ICT assignment

There maybe trouble ahead......

It was reported there were tensions in the Dimmery household on Monday evening as mother of the house Laura Dimmery needed her daughters help, as she had lost one of her files saved on the Macbook. However the daughter who can't be named for legal purposes reminded her mother that she was currently revising for a Biology exam the next morning! There was a lot of pleading from the mother, then finally the daughter gave in and sorted out the problem. The mother Laura Dimmery had this to say "thank you so much you have saved my life". The daughter at first declined to comment but the released this statement...."WHATEVER".

2animate hailed as a great success!

During my lesson plan for ICT I made a decision to add the 2animate package as a additional accessible   resource. I have to say the children thoroughly enjoyed the process of developing a character and watching the clip develop on screen. It is now set up as a enhanced activity on our interactive board with the challenges changing weekly. This weeks challenge was to develop  'Wendy the Gardener' a character from our role-play garden centre. The children did really well even adding some flowers to Wendy's hat.

Interactive boards at my setting.

There are two types of interactive boards at my setting, we have two smart boards that are located in the nursery and year one classrooms. We also have two basic interactive boards that are allocated in the discovery room (an area that is used by multiple year groups) and the year two classroom. These boards are fixed and cannot be moved, however they are both at a child friendly height. Although the reception  class have access to the interactive board in the discovery room the internet access is usually an issue. It can often cut out and start refreshing the page on which you are viewing. This happened during my lesson for the ICT assignment.

Testing testing 123!

I love the idea of using technology as part of my lessons as I really think it engages the children in their learning. Today I got some of the pupils to record their subtraction sums on a talking tin. I then asked the pupils to make up some subtraction sums for their friends using the talking tins. It was great to see the children using their own initiative and I was able to assess that learning outcomes had been met through the use of mathematical language.

My Favourite Programmes!

I can honestly say that I am not a telly addict, however when it comes to my favourite programmes I often find that they overlap on Sky Atlantic and the BBC. Without the technology of Sky+ and BBC iplayer I would not be able to indulge in a bit of me time. My favourite programme at the moment is The Following although I do love Country File and if I am ever lucky enough to win the lottery I will look forward to purchasing a small holding and living the good life!!!

Gilbert's Goods: Getting word to help with referencing!

Gilbert's Goods: Getting word to help with referencing!: Learnt how to reference using word in last weeks uni session will definately be using this in my future assignments! It does all the work fo...

A friendly visit!

I popped in to see my friend today to arrange a night out in Cardiff, we have been friends since we were 15. Both her and her husband work shifts and weekends so we were looking for a suitable date when they were both available. Gone are the days of old fashioned diary's, all their shifts were inputed in their smart phones along with childcare arrangements! I'm sure my mother and father would have loved this back in the 1980's when they both worked shifts and had to juggle childcare for me and my brother. I think it would have made their lives a little easier.

BBC and technology

After spending a lazy Sunday afternoon lazing around on the sofa I found myself immersed in a BBC  programme called CLICK. As the programme was nearly at its end I decided that I would research the programme and find out if it was a repeat and when it would be aired again. It is an interesting programme discussing user friendly latest technology, apps and basically anything thats new and up and coming. If you are interested in the latest technology or what to learn more I think this programme is for you :)

Revision Revision Revision!

Sophie was able to use technology to revise for her GCSE English literature exam over half term with the help of BBC GCSE bite size. I have to say that I hope all the hard work that she has put into revising will pay off and hopefully she will gain the grades that she deserves!!

Tests!

It's that time of year again where my poor baby has to sit the National Numeracy and Literacy tests! I have done everything in my power to assist her with revising for these tests. However  it will be out of my power on the day and the only person she can rely upon is herself! Without the use of technology I would not have been able to download and print off the sample documents from learning Wales website. I am grateful that these papers are available to parents who wish to help their children.

Assignments would never be the same again!

I would love one of these!  It could be so useful for future assignments as I like nothing more than leaving it until last minute! Check out the pocket sized Robot printer.

Back to Nature

Just returned home from a lovely walk in the forestry with my dog Louis. It felt so good to listen to the sound of the stream, the birds singing and the splash of Louis jumping in the

culvert. Not a mobile phone to be heard!!! Idyllic start to the Easter holidays!

A little helping hand with homework!

Found this little pocket size guide for my daughter to use when completing her homework. It covers everything from English right through to PHSE and citizenship. Interesting and useful websites! Need a little tuition on using the iPhoto on a Macbook ;) ha ha

New App for parents

A new app was launched for the parents/careers of our school on Monday. It can been easily accessed through a smart phone or tablet. It was hailed as a success by staff,  60 parents completed a questionnaire within a couple hours of downloading the app, the same questionnaire was offered to parents at the start of the year as a paper copy with only one reply!

FaceTime fanatic!

It will be another month until I see my father in law as he heads back to Azerbaijan to work. He has just invested in an iPad which is so lovely as we will now be able to see his lovely face through FaceTime! At the age of 67 he's still not ready for retirement, although he's thousands of miles away, one consolation is that we are now able to see his work place, colleagues and digs without moving from the comfort of our sofa!

Nostalgic mam

After reading an article in The Daily Mail online of a new mother who photographed her daughter everyday in the first year of her life, I became very nostalgic. I decided to pull out the baby photos of my two daughters Sophie and Ffion. There were hundreds of Sophie who was born in 1998 all photos were taken using a 35mm film, and not so many of Ffion who was born in 2004 all photos of her were taken using a digital camera and had been stored on the laptop. I felt the need to get these printed off and store in a traditional photo album so I could ponder over them any time I wanted without having to switch on the laptop. I must be a traditionalist at heart, especially with photos, the feel and smell of a leather bound photo album takes you back to the time and place, the sounds and smells!

The day the discovery room fell silent

It is surprising how silent children become when watching a piece of footage on an interactive board. Anyone else think the same? Never seen a group of 4-5 year olds sit so still watching a video clip of a christening.

Marked as absent

Hi everyone, hope Wednesdays session went well! Mandy I did try and blog to tell you that I would not be attending but unfortunately the computer said no! Ha ha. I was unable to blog due to the site being blocked, I was frustrated to say the least. Thankfully Lisa was able to take some notes, glad to say Ffion is on the mend :)

Is it worth it?

How much information does a person want? I recently put my brown leather corner sofa accompanied with a footstool on Ebay for a £10 starting price. I had originally decided to give it to charity but as it did not have fire resistant labels they would not accept it! I had stated there were a few scuffs and that it had been in storage but still had a few years wear left and would be great for someone starting out. Within the hour of the auction started I had been messaged several times, with questions ranging from "can I have your Postcode" to "please can you tell me if it will fit in my living room" but the best one would have to be "sorry this will honestly be my last question". I decided that it wasn't worth it and withdrew the sale, has anybody else ever felt like this before? Seriously I don't think I could buy 2 chickens at Tesco or Asda for £10!!!

Mother's day madness!

Last minute should be my second name! Thanks to technology my mother will be one happy lady this mother's day. With a press of a button I was able to download and print off a gift voucher from the online retailer Not on the high street, and I am safe in the knowledge that I don't have to step foot in a shop to buy overpriced flowers!

Catchphrase!

Pot luck! The children in reception class would love to use this package. A fun package with lots of uses.

Modelling

My daughter was asked to model for her friends GCSE photography coursework. She wanted to work against a variety of backdrops so they chose an old colliery site and a forestry theme. It is amazing how much airbrushing you can do on a apple mac. Hair and make-up were corrected at a touch of a button and the backdrop images enlightened or enhanced. However a Fuji instax mini 90 poloroid camera was also used to catch some natural photos.

Frustration

Frustrating day in work today, the only computer in the playroom would not co-operate and once again the children were unable to access ICT while spending time in this area. Also a frustrating time for my work colleague who was trying to complete inserts for the Easter cards. After the children printed off their inserts there were only blank pieces of paper to collect from the printer! 

International Happiness Day!!

Well what a fabulous morning! I was awoken this morning with Pharell Williams telling me that it was International Happiness Day! I know you want me to tell you how. Well unfortunately it wasn't in person or by phone call :( I received a notification on my Instagram account accompanied by a photograph of the legend Nelson Mandela with his famous quote "Tread softly, breathe peacefully, laugh hysterically." It put a spring in my step and I decided to spread the happiness when waking my two daughters for school. They both thought I had gone mad, as the mornings are usually chaos. I also spread the happiness with my work colleague and friend Lisa Lewis, and uploaded a couple more happiness quotes to my Facebook profile. Without the resource of technology I probably wouldn't have known about International Happiness Day or have been able to spread the happiness!!

Iphone 5s

Within minutes of arriving home to an empty house, my phone started ringing. The caller Id told me that it was my oldest daughter calling, when I swiped accept call, I was startled to hear her out of breath! She quickly told me that she was in the forestry with her best friend and that they had just completed a 2 kilometer run. I was puzzled and also concerned, as she is not at all sporty and how the heck did she know that they had run 2 kilometers. It soon became apparent, she had downloaded an app on her IPhone 5s that tracks the distance and time of your run, to say I was impressed was an understatement! When I was younger it was all about estimating how far you had run by using landmarks as markers and as far as timing it a good old stopwatch never failed!

Homework

It is Sunday evening and I have just had half an hour to take a look at the website www.vtstutorials.ac.uk/detective. I managed to complete some of the quizzes getting most of the answers right which I was very pleased with. I have taken notes, however I feel the website is such a valuable resource I will be revisiting it in the future for a more in depth look and to help me through my studies.

Technology and me

I enjoy using technology, although I do find it a little bit daunting. I mostly use ICT at home where I feel confident as it is my own Ipad or computer and if anything goes wrong I wouldn't be so worried. At my setting the ICT is not so good and up to date as other schools in the area. Throughout the school we have 20 Ipads and 2 interactive white boards for 260 children that attend the school.I feel that ICT resources are very poor and the children are disadvantaged.

About me

I am studying for a Degree in Learning support. I am enjoying the studying but find it hard when I have a home and full time job. I would sometimes like a bit of me time! The regular things like having a an eyebrow shape. I enjoying walking my dog and spending time with my family that I adore. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family

Here it goes

I am currently sitting in the ICT suite at Swansea Met University as I would like to further my education. I am currently studying for a Foundation Degree in Learning Support!! I am a dinosaur when it comes to ICT......