This is the full text of the 7th newsletter which I (Jo B) send to all London-based teachers on our subscription list. Teachers outside London get a shorter version with anything geographically irrelevant (ie things happening in London) removed, however during lockdown this is less clear. I also send a much shorter version to our international subscribers. Details in the text on how you can sign up if you’re reading this for the first time and would like to get the emailed version in future.
Dear colleagues
Welcome to Newsletter 7 (previous newsletters live here), the Lockdown Edition. During lockdown we’re converting lots of our puzzles and activities to ones that can be done at home without a printer. Many can be done with pen and paper, others on computers / tablets.
Please feel free to share this newsletter by forwarding it to colleagues in case they’d like to sign up too – new readers can sign up using the orange form on this page. You are receiving this email because you’ve previously signed up to the ‘TLC mailing list’ to hear about new courses and resources etc but if you no longer want to hear from us please let me know and I’ll remove you.
Best wishes Jo
Follow us on Twitter @cas_london_crc or @cs4fn.
1. [New] Family Newsletter – for parents and carers
We’re already in touch with lots of teacher subscribers but we want to reach parents and carers directly so that they can hear about our free computing resources as well. To that end we’re starting a new Family Newsletter – please let your friends know about this. People can sign up with an email address using the Google Form here, or bookmark this page (we’ll add links to the newsletters there for anyone who prefers not to give out email addresses) and there’s more explanation here.
2. Scalable Vector Graphics and programming images in SVG
Create and adapt vector drawings and puzzles while learning about data representation, mathematical scaling and the difference between bitmap images and vector images. No printer needed (though we do have printable options available) for most of these activities as they can be done on any device with a text editor (eg TextEdit for Macs or notepad.exe for Windows computers) and saved with the .svg file ending.
Start with Vector Drawing Puzzles and this Summer Dot-to-dot puzzle. Fans of heraldry can make their own shields and artists can explore the work of Wassily Kandinsky, Bridget Riley and Piet Mondrian.
3. Egyptians KS2 project
We have a range of resources for different age groups. Our Egypt Gods and Goddesses Word Search is a simple word search that also provides a way to introduce search algorithms. Similarly some sort of strategy is needed to fit all the words into this Egyptian kriss-kross puzzle (starting with the longest words and paying attention to the position of the letters in the other words). Both of these puzzles can be done on a computer or printed out (the word search could just be copied onto paper).
All activities in the Egyptians project can be accessed here : https://teachinglondoncomputing.org/egyptians/
4. Home Learning / Computing At Home
As mentioned in the introduction we’ve gathered together a selection of our activities for primary and secondary-aged students and are adding more items there regularly. On either page the activities that have been highlighted in yellow can be done without a printer.
Home Learning resources for Primary … …and Secondary students
We are also tweeting out our own new or adapted activities from the @cs4fn Twitter account and you’ll also find other resources on the #ComputingAtHome / #HomeLearning hashtags.
Other curated lists of computing-at-home activities
Computing At School (CAS) has a CAS Home Learning portal with links to a range of activities (subdivided into Primary, Secondary and Apps), Connecting with others, and Online Safety.
London Learning At Home – for those in London the Mayor’s London Curriculum team has launched a new platform to help people access resources to use at home, with a London flavour. Teaching London Computing’s primary and secondary pages are included (we have previously been funded by the Mayor of London’s ‘London Schools Excellence Fund’).
Teach Computing have a series of remote / online courses for teachers including support for primary and secondary teachers as well as home learning resources.
5. Paul Curzon talks / workshops – online
Prof Paul Curzon will be giving a series of free online talks via Zoom for teachers, dates to be confirmed.
The first talk will be on the Chocolate Turing Machine on Wednesday 13 May at 4.30pm UK time via Zoom. We’ll put some more information on this page about time / dates and registration and how to access Zoom (you can do so via a browser).
6. Intro to Primary Computing: CPD webinar for Primary Teachers
On Wednesday 13 May 2020 there is a free STEM webinar for primary teachers supported by the Mayor of London which “will explore the computing curriculum for Key Stage 1 and 2 in England and the support, resources and free CPD that is available for teachers and schools.” [More information] [Eventbrite link]
7. London History Day
Save the date – Sunday 31 May 2020 is London History Day and we have lots of computing-themed activities to do and things to read that relate to London’s history. For other subjects see the London Curriculum pages at the Mayor of London’s website.
You are receiving this email because you’ve subscribed to the Teaching London Computing newsletter. If you’d prefer not to receive this in future please let Jo (j.brodie@qmul.ac.uk) know. If a friend or colleague has forwarded this email to you and you’d like to sign up please visit this page to do so (the one you want for this newsletter is the orange form).
