Computing
In year 2 this afternoon, we have continued our learning about technology by doing a safari around school to see what technology we could spot. We used a whiteboard and pen to help us record the technology we could see. It was also a great opportunity to apply our phonics knowledge for spelling. When we returned to class, we complied a list while discussing why this would be classed as technology.
In year 6, we learned about the importance of using a secure password. We initially looked at 3 digit passcode but discovered that a computer could hack these within a few minutes. We give this a try and started to think about how we would guess a password. Would you guess randomly or develop a system to finding the code? Children really showed their resilience when building the code and is something we’ll continue next week as children were determined to complete the code and try it out.
In year 3, we have been looking at how data travels. Often the data is too big and we’re unable to send it in one go. This is when it’s broken down into packets which are smaller and more managable. To help the children understand this, we first of all used cubes to build a tower but. E cause it was too big, they had to break it down into individual cubes. Then they used a 3×3 grid and drew a picture. Children cut up their image and gave it to another person to piece back together. This allows children to see that bigger files are broken down and reassembled when they get to their destination.
In year 4, we have continued exploring Scratch and learning about variables. Children learned that variables can store lots of different answers and the programme will respond accordingly. We played some games where children had to ask their crew the name of an animal or food but had to erase the previous answer if it was different. This allowed children to see that the variables were limitless. Working as a crew, we built the code on our iPads as this was new learning for us. Once we’d built the code, we experimented with different questions and answers. In our next session we will build on today’s learning.
In year 1, we have been learning about how to control a computer and that we usually do this by pressing buttons. Before we started our new learning, we recapped our learning from last week. We recapped our actions to help us remember monitor, mouse, keyboard and printer before using an interactive game to place the labels in the correct place.
The children were really excited to learn that Miss Shields had a remote control that allowed her to control the actions of the children. When she pressed the blue button, the children had to jump up and wave their arms. When she pressed the red button, they had to tap their knees. Then when she pressed the green button, they had to lie down and pretend their were sleeping. This was great fun which helped us understand that buttons result in actions.
We then worked together to design a robot that we thought would help Mrs Barber. The children suggested help with RWI and all the things she needs to remember.
In computing, we started the lesson by recapping the different parts of the computer and the purpose of these parts. We then started to investigate inputs which was focused on type buttons we have on different devices. When we press buttons, we are giving the computer commands and asking it to perform a job. We then designed our own robot thinking about the commands we would like to be able to give it. Miss Shields modelled drawing a robot that could do her weekly shop but most importantly put the groceries away. It was great seeing the children confidently sharing their robot design in-front of the rest of their crew.
Year 3 have been learning about how a website works and how we receive information on our computers. They learned that when we type in a website, we send a request to a server that sends the information back to our computer. In some cases, the server may need to request the information from the cloud which stores data before it’s sent back to the computer. Children then worked independently to demonstrate their understanding by drawing a diagram of how information is sent.
In computing this week, children in Year 4 were continuing to explore Scratch which is something we learned about last year. However, we were developing our understanding by learning about the position and orientation of our sprite. This allowed us to make links to our prior maths units of coordinates and angles. It was so lovely seeing the experts support the less confident children as well as them grappling with it when it got a little tricky.
Last week in computing, we learned about the different parts of a computer and ensured that we knew the correct names to use. We discussed the purpose of each part of the computer so we understood their job. Children then completed a task where they had to label the different parts of a computer independently which they did a great job of.
During our first computing lesson today, we began by talking about what coding is and why coding was used during the war. We then had some time to work in pairs to break some different cipher codes; some involve moving letters around the alphabet while others have hidden items within the text.
