At All Saints’ we have invested heavily in developing our Digital Technologies .
Each classroom has an Interactive Whiteboard .We have a fabulous computer classroom equipped with 30 PCs. We have invested in increasing our quantity of tablets, chrome books, purchased several sets of Bee Bots and Lego We Do sets.
Middle and Senior Classes have been engaged in developing their coding skills ,all of which further develops their analytical and problem solving skills.
Junior classes use the tablets to reinforce their literacy and numeracy learning.
===========================================================================
Coding in 5th class
The BBC micro:bit is a pocket sized programmable microcontroller designed for education to help beginners learn coding and electronics . About half the size of a credit card, it features a 5×5 LED grid, buttons, sensors (motion, light, temperature), and Bluetooth/radio connectivity, making it ideal for creating interactive games, robots, and digital devices.
Pupils in 5th class engaged in microbit coding activities using the microbit make code website which provides a more practical and enjoyable coding experience for the pupils.
Coding in Senior Infants and First Class
Senior Infants and First Class pupils enjoyed learning the basics of coding using Bee-Bots, developing their early computational thinking in a fun and engaging way. The children programmed the Bee-Bots to move forwards, backwards, and turn, helping them understand simple sequences and directions. This activity was integrated with literacy by encouraging pupils to give and follow clear oral instructions and to use positional language such as “forward,” “left,” and “right.” Numeracy skills were also reinforced as the children counted steps, estimated distances, and solved simple problems while planning routes on the mat. Through hands-on exploration and teamwork, the pupils developed problem-solving skills, logical thinking, and confidence with early coding concepts.
Children were tasked with planning directions to get the Beebot from one square to another in 8 different activities. On one station they built a maze and recorded their code to escape the maze. On another station they had to find some treasure and on others they had to travel following directions given by their class mates. They learned to program the Beebot and how to direct others to follow instructions.
