First Grade
Students
Internet
safety classes will begin this month. The
students will be introduced to the i-Safe Program. The students will develop an
understanding of the concept of community, personal safety, and the need to
make responsible choices. Students will be able to express their ideas and
reinforce concepts through group discussions. The students will have some
booklets and handouts to bring home to share about their lessons. Please read
over all the important information being sent home and how it applies to your
child being safe in their community.
We
have posted all the latest information on Internet Safety, Gaming, Cyber
bullying and Texting on the board outside of the Computer Lab. Please take a
minute and read what is going on in Cyberspace. There are so many things
changing on a daily basis.
Students
will continue with the Stickybear Typing program and their scores will be
recorded for a grade. 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, number of errors, and corrected words per minute.
The
last three weeks of school the students will be introduced to the KidWorks
Deluxe Program. This program is used in
Second Grade Computer class. It is a
great program for building creative writing and
reading skills. The students will be writing a journal of their Second Grade
Memories. Each month will consist of three good sentences about what took place
at school during that particular month. They will be creating their own
sentences. The program has kid-friendly design tools, which students will be able
to illustrate their stories with free-hand drawings and more. Students can hear
their stories read aloud by the computer. The Journal will be printed when
complete.
Second Grade
The students have been working for several months on
their Second Grade Memories Journal in the Kid Works Program. They will go
through their journals and check for mistakes and when complete they will be
printed. The journal consists 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 events that happened each month at school and a drawing to
go along with the sentences using both drawing and sticker book tools.
President’s
Report -The students
will have an opportunity to go on-line and look at a website about all the
United States Presidents. There are short biographies on each president. They
will choose one president to research. They will be given a list of questions about
the presidents from their classroom teacher, and with the aid of the website,
they will be able to answer many of the questions. Some of the answers will be found in other
sources in their classroom. They will learn that there are many different
sources to use to do a research project.
When the project is complete they will go to the Paint Program and draw
their president.
Stickybear
Typing
- The students will conclude the school year with the Stickybear Typing program
and their scores will be recorded for a grade. 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, number of errors, and corrected words per minute.
The students will continue to work in Microsoft Word.
They will be working with the tools on the font tab. They will know how to use
the underline and italics. They will be introduced to the text highlight color,
and change case, grow and shrink font and the sort button on the paragraph tab.
They will take a comprehensive test on the tools they have been working with in
Word. The last project will cover the many tools, tabs and groupings in Word. It
will include the Spelling and Grammar, naming and saving a document, working
within several drives, inserting images and formatting the document. They will spend the last several weeks of
class practicing their typing skills in the Sticky Bear Typing Program. It
would be advantageous if students could practice their typing skills over the
summer. There are many free programs available online. They will be using the
Ultra Key Typing Program in fourth grade and it is available for purchase in
the computer lab. This program is used through seventh grade.
Fifth Grade
There
are many applications in Microsoft Word. Students will be introduced to Excel. They will learn why the program is helpful in
so many ways from organizing information, calculating math problems to creating
charts and graphs. They
will be introduced to a spreadsheet and its new vocabulary. The students will learn how to enter data
into the spreadsheet, format data, use basic functions to calculate basic math
problems, identify cell references correctly and write basic math formulas. By learning
how to use the various tools in Excel, 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.
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!
I have enjoyed working with your children this school year and
look forward to seeing them in the fall for another great year of computing!
