Computer Class Update: Week 11

I hope everyone had an enjoyable Thanksgiving holiday.  My family and I enjoyed spending a lot of quality time together, eating great food, watching football, and playing outside.  Holidays like this remind me how blessed we are and to show thanks to God everyday for all the wonderful things he has given to us.

Here is what we have been up to and what we are working on this week....

First Grade
Project #3: Creation Story Books
First Grade will continue a project in which we will be using Microsoft Word and Tux Paint program on the computer to create Creation story books. The last two week we finished up days 4-7.  A few friends are still working on these last few pages.  The children are creating some very beautiful pictures and I look forward to sending them home for you to see.

Second Grade
Project #4: Thanksgiving Cards
The week of Thanksgiving we created thank you cards using Microsoft Publisher.  The students worked on adding text boxes and clipart to create their cards.

Project #5: Technologies past and present
Last week we started a multi-week project learning about how technology has changed over the last 100 years.  We are using the site PBS Schools (http://www.pbs.org/kcet/publicschool/index.html) to help us better understand what life and school were like over 100 years ago.  This week students will be writing a paragraph describing how their life and the tools/technologies they use would have been different if they lived 100 years ago.

Third through Fifth Grade
Project #2: Cyber Bullying - Part 4
Our Cyberbullying PSA Animotos are complete!  The fourth and fifth grade students watched their videos the week of Thanksgiving.  If you would like to see the videos, check them out using the link on the classroom blog: www.mrswinstanley.blogspot.com.
The third graders finished up their projects last week and began watching them.  We will finish watching the videos this week.

Third and Fourth Grade
Project #3: Whose property is it?
The next project for the 3rd and 4th grade students will be on intellectual property.  We will discuss what property is, how to ask permission to use it and proper citation.  This is a very important concept for students to understand.  They need to realize that just because something is on the Internet, it does not mean it is theirs or free to use.  We will be equating the concept to the 8th commandment: Thou shall not steal.

Fifth Grade
Project #3:  Christian Digital Citizens
The fifth graders will be working on a project to evaluate the accuracy and reliability of websites.  We will be discussing that just because information is online, it doesn't make it factual or true.  We will learn how to find out who the author is of a site and who sponsored the site.  We will also discuss how anyone can make a website, so it is important to use reliable resources when doing research for school.

If you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Have a great week!