A rather spooky debate...

With the Presidential Election just one day away, we ran our own in-class debate today. The motion was "School uniforms are a good idea" which was a bit ironic as most of us were dressed up in our Halloween costumes! Proposing the motion were Natalia, Emmanuel, Merveille and Emma. Opposing the motion were Siobhan, Seán,, Eve and Albert.
Even with short preparation, each team did fantastically well to prepare, structure and rehearse their arguments. They made good use of debating language and addressed their audience superbly well with good eye contact and tone of voice.
Both teams had obviously researched their viewpoints well and created a strong case. Perhaps most importantly of all, each team gave opposition members the time and respect to make their points and then they listened acutely in order to create their own counter arguments to each point.
It was really encouraging to see each pupil being able to voice their opinions and the wider class played a great role in listening to all the arguments for and against and then voting on a winner. It was truly democracy in action. Well done all!

Halloween Disco

See all ours snaps from the Halloween Disco....

Getting busy with LEGO WeDo 2.0

We had a very enjoyable time familiarising ourselves with LEGO robotics. Since it was the first time using it for many, we got a quick tutorial and then started building. First we built a basic propeller and then moved on to a simple car. After that, several groups started to make their own designs. We learned a lot such as:
 - Using tablets/laptops to connect to the LEGO hubs (via bluetooth)
 - Following the instructional steps to create our LEGO toys
 - Identifying and categorising LEGO parts
 - New vocabulary (ie naming parts) e.g. 2x4 bricks, triangular bricks, gears, axles, beams, hubs, sensors, pulleys, motors etc
 - Using the programming software to sequence the order of operations
 - How to problem solve when something didn't work (an important life skill!)