Wednesday

Ooops, just realised I didn't post a blog this morning.  Apologies to my regulars who came in expecting a rambly read and didn't get one.  As the term closes I am getting more and more forgetful!

It was wet and miserable this morning and the children arrived in macs and wellies with brollies in some cases.  This afternoon it was gloriously sunny and it's quite humid now.  It feels almost thundery and, in a way, a good storm would clear the air, as long as it doesn't soak the field too much.  School Sports is still on tomorrow, fingers crossed and weather permitting.

We did have fun today.  I introduced them to Beebot, a cute little programmable robot bumblebee who goes forward and backward, turns left and right and beeps merrily as he does so.  We learned how to tell left from right:  hold your hands up in front of you, nails showing.  If you can see an 'L' it is left and if you can see a tick, it's right (a tick means you got it right - geddit?).  Well, it seemed to work pretty well and we were all doing turns left and right for all we were worth.  Then on to writing instructions for programming Beebot and a lot more fun.  And finally this afternoon they worked in twos, learning though experimentation as they 'played' with Beebot.  It was lovely.  And the others had structured activities and kept finding ways to make things that turned.  Super, and how it should often be in year 1 - a comfortable mixture of the formal and the investigative.

And here he is - Beebot.  Isn't he cute?



And, looking for the above picture, I've just found a lovely idea for making a Beebot jacket that will convert him into something else - a police car, Elmer, a ladybird, etc.  I've printed off the outline and will keep it for a nice, not too difficult, end of year activity during the last week.  Excellent!

Teaching is rarely boring!  It's a great job.