Redbridge Games Network

A trip around the Earth...

2012-01-27T19:46:00.000Z

As well as continuing to use the iPads in Maths and English lessons for starters, we have built the iPads into our IPC (International Primary Curriculum) lessons in the last few weeks. We have been learning about heroes and the children started by learning about past heroes and heroines including Florence Nightingale. One of their tasks was to use Google Earth on the iPads, to explore the places that Florence Nightingale visited. They found this task very interesting. One of the children made the comment that seeing the globe zoom out and move made them realise how far Florence travelled from England to the Crimean.

Initially we had some problems getting Google Earth to connect and the app kept hanging. We had to update the app and once we had done this it worked fine. It did highlight the need to check that apps are working before the lesson. With apps still being developed there can be quite a few bugs!

In another lesson the children designed superheroes and had to think about the special powers their superheroes would have. The children were give writing frames to work on but a group of children at a time had the chance to use either Superhero Creator or Make me a Superhero Lite to design their hero or heroine. Although this didn't take them long it got them enthusiastic about creating their super hero on paper.

These superheroes were created with Make me a superhero Lite. My criticism of this app is that there is a fairly limited amount that can be changed to personalise your superhero, however it does allow you to save your superhero. Perhaps the full version allows more variation.

In contrast, Superhero Creator has quite a lot that can be changed but does not have an external save function. The children could only view their heroes within the app. One workaround for this could be to take a screen shot (press the iPad's home button and power button at the same time).

Reading, Spelling and Ofsted!

2012-01-25T17:32:00.000Z

In Year 2 at Becontree Primary School the iPads have beenused on many different occasions. In one of our Year 2 classes we have a childwho hardly speaks any English and is at the very early stages of learning herletter sounds. When the rest of the class are completing their handwritingpractice, this particular child uses the ‘iWriteWords’ app on the iPad, withthe support of an SSA. This allows the child to practise forming letter soundswhilst hearing the sound of the letter as well. The SSA also encourages thechild to say the letter sound as well in order for her to try and learn them.The only slight problem with this app is that some letters do not conform tothe cursive handwriting style that we teach the children in Year 2. For examplea ‘t’ and ‘l’ are slightly different to the way that we teach the children. Nowthat this child has become familiar with the app, she can use it independentlyif needed.

The iPads have also been invaluable during Reading andSpelling Workshop lessons, especially for the lower ability group. When thechildren are working independently in their guided reading groups, one groupeach day uses the iPads, on a rotation basis. The apps that they use are mainly‘iWriteWords’ for children who need to practise their letter formation andlearn their letter sounds as well as ‘Bubble Spell’ where the children areshown a word, which then disappears, and they need to press the correct lettersto spell the word. These apps are perfect for this lesson where the children workin small groups and each child can have an iPad. The children using the iPadsoften work with an SSA but as they have become more familiar with, and able touse the iPads, they can work independently.

Recently, we had an Ofsted single subject inspection on ICT.As we are fortunate to have 6 iPads in Year 2 at the moment, these were usedwhen the inspector came to observe a Maths lesson. The iPads were used duringthe starter of the lesson. The children were grouped into 3s or 4s and had oneiPad between them. The remaining children in the group were given a whiteboard.The children used the app ‘Eggs on Legs’ which has questions relating toaddition, subtraction, multiplication and division. There are also 3 difficultylevels for each area. The children focused on addition and subtraction on thefirst level. These games consisted of normal addition and subtraction questionsas well as some missing number sums. This is an area that the children founddifficult on their recent test. Once they were shown how to calculate theanswers to missing number sums, all children were able to complete the gamessuccessfully. Initially, when the children were given iPads to use in groupsthey did not always work well as a team. The child with the iPad oftendominated and the other children did not get involved as much as they could.They had to be reminded that they were working as a team and the children withwhiteboards had to write the answer on that first, after discussing the answerwith their group, before the child with the iPad pressed the answer. Withpractice, the children worked very well with the iPads and shared themsensibly.

The children in Year 2 love using the iPads and use themvery sensibly. They understand how expensive and valuable they are. They arevery good at sharing them, even when they haven’t specifically been asked to.There have hardly been any problems with the children using them. They are veryuser friendly and simple to operate.

Tablet Project at Christchurch Primary School - Week 5 (4V)

2012-01-23T15:56:00.000Z

Teacher assessment of Tablets

The tablets were used by pupils in year 4 for investigating the different religions. Children were asked to navigate to a website to find information and then to copy information into a text document. At the same time as the tablets were being used by 6 children the other children in the class were sharing the use of a laptop.

Many of the children were familiar with the idea of using a tablet due to parents, family members having iphones, ipads or similar touch screen devices. Children found typing using the keyboard difficult compared to using a desktop or a laptop, the children also found the lack of mouse hard as this is what they have been used to using for the last 4 years in school and at home.

During the trial I also used the tablets with children with SEN( special educational needs), I asked the children to navigate to a website and begin playing word and spelling games. The children enjoyed the touch screen features as some children with SEN can find small motor skills difficult. Using the touch screen was quicker and easier for the children with SEN. The members of staff who work with the children with SEN thought that they could be very useful as they are more portable and easier to pick up than laptops,
The children with SEN also used some of the apps on the tablets, such as maths and spelling activities, again the children found the touch screen easier to use than a mouse.
I feel that tablets would most benefit children with SEN, as apps specifically created would enable children to learn in a fun and engaging way. However for children above year 4 I feel that a laptop or desktop is better suited as the children can navigate information and create word documents and PowerPoint’s easier with the use of a mouse.

Acer Tables at CPS week 4

2012-01-20T20:38:00.000Z

Tablet Questionnaire Class: 4J
Did you enjoy using the tablet? Explain your answer.
Yes we did. Chn were engaged, loved the idea of dealing with latest technology. Easy to use and small enough to be used at the tables without taking over the whole surface area. Access to internet was good and quick. Ability to enlarge the screen was very useful.

How easy was it to use?
Very easy! The chn were shown a brief demonstration and quickly became confident on how to use the tablets.
What was the most awkward/difficult thing to use on the tablet?
Nothing.
What did you enjoy most of all when using the tablet?
The ease and compact size. Also used the Maths and English games for SEN children they were really engaged and interested in the activities (simply because it was on the tablet).

What are the features on the tablet that you would tell a friend about?
The maths and English games!

If you were a computer designer what would you change about the tablet and why?
Would like to be able to access Microsoft office. Would be great if we could get chn to access school network too (don’t know if they already can)

Please save this in Teacher’s shared drive/ ICT / Tablet project
Save using your class’s name

Action Scripts at BETT 2012

2012-01-08T12:23:00.000Z

This week I will be at the BETT show on the 2simple stand on Thursday at 2pm and Friday at 10am to talk about some of the work my school has done with 2DIY. On Friday I will be bringing children along to let them teach you about the programmes. Please come along if you can - Details are below

Thursday
14.00– 14.15 'The Power of Programming'

By Nick Hughes, ICT Co-ordinator at Nightingale Primary School in Redbridge

Friday
10.30 – 10.50 – 'Look What I can do'
By Nick Hughes, ICT Co-ordinator at Nightingale Primary School in Redbridge

Below are links to resources that I will mention in my talks.

Click here for the some example of games that use action scripts.

<p>&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Your browser does not support iframes.&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;</p>

<p>&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Your browser does not support iframes.&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;</p>

Christchurch Primary - Tablet Project Week 3

2011-12-15T15:48:00.000Z

Shahina Ismail – 2I

Children used the tablets on Friday to research information on Electricity for their own information books.
The children were very excited and keen to use the tablets; we did have problems with the connectivity of 2 tablets, so we were only able to use four between a group of six. One of the tablets did connect to the Wi-Fi but a message came up saying the connection had timed out.
Children needed step by step guidance on how to operate the devices, and it did take a while to get onto our research part of the lesson. They were unsure of how to get onto Google search and one tablet had the search tab at the top of the screen, this confused the child who was using it as it was a format he had not encountered before.
Using the tablets was a real bonus for our lesson as it enabled children to extend their learning, making the lesson cross curricular, and allowing them to access more information than would have been available to them in class and using book. EAL and SEN children benefitted as they were able to access BBC online science games and develop their understanding in an interactive, visual and fun way, with sustained concentration.
We look forward to using them again!

Becontree iPads project - week 5 and 6

2011-12-09T20:13:00.000Z

In the last two weeks we have used the iPads for both starter activities and as extention activities for early finishers.

In Maths the children used the app Super 7HD, a game which sounds easy but gets challenging fairly quickly. The aim is to make 7 by drawing a line between numbers. Some of these numbers are negative and the numbers are constantly moving. You have to avoid collisions between numbers that would take you over 7, or it is 'Game Over'.

The children enjoyed the app. It exercised their mental maths skills and gave them an added time pressure. They also had their hand/eye coordination tested in trying to be accurate when tracing lines between numbers.

In English we used Bubble Spell as an extension for quick finishers. This is a lovely app with a gorgeous under water theme, perfect for our year 2 children. There are three difficulty levels and I used the easy level with my lowest attainers.

They are presented with a word and a visual representation of the word. The word then disappears but the visual cue stays on screen. They are then presented with a number of bubbles containing letters and they must select the correct letters in the right order to spell the word. The bubbles move, so the children have to search for the letters and you can change the time allowed to get a word up to 59 seconds.

The children worked in pairs on this and it kept them very focussed. My only criticism of this app is that it would be beneficial if the word stayed on screen slightly longer than the couple of seconds that it currently displays. However, tapping the visual cue does show the word again.

Following our work with the iPads, our EAL coordinator is considering purchasing an iPad to use with our EAL children.

Wireless Problem on Accer Tablets

2011-12-07T17:47:00.000Z

Tablet Questionnaires - Week 2 - Christchurch Primary School Tablet Project

2011-12-07T17:18:00.000Z

Review of Tablets by 5E - Christchurch Primary School

2011-12-07T17:08:00.000Z

Review of Tablets

Context

Eight year 5 pupils were selected to explore 6 of the tablets.

What did they do on the tablets?

First they were instructed to use the tablet to access the web to find fascinating facts about our topic, India. The students were all able to navigate the web easily using the tablet. They were all able to find the information they needed.

Next they were allowed to explore the tablet in anyway they wanted, the students loved this part. They were able to find what they wanted with ease. Most went straight to the games which were on offer.

The Experience

The response to these tablets was overwhelmingly positive. All of the pupils handled the tablet with confidence. They were much better at finding what they wanted than I was. Most mentioned that they liked the touch screen aspect of the tablet. The games on offer were most definitely viewed as the best part of the exploration.

I have constructed a simple review questionnaire which the pupils filled in. I think their responses will also be of use.

Stephanie Edwards

Becontree iPads project - week 4

2011-11-27T23:11:00.000Z

This week at Becontree Primary School we have struggled to find time to use the iPads. As Christmas is approaching quickly, we have been in the middle of many Christmas play rehearsals, making Christmas tree decorations and also making hall decorations.

It has been assessment week this week and all children have been completing their termly maths and writing assessments. We have used the iPads this week for maths lessons. Once the children had completed their maths paper, they had the opportunity to play 'Math Drills Lite'.

While using 'Math Drills Lite', the children were told to use the adding and subtraction mode. They therefore practised their adding and subtraction skills. In this app, the problems are presented vertically rather than horizontally, as the children are familiar with. This was an advantage of using the app, as it gave the children the chance to see that calculations can be presented in different forms. Once it was explained that the problems were the same as they were used to and that they were just written differently, the children could answer them successfully.

As we only have six iPads, a group of six children used them first and the rest of the class played Maths games on 'Education City', which is an Internet based program that we have subscribed to at Becontree Primary School. Once the group of six children using the iPads had finished their game, they were rotated with children playing 'Education City'. This was repeated until all children had had a chance to use the iPads.

The children enjoyed using the iPads and used them very sensibly and carefully. All children accepted that they would have a turn using the tablets and play 'Education City' and were happy to give up the tablet at the end of their turn.

Next week, we are going to try and incorporate the iPads into more of our lessons.

Week 1 – Android tablet project commences at Christchurch Primary School

2011-11-25T18:30:00.001Z

On Wednesday 9th November we started our trail of using 6 Acer A500 Iconiatab tablets, running Android 3.0 (Honeycomb).
The ICT dept. was handed the tablets to set them up, before anyone could use them all 6 of the tablets needed to be setup with a Google account to be able to register it with Android’s App Market.

Unfortunately we had a few problems with setting the tablets up with proxies setting. Honeycomb settings for proxy are hidden when you first start up the tablets you need to download an app on the android market called any cut, this allows you to view and edit the proxy setting. All internet equipment needs to have proxy settings at our school as our internet is provided by LGFL. However this problem with the proxies can be overcome by using an internet connection without any proxies. In our case we took the tablets to next door at our council’s teacher’s centre who don’t use proxies on their internet. After the app was installed the tablet was fine with our internet and WI-FI system.

Edit - With the newest update this is no longer an issue and the proxy can be set on a per connection basis. No extra apps are needed.

The tablets were introduced to 6B a year 6 class at our school. 6B used them for experience in playing educational games and surfing the web on a different format. The class enjoyed the idea of a different way of going online and using the apps.

iPads for Starters

2011-11-18T17:43:00.000Z

We decided to use the iPads in maths lessons for a couple of weeks. It has been quite difficult to plan their use into lessons this week, mainly due to so many lessons being taken over by Christmas rehearsals. Because of this, we decided to use the tablets during maths starters.

We have been working on doubling and halving this week so we used 'Epic Math' (a free app) to practice. I spent some time before the lesson, looking for apps with specific doubling and halving practice but did not find manage to find anything promising. Since then I have searched again and found one app (called 'Doubling and Halving' and also free) which I will try out with the children in the coming weeks. 'Epic Math' allowed the children to practice their 2 times tables.

I found that although the children were engaged during the activity and mostly collaborated and shared well, they seemed sometimes to be guessing answers rather than thinking or working them out. I wondered whether the children were focussing more on the element of 'game' rather than the learning objective. It will be interesting to see if the children feel that using the iPads helped them learn, or were just fun to use.

In order to give the children something to compare using the iPads to, I planned one lesson this week with the mini laptops using Education City. The advantage here was that there are enough netbooks for the children to have one each. It was interesting to see that, even though they had a computer each, the children still chose to work together in many cases. The level of work related talk in both lessons was high.

The iPads worked well in the maths starter but as the children were sharing between 4-5, the starter took quite a long time and ended up eroding a chunk of the main lesson. Being super organised with what you want the children to achieve (which app to use, how to get started with it etc...) is key here.

Pencils versus iPads

2011-11-11T21:57:00.002Z

This week our focus with the iPads was to create sketches of Guy Fawkes, to tie in with our ‘Eye on London’ topic. This work also linked to our modelling and simulations unit in ICT.

The objective for the lesson was ‘to investigate and use a variety of materials and techniques to create artworks’. As well as using the iPads, the children also used a variety of sketching pencils of different grades. They explored the different marks and shading they could create using these.

On the iPads we used a free app ‘Finger Sketch’. This has a range of tools which automatically produce different sketching effects. The free version does not have an eraser or undo tool. Saving work requires taking a screen grab using the power button and home button at the same time. The free version also has ads appearing at the bottom of the screen, but these are fairly unobtrusive and when not connected to Wifi they did not appear at all.

Because we have 6 iPads we split the children into groups of 6 and made it clear to the children that they would all have a turn. We told them that they would each have 10 minutes to create a drawing on the iPad and we put a timer up on the whiteboard so that they could see the timing was fair. We were very impressed with how sensibly the children used the iPads and how they were happy to pass them on when their time was finished. Even children in the last groups waited patiently for their turn and no one fussed about being last. When they were not using the iPads, the children sketched with pencils.

iPad sketch by Marcus

Pencil sketch by Marcus

All the children enjoyed the lesson and were engaged, whichever activity they were doing. The children tried very hard and made very good attempts at using the sketching pencils as well as the iPads. Generally the children found it more difficult to use the iPad but preferred this method to create their images. The finished pictures are generally good and look like Guy Fawkes although we felt that the pencil drawings were generally better than those produced on the iPads and the children agreed that the got better results with pencils. This could be due to more practice with pencils than iPads.

Next week we will be using the iPads for maths and reading and spelling workshop.

iPads Project Begins - Becontree Primary

2011-11-04T23:57:00.001Z

photo from www.brainparade.com

This week we started our trial of using 6 iPads in the classroom. We introduced the children in year two to the idea and explained that we would be using the iPads across their work for the next term. The children are very excited. Some of them had the opportunity to use the iPads to create firework pictures during golden time and I was impressed with how sensible they were and how well they shared and waited for their turn.

We used most of this week for planning work; asking the children initial questions about their use of ICT in school and their uses of different devices in and out of school (scans of questionnaires to follow); and preparing the iPads. This took ages since it involved updating all the iPads to iOS5, downloading all the Redbridge Games Network apps onto one iPad, organising the apps and screens as we wanted them, taking a back-up of the iPad and then restoring the back-up onto all of the other iPads. Each iPad also needed setting up to connect up to the school WiFi signal including the proxy server settings. Of course, all of this is a one off set up and is worth the time it took. We now have 6 identical iPads making it easy for children to find apps, no matter which iPad they have.

At first we were a little stuck as to how we would use the iPads and I think we got a bit bogged down with the idea of 'iPad project', feeling that all the work should be linked. The simple answer slowly became obvious - we should use the iPads the way we use other computers; as and when they can be used to enhance the lesson and benefit the children's learning. Now we have started to plan the use of the iPads into our normal curriculum lessons, starting next week with creating sketches of Guy Fawkes as part of our 'Eye on London' International Primary Curriculum topic. We are also planning to use particular apps during maths starters and in phonics lessons.

We will keep the blog updated with our progress, including what works, and what doesn't.

Kinectimals in Early Years

2011-07-18T21:36:00.000+01:00

While members of this network are currently working with Kinectimals, which we hope to blog soon, check out this work done using it in Early Years. Some nice thoughts and suggestions. Click here.

Learnmeet 2011 - FINAL Update

2011-06-16T12:58:00.000+01:00

We a heavy heart I need to announce that Learnmeet 2010 has been cancelled.

While we had schools willing to come and present - we had very little interest beyond that.
We need to learn how to advertise better!

This isn't the end of the idea, we'll be back next year to try again.

Thanks to the sponsors for offering some great prizes and the schools for offering to present.

Thanks

Nic

Tablets - What's the best choice?

2011-05-23T22:33:00.000+01:00

The network has recently been looking at the potential use of tablets within schools.
At BETT there where loads shown off and they have been slowly being released.
I have been looking at a number of the main offerings. I have looked at the iPad of course and the windows based RM Slate.

Recently I have had the chance to look at a Acer Iconia, which runs Android Honeycomb. Below is a video of my impressions, anyone else have any thoughts?

Major Announcement - LearnMeet 2011

2011-05-03T08:00:00.000+01:00

Redbridge Games Network are pleased to announce the launch of the first LearnMeet within the London Borough of Redbridge.

The aim of Learn Meet is to celebrate the creative, inspiring and innovative work carried out in schools, however, it has a slight twist. We are all used to teachers talking about their work, this time it will be the children in the classes showing off what has inspired them – this can be a project, a unit of work, a series of lessons or just tips – it does not have to be ICT based but should be something that has engaged and enthused the children. Schools can enter teams of 4 children and although teachers can assist the children in the planning process, it should all be the childrens’ work including delivering the presentation.

Learn Meet will take place on Friday 1^st July from 2.30-4.30 at the Redbridge Teachers Centre, schools that enter will be given an inspiration table where they can showcase their work, and will be asked to prepare an 8 minute presentation, which if chosen they will present in the main hall, this will also be streamed live across London via LGFL. The projects will be judged on their impact, innovation, learning, inspiration and wow factors by a panel of judges.

The winning school will receive a Wii for the school and each child will receive a Kindle. There will be a range of prizes on offer throughout the afternoon, including a 3DS in the children’s raffle and 6 month subscriptions to Purple mash and BrainPOP.

We feel that this will be a great event highlighting and celebrating the creative work of our children and enable us all to learn from each other.

For more details and to register your interest go on the link on the top of the page, Learnmeet 2011. This event is open initially to Redbridge Schools but others are welcome to register their interest.

Lincolnshire CfBT Fast Forward Conference

2011-03-30T13:30:00.003+01:00

In need while Dawn was in Norfolk I was in Lincolnshire. Here is a link to an overview of the day.

It was a great day and I saw some great GBL use which I had not seen before. I never thought Deal or No Deal could be used so effectively in class to teach fractions and probability.

Oh and incase you missed it here is the link to the presentation that I used.

Are you Game? Fast Forward 23rd March Keynote on Prezi

Norfolk ICT Conference

2011-03-26T11:45:00.002Z

While Nic was presenting the Keynote in Lincolnshire, I was attendnig the Norfolk ICT Conference over two days - doing a Key note on both days and also running a workshop. It was great to be invited and share the work that is going on within the network and also to talk to a range of Junior, Secondary and Special schools as to how they are bringing conolses and games into the classroom.
I have written a blog post here - that outlines the highlights of the day as well as links that may be useful.

Averages in Maths

2011-03-26T11:35:00.003Z

I used the Wii in Maths a couple of weeks ago - I 'magpied' the idea from a tweet I saw whilst I planning my maths for the week. I have not used the Wii in this way a lot in maths so it was a nice change - although we have done work using Mario Kart - for this lesson we used Wii Sports and bowling to look at averages.

The full blog post that I wrote can be seen here - I was really pleased with the outcomes, the children were all engaged on task and at the end said that the lesson had gone to fast and by playing they now knew averages!

Would be great to hear how you have used the Wii in maths lessons, I am planning on using it again this week for a spot of revision using Wii Golf will blog how it goes then.

Lincolnshire CfBT Fast Forward

2011-03-24T13:16:00.002Z

I was lucky enough to be asked to present at the Lincolnshire CfBT Fast Foward Conference today. For those that attended here is the presentation that I used.

Are you Game? Fast Forward 23rd March Keynote on Prezi

Dawn Hallybone Speaks! - LWF11

2011-03-23T17:07:00.003Z

Hi everyone. We have been very busy with the conference season and preparing for something exciting that we will be running this July called Learnmeet. (Watch this space)

But so tide you over here Dawn Speaking at the recent Learning Without Frontiers Conference in January.

I was lucky to attend the first day check out more videos of the talks here.

I really liked the talk by Tony Vincent about his work with ipods.

Are You Game? BETT 2011

2011-01-13T07:39:00.000Z

Today me and Alissa are speaking at a seminar at BETT. Come along to the Apex room to get an overview of the work that the network has been doing.

Are you Game? Bett 2011 Games Network Redbridge on Prezi

Learning without Frontiers 2011 - Research

2011-01-10T14:29:00.001Z

Below is the presentation I did at the recent Learning without Frontiers Conference - I spoke as part of the Research Strand about Games. Their where supposed to be 3 speakers, but the first 2 cancelled so it was just me. There was a nice discussion following my presentation in the room.

LWF GBL Research 2011 on Prezi

Also while we where nominated for a Hero Innovator Award at Learning Without Frontiers we sadly didn't win. The prize when to the well deserving ilearn4free.

Nominated for Hero Innovators & Innovations for Learning Award.

2010-12-15T19:40:00.000Z

We have been nominated for an award for Hero Innovators & Innovations for Learning. This is an exciting opportunity and its all down to the public vote.

So if you like what we do and enjoy the ideas we provide start voting.

Text REDBRIDGE to 07950 080 667

Check out the rest of the nominees here and more about the awards here.

Thanks

Just Dance for PE?

2010-12-12T12:51:00.000Z

At Nightingale I once again had a PE lesson not happen due to things happening in the hall. We couldn't go outside so once again turned to the Wii. Now I had been here before when I used Mario and Sonic at the Olymics and others in my school had used the Wii fit in the hall.

Now when I worked on Mario and Sonic I was trying to work out how a 4 player game could involve everyone - I came up with a solution that ment that it become a relay of sorts in teams of 4. We reviewed it and though that while fun the classroom was too small to really get the rest of the group doing something that raised your heartrate.

Now I seen Just Dance before and a few teachers had said that'd be good to do, so with a bit of practice we gave it a go. For those of you who haven't played it it is a game where you have to copy the motions of a person on screen in time with the music. Fairly easy.

Now where it is better than a lot of other games i've tried to use in PE is that even though it only supports 4 players using the Wii Motes everyone can just join in and play along. See the video below.

You can swap around the leader children (those with the Wiimotes) so every plays the game. I was amazed at how tried you got after playing for 30minutes, i think we did 5 songs. The children had great fun and it definately increased our heartrates.

I'm definatly gonna try this again and next time with the Kinet and Dance Central.

Dance lesson at Cleveland Junior School using Xbox Kinect and Dance Central

2010-12-02T09:32:00.000Z

Its that time of year again when its far to cold and snowy to go out and have a PE lesson. Here at Cleveland Junior we took our lesson indoors and started to use the Xbox Kinect in order to have a dance lesson with a difference.

We had the children warm up as normal and then put them into 2 - 3 lines. We were playing Dance Central which allows the player to dance in front of the Kinect sensor without any controllers or peripherals and it can pick up the players movements and score them on how well they match the dancer on screen.

There is a huge list of songs to chose from and are all very recent and well known by staff and children. We started off with Lady Gaga and Poker Face, we went through the break down section which taught us all the moves and then we performed the entire song on easy mode as a class.

Once the children had got an idea of what they were doing we went through 3 other songs and had a different child step to the front and lead the rest of the class. The Kinect only picks up one player and scores one player but the other 30 children behind were all getting in the mood and dancing along as well. The children all got a good workout and were taught some new dance moves. There is lots of room for progression and we had some children who picked up on the dances very quickly. There are around 30 dances and all have a easy,medium and hard difficulty setting.

There are some images and (blurry & low res) videos below of the lesson in action. Hopefully more to come in the next few weeks.

Simon and Anjum
Cleveland Junior

Click to Play

ClevelandJ and Kinect ;

Click to Play

Clevelandj and kinect

Innovation in Education: Transforming Learning in the 21st Century Forum

2010-11-17T10:00:00.000Z

Today we are presenting at the Innovation in Education: Transforming Learning in the 21st Century Forum in London. It looks to be an interesting day.Below is our presentation from todays talk. We hope you enjoyed it. Please leave a comment

Games Network Redbridge Innovation on Prezi

Nintendo Advert - Games in the Classroom - Oakdale Juniors

2010-11-01T20:18:00.000Z

Fame has found members of the network again!

What do readers think?

Photo Overview of Year 1 of the Network and SSAT Conference

2010-07-05T21:56:00.000+01:00

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Hear are the links and the presentation that we used at an SSAT Conference in Weybridge on the 7th July.

Games Network Redbridge SONY on Prezi

An overview of the development day that we ran

Mind Maps of the Games we have been using

If you came along thanks and don't hesitate to contact us if there is anything else you want to know.

Endless Ocean.... is endless....

2010-06-30T23:01:00.000+01:00

Last week I finally had the chance to use Endless Ocean on the Wiii with my Literacy set. For those of you who don't know Endless Ocean is a diving simulator where you go around looking at sea life and collecting objects. It is a very chilled out game and has a really nice sound track. It is really hard to buy though, but Endless Ocean 2 came out recently so that will provide a similar experience though isstill hard to find in your local shop.

The aim for my work was a precursor to a school trip to the London Aquarium. The first day we went diving and looked around the environment. About 6 children had a short go and the rest of the class where encouraged to make notes of what they saw. Then we looked at writing a description of the dive they just took. On the second day we had the task of creating our own sea creatures. We played the game again and this time focused on finding new creatures and reading the description that come up as you learn about the things around you. We read about 5 or 6 examples and discussed what information was included. Then the children where given images of various sea creatures and asked to cut them up to create their own creature and then write a description in the style of the game. The descriptions of the creatures where great, they where imaginative and really detailed a great success. I only wish I could have spent more time with the games and do more.

Look at the images below of the work they produced.

Check out the video below for some game play of Endless Ocean.

Super Mario Fan Fiction - Cleveland J - Year 6

2010-06-21T16:41:00.001+01:00

A few weeks ago I started a club aimed at motivating Year 6 boys with their creative writing skills. I had a group of 10 boys who didn't enjoy writing and after speaking with their class teachers i found that getting 10 lines out of them was an achievement. So my aim was to getting them excited about writing again. My first post on the first lessons about Wordle can be found here

So after the first lesson of using Worlde to gather descriptive words for different worlds and levels we moved on to the characters. Now if you are not familiar with idea of Fan-Fiction stories is good to know that they are the perfect way to blend various "universes" together. For example Mario can meet Sonic or even Ratchet and Clank within the Fan-Fiction. This allows for the pupils to add their favourite game characters from different games. The one thing i wanted to keep the same through-out their work was the setting which was going to be the Mario World.

So like the level Wordle creations we created we moved to creating verions for the characters. Below are a few for Yoshi, Bowser and Mario.

So we had a catalogue of good descriptive words for worlds, levels and characters so moved on to the story set-up. I asked them to brainstorm and see what adventures their characters could be involved in. They came up with:

Super Smash Brothers competition
A boxing match between Toad and Bowser
Mario Kart racing
Mario Team vs Sonic Team at the Olympics
Mario saves the Princess Peach

A lot of these ideas came from the other Mario titled games they had played at home which they all related too. So we now had our characters, levels & worlds and our scenarios. Some pupils worked together and others on their own and for 3 weeks we had 45 minutes of writing and dedicated the last 15 minutes to play Super Mario Brothers Wii. This worked as nice little encouragement factor but also with their familiarity with the game characters, we watched the cut scenes in the game and they found out that some of them had accents or different characteristics they could use in their stories.

Below are some of the pupils work, although some never finished their work due to time constraints the work they created was a huge leap for these boys. I even had other pupils ask to join what was essentially a Literacy booster class, which never happens.

Super Smash Bros Fan Fic

Mario Kart Fan Fic

Mario Kart 2

Mario and Sonic at the Winter Olympics

I hope to continue with this project and push it out to more pupils who are interested when September rolls around.

Simon White - Cleveland Junior School

African Safari on Wii - Year 4

2010-05-24T21:31:00.000+01:00

Recently the year 4 teachers in Nightingale Primary School where inspired to use the Wii in their Literacy Lessons. Below is the evaluation of their work.

Evaluation of African Safari on the Nintendo Wii

At the moment, we are using the Nintendo Wii during our Year 4 literacy lessons. We introduced the Wii game African Safari and used it as a stimulus to guide the lessons. As we were not, ourselves, experienced users of the game (nor had we explored all possible avenues the game could take us) our planning was fairly loose (see attached). The children were very excited by the prospect of using the Wii. They took turns (3 minutes each) to explore the Safari and complete the tasks given throughout the game. The tasks included searching for landmarks and animals and photographing them.

There are several assignments to complete on the game and we intended to complete one every lesson, then play the game (unlocked as a result of playing the game) as a plenary. In reality, one assignment took the whole week (as there were 47 individual tasks to complete) so the game was played at the end of the week.

As the class took turns to use the Wii, the rest of the class made notes on; the setting (what they could see, hear, smell) and notes on the tasks completed (animals/ landmarks photographed – including the details given about them). The follow up work included; writing a descriptive setting, giving a news broadcast from the Safari (speaking & listening) and writing a post card home (Art link).

We found the Wii to be of great benefit to the children. They remained focussed throughout every lesson and were excited and enthused when it came to doing their written work. They really engaged with the game and were given the opportunity to experience an environment and setting that they may well not have the opportunity to see in reality and all pupils were able to produce work of a high standard (at their level). We found the game to be of particular benefit to lower ability pupils, some of whom expressed more enthusiasm for their writing than we had seen all year.

Following the success of the first week, we are planning to use the African safari game again as we realised it’s potential for use in our Information Text unit. The game includes information about the African Safari as a habitat (our current science topic, and topic for the books we will write as part of this unit) and so we will collect and use the information given in the game.

I would recommend using the Wii, and this game in particular, to any teacher. The enthusiasm it creates from giving such a unique experience is extremely valuable to teaching and learning; an opportunity not to be missed.

This is great work from hardworking innovative teachers. More to come.

Nic Hughes

Redbridge Games Network at Games Based Learning

2010-04-05T20:11:00.000+01:00

Hi all. Check out this video of me and Dawn talking at the conference. We had a great time and have a number of things to pursue now. Watch this space. Remember contact us at the normal addresses on the right.

Updated

Nic's thoughts on the conference
Dawns thoughts
http://hallyd.edublogs.org/2010/03/31/games-based-learning-day-1/
http://hallyd.edublogs.org/2010/04/01/games-based-learning-day-1-part-2/
http://hallyd.edublogs.org/2010/04/02/games-based-learning-day-1-part-3/
http://hallyd.edublogs.org/2010/04/06/day-1-evening-and-reflections/
http://hallyd.edublogs.org/2010/04/06/gbl-day-2/

Games Based Learning 2010

2010-03-28T17:59:00.000+01:00

Just a post to let everyone know that the network will be represented at the upcomming Games Based Learning Conference. Check out the site for details of what is happening. http://www.gamebasedlearning2010.com/

Dawn and Nic are doing a joint presentation about the network, so be sure to look for a video of this soon. Its on Tuesday morning.

Thanks Everyone for reading.

Oh and BTW what does everyone think of the new logo - skillfully made by Simon White of Cleveland Juniors.

Use of the Wii fit board in P.E lessons.

2010-03-28T13:56:00.000+01:00

I have been using the Wii fit board in P.E lessons with my class. I first used it in my classroom, I moved the tables to one side, even though it is quite large it still proved to be too small a space in which to do this activity. I then used the hall that has a larger screen and floor space this worked much better.

I used mainly step, running and boxing programmes. These proved to be very effective as P.E activities. The children were organised so that there would be one person on the Wii balance board and the rest of the class would be completing the same movements, as the person on the board, using their own piece of floor space. I prepared, in advance, a running order for the class, so that where there were oauses during the game, the children could quickly swap who was on the balance board. I found that in one P.E session each child could use the board twice.

The children found the activity to be a great deal of fun and looked forward to the sessions. They did not argue about the use of the board, as they all understood that each child would have the opportunity to use the board. The most popular activity with the children was the step programme. When I use the board again for lessons I will look into putting some other music on when they are stepping after they have got used to the music and exercise on the Wii fit.

The activity gave all the children a really good workout and they all really enjoyed it. All of the children could participate fully at all times and it worked well. The Wii fit enabled some fun, exciting and physical P.E lessons.

Owen Frith

Nightingale Primary School

Use of Wii sports resort for chronological writing.

2010-03-28T13:54:00.000+01:00

I have been using Wii sports resort to aid the class with their writing of non-chronological reports and this has shown some great results. We have been using the island fly over to get a better view of the island its views, attractions, activities and also places to eat and stay.

I chose different children to be the pilot on the trip around the island they would swap when directed to do so by me or if they crash the plane. The island fly over would only be the first ten minutes of the lesson just enough time to get a general feel for the area. The children that were not being the pilots would be making notes on what they see. As you fly around the area you can go over information points that give you more information on an area.

The children all produced reports on what the island had to offer. The children really enjoyed the activity and produced some very detailed work. They first wrote it in rough and then used desktop publishing programmes to produce leaflets to attract people to the island. The activity did not only improve their non- chronological report writing (which was very detailed and gave a lot of information on the island) but also improved their persuasive writing, also their ability to write for an audience.

I also used the Wii in their class assembly to show case the children work this was watched by an Ofsted inspector. After the assembly I got some very positive feedback from the inspector in relation to the use of the Wii in the assembly and in literacy. He was impressed with its use and also brought out points about bringing in the issue of sustainability through wind farms on Wii sports resort.

It doesn't need to be new games!

2010-03-21T13:37:00.001Z

Recently as part of my writing boosters in year 6 I chose to use an older game to inspire some descriptive writing. Another World is a game that first came out in 1991, I remember playing on the SNES. We watched the intro and played a little of the notoriously hard first level and then wrote or descriptions. The children where engaged and I got some really nice writing out of my group. A few children even stayed behind at the end to finish the level.

Check out the video to see the intro to the game.

Gaming with Cleveland Junior

2010-03-05T12:28:00.001Z

Here at Cleveland Junior we have had more success implementing gaming into our curriculum. First off we had our Year 5 pupils using some games that our year 6 pupils created on 2DIY for the BETT show in January. The year 5 pupils were asked to play the games on the blog and then create instruction pages on what the game were about and how to play/beat the game. The pupils commented on the games and gave their ideas on how to improve or change the difficulty of the game.

Once the pupils had created instructions for the 2DIY games they at looked at a new game. We decided to use the first level from a game called ICO on the Playstation 2. We screen recorded the first level so the teachers could play back the video and have the children complete a running commentary about the characters actions, creating a walkthrough. Below is the video we used.

The game starts with a excellent cut scene which you could get some descriptive writing created before the real adventure begins (to jump the cut scene go 7 mins into the video). The boy in the game has a number of actions to carry out such as, walk up the stairs, pull the lever to open a door so he can proceed through to the next area. All this actions are an excellent way to look at instruction writing from a different angle.

In year 3 we have used the Wii to look at our simulations unit. One of the targets we had to hit within the simulations unit was to have an adventure based on an imaginary world. We talked to the children about adventure games they might have played and explained that a lot of what the characters might do in the game we could not do in the real world. The game we used to show this simulation was Zak and Wiki on the Wii. This a great child friendly game its colourful and bright with some interesting characters. The game is set of a treasure island and the aim to find the treasures. The class teachers had the Wii set up in their classrooms and went through the level as a class with the pupils given instructions to the teacher about how they could solve the puzzles. All pupils were fully engaged and talked to each other about what the characters need to simulate to activate levers and doors.

A new club which we have just started is the literacy gaming club. We choose 10 year 6 boys who need some improvement in their creative writing running up to the SATS. We decided to use the Wii to get the boys interested in the club and we chose to use New Super Mario Bros Wii. This is quite a recent game and all the boys knew of the game and its characters. The idea is to have the children create fan-fiction stories for other pupils to read. Fan-fiction is all about creating stories using original characters or settings from established work and then writing new adventures for the characters and settings.

The first week was all about looking at the different worlds the characters were set in. With Mario games you have very distinct world environments (9 all together) from the green fields of the Mushroom Kingdom to the terrifying Bowsers Castle. We started off with the boys playing a few levels of the game in a group of 4. The game allows up to 4 player co-operative mode which is great for having them all involved and using team work to complete a level. Whilst for 4 boys were playing the game the others were watching and looking at level and backgrounds and noting down descriptive words about the world. Once we had played different types of worlds/levels we opened up a Worlde and created some world clouds for each level. We will be referencing these word clouds in the next few weeks when we get down to writing our stories. In the next few weeks we will look at more levels, character profiles and scenarios to base their stories on. Will keep an update running on how this new club evolves.

Wordle on Mushroom Kingdom World

Worldle on Bowsers Castle

Thanks for reading

Simon and Anjum – Cleveland Junior School

Teachmeet Game on

2010-02-28T20:14:00.001Z

The Game Based Learning conference this year will also be hosting free events on the first evening, one is a Miranda Mod, the other is a Teachmeet.

What is TeachMeet?

Learn something new, be amazed, amused and enthused. This is an informal gathering of those curious about teaching and technology. Anyone can share great ideas they've trialled in their classrooms, ask important questions or simply sign up to take part in learning conversations.

Why is it called 'Game on edition?'

The Game Based Learning Conference is being held at the Brewery, London on 29th to 30th March. The organisers of the conference, Learning without Frontiers have generously offered the use of the venue and facilities.You dont have to attend the conference to attend the teachmeet and its free but will have to register to get into teachment register http://teachmeetgameon.eventbrite.com/ The gathering of many practitioners involved and interested in games in learning, prompted the thought to invite even more people, keen to learn and share about their experiences. If you want to talk about using games in learning will be of interest, playing online games, commercial off the shelf games, video console games, game making, using games as a theme for a topic - anything! But in the spirit of Teachmeet it doesn't have to be about games if you want to share your practice success or even failure go on do it.

So if you want to sign up for what promises to be both an entertaining and engaging evening then sign register above and sign up on the wiki here

Descriptive Writing and Mario Kart

2010-02-03T23:30:00.000Z

Great overview from primarypete of his work on descriptive writing using Mario Kart as a stimulus for discussion.

Dawn has made some comments herself - have a watch and see what you think.

"Wii Love Learning" Mario Kart from Peter Richardson on Vimeo.

Wii Fit Persuasive Writing

2010-02-03T19:53:00.001Z

Is the Wii Fit appropriate for younger children?

In Literacy the children in year 6 have been doing persuasive and discussion writing. A small group of children have been looking at the wii fit and whether it is appropriate for children. The children completed mind maps of reasons for and against the Wii Fit, they then went through the process of loading their weight and height on their Mii profiles. The children were also given the opportunity to play the games and discuss how appropriate they feel they are for younger children.

The children also recorded their thoughts and feelings about the games and the process of loading their data on the Wii Fit.

Cars and Karting - Forces and Friction

2010-01-24T09:25:00.000Z

This is our cross curricular topic for Year 6 this term, we are using Mario kart and a piece of software called Race to Learn. This will be available soom through the Lgfl for all London schools.

We used Mario Kart for our persuasive writing week and the children created a new advertising scheme for Mario kart on the Wii both paper based and radio based. Via Twitter @primarypete_ has made an excellent presentation on how he used Mario kart in his classroom:

"Wii Love Learning" Mario Kart from Peter Richardson on Vimeo.

This is a great little video and we are going to be using some of his ideas soon.

As well as these ideas, we are also using Mario kart each week to race! Each week we choose one track, one car and one driver and all the children race using the time trials - recording overall times. They then have to work out their average lap time. There is also a small competition with the fastest being awarded a certificate each week. We are also looking at track design and which cars are better -if any. As in a few weeks we will be using the race to learn software to design our own racing cars and circuits.

We have also linked it to our DT topic with the children making their own moveable vehicles - these will also be 'raced'. The children are really enjoying the topic so far and more examples of their work and what we are doing can be found here: http://hallyd.edublogs.org/

Fun Inc

2010-01-24T09:18:00.000Z

Fun Inc: Why Games are the 21st Century's most serious business by Tom Chatfield was published this week.

Chatfield suggests, our hunger for playfulness is actually a positive sign: in these imaginary worlds we can both escape and strengthen ourselves. The games we create can be both "a critique of what is lacking in many lives", and "a channel through which those lives might be changed". (The Guardian 17/1/10)

I am currently working my way through this book and it is a great read, and has been reviewd lots in the press this week.

Last year we welcomed Tom into Oakdale to see the work we were doing with Brain Training at the time - this was mentioned along with a great overview of the book by Tom himself writing in this weeks Independent - the article can be found here.

Links for Teachmeet

2010-01-15T08:24:00.001Z

http://npsyear6.blogspot.com/2009/11/do-something-different-children-in-need.html
Mario and Sonic

http://redbridgegamesnetwork.blogspot.com/2009/12/cleveland-junior-at-olympic-games.html

http://redbridgegamesnetwork.blogspot.com/2009/11/wii-and-pe.html

http://redbridgegamesnetwork.blogspot.com/2009/11/mario-kart-in-classroom-day-2.html

http://redbridgegamesnetwork.blogspot.com/2009/12/wii-and-pe-part-3-power-up-to-year-6.html

Wiiwaa?

2010-01-02T14:03:00.000Z

Games for the younger children. Wiiwaa from Zoinkgames where it seems that you control it by using a soft toy. Interesting.... Check out the video.

Ideas from Wii Development Day

2009-12-28T14:32:00.000Z

When our network met near the beginning of the project, we looked at a large range of Wii games and did mind maps of all the possibilities that they had. Above is a gallery of all of these ideas. Free free to use these ideas, email us any good ideas you have and we'll add them.

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/duckstar/WiiIdeas - Click to download them.

NEWS - Scottish education secretary backs 'brain training'

2009-12-28T14:30:00.000Z

"There is disagreement about the benefits of the games
Education Secretary Michael Russell has said computer games can play a key role in encouraging children's learning."

- Click the link below for more
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/8430768.stm

K-12 On-Line Conference 2009: Computer Games in the Classroom

2009-12-18T00:17:00.000Z

Click here for an interesting look at How Guitar Hero was used as a Primary to Secondary Transition project in schools in Scotland.

http://olliebray.typepad.com/olliebraycom/2009/12/k12online09.html

Interesting stuff.

Wii and PE Part 3 - Power Up to Year 6

2009-12-13T13:59:00.000Z

This week I continued the work that had started in Year 3 by attempting to use the Wii in PE this week with my year 6 class. Our normal hall PE slot was unable to happen due to end of year Christmas concerts, so I planned ahead.

The session plan was simple to split the class into 4 teams, each team would have a current Wii player and the rest working on a multi skills activity. I gave each team a piece of equipment and told them to use it while the other player was up at the console. So we had bean bags, tennis balls, net balls etc.. Children in their teams choose what they did with teh equipment. You can see this in the video below.

I wanted to make sure that all the children where being active in someway.

Check out the video to see what happened.

Did it go well?

The children enjoyed themselves and for the most part the children where being active. The children's comments where that they wanted to do more activities on the wii other than running, they wanted more space and score the teams as they are working.

Space was an issue when this was done in year 3, my classroom is bigger, but not as big as others in the school. The suggestion of the hall is an idea, but if you have the hall, should be using the Wii?

My only issue was that some children would stop their multi skills work and watch the race over doing their activity. It was understandable since they wanted to cheer on their team member, in the video you can see this happening now and again, but you can also see children still working. With more exposure i think more children will remain on task more.

What I really enjoyed was a member of my class winning a race over other children in the class, she'd never played the game before and came first, you can see how pleased she is in the video.

Would I do this again? YES. What this space - Wii Fit next?

2009-12-12T15:01:00.000Z

MayesPark Primary- Recent use of Mario Kart ( Wii) and DS in class.

During the recent Eid celebrations, we had a day where maths sets in year 6 were not practical. To keep the day engaging and enjoyable for those who did attend, we held two maths sessions using Mario Kart on the Nintendo Wii. We were again focusing on creating data to calculate averages e.g. mean, mode and median. During the first session we had children in a two player challenge creating data by recording their placement scores at the end of the race. This was repeated several times to create the data for all children to calculate the averages. Whilst all children enjoyed watching the races, I did not feel that all were as engaged as they could be even though it was quite a small group.

The second session was much more succesful. I had children in teams of three lined up. As soon as the passed over the finish line at the end of thier lap, they passed the controller onto the child behind and went to record their end of lap position on the board. This moved much quicker as all children were only doing one lap each and created much more data. Whilst the children playing were watching thier team mates, I had the DS's out on the tables for the others. They were using Brain Training and used the daily training tasks. This way all were engaged at all times. The quick change overs keep the interest levels much higher and generated more data which enhanced the calculations required for the averages at the end of the session.

This session was summed up by one of my children who parting comment was " Can we do this again soon? I normally don't like maths Miss, but today was fun and I learnt loads. I know I can do averages now."

On a slightly different note I thought I might add my children's thoughts about our recent purchase of 6 Nintendo DSs. They are being used daily during maths using Brain Training but we have also recently started using them during Guided Reading sessions ( just in my class). I have purchased My Word Coach and Spellbound. I have a very large percentage of EAL leaners in my class and finding ways to develop thier vocabulary and spelling has always been a challenge. A different group of 6 children use the DS every day and the response has been very positive. The children so far seem to enjoy My Word Coach more as it gives them the opportunity to learn (and understand) a wider range of vocab ( a current class literacy target) and it also is quite quick to adapt to thier level of need. We have only had these titles for a short time and I look foward to blogging more about thier use and impact.

Sandra
Year 6 Mayespark Primary

Cleveland Junior at the Olympic Games

2009-12-09T16:44:00.000Z

This our first post on here but definitely not the last.

We have being using the Wii and Mario and Sonic at the Olympics in a similar way to Nic Hughes at Nightingales. The children have used it as a contextual hub for learning for unit 6C1 in maths. They used the game to get real raw data as opposed to the usual boring 'counting the number of cars that go down the street' scenario, which has no real context.
They then input this data into Excel. Using this data the children worked out the mean, mode, median and range. Then by using the mean running time for each character they made a bar chart, which went up in decimals.

It was a really good couple of lessons as many areas of maths were covered such as data handing, decimal numbers, rounding and labelling graphs.

In year 5 the same game was used for spreadsheets and databases. I am sure you will agree this is a step on from 'organising a party on a budget' or a 'planets database'.

The children really enjoyed the lessons and got a lot out of it, as it gave them real world contexts... that and they had a chance to play the Wii in a meaningful and fun way!

The children put the raw data into an Excel spreadsheet and worked out the mean using a calculator

Using the Mean from the characters' run time, children made a detailed bar graph, in decimals.

Anjum and Simon
Cleveland Junior

Wii and PE Part 2

2009-12-06T12:34:00.000Z

This week I spoke again to Ben Hawkins about his recent work with the Nintendo Wii with PE and Literacy at Nightingale Primary School.

Below is a video explaining what he did.

Click here for previous post.

Another Code R

2009-11-22T18:50:00.000Z

Last week, we started our work with Another code R and literacy - so far we have only completed 3 days and will also be working on it all next week. The enthusiasm of the children has been fantastic and the level of talk, questioning, writing and exploring has been impressive!
The picture below shows how used it in class

You can read more about what we did here: http://hallyd.edublogs.org/2009/11/22/another-code-r-day-1/

Wii and PE?

2009-11-22T18:20:00.000Z

Can the Wii be used in a whole class to do PE?

I was really pleased to see this week that some of my ICT Innovators grab hold of the school Wii to try it in class. On our development day we looked at ways that the Wii could be use for exercise and PE, we had ideas, but we weren’t 100% sure about it in a whole class environment.

The PE Coordinator at my school, was interested and said he’d give PE and the Wii a go. So since it was Do Something Different Day, in aid of Children in Need and the weather had rained off outside PE, he had a go.

I helped him set it up in his room and suggested that he use Mario and Sonic at the Olympics since is had a lot of active sporting activities, and to lay them you have to get a lot more active.

The children got changed for PE and then where split into four teams. So very similar when you do team activates where one person does the run and then they tag the next person to go. (Does that have a better name?)

They started with the 100m sprint. So the first child did their race, then the children did a quick swap and the race was repeated and the next person in the team, had a go. This continued till each team member attempted the event and then the event changed. This continued through 2/3 events.

The children had a great time and the teacher said it was a good experience. He was impressed because everyone in the class was able to take part in this, regardless of ability since the controls where easy. Both he and I has a few concerns starting out, we where worried about the down time for others in the group, but in most cases this was very short since the swap was quick and the length of a race is about 30 seconds. The more you do it the quicker that the children would get. Space is an issue and you do need to clear an area to do this best in a classroom.

He was quick to point out that it does not replace a normal PE lesson, which I totally agree with, but it did get the children active in the classroom. The pros far outweighed the cons. I’m eager now to try this with my class the next time, my outside PE lesson gets rained off.

Some New Posts....

2009-11-22T17:32:00.000Z

Its seems like use of the Wii has exploded a little in our network.

Here are links to posts on:

Mario and Sonic at the Oylmics.

http://hallyd.edublogs.org/2009/11/22/mario-and-sonic-at-the-olympics/
http://npsyear6.blogspot.com/2009/11/do-something-different-children-in-need.html - using it for data anaylsis in maths.
http://redbridgegamesnetwork.blogspot.com/2009/11/wii-and-pe.html - Can the Wii be used used in PE?

Another Code R

http://hallyd.edublogs.org/2009/11/22/another-code-r-day-1/ - Keep tuned in for more!

Finally a nice article from Tom Barrett about Console for Classrooms.

http://edte.ch/blog/2009/11/11/consoles-for-classrooms/

Wii Development Day

2009-11-13T16:22:00.000Z

This was our day as a network to meet to discuss how we would be using the Wii to promote and enhance Literacy within our schools - and of course to pick up our Wiis!

AIM: The aim of the day was to provide us all with a real context for using the games primarily with literacy.

Tasks:
*To evaluate the games - their ease of use, if they were worthwhile for use within classroom
*To mind map/brainstorm activities and a structure for use
*To look at the thoughts of the children from our classes - we had asked all of them - if we were going to get a Wii, what games would you use in school and why!

So what did we do?

We played - sorry we evaluated the games! We divided ourselves into small groups and set up 3 of the Wiis and had a look at the following games: Zac and Wiki, Wild Earth - African Safari, Carnival fun games, Word coach, Big Brain Academy, Mario and Sonic at the Olympics, Another code R, Mario Kart, Wall-E, Job Island, Endless Ocean, Wii Music, Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort.

As we were evaluating them, we were making notes on our initial thoughts of the interface, game play and how we could link it first to Literacy and then across the curriculum. We then sat down as a group and fed back on the games that we had played and potential uses, which we put down in the form of mind maps. See below for photo from the day:

Wii development day on PhotoPeach

Looking at Wall E the game, we thought that the work would come more easily from using the film instead of the game and we didn't really 'get' Wii Music, this may be because of time playing the game? As a group we decided to buy copies of Big Brain Academy and Word coach for every school(6) in the borough, as we felt these would be great as starters and activities that could be sued with small groups. We also decided to purchase 3 copies of the following games: Another Code R, Wild Earth- African Safari, Mario Kart and Sonic and Mario at the Olympics. As well as purchasing at least one copy of Endless Ocean, Endless Ocean 2 is due for release in 2010(North America) so this may be one for the future.

Moving on, we looked at the games that the children had suggested, these included: Super Smash Brothers, Cooking Mama, titles from the Imagine range, Blazing Angels, Legend of Zelda and Sims. We decided that we would purchase copies of Cooking Mama and Drawn to life to add to the titles within the network.

So, at the end of the day, I feel that we met our aims, and all went away with a Wii for the school and a game to begin trialling. We will be posting on here images and thoughts of the use within our classrooms and evaluating the impact is has on the learning of our children. So watch this space!

Dawn Hallybone Speaks....

2009-11-11T20:34:00.001Z

Dawn Hallybone winner of the Handheld Learning Award this year for here work with DS in the classroom and member of the Redbridge Games Network has recently started her own blog - Check it out here - http://hallyd.edublogs.org/

Mario Kart in the Classroom - Day 2

2009-11-10T21:59:00.000Z

Today we continued to work with Mario Kart and started to develop our commentaries. The class started by watching yesterdays race and warming up their skills. The class then race that I had done, using the replay function in single player. I did try using the ghost data but that is only useable in a time trial with only one car on the track.

Above is a video of what we used in class. (Just in case it all went wrong) This is what I used as stimulus for the classes newspaper reports. We watched the race 2 times, firstly to record words to describe the events of the race and secondly to record ideas about opinions and other details.

We moved away from the game and talked about who we needed to interview. We worked out we needed to talk to the driver Yoshi. So I stepped into the role and the class asked me some questions. There where so really well thought out questions, based on the brainstorming of details we had earlier. One child asked me about the accident I had, which he had been discussing with his support. It was great to have things coming together so naturally.

We share wrote a opening paragraph and then we started to write, we are going to continue on Thursday. Looking forward to getting some final writing.

Could you use the video we watched to describe the race?

Mario Kart in the classroom - Day 1.

2009-11-09T22:27:00.000Z

This week is the Redbridge Games Networks Wii development day, it is here that we will work on staring to consider how we could use the newly purchased Wii in our classroom. Since they arrived in my school, I couldn't resist having a quick go, so today in year 6 we kicked of our work with Games Based Learning and Literacy.

We have been looking at newspapers recently. Though this I decided that we could use Mario Kart as a stimulus to promote commentaries and newspaper reports. We used the game to give ourselves something real to comment on. I asked 4 members of the class to play the game while I used a flip to video it, this video I then played back for the children to work in pairs to commentate the events of the race. Some of the ideas where great. We are continuing tomorrow, tune in then.

This is the video we started to use, can you choose a character and give us the commentary of what is going on?

Games Network in the News.... Sort of....

2009-11-04T13:00:00.000Z

As some of you may be aware one of our members, Dawn Hallybone, Recently won a award a Handheld Learning 2009, she has also appeared in the neswest issue of RedbridgeLife. The games network was also mentioned.

Click on the link below to read the Article.
http://cms.redbridge.gov.uk/idoc.ashx?docid=e1d67d3f-c2b3-469f-9bc3-353a5a96d45f&version=-1

What happens when you give a class of 8 year old children an iPod touch each?

2009-09-17T20:51:00.001+01:00

Interesting artitle and video.

http://www.l4l.co.uk/?p=835

The Another World - New Role Play Game

2009-09-09T07:55:00.001+01:00

There have been lots of games that immerse you in an imaginary world. This can be used in many ways to provide stimulus for writing.

A new one on the DS is The Another World. Currently it seems to be a due for release in Japan in 2009, hopefully it will come across to the UK soon after that.

Why is this one worth looking at now? Because it is being animated by Studio Ghibli, a world renowned animation studio in Japan. Click this link for some of the other things they have worked on.

I'm excited by this, watch the video and check it out.

"Ni no Kuni: The Another World follows the adventure of a 13-year-old boy whose actions lead to the death of his mother. One day, the boy encounters a fairy who gives him a book which promises to lead him to the mysterious world of Ni no Kuni, a reality parallel to his own."

Serious Games Seek To Challenge Chalk-And-Talk In Classrooms

2009-09-09T07:09:00.000+01:00

An interesting project from America, where gaming will be introduced across a whole school, children will leran by doing and then be assessed through a 'boss level'. Check teh whole artile out here.

http://mmadan.wordpress.com/2009/09/07/the-economist-serious-games-seek-to-challenge-chalk-and-talk-in-classrooms/

2DIY

2009-08-26T11:48:00.000+01:00

We have been all looking at this programme for a while now. Its got such potential, in seraching for some information about action scripts and progression, I came across the work of Porchester School in Nottingham. Click the link and check it out - 2diyarchive.co.uk

Our work this year will focus on creating a workable progresson document and planning.

Nintendo DSi in Class - Opera Browser

2009-07-02T19:08:00.000+01:00

In Nightingale Primary School this week we have continuing to experiment with our new DSi.

We have them in school now for about 2 weeks. We have started to use Brain Training to support mental calculation strategies within Numeracy like a number of schools have.

When the decision was taken to by DS', I suggested that we pay a bit more and go for the newer DSi. It had just come out a few weeks before. No one seems to have explored the extra functions in school context.

This week we used the DSi' to support our revision work for creativity week. We where researching countries in Asia and Australasia. The DSi' where provided as an alternative to a laptop. There was something great about the children in my class engaged in learning using a range of mobile technologies.

We had a further discussion about what else could we use them for, a number of the children suggested art activities using the camera. Hopefully we'll get a chance to try some of these ideas before the end of the year.

Professor Layton

2009-07-01T18:47:00.000+01:00

At Oakdale Junior School, in year 6 we have been using the DS consoles for a new project, using the 'game' Professor Layton and the Curious Village. We have been working collaboratively to solve the puzzles and use the story in our Literacy work, as a starter for our writing and to develop our speaking and listening skills. Here is a selection of our work so far!

Professor Layton on PhotoPeach