Category : Year 1/2

Year 1 have been working on developing their trackpad skills.

We now understand the main components of a computer – screen, keyboard, mouse, trackpad – so we looked at different mice and how some look different but all perform the same function, such as the trackpad.

This week which tried out paintz.app, which is an online artist programme.

First we explored the tool bar, finding out that as well as changing colours, we could make shapes, fill with colour and use a spray paint effect.

Then we had chance to explore all the tools… we found that you could draw a circle/square with one, another enabled us to fill the shape with colour and one gave a spray paint effect … we had fun finding out what all the tools were able to do.

At first, some found it a bit tricky to select different tools and using the trackpads to draw … but all of the children showed determination and perseverance, and were able to produce some fabulous work… with some is us even managing to type our name using the keyboard.

After completing our lesson this week, we were all able to place our laptops in the charging station and carefully plug the lead into the correct hole.

This week, Year 1 had their first use of our school laptop computers, but first they needed to be able to identify the screen, keyboard and mouse/trackpad.

They enjoyed finding out how to turn on and log in to a laptop computer.

All of the children had a turn at developing their trackpad/mouse skills by completing a puzzle program. They needed to use the trackpad to grab and drag each puzzle piece… this proved a little tricky and it’s a skill that we will be working on developing more next week.

This term in Computing, Year 1 will be getting to use the school laptops … but first we had to find out what exactly ‘technology’ is.

We found out the word ‘technology’ means ‘anything made by people to help us’.

The children then searched our classroom to find items of technology. The children were able to find many things and say how they help us…

Harvey told us that “glasses help us to see better”, while Matilda said “my bottle has my water in it for me to stay hydrated and healthy” and all the children were surprised when Thomas said the chair was technology as it helps us to sit down! Roman and Aurelius both found sticks that help us to measure.

We discovered that technology is absolutely everywhere in our classroom, so we had to go outside to find things that aren’t technology… trees and the sky aren’t technology as they are not made by people… also, the children found it funny to learn that we also aren’t technology!

This week Year 1 continued working with the BEEBOTS. 

The children had remembered what all the command buttons did and also that the clear button is very important, that we must press it before giving our Beebots new instructions.

They worked in small groups to navigate their Beebot around the grid, trying to predict which symbol it would stop on.  This turned out to be a little tricky, sometimes where it actually did stop, caused a few surprises!

All the children enjoyed making our robots move.

This term Year 1 were introduced to the Bee-Bots.

Bee-Bots are robots that need commands to make them move.

We spent time linking outcomes to each button.

The commands we learnt were:- forwards, backwards, turn, clear and go.

Working together, we estimated how many times we would need to press the forward arrow key to get the Beebot all the way to Bailey… it was 20!

Then, working in small groups, the children were able to independently programme some commands into the Beebots … they enjoyed predicting and seeing how they moved.