MAY
First
Grade Students
Internet
safety classes will continue this month. 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. 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.
They will also be taking their last Star Reading Test for the year.
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.
They will also be taking their last Star Math Test for the year.
Third Grade
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. The last tool introduced will be WordArt. The students will learn how to insert
WordArt, a decorative text that can be added to a word document. WordArt is found on the Insert tab under the
Text Group. The students will be able to
change font, font size, color, text direction, stretch the title, skew the
text, apply a gradient, a 3-D effect and insert a picture. They will save it in
the 1997-2003 version which has many different effects. They will also be able to look at the current
version of Word to see the differences in WordArt.
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.They will also be taking their last Star Math Test for the year.
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 new vocabulary. The students will learn how to enter data into a 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.
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!
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!
Have a
FUN and SAVE summer!!!
