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Category: Digitech Posts

Lego Engineering Lessons

Lego Engineering Lessons

This term in Digitech the students in years 3 and 4 have been participating in our Lego Engineering Program. The program helps to develop the students’ skills and knowledge in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) whilst building a variety of models such as a catapult, racing car, pantograph and carousel. During these lessons we learn about some of the different forces that help these machines work and students work with a partner to follow a series of instructions in order to build the model. We also look for ways to innovate our designs to help them to go faster, safer or work  with greater accuracy.

These sessions will continue throughout this year with the students in years 5 and 6 participating in the program next term.

Here are some pictures of our students working during our Lego Engineering lessons.

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Minecraft Club

Minecraft Club

Ever since our Year 6 Digitech leaders began their leadership roles they have really wanted to organise a Minecraft Club for the students in our school. Unfortunately, due to COVID we have been unable to conduct our Minecraft Club until this week.

Some students in Years 2, 3 and 4 have been given the opportunity to participate in our Minecraft Club where they are learning to use a variety of the tools and skills used in this program. This club takes place during lunchtimes on Wednesdays and Fridays. Our Minecraft Club will continue until the end of the year.

Next year we are hoping to continue our Minecraft Club with our new Digitech leaders as well as to begin a Minecraft Club with a new set of students.

A big thank you to our Year 6 Digitech leaders for all of their efforts in helping to get this club up and running for our students.

Here are a few of our students in action during a recent Minecraft Club session.

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Prep Photography in Digitech

Prep Photography in Digitech

This term in Digitech the students have been working hard learning about taking different types of photos. Some of the different photos that they took included a full body photo, head and shoulders, background, action, selfie and group shot. They then put these into a Google Doc and uses some of the features in this program to create a poster.

Everyone (students, parents and even the Digitech teacher) learnt a lot  of new skills during this unit and I am very thankful to everyone for their wonderful support.

Here are a selection of a few of Prep Blue’s posters …….

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Google Meet Timetable

Google Meet Timetable

Welcome back everyone to term 3 and to remote learning 2.0. I hope everyone had an enjoyable school holiday break and are refreshed for another great term of learning.

Below is the Google Meet Timetable for classes (including Specialist Google Meets). As you will notice the times for class Google Meets should be the same each day.

There is also a specialist Google Meet time for each class during the week where you will to some learning with the Specialist teachers at the allocated time. It is important to remember that no matter what specialist lesson you have it will always be the same code, You will also stay on your Google Meet throughout the session and your specialist teachers will swap over half way through the session. Most class teachers will explain how to access their specialist Google Meet but here is a quick summary …..

6 Yellow & 6 Blue enter the code …… year6
5 Yellow & 5 Blue enter the code …… year5
4 Yellow & 4 Blue enter the code …… year4
3 Yellow & 3 Blue enter the code …… year3
2 Yellow & 2 Blue enter the code …… year2
1 Yellow & 1 Blue enter the code …… year1
Prep Blue enter the code ……  prepb
Prep Yellow enter the code ……  prepy
Below is video explaining how to access Google Meets – both class and specialist meets.
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Minecraft Club for the Students in Years 2 and 3!

Minecraft Club for the Students in Years 2 and 3!

The Grade 6 Digitech leaders leaders have some exciting news for students in Year 2 and 3.

We will be helping to run a Minecraft Club for students in Grade 2s and 3s (who haven’t participated before). We have been working hard in lunchtime sessions to help set things up and I am sure the students who participate in these sessions will learn lots of new skills as well as having a lot of fun.

Information for our new Minecraft club will be sent out in a letter shortly after the holidays.

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Online Typing Programs

Online Typing Programs

Currently, with a higher focus on using devices to help support our learning from home the ability to be able to efficiently type the correct letters on the keyboard is a skill that all students need more than ever. All students have the opportunity to participate in an online learning program.

The Prep students are encouraged to use BBC typing. This can be accessed from the Student Portal or be clicking on the following link bit.ly/3fCGeGV. Students don’t need any logon details to access this program but the program.

The students in year 1 to 3 use typing tournament. The students again access this from the Student Portal and the students have their own logon details on the computer cards. In this program the students undertake a series of different ‘missions.’ Once the student completes these missions they get the chance to sit a typing test where the aim is to type as accurately as possible at a certain speed limit (wpm or words per minute). Once the student reaches this goal they get a picture on their map and go to the next level.

There are a number of students doing amazing things in this program but one class worth noting is 3 Blue who are coming along well in their touch typing skills.  As you can see many students who are progressing through the levels as evidenced with the ticks.

Here are a few of our Prep and Year 1 students developing their touch typing skills during our term 1 Digitech sessions ……

The students in years 4 to 6 practise their touch typing skills using typing.com which again can be accessed from the Student Portal.  The students use the Login with Google option when logging into this program. In this program the students use a combination of accuracy and speed to progress through the levels. This was the achievements of a couple of our great touch typers using this program recently ….

Developing our keyboarding skills is necessary skill for all students growing up in the 21st Century, I would encourage all students to spend even 5 to 10 minutes a day developing their touch typing skills by participating in one of these engaging programs. They will reap the benefits of this practise in the future.

Overall, I would like to thank everyone for their hard work during our home learning program and look forward to seeing your happy faces when we return soon.

Keep up the great typing!

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Google Meet Timetable & Demo Video (using the app)

Google Meet Timetable & Demo Video (using the app)

Hi everyone,

Here is this week’s Google Meet timetable for whole class sessions.

In addition to whole class Google Meets some students may have smaller group sessions as well and may be asked to use the Google Meet app to enter their session. If you are asked to enter a special code or meeting name you may need to check in your emails for what the code is. This video may assist you with how to use the Google Meet app to do this ……

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How to Update your Google Chrome Browser

How to Update your Google Chrome Browser

Hi everyone,

The way our school Google accounts functions is mainly set up from the Holy Trinity Google Admin. Functions such as password resetting, enabling particular apps to work or ensuring that the battery life of the device is maximised by making sure it is only used during school hours are functions that our Google Admin has set up.

Below is a video that you and your children should watch to ensure that everyone knows how to make the Google Chrome properly update itself and take on the functions set up by the school. This is particularly useful for laptops and Chromebooks.

The best way to ensure that your device works to the its full potential is to shut it down each day because by doing this it not only gets to rest but will also update and take on any new settings.

How to Access Google Meet

How to Access Google Meet

Hi everyone,

Here is a short video with how your child can access Google Meet sessions from their Google Classroom. All whole class sessions (except the Prep Level) will be eventually accessed from the Google Classroom via the link on the page.

Thanks to Mrs. Wahrenberger for putting this informative video together.

Welcome to Week 2 of our Home Learning Program

Welcome to Week 2 of our Home Learning Program

Hi families,

I hope everyone had a restful weekend and are ready for another big week of learning. Hopefully, a couple of these might bring a smile to your face as you prepare for another week of learning from home.

Below this post is each year level’s lesson structure for this week. As you get started for this week ahead please keep in mind to allow time to be active. Below this post is one from Mrs. Harrison about a great little activity you can do with your family when outside enjoying the beautiful autumn sun. Please feel free to share any photos or videos of these activities with Mrs. Harrison at sharrison@htws.catholic.edu.au. I will also put together a photo gallery of some of your activities so if you would like to also share these with me at smullavey@htws.catholic.edu.au I will endeavour to upload these photos onto the school blog.

Thank you and enjoy week two of our home learning program.

Google Meet Timetable

Google Meet Timetable

Hi everyone. With the first week of our home learning almost completed here is our Google Meet timetable for everyone to refer to for Week 2. Google Meet is our videoing platform for students to connect with their teachers and classmates.

Try to remember the following guidelines each time you participate in a Google Meet session …..

  1. Suitable clothing.
  2. Suitable backdrop. Open learning space (not in your bedroom) and ‘interruption free’ during the session.
  3. Be on time. Open up the Google Meet link and have everything ready 10 minutes beforehand.
  4. Microphone on mute. Turn this on red unless you are speaking.
  5. Keep our Digitech Rules eg. think before you post (or speak).

Please note that whilst we try to keep to these times as much as possible that our Google Meet timetable is subject to change. Any changes to the timetable will automatically update on this page once you have refreshed the blog page. This timetable can always be accessed via the Student Portal (just look under the Announcement section of this webpage).

Emailing Guidelines for Everyone at HT

Emailing Guidelines for Everyone at HT

Hi everyone,

With most of us sending a lot more emails since we began our ‘learning from home’ program it is easy to forget that when we are sending an email it is just like sending a letter in an envelope like they used to do many centuries ago ….. Actually only 20 years ago letter sending was still the most popular way of communicating to others.

In addition, we often learn about the importance of using your manners when you speak to others such as please, waiting your turn and speaking to others in a calm manner. So too, is it just as important to use your manners when sending an email. For this reason we have some important guidelines that all people in our community are expected to keep.  These include making sure you write each email with a subject, using an appropriate welcome such as ‘How are you going today?” and making sure you finish the email with some kind of farewell such as ‘Thank you for your time.’

Finally, we all recognise the importance of walking away from our devices and having some non screen time as well and hence no emails are to be sent to others before 7am and after 9pm. If an email must be sent outside of these hours some people may choose to use the schedule send option where you can time it so that receiver gets this email at a better time such as 9am the next morning.

Here is the document that we revisit in Digitech sessions each year for everyone to refer to. Thanks for all the wonderful efforts with your learning  already and keep up the great work!

Photos of our first day of Learning from Home

Photos of our first day of Learning from Home

Hi everyone,

One day down without hopefully too many meltdowns or technical issues. Thankfully, we all survived and we lived to share the story. Thanks to all the families who shared their photos from during the day. If only we could have a similar document for how the parents looked at the end of the day. …..

Feel free to keep sending your photos in to me at smullavey@htws.catholic.edu.au and I will update this document as they come through.

Cheers and keep up the great work!

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Home Learning is ‘up and running’

Home Learning is ‘up and running’

Hi everyone,

Welcome to term 2 – a completely new way of learning from outside the four walls of the school classroom. Today is a ‘settling in’ day like most of us would normally do for a new term. Our parents (who are also our first teachers) may need some guidance during the day as many of them have not been to primary school since the dinosaurs roamed the Earth (well maybe not that long).

Today, here is a simple activity for all parents to try to do sometime during today’s day of learning. I would like parents to take a picture of their child/ren completing some of their learning. It may be of them working at a desk, practising some meditation skills, watching a video that their teacher has shared with them or having a brain break doing one of Mrs. Harrison’s fantastic PE exercises.

I then would like parents to send this photo to their class teacher as a quick way of touching base with them. Class teachers may not necessarily reply to these emails as they will be teaching throughout the day but it is a nice way to show them that your child is engaged in our home learning program. I would love to put some of these photos onto the school blog as well so if you give permission for me to post a photo of your child/ren please CC me in on the email to the class teacher. My email address is smullavey@htws.catholic.edu.au

Please also note that the Prep to Year 2 online program will begin after the students have made their way through the pack that was provided at the end of last term.

Below is a list of all teaching staff’s email addresses for your reference.

Cheers and have a great day with your beautiful families.

Welcome to Google Meet Video Conferencing

Welcome to Google Meet Video Conferencing

Over the coming days and weeks one of the applications the students will learn to use in our remote online learning program is Google Meet. Google Meet is a video platform much like some of the other platforms you may be familiar with such as Zoom, Facetime or Skype. The reason we choose to use Google Meet at Holy Trinity to support our learning from home is it connects directly to our Google accounts. It is a great way of touching base with your class during this difficult time where we can not be with our classmates.

Below is a bit of a video to how to use Google Meet. Thanks to my lovely family for your patience as I filmed this video.

HT preparing for online learning at home

HT preparing for online learning at home

With a sudden ending to the term, all of HT has been preparing for a new world of learning that may be taking place at the beginning of next term. We explored how programs such as Google Classroom, Screencastify and Google Meet could be used to help support the teachers with their online lessons. In addition, we will continue to encourage students to use online programs such as Mathletics, Essential Assessment, Literacy Planet and Reading Eggs because these programs are based around the Victorian Curriculum and the students are already familiar with using them.

Next term we will continue to use our school blog as an ongoing means of communicating what the students are learning. Keep a regular look out for new posts and don’t be afraid to share your thoughts via the comments section as it only take a couple of minutes.

Here is the teachers hard at work this week (ensuring that we are keeping social distancing) ……

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Google Hangouts (Meet)

Google Hangouts (Meet)

Yesterday, my class (4 Blue) were lucky enough to try out Google Hangouts (Meet). Google Hangouts is a bit like Skype or FaceTime which is connected to our school Google accounts and is a way to chat to others via video.  The reason we tried this is this is a way that teachers are going to connect with the students in their class if the school needs to close and we learn from home.

Yesterday Mrs Jamieson invited different students from 4 Blue to join as well as Mr. Mullavey to test out how well this program works. My class was really excited to try it and and thought it was cool how we were still able to connect with others even if we were not all in the same room together.

Here is a photo of us during our Hangout session yesterday……

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What’s new in Digitech in 2020?

What’s new in Digitech in 2020?

In 2020 there are some big changes in the technology we can use at HT. We have new computers along the wall in the Tech Lab as well as new keyboards and mice. These computers work a lot quicker so that every computer is a lot more reliable. In addition, every student in years 3 to 6 can use their own chromebook in class to support their learning (whereas in the past classes needed to share chromebooks) and for the first time the students in year 2 will have the opportunity to share a set of chromebooks between their classes as well. Every classroom has their own interactive television which is a great way to share our learning together and teachers plan together using their Microsoft Pro laptops. This shows how lucky we are to be students at Holy Trinity & St. Mary’s in 2020.

The Digitech leaders for 2020 should hopefully have some exciting news to share with some of the projects we plan to do with the students during the year. Stay tuned!!!

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