Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Computer Class Update: Week 15-17

Snow Days, Snow Days, Oh My!  It has been a crazy couple of weeks with all the snow days.  When I only see the students once a week, a snow day can really set us back!  Thankfully I was able to see all of my classes last week and we are back in to full swing with our projects.

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

First Grade
Project #5: ABC Book
The first graders worked on creating an ABC book for their class.  Each child was responsible for three or four letters of the alphabet.  They went to an online photographic dictionary (http://photographicdictionary.com/) to find pictures that started with their letters.  They then copied and pasted them into a MS Word document that they printed up.  Last week we created covers using Tux Paint for our ABC books.  This week we will cut out our printed pictures and paste them onto our pages to create our class ABC picture dictionary.

Online Practice: www.scootpad.com
When students finish their assignments, I continue to have them work on scootpad.com to practice their reading and math skills. This is a great website you are welcome to work on at home as well.

Second Grade
Project #6: Photostory about our Class
The second graders have been working on putting together a Photostory about a day in the life of a second grader at St. Michael's. The students arranged the photos they took in class in the order of their choosing.  Then they added captions to each picture.  The final step in the project was to add background music.  Several students finished up last week and the rest (barring any more snow days) should finish up this week.  When they are done I will try to post them on the blog so you can all see them. 

Third Grade
Project #4: All About Me
The 3rd grade students have been learning how to access their Google Docs accounts.  This is an online office-like suite of tools that the students can use anywhere they have an internet connection.  They are learning how to share their documents with the teachers and peers.  This week we will learn how to use the commenting feature of the product to do peer editing.  The students have been using the word processing component of the suite to type up All About Me paragraphs.

Fourth Grade
Project #4: Class News
The fourth grade students are working on a project of creating a class newspaper/newsletter about what is happening in fourth grade at St. Michael's.  Each child chose an area they wished to write about including everything from what they are learning in their various subjects to special, recess and lunch.  The 4th grade students have also been learning how to access their Google Docs accounts.  This is an online office-like suite of tools that the students can use anywhere they have an internet connection.  They are learning how to share their documents with the teachers and peers.  This week we will learn how to use the commenting feature of the product to do peer editing on our newspaper articles.

Fifth Grade
Project #4: Our Digital Footprint
The fifth graders are working on a project to explore the idea of our Digital Footprint.  We are focusing on what information is okay to share online and what should be kept private.  Students are learning that once they post something on the Internet it is practically permanent so they need to be very careful and deliberate about what they want to say.  How they portray themselves online will be their digital legacy that will follow them through life.  We have been doing some of the activities from the Common Sense Media lesson "Follow the Digital Trail" (http://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators/lesson/follow-digital-trail-2-3).  The 5th grade students have also been learning how to access their Google Docs accounts.  This is an online office-like suite of tools that the students can use anywhere they have an internet connection.  They are learning how to share their documents with the teachers and peers.  This week we will take what we learned about Digital Footprints to create a Google Presentation with a partner to illustrate the difference between a large and a small digital footprint.

Typing: Second - Fifth Grade
We have also been working on our typing skills. I am stressing to the students the importance of using the correct fingers while typing. This has been a bit of a challenge for some of the students. Please check out the Typing Practice tab for online resources your child can use to practice their typing at home as well.

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

Have a great week!