Last weekend I had an opportunity to attend the all-day San Diego Computer Using Educators Conference.. The conference is specifically designed to help teachers integrate technology into the curriculum. At the conference, I was able to see the many ways that actual teachers in San Diego were using technology to enhance the learning experience in their classrooms. I hope to bring some of the exciting ideas I learned about to the classrooms at Torrey Pines Elementary School.
Laptop cart usage continues to be strong at TPES. Mrs. Baniaga's class used the laptops to create Halloween digital stories. Mr. Ramirez's class typed up their narrative stories using the laptops. As for the activities taking place in the computer lab, here's what students were up to for the week:
Grade 1: Students were introduced to a drawing program called Tux Paint. Opening, saving, entering text, resizing fonts and using the paint tools were a few of the skills students learned while working with Tux Paint. Next week, students will be using their skills to build a page for an electronic class book.
Grade 3: Students are making great progress with Type to Learn. A majority of the students are now using the correct keyboard fingering and have been quite accurate in their typing. Way to go third graders!
After-School: K-3 students have been busy with their UCSD buddies working on grade level curriculum games. Students in Grades 4-5 are working on a variety of grade level games, while some are starting to explore individual technology projects.
