Edtechprimary

We need a friend in you, a little pass on the message pen-pal. As we’re modern boys and girls, let social media do all the sending and passing on.

Could you please share a little social happiness for Lovingly Artisan and pals? This would make Graham Kirkhams day!

We are having a gathering and trucking along to Lancashire to raise some dough for The Air Ambulance with Mrs Kirkhams Lancashire Cheese and pals.

This Saturday 27 April in Goosnargh

Tell your mates, share with their mates and maybe even tell a few people you don't like. Either way, we need your big heart to help us.

We are having gatherings in Kendal's Marketplace this Friday and then breaking the borders into the shire.

Let us fill your fridges with the good stuff this weekend; come and find us at:

Whittingham Social Club, we’ll be there with a load of food-producing mates for a morning jig from 9.00 am till 1.00 pm - this hopefully will become the first of many with your help!

So we ask again, would you and could you share this post? We need some northern love.

Another fantastic & productive meeting with the computing lead at Brabins Endowed. They are introducing the Teach Computing curriculum from September so I have guided them through this process, assisting with buying resources and generally being a 'go to' when they have a question or they simply need some support.
It is vital that as a consultant, I support and help, not dictate.
There is no reason why this situation can't take place via a Zoom call, or even a phone call.
Get in touch to discuss your problem - I'd love to help.
Laura

A fantastic afternoon with Cop Lane C.E. Primary School delivering a lesson to the children and supporting the teacher on Crumble. Together we worked with a group of 9 children showing them (and them showing us) how to code the micro-controller. When we spoke to them at the end of an almost 2 hour session, they all gave it a big thumbs up. They particularly liked it when they hit a problem with the code and finding a way to solve it. In the session I encouraged independent thinking, asking analytical questions and giving something a go to find out. These strategies work a treat. Plus, to top it all I received an email from the teacher telling me just how much she had enjoyed the session and that she felt comfortable teaching the next group on her own. This is exactly why my type of personalised service works, every time. Investing the money in quality training means your staff walk away feeling confident and empowered, rather than worried and unsure.
A thoroughly enjoyable day.
Laura

Sessions to support teachers using the Crumble Controller
Productive, personalised training sessions delivered to you and your class. Does this sound like something your school would benefit from? Then, send me an email. This is exactly what I do. Last week, I worked with the Y5 teacher at Cop Lane CE Primary School to plan some supported sessions on using the Crumble controller.
This is our plan - I am going to to deliver 2 sessions e teacher and 10 of her more bale students. Then, she will deliver the whole unit to the whole class with the more able students working alongside the small groups. In this kind of training, I always want everyone to benefit; teacher and students. I like to guide them to build confidence and them they can fly high on their own.
It does take a bit more time but the results are definitely worth it. If you do training at a training facility, usually by the time you have left you have forgotten all that you learnt. Using my approach, you are working on your own school alongside your own class.
I would love to help either in class or if you are not in my area, we can create a plan to guide you through remotely.
Feel free to get in touch.
Laura
[email protected]

On Thursday I did some face to face training with the staff at Brabins Endowed. We looked in detail at the practicalities behand implementing the Teach Computing scheme, in terms of the software required and any training that staff would need to teach the units. We also talked a length about mixed aged planning. I'll do a separate post on this soon.
Claire, the IT lead emailed me and said -'Thank you so much for last night. It was really useful'
That is all I need to hear to help me feel as though I am making a difference to the teachers working so hard in school.
I can support you with all aspects of the computing curriculum, and The areas that teachers find most challenging are delivering the crumble kits, the microbits and data logging.
I can easily set up a meeting via Teams if you aren't in the area (Preston, Lancashire) but I can also come into your school to deliver a staff meeting if you live near to Preston.
Get in touch to have a chat and we can discuss your needs.
Hope you have a great week and please share.
Laura
Primary IT consultant

For those of you that already use, or are considering using the resources and planning at www.teachcomputing.org , I have put together an overview of the equipment and software or equipment needed. Hopefully, it will prevent it being quite so overwhelming especially when it comes to the resources that are needed.
Even if you have a planning resource in place, it might be worth looking at some of the units to help you deliver the units more effectively. The resources are free and they are extremely detailed.
Please feel free to get in touch if you would like any support or you have any questions.
Thank you,
Laura

Today's app - Sketches drawing & art app - I love this app and it has some brilliant features that are all free. One request I get regularly is, 'Can you import an image?' and, yes you can. Import from your camera roll, take a photo or import from files. It includes all types of drawing tools and it is very responsive if you have the luxury of an Apple pencil. Why not incorporate technology into your art lessons? I guarantee your children will love it!
Let me know if you use it.
Laura

Tayasui Sketches

Today's project - researching the Crumble Controller. One of the services I offer is bespoke training on software and hardware to support teachers with their professional development and to make sure that school investment is used effectively. I will update on my progress soon when I have worked out how to use it. It looks like great fun and a great practical computing program for the children to apply their problem solving skills & any coding experience they may have had already.

https://redfernelectronics.co.uk/crumble-getting-started/

Over the weekend, whilst all our wonderful teachers were resting, we performed lots of technical tasks that had been reported to us.
These included: repairing a hall projector, an IT suite computer, backed up a server files, pushed lots of app updates, updated Wordpress on 2 school websites, added user accounts, created a TA login with a file shortcut on their desktop.
Much of this work was carried out remotely, but some was on site due to the faults being equipment related.
We always try to perform maintenance tasks when school is closed or after hours to prevent minimum disruption.
Plus, our remote technical contract allows us to solve issues on the spot, no waiting time needed.
Remote working is far more efficient for both the customer and for us preventing unnecessary travel and wait times.
We pride ourselves on being highly responsive with superb communication to keep everyone in the picture and to get your fault sorted quickly.
If you know someone who wants this kind of amazing service, please get in touch.
Laura

Today's app - Math Fight -
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/math-fight-2-player-math-game/id738947827
A great competitive game that I discovered an I have received great feedback from teachers about. It's a FREE app and allows the children to compete against each other. Try it out and let me know what you think.
Laura

Math Fight: 2 Player Math Game

A successful remote training session on the Viewsonic whiteboard software with a teacher from one of our schools. It really is fantastic to be able to connect with colleagues wherever they are and share my knowledge and words of wisdom. Using Zoom I was able explain the key features of the software, responding to any questions. Connecting with working teachers allows me to find out what is really happening so that I can fine tune my support to meet their needs.
If you have any training needs, please get in touch and we can also meet via Zoom and I can show you something new or support you with an existing piece of software.
Have a great weekend.
Laura