Autumn 1 - Online Safety

In this unit about online safety, children will be taking a more in depth look at a variety of online safety issues, most of which they will have been familiarised with in previous years. They will be introduced to the idea of the internet, as a type of media, and how it can shape our ideas about boys and girls through stereotypes. Children will be given ways to deal with online content that they find worrying or even believe to be dangerous.

Ways to support at home

https://beinternetawesome.withgoogle.com/en_us/interland

https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/8_10/
https://www.childnet.com/young-people/4-11-year-olds/ 
https://www.bbc.com/ownit 

Autumn 2 - Scratch and Animated Stories

The unit is designed to help children in continuing to develop their skills in writing their own algorithms as well as editing and debugging existing codes. New skills are introduced to structure code and animate characters and scenes, gradually building to create a short animated story. These lessons are intended for use in conjunction with Scratch 2 software installed. They can also be used with the Pyonkee App on iPads.

Ways to support at home

https://www.twinkl.co.uk/teaching-wiki/scratch
https://scratch.mit.edu/parents
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zs7s4wx/articles/zx4ybqt
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zs7s4wx/articles/zd3pf82

Spring 1 - Spreadsheets

Children are given an understanding of spreadsheets and how they can be used. In the first five lessons, a different spreadsheet template is provided in which children learn skills in formatting and entering specific formulas. Lessons 4 and 5 include investigative skills in using the spreadsheet to solve specific problems. Examples include number calculations, sports league tables, test scores, and budget planning. The final lesson allows an open-ended task for pupils to design their own spreadsheet, with ideas and direction provided for particular purposes. 

Ways to support at home

https://classroom.thenational.academy/units/spreadsheets-ecb4

Spring 2 - Kodu

This unit introduces children to programming with Kodu, a simple visual programming language made specifically for creating games. The distinguishing features of Kodu are visual icons that are added together like building blocks to form instructions and game environments constructed by the user in a 3D scene editor. It is designed to be accessible by children and enjoyable by anyone. As well as on PC, Kodu is also available via Xbox 360, which adds appeal for many children. If you are unfamiliar with Kodu, then a useful starting point are the sample games and tutorials that are provided as ‘Built-in Worlds’. Each sample game is editable so after playing, they can be opened up to see how they work.

Ways to support at home

https://www.kodugamelab.com/ 
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zs7s4wx/articles/zxxdqfr
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zs7s4wx/articles/zjmj2v4 
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zf2f9j6/articles/zjds3qt

Summer 1 - Film Making

The aim of this unit is to allow children to explore various aspects of film-making. In doing so, they must choose and use appropriate software in order to complete tasks such as writing a script, researching information, filming and editing. As well as using digital devices for recording (video camera or tablet), children work through pre- and post-production stages, planning good-quality interviews for a documentary and completing the process with use of video editing software such as Windows Movie Maker. 

Ways to support at home

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zf2f9j6/articles/zyb72hv

Summer 2 - Know Your Network

In this unit about Know Your Networks, children will develop a deeper understanding of computer networks and be introduced to technical key words and phrases associated with computer networks. Children will study home networks, global networks, and network protocols, such as IP, HTTP and DNS. Finally, children will learn about cloud computing, broadband, communication online and malware.

Ways to support at home 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zs7s4wx/articles/z9n6p4j