A Great start to our project.

Yesterday Gearies and Hatton Schools meet up for the first time using Video conferencing.Gearies children join in with Hatton's singing assembly. They welcomed us by singing hello and it was then that I think the children from Gearies started to realise that they were not watching a television.Hatton had kindly sent us a board with symbols of songs that we knew and could share with one another.The interaction between the two school was fantastic. Children taking it in turns to choose different songs. Children sharing actions together, both schools singing and rowing to Row Row Row your boat.Some of our children were sitting on the carpet and signing to the songs.When one of our children choose Old MacDonald had a farm we shared which animals were on the farm and one of Hatton's children showed their soft toy of a chicken.Our staff thought it was really good to share with Hatton School and some very positive learning took place. We had all been a little apprehensive to how the children would react from both schools, but we no needed to have worried as the children enjoyed every moment of it and can't wait to sing together next week.
On reflection I really should have taken some photo's of this link up, but I was so involved with the conference.

Week 1 Review: Hatton's Point of View

At 1.40pm, after some hectic connection to our whiteboard, we fired up the VC equipment and dialed Gearies. As easy as that, there they were, and our singing session had increased in numbers.

I wasn't sure how readily our pupils would accept that they could interact with the children on screen, I suspected that being used to seeing people on screens that don't react to what you do and say, on TV etc, that most, if not all the children wouldn't expect any interaction. But of course, they proved me wrong.

Certainly most of our pupils happily waved and cheered at the other group and those who didn't immediately catch on, soon did. A few pupils were very interested in seeing themselves too, up in the corner of the screen. The excitement was too much for some kids, who just had to be on the screen as close as possible, but they soon settled down and we began our singing session.

KS1 singing assemblies are always begun by singing hello to each class, this week, we added "Hello to Gearies" at the end, the children completely accepted this and I think it helped to cement the idea that the children on screen were actually part of the group. Children took turns to choose a song from our choice board and we made sure to show the symbol to the camera so that the Gearies pupils could sing along.

The delay over the VC did mean that at our end, when we started the song Gearies were a second behind, but it didn't cause any major problems, just a few adults struggling to keep time! I'm sure the effect was the same at Gearies end when we were following them.

Gearies pupils also took turns to choose a song and show us the symbol from their choice board and our kids immediately recognised the song and were prepared to sing it.

Staff were really pleased with the outcome and initial fears about appearing on screen were soon taken over by excitement and enjoyment. One teacher noted that her class had sat all through the singing, which, for one child especially, has not happened before, and that that pupil was particularly fascinated by the goings on.

Special thanks to Monica, who led the session very well and adapted to the new technology perfectly!

Everyone, staff and pupils, really enjoyed the experience and are looking forward to the rest of the project.