Rotational #DigiTech in Prep

Mrs O’Connor has been working in a range of ways to support Literacy, Digital Literacy and Information Literacy over the last 3 years in the lower end of the school.  During this time she has been able to make clear connections between areas of the curriculum whilst utilising the use of ICT as a General Capability. The children have worked with her to address outcomes within Science, English and Mathematics whilst gaining valuable ICT skills.   The children are also very engaged and motivated  as they collaboratively explore concepts and we are always impressed by the charming digital artefacts which are often the expression of their understanding.

This year, as we explore the implementation of the new Digital Technologies Curriculum, she has skillfully and thoughtfully added this to her repetoire of tools and strategies.  For Term 2, in Prep, she is implementing a rotational system in order to address a range of skills whilst allowing her to focus on direct teaching with a smaller group of children.

This table summaries the range of activities within this current block of 4 weeks:

Activity What are they learning? Curriculum Links              
Patterning, Tangrams and Sequencing  The children are reinforcing concepts associated with patterning and tangrams.  A different activity focussed on the sequencing of pictures.   When they had finished their activity, they took a photo of the completed work, ensuring that a physical nametag was in the photo – enabling the teacher to swipe through a collection of photos at any point to check for understanding, enabling them to work with an individual child or gorup of children who might need assistance.Screen Shot 2016-04-29 at 5.42.51 am Maths

Sort and classify familiar objects and explain the basis for these classifications. Copy, continue and create patterns with objects and drawings ACMNA005

ICT as General Capability

Digital Technologies

Recognise and explore patterns in data and represent data as pictures, symbols and diagrams  ACTDIK002

Recognise and explore digital systems (hardware and software components) for a purpose (ACTDIK001)

Galaxy Maths The children were using Galaxy Maths software to reinforce spatial concepts – particularly those related to 2D shapes.  With an assessment task coming up for these children on this topic, this was valuable time for them to reinforce what they had been learning about, gaining feedback from the activities as they progressed through the levels. Maths

Sort, describe and name familiar two-dimensional shapes and three-dimensional objects in the environment (ACMMG009)

Digital Technologies

Recognise and explore digital systems (hardware and software components) for a purpose (ACTDIK001)

ICT as General Capability

Scratch Jn  Mrs O’Connor was involved in a direct teaching episode in which she was teaching the skills of using Scratch Jn – en entry level coding app for students that introduces many tenets of computational thinking.    This app, once explored, can be used across the curriculum, being particularly useful for maths understandings.Screen Shot 2016-04-29 at 5.42.42 am

 Digital Technologies

Follow, describe and represent a sequence of steps and decisions (algorithms) needed to solve simple problems (ACTDIP004)

Maths

Sort, describe and name familiar two-dimensional shapes and three-dimensional objects in the environment (ACMMG009)

Describe position and movement (ACMMG010)

ICT as General Capability

Setting the scene for The Three Billy Goats Gruff

 

 

English

Utilising Explain Everything (iPad app)to create the setting for a puppet play of The Three Billy Goats Gruff to support the students in a retelling of the story.  The screen casting capability of this app will then be used to record the puppet play.

ICT as General Capability

Media Arts

Explore ideas, characters and settings in the community through stories in images, sounds and text (ACAMAM054)

Use media technologies to capture and edit images, sounds and text for a purpose (ACAMAM055)

Create and present media artworks that communicate ideas and stories to an audience (ACAMAM056)