** Updated for Scratch version 3.** Click here for a full listing of all my Scratch Projects In this project, based on Flappy Birds, the player has to navigate an octopus through waves of hungry sharks. There are so many really great sites offering Scratch Project ideas. However, many tend to be like recipes - follow the instructions and you’ll create a cake. The problem I find is that the students almost mechanically enter code and create “delicious cakes”, but without learning an awful lot about Scratch. My goal is to get students to create a fun project, whilst at the same time learn how the instructions work and fit together. To this end, I use the following approach: break the project down into manageable chunks present students with an algorithm for each chunk provide students with the instructions for each algorithm, but jumbled up In this way, students learn about algorithms (a VERY important part of coding), and have to understand the instructions in order to sequence them to correctly match the algorithm. The lessons comprise: a PowerPoint with introductory slides, together with the project instructions a Word document with the PowerPoint instruction slides printed 2 to a page as a handout for students to follow accompanying fully-working Scratch project files for teachers that match each chunk of the project Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions, and a BIG BIG thanks for looking (as a full time practicing teacher, I KNOW how time consuming this process can be). ALL my postings are FULLY “classroom-tested” - before I publish, my lessons are tested by both myself and colleagues, rigorously evaluated and discussed, and continually updated to maximise their effectiveness. But there is always the possibility of error and room for improvement, so do please provide constructive feedback. Teacher/Author: Barrie James Search words: scratch, computer, programming, coding, algorithm

The ever expanding CodeClub first promoted Scratch, and I loved it – creating and successfully delivering a range of lessons for Junior students. Code Club is now promoting Blender and I think I love it even more! I’ve created and delivered a series of lessons for Junior students this year, and the response was overwhelming. Students loved learning about 3D graphics and went on to produce some amazing creations of their own. While I thought it might be too advanced, students as young as 8 have grasped and loved using it. 3D GRAPHICS REALLY IS A USEFUL SKILL FOR THE DIGITAL FUTURE. The lessons assume absolutely no knowledge and build up in a gradual way Lessons 1-2 (FREE) What is Blender The Blender interface Navigating the 3D view port Lessons 3-5 Transforming objects Creating, selecting and duplicating objects Project: create a snowman Lessons 6-9 Rendering, colours and lighting Editing objects Project: create a donut Lessons 10-13 3D Text Box modelling - extruding, loop cuts, insets, bevels Project: create a Treasure Chest Lessons 14-15 Animations using Timeframes Animations using Rigid Bodies Each lesson is delivered via an animated PowerPoint with an accompanying Workbook, and follows a similar format: A short video to inspire (embedded in the PowerPoint) Explanations about any new concepts and skills A demo of what will be covered (Blender demo files included) Working together trying out these new concepts and skills (Workbook and Blender exercise files are provided) Free exploration A project bringing it all together (a finished Blender file is provided) Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions, and a BIG BIG thanks for looking (as a full time practicing teacher, I KNOW how time consuming this process can be). ALL my postings are FULLY “classroom-tested” - before I publish, my lessons are tested by both myself and colleagues, rigorously evaluated and discussed, and continually updated to maximise their effectiveness. But there is always the possibility of error and room for improvement, so do please provide constructive feedback.

Click here for a full listing of all my Scratch Projects In this project, students create a toy bear, using sprites to simulate “touch pads” -making the bear smile, blink, change colour, etc. Enhancements include using the keyboard instead of sprites, and adding sound. There are many sites offering Scratch Projects. However, many tend to be like recipes - students almost mechanically enter code and create “delicious cakes”, without learning a lot about Scratch. My goal is to get students to create a fun project, and at the same time learn how the instructions work and fit together. I use the following approach: - break the project into manageable chunks - present “pseudo-code” for each chunk - provide the Scratch commands to implement the pseudo-code, but jumbled up In this way, students learn about pseudo-code (an important part of coding), and have to understand the Scratch instructions in order to sequence them correctly to match the pseudo-code. The lessons comprise: 1. a PowerPoint with instructions 2. a Word document with the instruction slides printed 2 to a page as a handout 3. accompanying Scratch files for teachers that match each stage of the project ALL my postings are FULLY “classroom-tested”, and continually updated. But there is always the possibility of error and room for improvement, so please provide constructive feedback.

Paint .NET is image and photo editing software that features an intuitive and innovative user interface with support for layers, unlimited undo, special effects, and a wide variety of useful and powerful tools. My view…in the era of digital photography, every photo taken should be seen as a “draft” to be edited (or deleted!). These 3 lessons for absolute beginners look at what is paint .net and photo editing selecting and cropping colouring and recolouring image effects image adjustments correcting image exposure using curves and levels The lessons comprise: a fully animated PowerPoint with explanatory slides and tasks images files to match the tasks Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions, and a BIG BIG thanks for looking (as a full time practising teacher, I KNOW how time consuming this process can be). ALL my postings are FULLY “classroom-tested” - before I publish, my lessons are tested by both myself and colleagues, rigorously evaluated and discussed, and continually updated to maximise their effectiveness. But there is always the possibility of error and room for improvement, so do please provide constructive feedback.

Computers did not just drop out of the sky - real people came up with the ideas and created what we have today! The series of 3 lessons tries to make these pioneers real, and focuses on people such as Leibniz, Jacquard, Babbage, Ada Lovelace, Alan Turing, Tim Berners-Lee, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Page and Brin, Jeff Bezos, and more… They cover topics such as binary numbers, early computers, the internet, the World Wide Web, Apple, Microsoft, Quantum computers, Amazon, Ebay, Google, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok Each lesson comprises: a fully animated PowerPoint loads of embedded videos (can be extracted if required) fun worksheets Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions, and a BIG BIG thanks for looking (as a full time practising teacher, I KNOW how time consuming this process can be). ALL my postings are FULLY “classroom-tested” - before I publish, my lessons are tested by both myself and colleagues, rigorously evaluated and discussed, and continually updated to maximise their effectiveness. But there is always the possibility of error and room for improvement, so do please provide constructive feedback. Teacher/Author: Barrie James Search words: computer pioneer history Leibniz Jacquard Babbage Ada Lovelace Alan Turing Tim Berners-Lee Steve Jobs Bill Gates Page Brin Jeff Bezos google amazon apple microsoft internet world wide web www

Flowol 4 allows students of all ages to develop logical reasoning and problem solving talents, develop programming skills and explore the world of automatic, autonomous systems and robots. This series of 3 one-hour lessons for absolute beginners looks at what is control technology using Flowol to control simple mimics using Flowol to control mimics with decisions and numerical inputs Each lesson comprises: a fully animated PowerPoint with explanatory slides inspiring embedded videos worksheets and self-evaluation files Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions, and a BIG BIG thanks for looking (as a full time practising teacher, I KNOW how time consuming this process can be). ALL my postings are FULLY “classroom-tested” - before I publish, my lessons are tested by both myself and colleagues, rigorously evaluated and discussed, and continually updated to maximise their effectiveness. But there is always the possibility of error and room for improvement, so do please provide constructive feedback.

The entire series of lessons on Micro-organisms provides enough material for over 10 one-hour lessons, but you can be selective. (bundle available) The series covers: Introduction to Micro-organisms The Microscope and Microscope Art Bacteria, The Immune System and Antibiotics Viruses, Vaccines and Virus Art Fungi & Fungi Art Additional misc. activities The 5-star rated lessons have proven extremely popular with both teachers and students and comprise: self-contained PowerPoint lessons packed with thought provoking material lots of painstakingly selected, embedded videos (if you need to detach the videos, see here) Worksheets (with answers) in Word providing individual and class activities. Note that there is no Preview File to download. Instead, Session 1 (Introduction) is FREE to give you a feel for the material - you won’t be disappointed. Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions, and a BIG BIG thanks for looking (as a full time practicing teacher, I KNOW how time consuming this process can be). ALL my postings are FULLY “classroom-tested” - before I publish, my lessons are tested by both myself and colleagues, rigorously evaluated and discussed, and continually updated to maximize their effectiveness. But there is always the possibility of error and room for improvement, so do please provide constructive feedback. Teacher/Author: Barrie James Search words: quarantine, vaccinate, pasteurisation, germ, antibiotic, inoculate, immune, yeast, immunize, pathogen, inhalation, microbe, virus, bacteria, fungus, organism, disease, microscope, electron, contaminate, epidemic, pandemic, electron, light, metric, lens, convex, concave, optical, symbiotic, exponential, infectious, infect, antiseptic, plaque, toxin, toxic, compost, mucus membrane, quarantine, vaccinate, pasteurization, germ, antibiotic, inoculate, immune, yeast, immunize, pathogen, inhale, habitat, spore, parasite, mushroom, toadstool, species, volva, gills, mycelium, disperse, mould, mildew

The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. The World Wide Web, commonly known as the Web, is an information system where documents and other web resources are identified by Uniform Resource Locators, which may be interlinked by hyperlinks, and are accessible over the Internet. (wikipedia definitions) This is a series of 60 minute lessons that will give students (and often, teachers) a much greater understanding of what the internet is, how it works, what the World Wide Web is (no, it is not the internet) and creating web pages using HTML. Each lesson comprises: 1 a fully animated PowerPoint with explanatory slides 2 loads of embedded videos (can be extracted if required) 3 worksheets and self-evaluation files plus a Kahoot! Quiz The lesson objectives are: understand what the Internet is understand how the Internet works understand what the World Wide Web is understand web pages and HTML In addition, there are a series of lessons that look at what a web page is, how HTML works, and creating a web page using HTML ALL my postings are FULLY “classroom-tested” - before I publish, my lessons are tested by both myself and colleagues, rigorously evaluated and discussed, and continually updated to maximise their effectiveness. But there is always the possibility of error and room for improvement, so do please provide constructive feedback.

We all use computers, but how much do we really know about hardware and software? These lessons look specifically at hardware, introducing students to what computers are all about in an accessible way. The course is delivered in 3 x 60-minute lessons, using stimulating PowerPoint presentations with embedded videos, and includes worksheets to accompany the lesson, plus a Kahoot quiz. What is a computer Input devices and Output devices The CPU and storage The future, and some fun tasks Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions, and a BIG BIG thanks for looking (as a full time practising teacher, I KNOW how time consuming this process can be). ALL my postings are FULLY “classroom-tested” - before I publish, my lessons are tested by both myself and colleagues, rigorously evaluated and discussed, and continually updated to maximise their effectiveness. But there is always the possibility of error and room for improvement, so do please provide constructive feedback. Teacher/Author: Barrie James

A pixel is generally thought of as the smallest single component of a digital image. (wikipedia) Using technology to create art has become extremely common and popular (and also, financially lucrative!). Furthermore, students love designing and creating sprites and animated GIFs. This series of 4 one-hour lessons looks at digital images - bitmaps and vector graphics using the piskel web app to create sprites using the piskel web app to create animated GIFs I have used it very successfully with students in grades 4 through to 8 (with slight modifications), and all have absolutely loved the topic. The lessons comprise: a fully animated PowerPoint with explanatory slides, together with embedded videos (to extract, click here) worksheets, ideas and self-evaluation documents Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions, and a BIG BIG thanks for looking (as a full time practising teacher, I KNOW how time consuming this process can be). ALL my postings are FULLY “classroom-tested” - before I publish, my lessons are tested by both myself and colleagues, rigorously evaluated and discussed, and continually updated to maximise their effectiveness. But there is always the possibility of error and room for improvement, so do please provide constructive feedback.

How often have your students (and often, colleagues) struggled to find their files? File Management is so critical to managing digital content, yet students (and adults) know so little about this. The course is delivered in 3 x 60-minute lessons, using stimulating PowerPoint presentations with embedded videos, and includes worksheets to accompany the lesson, a self evaluation document, plus a Kahoot quiz. storage devices digital files opening and saving files from within applications like Word managing files and folders using File Explorer I repeat these lessons at the beginning of each school year with students in years 3 through to 7 (with slight modifications) so that they are better equipped to work with their files in applications such as Word and PowerPoint. Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions, and a BIG BIG thanks for looking (as a full time practising teacher, I KNOW how time consuming this process can be). ALL my postings are FULLY “classroom-tested” - before I publish, my lessons are tested by both myself and colleagues, rigorously evaluated and discussed, and continually updated to maximise their effectiveness. But there is always the possibility of error and room for improvement, so do please provide constructive feedback. Teacher/Author: Barrie James

*** NEWLY UPDATED *** Punctuation covered: Capital letters and proper nouns Capital letters and full stops (periods)* - Punctuation - consolidation exercises Sentence endings: exclamation marks and question marks Commas* - Punctuation - consolidation exercises Apostrophes for contraction and omission* Apostrophes for possession Apostrophes - its and it’s Direct speech - sentences Direct speech - paragraphs Indirect speech - sentences Indirect speech - paragraphs Parentheses - brackets* Parentheses - dashes* - Punctuation - consolidation exercises Hyphens* Semi colons* Colons Comma splices - Punctuation - consolidation exercises *includes entertaining video files Having seen so, so many worksheets on punctuation, I finally decided to create this 25 page pack - based on cherry picking and then adapting the best ideas from countless text books and worksheets. It covers a range of the punctuation used up to Year 6 and provides succinct definitions and plenty of varied practice for each topic. Mastering punctuation is essentially practice, practice, practice… we all have able Year 6 children who simply forget basic capital letters and full stops (periods)! So these worksheets, a real labor of love, are designed to provide this essential practice. Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions, and a BIG BIG thanks for looking (as a full time practicing teacher, I KNOW how time consuming this process can be). ALL my postings are FULLY “classroom-tested” - before I publish, my lessons are tested by both myself and colleagues, rigorously evaluated and discussed, and continually updated to maximize their effectiveness. But there is always the possibility of error and room for improvement, so do please provide constructive feedback. Teacher/Author: Barrie James Keywords: punctuation capital letters proper nouns periods exclamation marks question marks commas apostrophes contraction omission possession direct speech indirect speech parentheses brackets dashes hyphens semi-colon colon its it’s

The entire series of lessons on Micro-organisms provides enough material for over 10 one-hour lessons, but you can be selective. (bundle available) The series covers: Introduction to Micro-organisms The Microscope and Microscope Art Bacteria, The Immune System and Antibiotics Viruses, Vaccines and Virus Art Fungi & Fungi Art Additional misc. activities The 5-star rated lessons have proven extremely popular with both teachers and students and comprise: self-contained PowerPoint lessons packed with thought provoking material lots of painstakingly selected, embedded videos (if you need to detach the videos, see here) Worksheets (with answers) in Word providing individual and class activities. Note that there is no Preview File to download. Instead, Session 1 (Introduction) is FREE to give you a feel for the material - you won’t be disappointed. Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions, and a BIG BIG thanks for looking (as a full time practicing teacher, I KNOW how time consuming this process can be). ALL my postings are FULLY “classroom-tested” - before I publish, my lessons are tested by both myself and colleagues, rigorously evaluated and discussed, and continually updated to maximize their effectiveness. But there is always the possibility of error and room for improvement, so do please provide constructive feedback. Teacher/Author: Barrie James Search words: quarantine, vaccinate, pasteurisation, germ, antibiotic, inoculate, immune, yeast, immunize, pathogen, inhalation, microbe, virus, bacteria, fungus, organism, disease, microscope, electron, contaminate, epidemic, pandemic, electron, light, metric, lens, convex, concave, optical, symbiotic, exponential, infectious, infect, antiseptic, plaque, toxin, toxic, compost, mucus membrane, quarantine, vaccinate, pasteurization, germ, antibiotic, inoculate, immune, yeast, immunize, pathogen, inhale, habitat, spore, parasite, mushroom, toadstool, species, volva, gills, mycelium, disperse, mould, mildew

The entire series of lessons on Micro-organisms provides enough material for over 10 one-hour lessons, but you can be selective. (bundle available) The series covers: Introduction to Micro-organisms The Microscope and Microscope Art Bacteria, The Immune System and Antibiotics Viruses, Vaccines and Virus Art Fungi & Fungi Art Additional misc. activities The 5-star rated lessons have proven extremely popular with both teachers and students and comprise: self-contained PowerPoint lessons packed with thought provoking material lots of painstakingly selected, embedded videos (if you need to detach the videos, see here) Worksheets (with answers) in Word providing individual and class activities. Note that there is no Preview File to download. Instead, Session 1 (Introduction) is FREE to give you a feel for the material - you won’t be disappointed. Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions, and a BIG BIG thanks for looking (as a full time practicing teacher, I KNOW how time consuming this process can be). ALL my postings are FULLY “classroom-tested” - before I publish, my lessons are tested by both myself and colleagues, rigorously evaluated and discussed, and continually updated to maximize their effectiveness. But there is always the possibility of error and room for improvement, so do please provide constructive feedback. Teacher/Author: Barrie James Search words: quarantine, vaccinate, pasteurisation, germ, antibiotic, inoculate, immune, yeast, immunize, pathogen, inhalation, microbe, virus, bacteria, fungus, organism, disease, microscope, electron, contaminate, epidemic, pandemic, electron, light, metric, lens, convex, concave, optical, symbiotic, exponential, infectious, infect, antiseptic, plaque, toxin, toxic, compost, mucus membrane, quarantine, vaccinate, pasteurization, germ, antibiotic, inoculate, immune, yeast, immunize, pathogen, inhale, habitat, spore, parasite, mushroom, toadstool, species, volva, gills, mycelium, disperse, mould, mildew

The entire series of lessons on Micro-organisms provides enough material for over 10 one-hour lessons, but you can be selective. (bundle available) The series covers: Introduction to Micro-organisms The Microscope and Microscope Art Bacteria, The Immune System and Antibiotics Viruses, Vaccines and Virus Art Fungi & Fungi Art Additional misc. activities The 5-star rated lessons have proven extremely popular with both teachers and students and comprise: self-contained PowerPoint lessons packed with thought provoking material loads of painstakingly selected, embedded videos (if you need to detach the videos, see here) Worksheets (with answers) in Word providing individual and class activities. Note that there is no Preview File to download. Instead, Session 1 (Introduction) is FREE to give you a feel for the material - you won’t be disappointed. Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions, and a BIG BIG thanks for looking (as a full time practicing teacher, I KNOW how time consuming this process can be). ALL my postings are FULLY “classroom-tested” - before I publish, my lessons are tested by both myself and colleagues, rigorously evaluated and discussed, and continually updated to maximize their effectiveness. But there is always the possibility of error and room for improvement, so do please provide constructive feedback. Teacher/Author: Barrie James Search words: quarantine, vaccinate, pasteurisation, germ, antibiotic, inoculate, immune, yeast, immunize, pathogen, inhalation, microbe, virus, bacteria, fungus, organism, disease, microscope, electron, contaminate, epidemic, pandemic, electron, light, metric, lens, convex, concave, optical, symbiotic, exponential, infectious, infect, antiseptic, plaque, toxin, toxic, compost, mucus membrane, quarantine, vaccinate, pasteurization, germ, antibiotic, inoculate, immune, yeast, immunize, pathogen, inhale, habitat, spore, parasite, mushroom, toadstool, species, volva, gills, mycelium, disperse, mould, mildew

“Social media is a computer-based technology that facilitates the sharing of >ideas, thoughts, and information through the building of virtual networks and >communities.” (dictionary definition) Social media is everywhere… it is certainly of our time. Students spend hours on it and that is not likely to diminish, so these lessons try to promote and encourage the safe use of social media. This series of 5, 45 min to 1 hour, lessons looks at what social media is privacy and profiles friends, posts and digital footprints influencers safety on line Each lesson comprises: a fully animated PowerPoint with explanatory slides loads of embedded videos (can be extracted if necessary) worksheets and self-evaluation documents Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions, and a BIG BIG thanks for looking (as a full time practising teacher, I KNOW how time consuming this process can be). ALL my postings are FULLY “classroom-tested” - before I publish, my lessons are tested by both myself and colleagues, rigorously evaluated and discussed, and continually updated to maximise their effectiveness. But there is always the possibility of error and room for improvement, so do please provide constructive feedback. Teacher/Author: Barrie James Search words: computer social media facebook twitter pinterest youtube tiktok instagram snapchat post profile privacy friends

Vector graphics are computer graphics images that are defined in terms of points … connected by lines and curves to form polygons and other shapes. (wikipedia) Inkscape is free, professional quality, vector graphics software. Note, for Inkscape v1.3x go to this project. Computing is about so much more than just programming, and Inkscape is a great way to introduce students to vector graphics. Although those with an artistic flair will particularly love this series of lessons, they were extremely popular with ALL students. The course is delivered in 6 x 60-minute lessons, using stimulating PowerPoint presentations with embedded videos, and includes worksheets to accompany the lesson, plus a Kahoot quiz. This series looks at Digital Images and a first look at Inkscape Exploring Inkscape v0.91 features and the Node Editor Project one: Penguin, Pac-man baddie, Elephant, Turkey Free exploration, self assessment and Kahoot quiz Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions, and a BIG BIG thanks for looking (as a full time practising teacher, I KNOW how time consuming this process can be). ALL my postings are FULLY “classroom-tested” - before I publish, my lessons are tested by both myself and colleagues, rigorously evaluated and discussed, and continually updated to maximise their effectiveness. But there is always the possibility of error and room for improvement, so do please provide constructive feedback. Teacher/Author: Barrie James

I introduce students to programming through Scratch, and then extend this into the world of coding through Python. The lessons use Trinket as a simple interface for entering and running Python 2 and Python 3 code - no downloads required. This series of 4 one-hour lessons for absolute beginners looks at what is Python using strings and performing maths operations functions, variables, loops and comparative operators creating a Magic 8 Ball game in Python using user input adapting the game to SenseHat in Trinket Each lesson comprises: a fully animated PowerPoint with explanatory slides embedded videos worksheets and self-evaluation files Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions, and a BIG BIG thanks for looking (as a full time practising teacher, I KNOW how time consuming this process can be). ALL my postings are FULLY “classroom-tested” - before I publish, my lessons are tested by both myself and colleagues, rigorously evaluated and discussed, and continually updated to maximise their effectiveness. But there is always the possibility of error and room for improvement, so do please provide constructive feedback. Teacher/Author: Barrie James Search words: computer coding programming Babbage Lovelace function loop variable

I introduce students to programming through Scratch, and then extend this into the world of text based coding through Python and Python Turtle. The lessons use Trinket as a simple interface for entering and running Python code - no downloads required. The students are introduced to Python coding in the context of creating amazing patterns. In so doing, they become familiar with the commands and the syntax, and learn to debug errors they will inevitably have made. There is enough material for approx. 4 one-hour sessions, and of course, once students get started, they can easily develop their own ideas. I’ve delivered these lessons to Year 5/6 students, and they have absolutely loved it. The lessons are delivered through a fully animated PowerPoint with explanatory slides and embedded videos (can be extracted if required). In addition, there is a workbook of activities. Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions, and a BIG BIG thanks for looking (as a full time practising teacher, I KNOW how time consuming this process can be). ALL my postings are FULLY “classroom-tested” - before I publish, my lessons are tested by both myself and colleagues, rigorously evaluated and discussed, and continually updated to maximise their effectiveness. But there is always the possibility of error and room for improvement, so do please provide constructive feedback. Teacher/Author: Barrie James