My Aistear Journey: Myself and My Family

Book Corner

The theme I chose to use to begin our Aistear journey in Senior Infants was 'Myself and My Family'. I am planning to keep this theme going for the rest of the month as we get used to this new play system.

My centres are as follows:

1. Roleplay: Home corner

For my home corner I set up my Ikea kitchen in the library area. I have some Home Corner Display Resources on the walls (pictures, a fireplace, a flower pot, a T.V., labels, etc.). I also leave a box full of extra items in the play corner for them to use in their roleplay too. These items include copybooks, notebooks, crayons, dolls, pens, a phone, a newspaper, etc. During the day I have a storage box located under the noticeboard and in front of the kitchen for the children to sit on when they read library books. For Aistear time, we move this and use it as a table/bed/chair/food preparation surface in the house. It also creates a separate space for the play area as it sections it off from the rest of the classroom. 

Home Corner

Playing tennis and Playstation

Washing up

While they are playing we discuss who each person is in the house and what they are doing. They make dinner, wash up, set the table and eat. The 'children' take part in other activities in the house, while also helping their parents with jobs around the house. During the playtime, we use vocabulary based around food, utensils, parts of the house and various kitchen processes. It also offers an opportunity to discuss things like fire safety, food safety, turn taking, being responsible, etc.

2. Arts and Crafts: Playdough Figures

I printed and laminated a class photo of the children for them to use when making themselves out of playdough. The children practice rolling shapes, making marks on the figures and we discuss the various body parts and their proportions.

3. Sandplay:

The children can practice writing their name in the sand, drawing some of their favourite things  in the sand and building their house using the buckets and other equipment.

4. Construction: Lego/Blocks

I give each child a laminated picture of their school and request that they build their school out of lego, blocks or cubes. We discuss how many windows they need to include, which parts of the building are tall/small, etc. Sometimes they end up building more of an indoor floorplan of the classroom or the school so I get them to name the rooms, point out the furniture, show me where the office is, discuss who works there, etc.

5. Small World: At School

The children have the opportunity here to play with the Happyland school children, teacher, family, pets and the school building. We discuss and act out what things the children will be doing during the day, what the family do after dropping their kids to school and what the children will do when school is over at the end of the day. One day, the Happyland children even went to visit the park that one of the children in the construction area built outside the school!

Some children went to learn how to swim!

Next week, I will be writing about some ways I structure my Aistear lesson and practical organisational advice if you decide to use Aistear in your classroom. If you missed last week's post on organising your room for Aistear, you can find it here.
  

My Aistear Journey: Starting Out

This year I am heading back to Senior Infants after spending 4 years in senior classes. I can't deny that I'm feeling slightly anxious about the move (despite having taught this class level before!) but I am excited about the year ahead.

As Aistear was only in its infancy (no pun intended!) when I taught Senior Infants before, I didn't have an opportunity to try it out. While I did use structured play in my classroom, it was unrelated to the theme I was covering with the class that month.

While I have attended workshops based on Aistear in my school, over the summer I completed the 'Infant Education' summer course offered by CPD in an attempt to brush up on my knowledge. I had a look at various Aistear plans online (Infant Teaching Ideas has lots that you can download for €2, Twinkl also has some available if you are a member) to get ideas for what kind of equipment I would need, activity ideas I could use, etc.  I also gathered information from anyone with any experience of using the programme in their school to get as much practical advice as possible.

Thus begins this series of posts about my Aistear journey in Senior Infants. As I am posting this during my Back to School week of posts, I am going to begin the series with a look at how I have prepared for using Aistear in my classroom. Keep in mind that I am in no way an expert in this field but some of this information might give you a general idea on how to organise your classroom before returning to school.

Step 1: Prepare the Room:

My classroom has not been used for Aistear before, so it was laid out as a traditional classroom. I drew out a floorplan of the room so I could decide where I wanted to place various stations. Firstly, I moved my desk to the side of the room to create more 'carpet' space in the front of the room for circle time discussions before and after play.

Next, I created a book corner using two sets of shelves, which sectioned off an area of the room. This will be used as a library area during the day, but will also provide a space to use as a roleplay area during Aistear.

I have a cupboard that is quite a substantial size located at the bottom of my room, sitting on a tiled area. I have allocated this surface for my sand/wet play area.

The desks will be organised in groups in my room, so I will use one group for construction, one group for lego/blocks and one group for art (I have large plastic tablecloths to use on the table). Equipment needed for these stations will be located in boxes that the children can bring over to the table during Aistear sessions.

Step 2: Prepare the Groups:

I downloaded, printed and laminated group names from here. One sign will be stuck to each table and one will be used on the play rota chart. I then used these Play Station Signs to add to our play rota chart. These will be moved daily so that each group will have a chance to play at each station once a week.

Step 3: Create an Inventory:

It's important to utilise what is already in the room for Aistear. I made a list of all the toys/materials already available in the classroom (lego, blocks, finger puppets, jigsaws, animals, etc.). This way, when you are planning your activities during the year, you know what you have to use and where it is located.

Step 4: Buy/Borrow/Make Some Extra Equipment:

Despite having some equipment already in school, there were a few extra materials I needed to acquire based on some themes I am thinking of covering. Some materials I was able to find at home (an old phone, old cutlery, etc.) and some I knew I could make at a later date. However there were some that I needed to buy/borrow also. If you have been given a budget to spend on Aistear or are interested in buying some items yourself, you may get some ideas here for things to buy/download:

Source

1. Play Kitchen (Ikea): €69 (utensils and pots are also available)
2. Play Food (Smyths): €14
3. Happyland Figurines (ELC): €11 (Regularly on sale for around €7)
4. Cars/Trucks/Diggers/Garda Car/Fire Trucks/Letters/Numbers (Dealz): €1.50 each
5. Doctor's Kit (Smyths): €8
6. Cash register (Ikea): €16
7. Tool box (Ikea): €9
8. Finger Puppets (Ikea):  €6
8. Small Storage Boxes (Ikea): €1 - €4  
9. Reusable plastic table cloths (I got the linked ones in Lidl but I'm sure you can get them elsewhere)
10. Make your own playdough
11. Roleplay Resources (Twinkl - membership required)
12. Roleplay Resources (Sparklebox - free)

I stored all of my equipment in labelled boxes for easy access.

Once I have begun using Aistear I will discuss the layout of my lessons and topic ideas however, for now, best of luck with your back to school preparations!

Suitable Songs for a School Choir (Part 1)

Looking for inspiration for some non-religious songs for your school choir? Try out some of these:

1. Touch the Sky:

This upbeat song from the movie Brave sounds wonderful when performed by a children's choir. 

Song air 

Song lyrics and tin whistle notes
Backing track

2. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For:

A song originally sung by U2 but covered by many gospel choirs, this song lends itself well to part singing.

Original song air

Song with added harmony

Song lyrics
Backing track

3. Da Doo Ron Ron Ron:
My choir sang the 'Countdown Kids' version of this song, which you can download from iTunes or Amazon (it is featured on the album 'Rock 'N' Roll 101 for Kids, Vol. 1'). It sounds very impressive when sung with a harmony and a guitar. 

Original song air

The Countdown Kids version

Guitar chords (play with a capo on the 2nd fret)
Song lyrics

4. I'm Yours

Released in 2008, some of your children may not be familiar with this song, but it is an easy, catchy song that they seem to enjoy regardless. I changed the pitch of the song when singing it with my class as originally it was a little low. I have included this audio track below - the quality is quite poor but it will give you an idea of where to pitch the song.

Original song air

Higher pitched version
Guitar chords (the higher pitched version would be played with a capo on the 9th fret)
Song lyrics
Harmony lyrics

5. Lean on Me

The 'Glee' version of this famous song is better suited to young children's voices than the original. It is a little tricky to sing but accompanying it with a guitar offers the chance to slow it down a little and change the key to suit your children's voices.

Original song air 
'Glee' version
Backing track
Guitar chords (Play with capo on 2nd fret for Glee version)
Song Lyrics

6. All Star
Although lacking in harmony, this song (sung by The Countdown Kids and featured on their album 'Pop 4 Kids') is energetic and fun and features in the movie 'Shrek'.

Original song air
Original song backing track
Countdown Kids version
Song lyrics

Local Studies: 4 Hands-on Geography Lessons

Locality based learning is a huge part of the Geography curriculum. With that in mind, here are some simple lesson ideas and resources that can be connected to the children's local natural and human environment. 

1. Rocks and Fossils:
Discuss the PowerPoint below. If you are teaching in a 5th/6th class you may want to bulk out the information by mentioning the specific categories these rocks fall into: Metamorphic, Sedimentary and Igneous and explaining how they are formed.

Types of rock from SeniorInfants
You can download and edit this PowerPoint from Dropbox here.

After they understand the different types of rock in Ireland (and how they are formed), give each group a set of three rocks (marble, limestone and granite) to draw, name and answer questions on using this worksheet for a 3rd/4th class or this worksheet for a 5th/6th class. As a follow up, the class can be brought out on a nature walk to find specific rock types in the locality. 

2. Transport in the Locality:

In pairs/small groups the children can complete this worksheet. It includes activities where they: name different modes of transport and list ways transport could be improved in their area, survey what transport children in the class use most often, and map out their school's catchment area. 

Note: Since this activity focuses on local transport, it is necessary to edit some of the activities to suit your own school. My school is situated in a rural area so some of the questions about the school's catchment area may need to be altered if the activities are being covered in an urban environment.

3. Mapping The Locality:

Begin the lesson by discussing the purpose of maps. Look at some sample maps online (I like this map) and ask why there are pictures, letters and different colours on the map. Discuss what a key is and how symbols are used to represent some important things in the area. Show them a map like the one of Dublin Harbour and ask what symbols they can spot on it and what they might stand for.

After this, they could complete the Make a Map Key activity on this page, by finding the symbols used in the map of Raheny. They could also play this matching game as a class or on their computers.

As a follow up lesson, have the children draw a map of their journey to school including symbols to represent features of the local environment (roads, water, forestry, bogs, churches, schools, etc.) and a key. Give an example of how this would be done on the board by describing and drawing your own trip to school.

4. Trees of Ireland:

Having discussed the different types of trees that can be found in Ireland using the PowerPoint below, each group can be given some leaves to trace around and name in their copy. 

Trees from SeniorInfants
You can download and edit this PowerPoint from Dropbox here.

In the following lesson, the children can be brought on a nature walk to answer questions on this activity sheet.

If you are interested in more lessons ideas for senior classes check out my posts on the following topics: Myself, Italy, Space, Food and the Aztec Empire.

Teaching about Special Needs and Inclusion

Recently, every teacher in our school was asked to teach an SPHE lesson based on 'Inclusion' in order to highlight to our pupils the importance of including all children (in particular those with Special Needs) in their play. As this was a slightly sensitive topic to cover with a class (especially a senior class), I headed online to search for resources and ideas on how to approach the topic. Unfortunately I found it difficult to find anything usable! Eventually after a lot of searching, I was inspired by some of the activities discussed here to create the following PowerPoint on 'Disabilities and Inclusion' (it took 2 sessions to complete the topic).

Disabilities and Inclusion from SeniorInfants

You can download the PowerPoint from Slideshare (it's free to become a member) or from Dropbox.


You can download the Celebrity Profile activity sheet here.

You can find the banner I used to display the children's celebrity profiles on Twinkl here.

Don't forget to leave a comment below if you have any other ideas for teaching this topic to a class!

Tin Whistle Series: 'Fun' Tunes on the Tin Whistle

It can be difficult to engage some children when teaching the tin whistle, especially in older classes. While I teach a lot of the traditional tin whistle tunes to my children, I like to include the odd familiar non-traditional song to motivate them to play.
Below, I have listed some of the more 'fun' tunes I have taught in the past. Some tunes are easier, while some are more difficult, so hopefully there is something in here for every class!

(Note: Click on the 'air' links to hear the tune and the 'notes' links to view and download the notes)

1. We Will Rock You:

This is a very simple tune which even beginners can master and perform to accompany singing. When I taught my class this tune, it was for a school performance. Half the class played the tin whistle, while the other half of the class sang and clapped. I chose a few students to play the drums also. All in all, it made for an impressive and professional looking performance, which took very little time to prepare.

'We Will Rock You' air

'We Will Rock You' notes

'We Will Rock You' notes and children's version feature in The Right Note 5th and 6th Class Teacher's Manual

2. Star Wars Theme:

If you are teaching a class of beginners, this is an easy, short piece by John Williams that they are bound to know the air of:

'Star Wars' air

'Star Wars' notes

3. Olé Olé Olé Olé:

Another very basic tune for beginners is Olé, Olé, Olé, Olé. This would be a nice one to teach them before the Euros!

'Olé Olé' air

'Olé, Olé, Olé, Olé' notes

4. I'm a Believer:

This song is always a popular one with all age groups. Originally sung by the Monkees, they will probably recognise it from the movie 'Shrek'. It is quite simple to learn as it features quite a lot of repetition.

'I'm a Believer' air

'I'm a Believer' notes

5. Ring of Fire

I'm a big Johnny Cash fan so I had to include a song of his in here somewhere! This version of 'Ring of Fire' is suitable for an 'intermediate' player. Note that smaller letters signify high notes and capital letters represent low notes.

'Ring of Fire' air

'Ring of Fire' notes

6. Ireland's Call:

Quite a manageable tune for the intermediate student, 'Ireland's Call' is a great choice if you have any rugby fans in your class. 

'Ireland's Call' notes

'Ireland's Call' air

7. Touch the Sky:

Touch the Sky is a lively song from the Disney movie 'Brave'. I taught this song to my choir and had 5 or 6 children accompany them on the tin whistle using the notes below.

'Touch the Sky' air

'Touch the Sky' notes

8. Songs from Dami's Blog:

Finally, Dami's Blog features a huge bank of 'pop' songs covered on the tin whistle. Not only can you find the notes for songs like 'Let it Go', 'Hello' and 'Firestone', but you can also listen to them being played as well. Some of these are quite challenging, but an advanced class would definitely enjoy learning them!

If you missed the first three posts in this tin whistle series, you can find them linked below:
Teaching Tin Whistle Tunes for a School Mass
Teaching Tin Whistle to Beginners
Christmas Tunes

Irish History Simplified (5th and 6th)

Over the past few weeks leading up to Easter we have been learning a lot about Irish political history in my classroom. Usually 5th class in my school focus mainly on events in the 16th, 17th and 18th century, however, being the year that's in it, we also touched on 1916 this year.

Irish history is always a popular topic in a senior class although sometimes confusing! Therefore, for the purpose of revision, I have created these posters featuring key information about each era we discussed. I hope you find them useful in your classroom!

Irish history from SeniorInfants

As usual, you can download the posters/PowerPoint from Slideshare here by logging in as a member (it's free!). Alternatively, you can download the file from Dropbox here. 

P.S. If you are interested in a full timeline of topics covered in history in a senior class, you can download one from Slideshare here. 

Happy Easter!

Teaching Consonant Digraphs to Infants

A lot of time is spent teaching various blends and digraphs to infants once they have solidified their knowledge of basic sounds and blending. I like to begin teaching digraphs with the consonant digraphs: 'sh', 'ch', 'th' and 'wh'. I find they pick these up quicker than others, as they can name words that start with these sounds quite easily. 

Below, you can find a list of activities and resources that I have tried out while teaching these digraphs in the past.  Keep in mind that I did not use every activity for every sound and some were only used when all 4 sounds were covered. The activities can be combined to form a lesson or alternatively some could be used in literacy centers!

1. Jolly Phonics:
As in most schools, I used the Jolly Phonics program to teach the sounds sh, ch and th initially. You can find the video here. I played the video on many occasions for the children while they ate their lunch. I found playing these songs and other vocabulary building songs and stories (e.g. The British Council LearnEnglishKids website) to them, calmed them down before they went outside and it also meant they were learning at a time which can sometimes be wasted learning time. They did not seem to mind the repetition!

2. Other songs:
I also used this video to show them the various words that can be made using the sounds.

3. Trace the snake:

I put the following pictures up on the IWB. We traced the snake in the air (I traced it on the board) and shouted out the sound if we landed on the particular digraph we were learning (and only that one!). I varied the speeds so that it was more exciting. These are edited resources of something I found online.

4. PowerPoint:

You can download the PowerPoints I made and used by clicking on each digraph: th sh wh ch.

5. Worksheets:
Using worksheets/activity sheets, children can either either circle/cut out, match and stick on/colour or sort the wh, sh, th, ch words. These can easily be found online or created yourself.

6. Pictures of words:
I had the children draw pictures of any word they knew containing the sound on a sheet of paper. Their pictures were put up on the wall around the sound being covered that fortnight.

7. Sorting bowls (group activity):
I had 4 party bowls in the middle of the table, each labelled with a sound (sh, th, ch, wh or any other sounds you want to include). They had to sort their selection of picture cards into the bowls in the center of the table according to the sound each began with.

8. Board game:

In groups they played a board game which I created where if they landed on a consonant digraph square they had to name a word that started (or ended) with the sound. If they were correct they then could roll again and take another go.

9. Bingo: 
You can download several bingo cards I made up to test the children's recognition of the sounds here. You can also play the game with words in the boxes as opposed to just the sounds.

10. Storytime:
I read the children a story containing words starting with the sound in question and they had to put their hands on their heads when they heard a word containing the sound. Prim-ed do a series of poems featuring these sounds such as Theodore Thatcher and Walter the Whale. Oxford Reading Tree and similar companies also sell books which feature one particular digraph sound throughout the story. This is also a great opportunity to use any Big Book too!





I hope some of these ideas get your creative juices flowing! Let me know if you have any other ideas for the teaching of these sounds!



P.S. If you found these activities useful, you may be interested in my post sharing some ideas for Sight Word Games in the classroom. Find it linked here. 

Scratch: Lesson 4: Making a Scary Movie

This week in Scratch we created scary stories/movies. In order to do this, we combined what we have learned so far in our Scratch lessons with two new skills: how to make a character glide and how to move a character to a specific place on the stage.

PowerPoint Used in the Lesson:

Scratch Lesson 4: Create a Scary Movie_primaryschoollessons from SeniorInfants

Note: This PowerPoint can be downloaded for free by signing into Slideshare.

Steps Involved in Teaching this Lesson:

1. I began the lesson by using the PowerPoint above to explain how the stage area is similar to a grid made up of an x and y axis (just like in Maths - you can learn more about this here). This skill of being able to name a location using the axes is a skill that they will find useful not only in Scratch but also when they move on to more professional programming software. To make this process simpler for beginners, Scratch does not require the child to work out the location themselves but will tell you the name of the location when you hover your mouse over an area of the stage. I demonstrated this for them and allowed them to check it out also.

2. After we had discussed this in detail, we learned how to make our character glide to a specific place on the stage by watching the second half of this Scratch tutorial.

3. The class were then given a few minutes to see if they could get their sprite to move to two different, specified places on the stage, just like the video showed us. I had to be very clear on my expectations for this activity: it wasn't about changing the background or exploring the different characters, but about showing me they could move their sprite to a specific place. I had to keep emphasizing that they would have time at the end of the session to explore new things.

4. Once they had finished this, we quickly revised how to add music to a project (this can be difficult to remember as it involves changing the tab from 'Scripts' to 'Sounds'). I gave them another few minutes to add music to their gliding 'practice' projects.

5. When they had shown me that they could successfully complete these skills, I showed them this week's challenge: to create a scary movie.

Note: In the challenge I asked them to see could they make their character disappear. This resulted in many of them wondering how to get it back. In order to do this, they need to drag out the 'show' block (from 'Looks'), click on it and then remove it again.

6. When they had saved their projects, they were allowed some free play time. The lesson took 40-60 minutes to complete.

Other Scratch Lesson Ideas: 
If you missed my previous Scratch posts, you can find them linked below:

Lesson 1: What is Coding?

Lesson 2: Creating Our First Story

Lesson 3: Create A Music Video

Don't forget to leave a comment to let me know how you get on with this lesson!

Thematic Unit for Infants: St. Valentine's Day Activities

Children love having 'themed' days in school and Valentine's Day offers a brilliant opportunity to teach a wide range of subjects based on one theme.

This week, I am re-blogging a few lesson ideas I tried out with my Senior Infant class on Valentine's Day a couple of years ago. I hope you find them useful!

English: Creative Writing/Reading

I made out a big card for the class with the word 'love' on the front in a heart. I left it out on the morning of Valentine's Day and told the children that it had arrived in the post for them. First of all, we predicted what might be inside the card. We then opened it up and played a game of I Spy. We spied words with capital letters, words starting with ___, the word love, etc. We then read the card together. Following this, I covered the words on the card with blank sheets of paper. We had to match some words written on flashcards to the card, where they were missing/covered. We wrote a new card as if we were writing it to Mammy and Daddy, as a class (LEA). They children then created their own cards using our class card as an example (To ___, I love you. Love Mary.) 

English: Sight Word: Love

We learned this song during the week leading up to Valentine's day:

                        
We also used the word in our writing and read stories with the word in it (e.g. I Love You as Big as the World).

Maths: Counting to 20 and Estimation
I gave the children little bags of sweets and they had to estimate how many sweets were in the bag. We then counted them all together emphasising moving them to one side as they were counted. When we counted 20 sweets, I asked them to eat one and tell me how many they think they have left and then to check this number. I then got them to make me little groups of sweets: 3, 5, 10, 15, etc.

I handed out a template containing various heart shapes (see below). We looked at each heart on the IWB and talked about how many sweets they thought would fit into each heart size. We noted them beside the hearts on the IWB. They had to test how many sweets would fit into each heart after this and they wrote the number underneath the heart. We compared answers with estimates.

Art: Jim Dine Hearts:

We looked at some examples of Jim Dine's heart art and talked about the colours he used. We discussed words to describe the marks he used and the shapes of the colour blocks. They drew a big heart on a piece of paper. They coloured inside the heart with warm colours (using similar shapes) and outside the heart with cool colours. They then painted the pictures with a little olive oil to create a stained glass effect. I blotted them before leaving them to dry. When they had dried I added black paper borders (using mounting paper that I had measured and cut into a border with a blade). I rolled them up and tied them with a ribbon. I attached a little heart shaped pink notelet to the ribbon on which they wrote a message (to their Mum or Dad). Note: This lesson was completed earlier in the week so they could be brought home for Valentine's Day. 

Religion/History: The Story of St. Valentine
We looked at this video and talked about it afterwards. They each recreated a scene from the story on a piece of paper. I selected some pictures to display alongside sentences I had written about the story, on the wall.

Geography: Italy
While I did not teach a lesson on Italy (I had already covered some aspects of Italian culture under another topic), this would be a nice geography lesson to teach on a Valentine's themed day, especially you try to link it to the story of St. Valentine.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Scratch Computer Programming: Lesson 3

Unfortunately as I have been spending a lot of time preparing for my Parent Teacher Meetings this week, our coding lesson was short and sweet!

So far they have learned all about what coding is and how to create their first short story.

This week we learned how to create a simple music video. We began by discussing what they had learned last week and something that 'stuck with them' from the lesson.

They then went on to complete this week's 'Dancing Character' challenge.

Here is the PowerPoint I used in the lesson:

 

Lesson 3: Dancing Character_PrimarySchoolLessons from SeniorInfants

You can download the PowerPoint here and you can find the dance tutorial here.

This lesson was their first experience of incorporating two 'blocks' of script into their program that would run simultaneously when they clicked the flag. Most of them found this quite simple and needed very little further direction from me during the lesson.

Don't forget to check out Lesson 1 and Lesson 2 if you haven't already, and best of luck with lesson 3!

Scratch Computer Programming: Lesson 2

This week in Scratch, we progressed to creating our first program or 'story'. In order to do this, my class learned how to add a new character, a new background, make their character say something and how to change its colour.

This week's lesson format was a little different than last week's:

1. We began with a quick pair discussion based on what they had learned last week. We then discussed these things as a class.

2. I explained what they were going to learn in the lesson and that they would have to complete a challenge using these skills at the end of the lesson. I told them that I would explain each skill briefly, give them some time to try it out themselves and when I called out 'Heads!' they would have to stop what they were doing and put both their hands on their heads (otherwise I would have definitely struggled for attention!).

3. They opened Scratch and we went through the skills included on the PowerPoint below:

Computer Coding with Scratch: Lesson 2_primaryschoollessons from SeniorInfants

Note: You can download this PowerPoint by following the link and logging into SlideShare as a member. Membership and downloads from this website are free.

4. Once we reached the challenge section of the PowerPoint, I told the children that when they had completed the challenge and saved their story to their USB keys, they could create a new project and continue to explore the program with their partner. This worked well as some children finished very quickly, while others took almost 20 minutes to complete the challenge. The whole lesson lasted 40 minutes in total: 15-20 minutes on the PowerPoint and 20 minutes spent working on the challenge and on free-play.

Don't forget to leave a comment if you have any questions about this lesson!

If you missed lesson 1 of my Computer Programming Series, you can find it here.

Teaching Scratch Computer Programming: Lesson 1

Over the next few weeks I will be teaching my class (4th and 5th) all about computer programming through the use of the coding program 'Scratch'. Many teachers feel a little nervous when it comes to teaching programming in the classroom due to a lack of knowledge on the topic. For this reason, over the next few weeks, I will be sharing PowerPoints I have created to teach coding to my class (including video links, key questions and coding activities) along with detailed lesson information for each topic. This means that even if you have no idea what programming/coding is, you should still be able to teach the lesson to your class (even if you are learning alongside your children!).

Note: PowerPoints can be downloaded from the SlideShare website for free, once you sign up as a member. These will include all the resources you will need to teach each lesson.

Lesson 1

PowerPoint:

Lesson 1: Scratch Computer Programming from SeniorInfants

Detailed lesson information and activities:

1. Discuss/brainstorm: What is a computer program? Can you name any? What do you know already about coding/computer programming/how computer programs are made? Who does it/needs to use it in their jobs?

2. Watch the ‘Coding for Kids 1: What is Computer Coding?’ video to explain what coding is and what it can create. Discuss new information learned. Offer them the following definition:
‘Coding is where you write/create a list of instructions for a computer to follow. Without having a detailed set of instructions given to it by a human, a computer cannot do anything’.

3. Explain that Scratch is one program (of many) which allows us to make simple computer programs (games/apps/videos/etc). It gives us the tools we need to create a program (just like a carpenter uses a chisel and wood to create a piece of furniture, we use the tools in Scratch to make our own program).

4. Show a example of what ‘professional code’ looks like. Explain how coders use letters and numbers to stand for each instruction they want their computer to follow. Explain how Scratch makes this simpler for children by putting the instructions they are giving to the computer (the numbers and words) into blocks we can snap together. Watch the ‘About Us’ Scratch introductory video. Explain how the video shows them various examples of things other children have made with the program.

5. Open up Scratch on the Interactive Whiteboard or simply use the images featured in my PowerPoint to explain a few basics about the program:

• What a ‘sprite’ is (the character you see on the screen)
• That the green flag means go/start the program
• The red flag means stop/end the program
• What a script is (the instructions or codes that change the program/makes the character change/move). These ‘instructions’ or blocks can be moved by dragging them onto the script canvas with the mouse and deleted by moving them back to the ‘Scripts’ section.
• You must put down the:  block (located under the ‘Events’ script group heading) at the start of each project, before you add any more scripts/instructions.
• Each block/script must be snapped onto the previous block like a jigsaw.

6. Have the children open Scratch and practice: Click the flag, click the stop sign, go into the ‘Looks’ script heading and drag one block onto the canvas. Delete the part again. Go into the ‘Motion’ script heading (What type of instructions are these?), choose a motion block and add it to the canvas. Delete it again, etc. 

7. Explain that the first thing they are going to learn is how to make their sprite move by watching a video tutorial. Have them move the sprite 20 steps forward, 10 backwards, etc. Have a child model how they completed these tasks for the class.

8. As a conclusion to the lesson, give the children 5 minutes to explore the program with a partner and discover something new they can do with it. Have some students teach the class what they discovered if time allows.

This lesson should take roughly 40-60 minutes in total to complete.

Happy coding!