When we think about all the things that we recognize as “essentials” to our children’s learning, the list can get really long very quickly. Recently, several high-profile individuals are advocating to add another thing to that list, coding. Why? Coding is the set of skills and concepts used to modify or create software on a…
Category: parents
This is how we roll (out)
Happy Girls photo by @klbeasley This is the third rotation of handing out laptops to our families. Our process has evolved quite a bit from it’s inception in August 2011. Here are is an outline of what we do, why we do it, and how it’s working. Context: We are an independent international school with around 4,000…
An Introduction to Google Docs
We make extensive use of Google Docs here at school and think it may be a great tool for our Class Parents to use, especially when there is a lot of organizing to do. This video ‘Google Docs in Plain English’ by commoncraft explains why we use Google Docs: What is a Google Doc? Google Docs…
Back to School Balance (A Guide for Parents from Common Sense Media)
In this article Common Sense Media provides some simple ideas to help families scale back on time spent on digital technologies after an extended vacation. They suggest: 1) Have a last blast 2) Prepare your children 3) Raid the library 4) Create a school year media plan 5) Be a great role model Many more suggestions and guidance on a range…
Digital Citizenship in the Primary School
Below is a summary of the main points from our parent workshop on Digital Citizenship in the Primary School. You will also find links to some of the tools/sites we recommended in the session. Our approach to Digital Citizenship UWCSEA is one of the pilot schools for the Generation Safe 360 Assessment. This rigorous approach…
5 Minutes to Safer Searching & Viewing
We always want to help our students find the most relevant information when searching or viewing content online. Here are two great suggestions which can lead to a safer online experience for our students. 1. View Purewww.viewpure.com is a site which allows you to ‘purify’ YouTube videos by stripping away the comments section and the…
K1 and the Digital Microscopes
The K1 children are using the digital microscopes to get a closer look at things we have found in the classrooms and in the playground.
Safety Online in the Early Years
This blog post is a follow up to an information sharing session we had with parents where we discussed helping our students / children find a balance between their on / and / off line lives. One question that came out of this session was, “How can we help our young children stay safe while allowing…
More Minecraft Musings
Want to know what our kids are capable of achieving in just over a week? Here are some photos to show you some parts of our world! An aerial view of our world I believe this is a Spleef Arena (but will need to clarify!) Rain on our plane A flotilla of boats Our Minecraft…
Massively Misunderstood Minecraft
Overheard in the lab: “My Mum says she can’t believe UWC is offering a Minecraft activity. She says it’s a waste of time.”Me: <breathe> DM from @jplaman: Me: <breathe> I guess it’s time! This blog post is proving hard to write. I have rewritten this paragraph about 14 times, mostly because I am trying…