Our Learning In Computing This Year

Academic Year 2023 2024

Year 4 - Coding Lego Spike

This week the Year 4 children have been building on their knowledge of Lego Spike Essentials.  They learnt that robots can have multiple inputs and outputs.  The children were faced with different problems that needed debugging and explored how to change the speed of different motors.  The children had a fantastic time exploring the block code.  You can see how much fun they had in the images below!

Academic Year 2022 2023

Year 3 - Coding Using Scratch Junior - 21/4/23

This week Year 3 have delved back into the world of block code through the programme 'Scratch Junior'.  They have built on their knowledge of how the block represents individual pieces of code.  They learnt that you can create repeating movements using repeat blocks.  The children created some fantastic animations using this technique.

Year 4 - Collaborating on Google Documents 29/3/23

This week Year 4 learnt that you can collaborate on a document together.  The children logged into their Google accounts and gave their partner permission to edit their documents.  They learnt it is important to only allow collaborators permission to edit your documents, so that your information remains safe.  The children used this fantastic platform to collaboratively write a story.  They really enjoyed seeing the text appear on multiple screens at the same time!

Year 2 - Bluebots 28/3/23

This week Year 2 have been exploring some new floor robots.  They learnt that you can programme a floor robot with some simple directions to make it travel to specific points.  They learnt that when things go wrong you have to debug the code to solve the problem!  To control the Bluebots, the children programme them using their i-pads which connected to the robots via Bluetooth.  The children had an amazing time exploring the robots, as you can see below.

Year 5 - 16/3/23

This week Year 5 kicked off their robotics project with an exploration of Lego Spike Essentials.  The children had an amazing time learning about how you can use different algorithms to create the same outcome.  There was a real buzz around the room as they attempted to debug problems that they came across.  The children all agreed that they cannot wait to start on the next stage of the project!

Year 6 - 3/2/23

This week Year 6 have looked at a variety of programs that can be coded using block code.  They created motorised robots using Lego Spike Essentials first.  Then, they learnt how a variable can be used in a code to save time and make changes more efficient.  They did this by programming a person to draw on Hour of Code.  After that, they built on this knowledge by using a variety of variables to program a Picoh robot.  They looked at how to make algorithms more efficient and how you could use a variety of different algorithms to achieve the same goal.  You can see one of the amazing programs created below.  Two of the boys programmed the Picoh to sing and dance.

Year 6 - 27/1/23

Year 6 started their journey into robotics this week.  They were introduced to inputs, outputs and sensors.  They also learnt about how event handlers can start a chain of block code.  Their projects involved creating a snack serving bar.  They had to investigate how make the snack bar react in specific ways to specific events.  They then moves on to create their own version of 'Flappy Birds' by using a different type of block code.  The Year 6s knew that each block was a visual representation of a piece of written code and that computers need this code to fulfil their operations.  They also had an interesting debate about whether computers were actually 'clever' or whether this was down to their programming.  

Year 3 - 26/1/23

Year 3 continued our robotics journey this week.  They learnt how to create simple algorithms to accomplish specific goals.  The goal they were trying to achieve was to program a fast lane at a theme park.  The fast lane had to react to specific tickets in specific ways.  The children were able to program the fast lane successfully by carefully attaching picture based blocks to form a piece of block code.  As you can see from the pictures below, they had a fantastic time and were very successful!

Year 4 13/1/22

Year 4 kickstarted our journey into learning about robotics this week. They had a fantastic day learning about how algorithms are a precise set of instructions. They learnt about inputs, sensors and outputs as well as how block code can be used to represent an algorithm. To do this, they creating Lego robots that might be found at a theme park or fun fair. The children all commented on how much fun they had but also succeeded in problem solving and debugging some challenging code. You can see some pictures below.