This week I spent a lovely few days out at Pontyclun Primary visiting two year 6 classes on Tuesday and two year 5 classes on Thursday. Both days were wonderful.

On Tuesday, we were very lucky with the weather and were able to do both workshops outside. We had a fantastic time, and many pupils demonstrated a great enthusiasm for computer science. Pupils showed a fantastic understanding and were able to give me examples of different types of algorithms!

Thursday was also a great day with the year 5 classes. Pupils were EXTREMELY keen and I think we could have discussed computer science all day! There were a number of pupils who shared their ideas and lovely stories with me.

Thanks for a great few days Pontyclun! See you again!

Beth 🙂

What a fantastic day we had out at Melin Primary school on Friday the 21st of March. Although the weather was touch and go, it was great to be able to do some of the workshop outside.

I was really impressed with how well pupils’ were able to do the ‘sorting’ task, where we learned that computers sort data and information in a completely different way to us humans. This task allowed for us to practise many of our computational thinking skills such as problem solving, communication and teamwork. It was such a windy day we dropped a few of our number cards and it looked as if we were dancing when we tried to get them back again – it was very funny!

A successful day, with many pupils showing great promise in Computer Science.

I really hope to come out to Melin primary again soon!

Thanks for a great day 🙂

Beth

What a fantastic time I had out at Pen y Bont Primary. We had plenty of laughs and there were some definite computer scientists of the future in the room!

The weather was not great, but we still had plenty of fun in the hall!  The binary activity went down a storm and many pupils would not let the code defeat them.

Thanks for such a great welcome Pen y Bont Primary.

Beth 🙂

Yet another super day out at Grange Primary!

I was lucky enough to have assistance from Sarah Lewis on the visit. Sarah had never been out with me before, and was overwhelmed by how much the pupils enjoyed the activities. Pupils were also very enthusiastic!

We had full access to a beautiful hall all day. The pupils’ team work and communication skills were exceptional and we had plenty of laughs.

Mr Davies had kindly arranged for Sarah and I to have a lovely,  salad for our dinner, prepared by the cook. It was delicious! We will definitely be back!

A great day, full of excitement and laughs.

Thank you all at Grange Primary,

Beth 🙂

I had a fantastic time out at Ynysfach Primary on the 7th of February. Luckily, although it was cold, we were able to do some of the activities outside! We were able to enjoy the view of the mountains whilst we took part in our ‘Human Programming’ activity.

I received extra special treatment and Mr Morgan brought me some chips for my dinner. Everyone loves chips on a Friday!

The afternoon session was fantastic and pupils were really keen to share their ideas on future life and how they see technology evolving in the next coming years. I told the pupils that they were fantastic communicators, as there were hands popping up all over the place. Everyone was extremely keen to contribute to the lesson.

Another excellent day! Thanks Ynysfach Primary!

Bethan 🙂

What a lovely couple of days I had out at Maes yr Haul Primary on the 3rd and 5th of Feb.

On the 3rd of February, we were lucky that the rain held off and so we were able to do some of the activities outside! We nearly got blown away and the equipment did not stay still for long, but we enjoyed and the atmosphere just added to the fun we were having.

I was really impressed with the enthusiasm and concentration that every single pupil demonstrated, and we shared some lovely stories.

We discussed in depth how technology has changed the way we live. One year 5 pupil explained to me that when her father was a little boy, back in the day when there were black and white televisions, he used to struggle to watch the snooker! We all laughed at the thought.

On my second visit on the 5th of February, we weren’t quite so lucky with the weather as surprise surprise, it was raining! However we still had lots of fun, and did a few extra activities in the classroom. Pupils were fantastic at completing the ‘Treasure Hunt’ activity and wrote some fantastic instructions, as well as peer assessing their partners work and de-bugging any errors. Pupils also had lots of fun learning about pixels and how images are represented by lots of tiny pixels. We did a task where pupils had to follow a code, and colour in certain squares on a grid to create an image. It was fascinating!

Lots went on at Maes yr Haul, it was a fun filled day.

Thanks for your warm welcome Maes yr Haul!

Beth 🙂