The second term has already snuck up on us and we thought we would ease the back-to-school blues for our 6 to 8 year olds by introducing them to the exciting world of game design. Using 2Simple software, we gave each aspiring game designer a chance to create their own version of Snake. They had an opportunity to create a background, design characters and place targets and “bad guys” on their platform.  Then it was time for each game designer to test and play their new creation. The 6 to 8 year olds then got to test each other’s games and voted for their favourite game.  They really impressed us with their creativity and competitive spirit and we are excited that maybe one day they will apply it in the gaming industry.

The first term has whizzed by for both our 3 term and 4 term schools, but as they say “time flies when you’re having fun!” and that has certainly been exactly what our learners have had in computers so far. During the first term our Grade 1 & 2’s were introduced to computer through an interactive PowerPoint presentation and quiz, and learnt how to place their fingers on the keyboard for touch typing. It’s amazing to see how quickly these young ones can pick up the ability to touch type! Other than tap tapping away on keyboards, our learners played around in paint programs, using their creative skills to draw pictures of their daily routine before school in the mornings. In addition to being creative, learners practiced their orientation and direction skills as a foundation for learning coding. This was very enjoyable as they pretended to be different characters including a space trooper in a space themed background to Little Red Riding Hood in a fairytale themed background!