Holidays

We usually work through the holidays; it means we can take breaks when it suits us the rest of the time ... however ... it's Christmas.

In the interests of honest reporting: we wrapped presents, saw friends, watched too much TV, ate sweets, played games and did absolutely no work whatsoever.

Happy Christmas!

PS The multi-coloured tree was not my doing. I went out for some final Christmas shopping, leaving a very classy all-white-lit tree in the safe hands of S & the boys. I came back to find it had been upgraded to a disco tree and the thing flashed a rainbow for the whole of Christmas.

Coding Magic

Coding skills are becoming increasingly important from KS1. The focus of ICT skills in the NC is firmly based in the process - the logical reasoning, sequencing and problem solving inherent in writing programs to accomplish a purpose.

Without Scratch, I was floundering a bit. We did some background work off-computer looking at flow charts, what 'IF' really means, and repeating actions but we needed something to demonstrate how it works for real.

Imagine my insane level of excitement to stumble across the Learn an Hour of Code initiative at code.org https://code.org/learn

This is one incredible resource. With a number of themes to choose from, it takes you through a simple set of challenges before letting you have free reign to create your own program. Seeking maximum engagement, we started off with a Minecraft challenge.

Starting with simple sequencing using command blocks, there are instructional videos interspersed to introduce repeat blocks and then if statements. Our hour came and went. The boys spent a further 3 hours coding various scenarios. The rest of the timetable went out of the window : they concentrated, planned, designed, built and tested. I only stopped them when it was tea time.

A particularly nice feature is that they can view the javascript behind the blocks. So what skills are key here? The logical reasoning is vital, the sequencing helps in all manner of cause and effect scenarios but for me it's the debugging where the gold lies. When something doesn't work like it should, the boys couldn't blame the computer or anything else. It's their code, whatever it's doing, it does it because they told it to do it.

It's a detail but I love the responsibility aspect. On a practical level, having to go back through to work out why something isn't doing what you expect, fix it and re-test (repeat, repeat, repeat) until it does what you want - it is a profound and powerful lesson in problem solving and tenacity.

And wow - what a peaceful afternoon for me.

Tied up in Knots

W has no patience with tasks requiring dexterity and co-ordination and I'm a massive wimp.

These two forces combined; we'd managed to get to size 3 shoes without ever having to teach W to tie laces.

I spent my days searching high and low for shoes relying solely on velcro. Every time we'd go past a shoe shop I'd just 'nip in' for a scan of the shelves, concluding it's surprisingly difficult to find older boy shoes without laces.

I wish that meant there was a gaping hole in the market and I was just days from Dragon's Den and a multi-million pound velcro shoe franchise. Sadly not. I have to conclude that most 8 year olds have parents who have patiently, calmly, with boundless love, taught them to tie a bow.

When I found a style which was both comfortable and lace-free I bought it in 3 sizes - a testament to my pessimism that we'd ever conquer this particular life skill - but we reached the end of the road and the end of my stock of velcro shoes. His trainers looked like - well, a boy's trainers really. Battered, muddy, with bits hanging off and the toe scraped to bits.It was time to face our lacey demons.

I spent 30 minutes watching YouTube instructional videos and cheering myself up reading the disproportionately angry/excited/rude comments left by other viewers. With a shoe on my lap and a bit of practice I could confidently demonstrate 3 possible methods and, feeling optimistic, we embarked on a lace tying lesson.

K can already do the bunny-round-the-tree method so he decided to try the speedy finger-spin method. Mastered, very proud and tying laces in 2 seconds. Tick.

W tried the 2 stage method, Fail.
A brief attempt at the finger-spin method ended in the same fashion - with a shoe being lobbed in frustration.
Deep breaths, one method to go.

Back to tradition, we made a loop-tree and sent the bunny round the tree. At this point, it kept going wrong and I was ready to throw a shoe again. Luckily, we'd watched the fantastic BBC documentary The Hunt this week, and watched the episode where Arctic foxes chase rabbits (actually it was hares I think, but I don't want to split them). So we added a fox into our method.

The end of the lace is the bunny. The fox is half way down the lace. The bunny runs round the tree, chased by the fox. But - hello! The fox is distracted by a baby bunny sat on your thumb nail! (The one holding the tree trunk.) The fox runs to the baby (*covers eyes*).... but - oh - what's this? The baby bunny is a plucky little thing and grabs the fox - running away with his prize. Phew. Two safe bunnies and one passable bow. Sorry, fox. You did not get kidnapped by a baby bunny in vain.

Ways to tie laces

2-stage method : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gm5ItoIJ4sg 

Finger spin method : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtKJOkiCiis

Bunny round the tree : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9tt7iI0VV8

For completeness, the bunny ears method : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsydRalh0ow