Bike Baron - More Learning Journeys

I first heard about Bike Baron on the excellent Mr Andrews Online Blog. The article entitled 'Raising Standards in Boys Literacy is full of great ideas for this app.

http://mrandrewsonline.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/part-1-raising-standards-in-boys.html

Since then, as with most apps, it has been updated to its 19th version with some added features. I have used these over the last few weeks with some great results from the creators Qwiboo and Mountain Sheep.

Level Creator Feature:

This newer feature allows you to create your own levels from scratch using similar building blocks with a drag and drop system. Once you have created your level you can then test it using the Bike Baron.

In the Classroom:

1) DT Projects: we used this as a short DT project which linked with our science topic of materials. The children were tasked with creating the best jump ever! They wrote a list of materials and the type of blocks they used. By changing the texture of the blocks they created different properties, which allowed for some great discussion of scientific vocabulary. At each stage, the children could test their jumps and constantly evaluated and improved their jumps, something which can take an age to do practically. Once they had created 'The One,' we then used practical materials to make jumps of launch toy cars from, a pull back motorbike would have been better but I couldn't find one!

The children were engaged with this from the start and the usually dull planning stage contained a lot of important learning.

2) Maths: Using the blocks or the burning barrels, my class created a range of 3d shapes and found the perimeter, area and volume of these shapes, this served as a good first lesson to teach the principles.

Exploring number patterns - Which number patterns make the best jumps? An honest question for which I didn't have an answer. Children worked on number patterns at their differentiated level so we had 8x table along with square numbers. Some children also created their own number sequences, in an attempt to find the 'Golden Jump Formula'.

Record Mode

You can record elements of riding in single player mode or your own level creations.once recorded you can then record commentary over it or in-screen video.

Using the ideas outlined in the mr Andrews post, you can use the record feature to allow children to remember or innovate their original ideas. This really helped to support my less able students and would work well in KS1 too. 

We also explored the role of the crowd, what noises would they make? Another idea was to play the role of the Bike Baron's mum and we thought about her reaction or words of motherly wisdom.

the record feature really supported the ideas from Mr Andrews but also opened up some other writing opportunities too such as a news report from the scene of the big stunt.

I used these activities with Year 6, however, I think that the record feature really opens this up to the whole of the primary age range with a focus on speaking and listening.

Inside, Outside Classroom

A very quick post today but one I hope may engage discussion. 

My school has recently been revamped and we now have a brand new 14 classroom building. One of the features of this are Learning Streets, glorified corridors if you will. 

Various climate walks have revealed that theses read aren't utilised enough. The amount of furniture provided also meant that each child didn't have their own space and working conditions were cramped. 

About two weeks ago, I took the decision to put half the class out in the street and half in the classroom, this changes daily. By doing this, I know longer have a seating plan and children sit where they like. To break up difficult groups I mix them so some are in the 'street' and others are not. 

For whole class input, the street children, if you will, sit on the carpet and use A3 clipboards  and then take their work outside.

Effects:

The output and effort from those not in the classroom has been the same or better. I feel the children have enjoyed the extra responsibility and space. Friendship related squabbles have reduced as children choose to work with 'sensible' partners. It is also interesting to see the pieces of furniture the children choose to work on, some will quite happily work on the floor. The increased mobility allows for crucial thinking time.

On the negative side, the children who find it difficult to form relationships have found this tough, but I can see they are gaining resilience and are beginning to form new friendships.

I would love to hear from anyone that has a similar classroom setup or is thinking about it.

Google Earth- Making Maps

Using Google Earth for exploring areas in a topic or finding your school is always great fun. Year 6 took me on a local journey, showing off their literacy, geography and history skills in the process.

As part of our Victorian project we took our iPads for a local walk and took pictures of Victorian architectural features around our town. Please note that Victorian style housing is helpful here. The children took pictures using the camera app and labelled them with the road name.

Google Earth
In class the children added these things to their map:

• An interest pin to show their places of interest, house, football club etc.
• A description telling the viewer what it is, and why it is important to them
• An image overlay showing the Victorian architectural features and their location
• Web links-school website
• Pictures from the internet with labels

Children recorded a tour using the tour icon and moved the map around their interest markers, there is also the option to record commentary of their tours.

Outcomes:

• Google Earth enabled the children to take ownership of their content and be proud of their own world in digital form.
• Enhanced our Victorian work particularly architecture. The discussions on our walk were fantastic with children spotting William Morris style tiles and decorative stonework
• Peer learning as children discovered new skills
• Self learning, student guided
• Children became experts and could share ideas and skills

Evidence:

The children exported their maps to a picture file format and we printed these. It is possible to save the map using the My Maps function but I decided against this as this would be another log in for the children to remember. 

In all, a great way to get mapping into the curriculum

For more information and some great tutorials follow this link.

http://www.google.co.uk/earth/outreach/index.html

The Evolution of Plan - the journey of a primary MTP

I do love a plan. That time spent before a theme or topic commences is one of my favourite parts of teaching. The thrill of creating the framework for a learning journey is fantastic, particularly when you know that you will not cover all of it or the direction that your class will lead you.

In Year 6, we have been following the tried and tested Victorians topic one which is repeated all over the country. I like to plan everything around the topic as much as possible,which can prove difficult when you are supposed to follow a plan outlined by you LA or school policy. I believe a good MTP should satisfy your planning needs and a well structured and linked plan should relinquish the need for weekly plans in the foundation subjects at least. 

First of all, I like to brainstorm all idea to do with the topic. These tend to be things I remember from school, ideas I've borrowed from others or general knowledge about the subject. 

I then create a spider diagram or learning loop pal with each area as a subheading for a area of learning. Other ideas are then pulled in to flesh out the learning in this area. Different topics lend themselves to a more scientific, literacy or numeracy stance but they all balance out. For those that like to follow the Primary Strategy for numeracy and literacy, I keep a record of which genres and units are covered but spend as long as the children need on them, using the classic; Plan, Teach, Assess strategy. Eventually, I get to something like this below.

I have colour coded this to assist subject leaders in monitoring coverage. In the past, I have included National Curriculum Points of Study, however, with the current state of flux in that department, I haven't bothered. 

A new thing at my school is the introduction of Learning Loops. In essence, this is thinking about your intended learning outcomes and working backwards scaffolding skills to achieve the desired outcome. This should be a process conducted with the children, where their learning forms extra 'sub' loops which work towards the objective. This is an example of an area of learning focussing on newspaper reports and the chilling story of Dr Crippen.

The loops at the top focus on writing skills and SPAG input whilst the bottom loops focus on reading and comprehsension. BLP is our school wide policy for talking about learning and stands for Building Learning Power. It encourages the children to talk about their own learning such as collaboration, making links or imagining.

The loops worked well with several loops covered in one lesson. I also found that looking in depth at each skill really focused my teaching but also hindered progress as I scrutinised every aspect of the learning. Give them a try, they also make a very effective display using paper plates.

After our first term, I found some of the learning rather prolonged and too separated for the children to really get their teeth into. I reviewed this and looked at keeping a subject focus to each week or area of learning rather than having a dedicated time each week,eg. Monday afternoon is art. For a real cross curricular approach do we need to remove set times for specific subjects to free up the timetable? I think yes, although in practise schools are governed by room, staff and resource availability. 

For the second half of the term our plan looks like this:

In this plan, I have tried to focus on particular foundation subjects which fit with the theme for the week. I hope this will provide a richer learning experience for the children which will feed into their core work. I have also included 'Wow!' Events  for each week which I hope will excite and motivate the children and more importantly give them the opportunity to apply their learning.

This is still a work in progress and I think I will always tinker with these ideas which depend on each school setting and the timetable implications they have. I do think the key to all this is squeezing as much learning as possible out of the day so I will try to cover history or geography learning in literacy and vice versa. Happy planning!