Power Point, Edmodo, and Weebly

Third graders have been working hard on their power point presentations.  They chose three of their favorite things to create a presentation about.  They then added slides and text to the presentations, changed backgrounds, searched for pictures via Google Images, and inserted those pictures into their slideshows.  Some students were able to move on to using transitions and animations.

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Fourth graders are finishing up with their longer Power Point presentations, and I have been busy each class period circulating to grade the presentations.  The students have done an awesome job on these!

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Fifth grade classes completed a two to three week process of discussing and writing about what it means to do one's Personal Best.  We are now adding our new band students to our Edmodo groups.

Next week:  Begin researching podcasting in preparation for creating our own podcasts.

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Sixth graders have been hard at work researching their chosen topic.  They have completed their writing, submitted it via Edmodo assignments, and have been searching for videos and pictures to include on their web page.  Monday we begin assembling our Weebly site.  Once complete, we will officially invite all in the blogosphere to check out the finished product!

Talking About Money, American Symbols, and Fractions

K-2
Kindergarten:  The students are reinforcing their American Symbols lessons in class during technology specials this week.

American symbols from Patty Blanchard

The students then head to computers to practice their knowledge on an awesome BrainPop Jr. game about American Symbols.  They have the option to "Play Again" or "Learn More" and so many students are enjoying the videos after about George Washington and other historical figures.
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First Grade:

First grade math includes various aspects of counting money.  I remember from my many days as a first grade teacher that this was a difficult skill to teach, and there never seemed to be enough time in the day to remediate those students that didn't understand the concept.  ABCYA. COM is a great educational game site for kids, and I have been checking out the ones on counting money.  So, the students are clicking on a desktop link at their computer that brings them to this site.  This is a website I created to be able to have several links for students on a page, as well as videos, etc.  The three game links that are on the page have various levels of money-counting tests.  The favorite part of the class has been the groovy counting money tune in the video.





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Second Grade:

Second grade has a similar website link to navigate to.  However, the second graders have to type in the web address to get to the link, and these games all have to do with fractions.
The web address has been shortened via Tinyurl.com to:  http://www.tinyurl.com/ababv7b for easier typing.  The students are typing in this web address and heading to games on fractions, the math skill that they are learning presently.  Here is the fractions song that accompanies this lesson:





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Part 2 of this blog post = 3,4,5 and 6th grades

Recent Happenings in Technology Lab Grades 4-6

The K-3 post was getting a little wordy, so I thought I would split the upper grades into a new post.

• 4th Grade:  As you know, we have been exploring the world of blogging for the last few months.  I can honestly say, I never expected it to take off like it did, although I was hoping that the students would enjoy it.  In fact, I had to turn off viewing rights for posts and comments temporarily, until I have a chance to catch up with reading and approving posts!  I am thrilled that students are practicing their typing skills in a context that is meaningful.  These students are also realizing the importance of writing for an audience. 
  
  So, the blogs will be utilized throughout the year.  However, we are going to move on starting Thursday to a few new technology concepts.
  
  The students are studying about European Explorers in Social Studies.  Therefore, we are going to implement technology into these lessons to approximate the distance between where the explorers set sail and where they made landfall, utilizing Google Maps.
  
  The week after the Thanksgiving break, we are going to place these numbers into Excel and create a graph.  I know this will be the first time many students utilize Excel, so I will make this as painless as possible with a ready-made document on each computer.  We will then create a graph that shows the differences between the distances covered by each explorer.  FINGERS CROSSED:  This is a lot to take on as fourth graders, but they are very smart and I know they can rise to the task.
  
• FIFTH GRADE:  I am in the process of getting 5th graders signed up for Edmodo, an online learning platform completely secure for elementary, middle, and high schools.  Once this process is complete, there will be no wondering what we are covering each day, as students will log on to Edmodo and a lesson will be there, or a directive of what to do next. 
  We have explored blogging as well in 5th grade, and last week we experienced a web tool called Wordle.  I am attempting to get Prezi accounts for all students, so that we can explore this presentation software.  In the meantime, we will implement Social Studies standards into a Google Maps/Excel assignment as in 4th grade. 
  
• SIXTH GRADE:  My small but powerful group of 6th graders that are in my class daily have been blazing trails with Edmodo, navigating online learning terrifically.  Yesterday they began planning their "All About Me" Power Point presentations utilizing Google Docs and Google Images.

What have we been up to in technology?? K-3

Hello, friends!  Sorry that my posts have been far and few between.
Here is an update on what the students have been learning in technology lab.

• KINDERGARTEN:  Every week I locate a few new educational activities/games for our youngest KCSMA knights to explore.  Almost all of the students have learned how to double-click to open the Kindergarten folder on the desktop, and then double-click the game that they want to play.  Through this, not only are they learning technology skills but also reading, to read the titles of the games in the folder, which are always simplified to be easy to read and remember. If a student chooses to want to paint or type instead, that is always a choice.  My objective is to keep them engaged for the full 45 minutes, and they are always happy when that is happening!  **Starting Thursday, we will explore Microsoft Paint in preparation for this 9 weeks' technology standard:  Use drawing tools to create an original illustration or picture story.
  
• FIRST GRADE:  My objectives for First Grade at this time are very similar to those of Kindergarten, as we have to work less on classroom procedures with first graders.  Also, the games are more difficult and challenging and incorporate more math and reading skills.  First graders are more prone to being able to assist their peers with troubleshooting.  We have also been able to practice shutting down the computer correctly at the end of each technology session.  **Starting Thursday, we will be exploring Microsoft Paint's features, in order to create a picture that tells a story.  We will extend this later in the year to create a concept map on Paint.
  
• SECOND GRADE:  Second graders have really been enjoying the various games that I have located for them to practice math, reading, and technology skills.  I have to say the most popular has been Fun Brain Math.  What I really like about this site is not only all of the math games but the reading as well.  So many students choose to sit and ready chapters of "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" during some of their technology time.  They have also enjoyed the Mad Libs section of this site.   ***Starting Thursday, we will be creating a brainstorming map about Fall on bubbl.us.  Students will be encouraged to attempt to create a brainstorming map on their own.  (This is the 2nd grade technology standard for this 9 weeks)
  
• THIRD GRADE:  A few weeks ago, we started a bit of Internet research, just to get our feet wet.  We will continue with this in different subjects at intervals throughout the year.  I have also realized that breaking a technology lesson into chunks is the way to go.  The key is to keep it fun and rewarding, to keep them interested for lifelong learning.  **Starting Thursday, Third grade will be learning/practicing how to search for an image and then saving it to a folder on the hard drive.  We will then insert this image into a document and write about it.  (2nd 9 weeks' technology standard in Third grade:  "Uses appropriate keywords and search strategies to locate information (text and pictures) online")