From Earth and Beyond!

The past couple of weeks have been all about Science, Geography and Dance.

Staff of the CLC visited Calthorpe School to help with a dance project they are doing. Initially pupils were filmed while playing out various dance routines to create a movie which will be edited at a later date. All pupils participated enthusiastically and gave brilliant performances.

Also St Edmunds Primary School attended two days of Astronaut Training sessions, where the pupils of years 5 and 6 ran through various activities to understand what life would be like living in space. They ran through both mental and physical challenges which included learning how to make rockets and space food tasting. Rockets where launched and the one which went furthest determined a winner who recieved a certificate. Pupils worked really hard and produced some good rockets.

Al-Hijrah Secondary school attended Geography sessions in which pupils of year 8 created powerpoint presentations on predicting the weather forecast for the week. Interpreting raw data from UK weather reports, the pupils completed various maps and charts which were then used in a Green Screen filming session. Pupils in pairs of two where filmed using their presentation to create a Weather account for TV. The pupils produced some excellent videos.

Next week the CLC will run more Space day sessions this time with Al-Hijrah years 7, 8, and 9 pupils and also continue collaborating with Calthorpe school on their dance project.

Parkview City Learning Centre

This week the CLC ran several sessions concentrating on the Maths curricullum; also, two CPD days concentrating on using ICT in the classroom for use in a wide range of subjects.

Pupils from Al-Hijrah visited on two days to attend Maths in Movement. These morning sessions enhanced pupils estimation skills for calculating distance . By obtaining the circumference of two different sized wheels, pupils had to manouvere around challenge boards accurately programming their robots to reach a specific destination.
Also Yardleys Secondary School attended a Maths in Motion session in which pupils had to program a virtual racing car to run laps round the Silverstone race track. Firstly by measuring all the straight lines and angles accurately, the pupils then had to calculate percentages using the information they had obtained. Finally allowing them to race their cars against each other to show a winner. All the pupils worked really hard and achieved their set objectives.
Also this week, the CLC ran two days for CPD sessions for using ICT in the classroom. One day was aimed at Teaching Assisstants and the other was for History teachers from various network schools. Both days attendees learnt how they could utilise various software in the their lessons. These days proved to be very successful.

Rockets Rock It!

Last week the City Learning Centre ran several INSET sessions for our Network school education providers. Different courses were run throughout the week ranging from TA resources to music and movie making sessions for teachers. Each session gave the attendees the opportunity to try out various software that could be used in the classroom to enhance teaching. Garageband CPD allowed music teachers to record, edit and create works of music which was burned to dvd for them.

After each session the teachers and TA's were awarded completion certificates for their keeping.
Also, Small Heath Secondary School attended some Maths in Movement and Maths in Motion sessions, in which the pupils of year 9 enjoyed completing various tasks and activities like programming NXT robots accurately using the circumference of a wheel; and tuning car engines to run fast around long straight roads or slow on tight bends using percetange and angle calculations. Each pupil worked well in their groups and produced some excellent work.
This week Calthorpe School, enjoyed the company of our staff to run sessions of Rocketry on site of their school. Calthorpe incorporated our sessions into their Space week theme in which several pupils designed and built their own rockets with the help of staff. These rockets were then launched both indoors and outside to see which rocket would go the farthest. Pupils participated with enthusiam and enjoyed taking their rockets home.

Also this week year 8 pupils of Waverley Secondary School attended a session on Movie making using istop cameras, green screen facilities and imovie software to create a news report based on the story of Romeo and Juliet.

Each pupil worked collaborately within their group to write scripts, roleplay act, record, add sound and edit their movie which was then burned on a DVD for their viewing. All the pupils participated with different ideas and produced some excellent work.

Up To Now!

Welcome back from a well deserved half term break, here's a recap of what sessions we ran at Parkview City Learning Centre in the past few weeks.

Just before we broke up, the CLC had a busy week running sessions which included various curriculum topics such as Science, English, Maths and ICT. We had pupils from various network schools visiting the clc to participate in learning via a more practical approach.

For example at a Forensic session, which was run for the Central Colegiate, seven secondary schools joined together bringing four to five pupils from each school to work on activities in solving a crime. Pupils ranged from years 7, 8 and 9. This session gave pupils the opportunity to work as part of a team which included a mix from all the schools. Everyone worked well together producing some excellent work.

Also, Waverley Secondary School attended an English session using the Green Screening facility to create a news report about their school. This involved the pupils acting out a script where an interview was taking place. This was recorded using imovie to generate and edit their own video clip. Pupils enjoyed the session and worked really hard.

At St Albans school the staff of the CLC participated in a ICT Super Learning Day by showing pupils how to create a game using Mission Maker. Mission Maker enables pupils to design a 3D game which allows the player to move around various hallways, pick up objects, open doors and various other operations. Each game designed by the pupils was impressive.

Yardley Secondary School attending some sessions with year 7 pupils for Mathematics. The session which uses a Maths in Motion software allows each pupils to calculate averages and circumferences and other maths calculations which are needed to programme a computerised racing car effectively. The car is then run in a challenge for which certificates were handed out to the winner. This is an enjoyable session which kept the pupils involved.

This week the final session of an Art project for Bordesly Green Girls School was run. All pupils created some excellent art work using a graphic tablet and pen.

Parlez, Lisez et Écrivez le Français

Last week Bordesley Green Girls School took part in a session on developing linguistic competence in a language. The pupils developed the skills of speaking, listening and writing French in a range of situations and contexts. Curriculum based themes were chosen like 'Myself' including hobbies, friends, school and my town.

Writing French
Pupils took pictures with a digital camera and placed them strategically in a comic format using comic life, outlining information about themselves in french. They worked individually and showed edited results to teachers and peers.

Speaking and Listening
Pupils also created a vodcast (video podcast) using photostory to highlight information about their school and town.

Creating a Webpage
Using Google Sites, pupils created a webpage, to which they uploaded their comics and vodcasts to share with teachers, peers and parents. Pupils showed great enthusiasm in learning new skills like using a digital camera, creating webpages and vodcasts also working collaborately on a project.

Also Last week the City Learning Centre ran a session on Forensics, where pupils from Holy Trinity year 11 class investigated and analysed a crime scene.

Books, Radio and More.

Parkview Secondary School visited us last week to take part in an English Book Club Project. The Year 7 pupils had to read the fiction book 'Coraline' and create their own version of events that took place in the book.
Using Photoshop and Comic Life, the pupils created a presentation based on the events of the book. Using shots taken on a digital camera, the children manipulated pictures from the graphic novel to included themselves into the presentation. Then using Comic Life they created a visual page which depicted their own version. Pupils produced brilliant work which will be put forward for the KS3 Chills Book Award 2008. Good luck to them.

Also, last week the fictitious Mr Mooney was resurrected when the CLC transformed into a Forensics Crime Scene. Pupils from Holy Trinity year 11 ran through several scientific tests to identify a murder suspect from a given scenerio. The children enjoyed themselves and showed some good understanding.

This week Photoshop CPD sessions were run for teachers at Parkview Secondary School, giving them basic knowledge of how to use Photoshop in their classroom.

Also, St Saviours year 6 pupils attended sessions on Podcasting and how to create a radio broadcast on Theme Parks. Given an example the children were shown how to effectively get their point across using key words and different voice makeovers. The children came up with some briliiant work.

In The Mix

Last week has been very busy for the CLC, with a variety of sessions having taken place. Small Heath School attended to take part in our Maths in Movement class where pupils did maths challendes to work out circumferences and averages of different sized wheels using NXT Robots. The pupils enjoyed the challenge and completed every task with confidence.

Also, last week Al-Hijra Secondary school attended on several days to take part in Programming Lego NXT challenges, Podcasting - creating a radio broadcast and Website building.

Using google pages the pupils were given their own login and password to create a website based on their personnal interest. They then had step by step guidance on how to add new features and colours to enhance the look of it. The pupils produced some very good work.

Also, Moseley School were given the opportunity to try out handheld learning equipment which could be incorporated into their MFL classes. The outcome will be updated later this month.