it, when you plan for an interesting lesson with an extension activity using the computers, they refuse to play nicely!! One computer won't log on and the other refuses to save in documents saying that the link is broken!! I find it so frustrating and unfotunately a class of 26 six year olds could not help me.

 

We had a great carpet discussion about our wonderful mums and all the things they do for us. When the children left the carpet I was working with a group to make their mothers day cards, a group were painting at the table and another group were meant to be using the Textease program on our three super-duper comuters to 'draw' their mum and write a sentence/paragraph to go with it. Of course this would have been great if all three computers were working properly!! 

Is it fair to say a work book and pencil wouldn't have let me down in my hour of need?? Should we have an in-house ICT technician to solve out ICT nightmares without haveing to make a phone call to the ICT support and hope they arrive within a week??

 

And breathe ;)

Gilbert's Goods: Getting word to help with referencing!

What do you think?!! Kirsty shared this link, I think its great for explaining how to reference effectively in Word.





Gilbert's Goods: Getting word to help with referencing!: Learnt how to reference using word in last weeks uni session will definately be using this in my future assignments! It does all the work fo...

We love our information technology at our school!

We are fortunate to have three computers in our classsroom with a c-touch interactive board. There are two i-pads we use for various activities. The camera is great for photos and videoing but we also enjoy using the popmath and puppet pals apps.

The children enjoy recording their stories using the tuff-cam and the tuff-mic records them reading or retelling a story. They also use bee-bots for navigation activities.

What a great afternoon at uni :) 

I'm looking forward to adding more to my blog!!!

Today I have learnt how to select information and save it by using the Snipping Tool .

First I wrote a sentence and edited it by changing the font and colour.

After that, I needed to save it but I didnt need the whole page. 

Suddenly Mandy told us about the Snipping Tool.

Then Mandy demonstrated to us how to do it. 

You click on the Windows symbol on the bottom left of your screen. Next you serch for Snipping Tool then edit the work and save it.

Shockingly I will use this tool to select small pieces of work and drop into a power point presentation or for when I make worksheets.

Finally, I am pleased to say I have learnt something new! :)

Here I am in room 316 attempting to complete my first blog!! Wish me luck ;)