Code Academy

During the course of the term I have been playing a slightly different role in school – teaching ICT and computing across years 1-6. More recently I have been developing and looking at a suitable path for Snowsfields to take with the new computing curriculum that comes into effect in 2014.
Although programming and computing are not new to the children as we have been quite forward thinking, teaching them elements for over 18 months now – it has been quite difficult to find the right balance and progression through the phases to ensure we are both challenging and scaffolding the children’s learning along the way – it also does not help that every man and his dog seem to be releasing some form of ‘educational package’.

However amongst the rough there have been several diamonds; one of which being the brilliant CodeAcademy. A text based language which at first glance seems pitched to a more secondary audience, it guides the children trough the basics of HTML, CSS and JQuery. Now although we likely won’t be talking the later elements, the buzz around the HTML skills has been epic. The children love to be able to see how what they write as ‘code’ transforms into a website before their eyes. In addition to this the hacking elements included within the lesson structure allow the children to pull apart their favourite websites and see exactly how they are made up – taking ideas and elements and bringing it into their own learning .

We have been working quite closely with Leng Lee, who has produced the educational materials and hope to continue to do so as the resources develop. It has been great to have a dialogue with the developers themselves as it really makes you feel you opinion is important and ultimately will help to shape how the curriculum is structured. I am also working on a scheme of work for our more able learners within Year 6, to push and challenge their understanding of HTML, setting them the challenge of creating their own websites using the Free Code element of the Code Academy website. Have a read of the article in the Telegraph where I explain a little more about how we have been using Code Academy.

Although tricky at times, this is going to be a very interesting journey for both myself and the children.

The lesson activities can be found here, and I recommend all teachers should try them, and the lesson plans which are still in beta form will be released more widely soon!

HTML Structure- Using Lists – HTML Basics II & Social Networking Profile

Introduction to HTML – HTML Basics & Build Your Own Webpage Crib Sheet

Matt Rogers

ICT & Computing Teacher/Subject Leader

Arts Week & International Evening

This year at Snowsfields we ran our arts annual arts week with a slightly different spin. Each class were asked to look at and study a specific Artist who had created works around the theme of Autumn, from artists such as Andy Goldsworthy to Paul Klee.
The aim was for each child to create a piece of art inspired by their chosen artist and also work more collaboratively on larger scale works.
The children and staff alike had a brilliant week creating their masterpieces, such as sculptures from natural materials in the garden to creating leafdesigns using tessellation. Alongside the work the children did in class, there was also a very well attended and over subscribed parent workshop – the art work of which can be seen on the wonderful display on the second floor.

During Arts Week we always hold our highly anticipated International Evening where we ask parents to come along and help celebrate the cultural diversity within our school, eating food and dressing in attire from a whole host of cultures. Below is a copy of the presentation used for the musical festivities and lots of pictures which I am sure paint a better picture than any of my words!

Matt Rogers