Mr P's ICT blog - Tech to raise standards!

Firstly, I have to start by thanking the fantastic @SteveBunce  for this idea. He shared it a couple of year's ago when I saw him at Animate to Educate's Tech on the Tyne conference. I am very much looking forward to presenting their again this year. So the idea here is that children take a song and break down the lyrics down into a flowchart. Using the repitition and patterns in songs, the children can start to consider the different symbols and links when creating a flow chart. The idea is a great unplugged activity that can develop some computational thinking skills: Here we are decomposing, abstractin, writing an algorithms with patterns. We started by considering some other examples such as: So my digital leaders gave it a go today and they loved it. Here are some of their examples. Once created, the children then snapped a picture of their efforts and using the app Shadow Puppets Edu, recorded a short video alongside the music following the fl...

It is finally here! Both myself and John Murray have been working very hard on the latest pack. We apologise that it has taken a little longer than hoped but we are so proud of this pack. Introducing: In this pack, the children read, deconstruct and then write their own information text about an animal which they perform by making their own nature documentary just like the legendary David Attenborough. In fact, an excerpt from one of David's fascinating documentaries is featured as a comparative text.  The Unit of Work is aimed at Key Stage 2 & 3.  The aim of our packs is to cover all elements of the English curriculum in an engaging and purposeful way using a variety of media.   With an additional focus on  Fluency for Meaning, this pack will help your learners appreciate the role of the narrator more fully. It will support them as they gain a better understanding of the narrator's role when reading aloud and help them to reflect upon how their v...

I have previously blogged about using different songs for developing reading comprehension. I am currently working on a top secret project with John Murray where we will be developing this further by creating something very special which should be ready by the summer (fingers crossed.) However, I had to share this beautiful song I recently came across by Sampha - (No one knows me) like the piano.  Here are the lyrics: No one knows me like the piano in my mother’s home You would show me I have something, Some people call a soul And you dropped out the sky, Oh you arrived when I was three years old No one knows me like the piano in my mother’s home You know I left, I flew the nest And you know I won’t be long And in my chest you know me best And you know I’ll be back home An angel by her side, All the times I knew we couldn’t cope They said that it’s her time, No tears in sight, I kept the feelings close And you took hold of me and never, Never, never let me...

Thanks to  @Gareth_Metcalfe  for this new app AlbertClock you can download on your devices! See it in action here: The AlbertClock app, worth a look for some extra maths practice! Thanks Gareth for sharing! A post shared by Lee Parkinson (@ict_mrp) on Mar 13, 2017 at 12:10pm PDT

Here are some thoughts and ideas about World Book Day from my latest VLOG: As mentioned in the video, for some tech-inspired World Book Day ideas, visit this link.  I also mentioned the fantastic work done by  @TheDistrictCE through their Year of Reading.  Click here to read what they did month by month.  A quick breakdown of some of the impact: Reading attainment improved in all year groups, significantly so in Y4 +12% more pupils at ARE, and Y6 +30% more pupils at ARE. Comparison of KS2 pupil surveys (before and end of YofR) found more pupils were sharing books at home and there was approx. 20% increase in pupils going to the library out of school. Comparison of KS2 pupil surveys (before and end of YofR) found approx. 20% increase in confidence of how pupils feel about themselves as readers. Some other case studies: I had to also share this poem about World Book Day written by Michelle: T’was the night before World Bo...