FEBRUARY
First Grade Students
The students have just completed working in the
Paint Program. They have learned how to select and draw some of the different
shapes in the program. They learned how to use copy and paste and how to change
line thicknesses, find a new piece of paper, save their work, edit colors and
use the text tool. The next nine weeks they will be introduced to the
Stickybear Typing Program and will learn about the keyboard, correct hand
position, and how the typing program works. The Stickybear Typing program
allows users to sharpen typing skills and achieve keyboard mastery. Stickybear
Keypress, a program within Stickybear Typing, allows typing practice from the
simplest drills in home key position to complex exercises that require the full
keyboard. A good typing program provides immediate feedback for incorrect
keypresses and allows a student to progress automatically through levels as
each is mastered. Each of the program's 30 levels
introduces the student to the keys covered in the lesson, and then offers
practice using them. The lower half of the screen displays the keyboard;
as keys are highlighted one at a time, the student must press the corresponding
key on the computer's keyboard. A correct keypress prints the letter at the top
of the screen. Incorrect keypresses make a low "bloop" sound, and the
letter doesn't appear. At the end of each two screens of typing practice, the
student gets a progress report which shows the starting level; current level,
number of words typed per minute, and number of errors. I encourage the students to practice keyboarding at home. There are several free online keyboarding programs available.
The students have been working in the KidWorks
Program. They know the components of the writing portion of the program and know
to how to access the Edit Menu and use the Copy and Paste buttons. They know
where the Home, End and Arrow Keys are on the keyboard. They have started their
Grade School Memories Journal. The journal will consist of three typed sentences
and a drawing to go along with the sentences. The sentences are created by the
students. They have to type about three current events that happened each month
at school and a drawing to go along with the sentences using both drawing and
sticker book tools. The journals will be printed in booklet form and they will
take them home at the end of the school year.
The next several months the students will be working
in Microsoft Word 2010. The students know
where to find the Spelling and Grammar tool which is now under the Review tab
on the ribbon and how to use it when editing a document. They know how to retrieve
some documents from one drive and save them in another drive. Students know how
to change font, font size, bold and center. They have been working with inserting
clipart and manipulating it into their document by making choices of sending it
behind or in front of text using the wrap text tool. Using the tools in Word, the
students will be working independently on assigned sentences and clipart for
the entire third quarter. These assignments will be done in class and graded.
Fifth Grade
There are many tools in Microsoft Word. The students
will be introduced to more of these tools and they will be working on several
different assignments during the third quarter. The students will be given a
list of mixed up sentences. They will learn how to put theses sentences in
numerical order by the clicking and dragging method or cut, copy and paste. They will
learn how to insert and type within a header.
They will review the process for spelling and grammar check and
inserting a clipart image, resizing, color correction and working with the
different choices of color tone. By learning how to use the various tools in
word processing, these skills will enable the students to be able to use the
computer more efficiently in doing their assignments and various projects
throughout their classroom curriculum.
I-Safe
Bulletin Board outside Computer Lab
Please take a minute and read what is going on in
Cyberspace. There are so many things changing on a daily basis. Please talk to
your children about Facebook. There are 500 million registered users. There are
approximately 7.5 million kids under 13 on Facebook. Facebook isn't supposed to
be used by children under 13.
Common Sense Media
A great website to become familiar with is
commonsensemedia.org
“Their mission is dedicated to improving the lives
of kids and families by providing the trustworthy information, education, and
independent voice they need to thrive in a world of media and technology.”
Please take a minute to look at their site.
Why Do We Need A
Technology Lab?
1. A technology teacher provides a structured
curriculum with complete and specific instructions in computer skills that are
taught in a lab environment. This enables the students to become more confident
in their technology skills and it improves technology use in the classroom. It
validates the importance of the subject being taught.
2. In a lab, students have the opportunity for hands
on experience to learn about new applications and review past lessons. This is
a great advantage to students so they can become more confident in their
technology skills.
3. Technology labs free classroom teachers so they
can focus on their goals and not loose valuable instruction time teaching
computer skills.
4. Structure, consistency, and repetition build
skills each year whether it is a new application, documents, presentations, or
understanding and increasing their time and accuracy in mastering keyboarding.
5. The importance of the technology lab offers
student support, skills, and the knowledge they need to use these skills beyond
the classroom.
Another great month of learning new computer skills!
