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

Click here for a full listing of all my Scratch Projects In this project, students create a question and answer quiz using different backdrops for each question. 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.

Grammar covered: The 8 Word Classes Nouns Pronouns Crossword - Pronouns Verbs Crossword - Irregular verbs Active and Passive verbs Verbs – “said” Adjectives Adjectives – “nice” Crossword - Adjectives Adverbs Crossword – Adjectives and Adverbs Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives and Adverbs Prepositions Crossword - Prepositions Conjunctions Determiners Phrases Clauses Phrases and Clauses (mixed) Sentences Sentence Challenge Having seen so, so many worksheets on grammar, I finally decided to create this pack - based on cherry picking the best ideas from countless text books and worksheets and adapting. It covers a range of the grammar used up to Year 6 and provides succinct definitions and plenty of varied practice for each topic. 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

This is part of the topic Creating a Class Wiki but is also useful as a one-off lesson to help students search effectively.

The Scratch 3 version is here. Click here for a full listing of all my Scratch Projects In this project, the player must move a sprite through the maze using the keyboard. Timers, obstacles (floating sprites) and a more difficult maze can be added as enhancements . 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.

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.

This is part of a set of top rated, “turbo-charged” (just take a look), self-contained (what every teacher craves), stimulating (genuinely loved by students and also great for VERY high ability students) morning starters, each with a main task, plus an extension for those who solve the challenge more quickly (this should avoid the question… “I’ve finished… what should I do now?”). Each challenge is self-explanatory, and should take approx. 15 - 30 minutes to investigate/solve. The tasks are presented in a visually exciting PowerPoint (which I loved creating), with a logical progression of clues guiding students towards the solution. The slides are animated where appropriate to provide clearer explanations and are designed to encourage students to adopt a “mathematical brain” (no sledgehammers allowed! - a slogan my students now associate with me!). 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: math, numeracy, numbers, arithmetic, starters, challenge, brain, stimulate, problem, mental, thinking, abstract

Click here for a full listing of all my Scratch Projects In this project, the Scratch Pen is used to draw geometric shapes using Repeat blocks. 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.

*** 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

These exercises challenge students to find better alternatives for the often over-used and unimaginative words: "very", "nice" and "said".

These 8 pages of worksheets provide practice at the common homophones: - were, wear, where, we’re - to, two, too - there, their, they’re Plus 2 pages of misc. exercises covering a mixture of other homophones.

This is a series of 10 by 30-45 minute lessons looking at the inspiring and self-examining topic "Identity, Diversity, Stereotypes and Discrimination". The lessons cover: UNIT 1 1. Who am I 2. The physical me - how my body influences who I am 3. My personality - how my characteristics influence who I am 4. The social me - how my physical environment influences who I am 5. The social me - how the people around me influence who I am (including peer pressure) UNIT 2 6. Similarities and differences 7. Diversity - what is it 8. Diversity - appreciating and embracing UNIT 3 9. Stereotypes 10. Discrimination Review Each lesson is presented through colorful and stimulating PowerPoint presentations, with clearly defined Learning Objectives, and is accompanied with worksheets and videos. 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.

This is a series of 10 by 30-45 minute lessons looking at the inspiring and motivational topic "Going for Goals". The lessons cover: 1. Personal dreams 2. Setting your goals 3. Achieving your dreams 4. Obstacles 5. Giving up - excuses 6. Overcoming obstacles 7. MY achievements 8. Big Dreams 9. Big Dreamers 10. My big dream Review Each lesson is presented through a colorful and stimulating PowerPoint presentation of ~150 slides in total, with clearly defined Learning Objectives, and is accompanied with ~10 worksheets and ~25 videos. 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.

The HyperText Markup Language, or HTML is the standard markup language for documents designed to be displayed in a web browser. (wikipedia definitions) This is a series of 45-60 minute lessons that will give students (and often, teachers) a much greater understanding of what a web page is and how they are created. Each lesson comprises: - a fully animated PowerPoint with explanatory slides - loads of embedded videos (if you need to extract, click here) - worksheets and self-evaluation files The lesson objectives are: - what is a web page - how does HTML work - creating a web page using HTML To support these lessons, see - what the Internet is (available as a FREE resource) -the Internet and the World Wide Web 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.

Note that this project is for PowerPoint 2016 Students regularly create presentations using PowerPoint but all too often, have not been shown some of the key features. This pack of 4, one-hour lessons covers: Launching PowerPoint and the Opening Screen Design Themes and Variants Inserting and manipulating items (text, wordart, pictures) Animations Transitions Hyperlinks The final lesson brings it all together, asking students to create a short presentation using all that they have learnt. 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’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.

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 part of a series of 45-60 minute lessons that will give students (and often, teachers) a much greater understanding of what the internet is, how it works and what the World Wide Web is (no, it is not the internet). Each lesson comprises: - a fully animated PowerPoint with explanatory slides - loads of embedded videos (can be extracted if required) - worksheets and self-evaluation files The lesson objectives are: 1. understand what the Internet is (this FREE resource) 2. understand how the Internet works and what the World Wide Web is 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.

Machine Learning and AI are terms we all hear a lot about every day. They affect our lives profoundly and yet, we know so little about either. Producing this presentation in what I hope is an easy to understand form, was hugely challenging and immensely rewarding, and I hope it can benefit you and your students. We all need at least a basic understanding of what is happening in the world of AI. This lesson for absolute beginners looks at what is intelligence (easy start!!) what is machine learning how AI is related to machine learning the ethical concerns of bias The lesson comprises: a fully animated PowerPoint with explanatory slides inspiring embedded videos (if you need to extract, click here) 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.