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Storing and Sharing

2.3

Intro

Ask any KS2 teacher what they think about their pupils' saving skills and you're likely to hear tales of woe about losing time in lesson after lesson due to work not being saved correctly.

But surely, you might say, Reception age is a little young to be worried about such things?

Well...not quite. Whilst nobody expects the youngest pupils to be saving their work expertly, there is an expectation that they at least begin to understand the process.

In Reception, pupils should get used to clicking on the 'Save' button when they've finished their work and they should understand that doing so enables the teacher to re-open their work at a later time.

 

Framework

2.3 - Saving and Sharing

  • Save work by clicking an icon and understand that the work can be retrieved.

Skill by Skill

  • Begin to save work using a simple program e.g 2Simple or J2E programs.

(EAS ICT Skills Framework)

Vocabulary

save     open     button     work     folder     filename

Focus Tasks

Save, Save, Save!

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There are three steps to saving correctly, and these steps can start to be taught at this early age:

  1. Remembering to click the 'Save' button. Pupils should have developed this habit in Nursery, but regular reminders are still important.
  2. Saving in the correct folder. Don't worry too much about this aspect at this stage. If you are using software such as Purple Mash or J2E then the correct folder will usually be chosen automatically.
  3. Choosing an appropriate filename. Even in KS2, a lot of pupils will not name their documents, or name them in a way that makes them hard to identify at a later date. For now, teach your pupils that when they save, they should type their name and then ask a teacher to finish saving for them.

The key, as with most skills, is to model and give opportunities for practise.

Pupils will also need to know why they are saving. Regularly open pupils' work on the interactive white board. this shows them that saving their work means you can re-open it at a later time, possibly on a different device.

Enhanced Provision

Online and Offline Save Buttons

Clicking the Save button needs to be second nature to the pupils by the time they leave Reception.

  • Make sure there are big pictures next to your computers of the different Save buttons they may come across (depending on the software you use in class, possibly Purple Mash or J2E).
  • Anytime a pupil uses a computer, be it for a focused task or as enhanced provision, encourage them to save their project.
  • Have a big button in the middle of the class. When a pupil finishes any non-computer task, they should run to the button and hit it to 'Save' the work.