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Showing posts from November, 2019

Using technology to investigate branching

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Year 1 have been investigating branching, decisions and flow charts. Lesson 1: Making decisions about what activities to do during whether Investigating branching with paper flowchart shapes. Stick them on a page and use arrows to indicate possible decisions.  Lesson 2: Use Microbits to randomly select Program Microbits to make random decisions.  On Shake  Display randomly the weather Sunny (round image) or Rainy (Umbrella) On Button A pressed Display randomly selected clothing Sunglasses or a jumper On Button B pressed Display randomly selected activities Zoo (Giraffe) or Park (Duck) or House or Beach (Wave) Use the Microbits to write down a new flowchart. Write down what is selected. Discuss crazy combinations the computer selects. Discuss how we can not always trust decisions made by computers.  Have they had any experiences with Siri or Alexa making silly suggestions or saying things that don't make sense. Reinforce that it is importa

Using On Click - Makey Makey

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The Makey Makey is a board that replaces the keyboard. It also has mouse functions. If you use the "On Click" function you need to position the mouse over the area on the computer screen you would like to click on. For this project you will need: 2 10x10cm squares of cardboard. Aluminium foil to cover one of the squares. Makey Makey  2 alligator clips USB power cord Sticky tape to attach squares to the floor. They should be taped jumping width apart. Board set-up This project uses the "on click" function to activate an onscreen counter to count the number of jumps. Attach one alligator clip to the on click circle. Attach one alligator clip to the earth. See the steps below to set up the switch. Extension If you need to make the alligator clip longer you can join the clips.  Use tape over the silver connections to make them more secure so the connection is not lost. Screen set-up Open an online counter, this project used  https://coun

7 books for use in a unit on Plastic

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Picture books can be used to enhance a non-fiction unit. These 6 books have applications for units on sustainability and plastic. These picture books open a range of themes and topics that could be expanded on depending on the interests of your students and the inquiry questions to post prior to reading the books. Living things  - impact of human behaviour on ecosystems Sustainability  (general capability) Volume of waste - sustainability of human lifestyles - How do we reduce waste? Material World  - how can materials be used in different ways? What are alternatives to plastics? What is plastic made of? and how is it made? English  - compare and contrast different texts, purpose, audience, method, infographics, pictures, language. Data  - explore facts and figures in the books or that are found online, regarding amounts of plastic, time to decompose infographics. Vocabulary  - degradable, biodegradable, compostable, recyclable, reusable Art - use plastic to cre