The penultimate week in school

This week in school, I have been using ICT much more in my lessons, though it seems that the school doesn't actually timetable ICT into the week. So, I have had children finding out information on the Great Fire of London using CD-Roms and computer programs, I have created interactive slideshows for maths and literacy lessons, used the ActivPrimary program for the Promethean Whiteboard, and I have shown DVDs and videos in lessons.

I have found powerpoint to be a really useful tool for making simple but effective presentations to help children visualise 2D shapes for example and also in a lesson on alphabetical order. Even though the animations etc are fairly simple in comparison to the capability of the IWB, the children enjoy seeing words zip in and out of the screen, shrink and grow, and change colour.

Working with a year 2 class, I haven't been able to introduce things like discussion boards, blogs, wikis and other web-based ICT, but I am sure there is a time and place for that. In my classroom, the children are all very capable when it comes to finding their way around the computers; there are quite often queues for the computers during choosing time in the afternoon! However, I do not know what level the children are at in terms of ability to use MSOffice programs, for example. At the moment they seem to be working with slightly child-friendly, primary versions of Word and Excel, which is great. In fact, it's probably better than showing them the decidedly business-like Microsoft software anyway. Their time will come!