EES ICT Team School Support Team ICT Curriculum Conference (OCN username & password required) OCC Education Intranet

 
ICT Team

Oxon Scheme of Work - Year 4 objectives for Word Processing and Finding Things Out

In this unit children learn to use search engines to find information about Peru, save images from the Internet and insert them into a fact file

Year 4  Subject link - Geography & English
With thanks to Stephen Freeman Primary School

Overview
Introduction
Planning 
Lesson 1 - Getting to grips with using search engines and saving graphics from the Internet 
Lesson 2 - Using the Internet for research on Peru
Lesson 3 - Combining text and graphics
Lessons 4 & 5 - Organising the text and graphics - considering the audience
Evaluation - Of the lessons
Assessment - Measured against QCA learning objectives and the NC level descriptors

Introduction
The pupils had been investigating Peru using a variety of secondary sources including photographs, videos and artefacts.  This unit was intended to increase their knowledge and understanding of Peru through the use of search engines and present their work as a fact file.  Combining text and graphics formed a large part of this unit however the children also needed to learn how to save pictures from the Internet and insert them in the text from their work folder, as well as to use the text wrapping tool.  In addition to these skills, drafting and improving the fact file was a final key teaching point to ensure the facts were relevant and that the format was appropriate for this type of writing.  The completed work will be used to develop a book for the school library.

Context
The children had been working on using websites and the Internet prior to this unit of work but had not used search engines.  They worked in ability grouped pairs in a 15 station computer room. 

Back to top


Medium Term Plan 

The school has adapted the scheme of work to ensure the plan suits the topic to be covered.
Oxfordshire Framework for a Scheme of Work for ICT   link to our SoW and where it is in the red booklet as pages 28 & 35.

To view the school's medium term plan for this unit click here to view the word document or here to view it online.


Preparatory work

  • Prior to the lesson the teacher conducted an Internet search using the search engines that were going to be introduced to the pupils to ensure all of the content listed under Peru was not inappropriate.

Back to top

Lesson 1 ( See the medium term plan for more detail)

Initially the pupils were invited to recap on the strategies they had already used to obtain information about Peru and  made a list on the whiteboard.  Once these had been listed, the use of the Internet as a source of information was considered as well as how they had used it before.  The first objective was to remind the children how to load Internet Explorer and the importance of accurately entering web addresses.  Then we discussed how we could find out about Peru if we do not know specific addresses of websites.  Hence the concept of search engines was introduced and how these assist with finding appropriate information.  In addition to the main objective of this lesson the children were taught how to save graphics from the Internet  to their own work folder to use at a later date.  A final task was to record how to do this in their ICT vocabulary and skills book for future reference.

Back to top

Lesson 2

The next lesson was to gather information about Peru using the search engines, but not to copy chunks of text from the Internet.  The children were reminded of the technique they use in the library when completing research i.e. recording key words to expand upon later.  The teacher  modelled how to do this on screen which required copying and pasting between applications.  The instructions were recorded on the whiteboard to provide  support for any children during the lesson.  A list of areas to collect information on was agreed and included flags,  population, weather, jobs, houses, disasters, currency and interesting facts.  They were reminded that they can save it in any order as they will format the fact file and ensure it was easy to read at a later stage.  No font changing was necessary at this stage as they were gathering information to use. Having demonstrated exactly what the pupils should do and reminding them to regularly save their work, the children started to collect their information.

Lesson 3

Once the children had collected some graphics and key words or notes, the next stage was to model how to save a draft copy using the save as option to enable them to return to the original notes to check any details.  Following this, the teacher demonstrated how to insert a graphic from the file and how to resize it without distorting it! Having demonstrated what happens if you start typing beside the graphic prior to it being formatted, the teacher modelled the process of how to right click and format the picture to enable the text to be controlled by the user.  The pupils practised this skill and began to insert text to produce their fact file.

Lesson 4 & 5     

Having obtained some examples of previous versions of fact files, the class were able to discuss the positive and negative points and listed key points for a good fact file in terms of layout and detail.  After a few reminders about how to move text using the highlight and drag or to insert text the pupils were asked to organise the text but to leave the title until last. Once the pupils had started work on their text, demonstrations to select groups on aspects they needed to work on ensured the teacher's support was appropriately targeted.  This also ensured the more able children were introduced to a wider range of features such as adding borders to graphics.  The final aspect was to demonstrate how to insert word art for a title should they wish to use it.

Evaluation of work completed

The children thoroughly enjoyed this project and all developed their ICT capability as well as increasing their knowledge about Peru. Combining the text and graphics worked particularly well and the class discussed at length how to avoid using too many graphics in their fact file.  They were also focused on keeping the audience in mind at all times to ensure the final fact file was easy to read.  The children were encouraged to print several draft copies in black and white before printing their final draft and adding this to the class book to ensure the layout was appropriate. Finished work: Sample 1 Sample 2

The teacher was able to work with the more able children to develop their capability in terms of adding borders to their graphics and how to verify the information they had found on the Internet.  


Back to top

 Assessment - measure against the QCA learning outcomes and National Curriculum Level Descriptors

most children will:

Use a search engine to find information they require.  They can cut and paste between applications and save graphics from the Internet into their own work folder.  They can combine text and graphics organising them appropriately.  The spell check is used to ensure they are correct and they print draft copies to ensure the presentation is organised for the reader.

[Achieve level 3a,b] 

some children will not have
made so much progress and will:

Combined text and graphics to present the information they found on the Internet.  They may not have considered the audience adequately hence the fact file may lack clarity and organisation.

[Achieve level 3c]

some children will have
progressed further and will:

Produced a well organised fact file where text and graphics have been carefully placed on the final piece of work.  They may have formatted the graphics to allow them to overlap and ordered them appropriately.  The graphics have been given borders using the format picture option.  The titles and sub headings are consistent and clear.

[Achieve level 5c]

Back to top
Back to The Good Practice Module information