Week 15, 2009-2010

Our laptops have been seeing lots of use and as a result are experiencing some wear and tear. This week, two of the keyboards had to be replaced due to problems we were having. Additional troubleshooting was done with internet access in the ISS and wireless printing.

Students in the 4th grade used the BLOBZ Guide to Electrical Circuits website in Science along with the laptops this week to review and test knowledge of electrical circuits. The site allows students to earn stars for correct answers to the mini-quizzes that helped students review their knowledge of circuits, switches, conductors and more. They had so much fun on this site that they hardly realized that they were reviewing! Mr. Devore's students used the laptops for research and typing papers. Mrs. Baniaga's students used the laptops for their Powerpoint ABC books and also for researching their state's reports. The laptops were also used for the yearbook club. Digital cameras were used for yearbook as well as for taking pictures of Grade 1 students completing actions for their illustrated HOW-TO booklets.

Grade 3: This week, Grade 3 returned to the computer lab after devoting their computer time in January and part of February preparing for the Winter concert. Students were eager to practice their typing skills and really seemed to understand the value of efficient keyboarding skills after being required to use their keyboarding skills for several assignments in their classrooms. Grade 3 students were introduced to the Keyboarding for Kindness program this week. Keyboarding for Kindness is similar to the popular program Free Rice except that instead of earning grains of rice for answering vocabulary quiz questions, students earn donation money for completing lessons in keyboarding. As part of the TPES Keyboarding for Kindness program I will donate 10 cents for each keyboarding lesson a student completes. The money earned will be used to buy chickens for people in Africa or will be donated to help people in Haiti. The program is only available to TPES grade 3 students.

Grade 1: Students in Grade 1 completed their Valentine Cards. The Valentine Cards included a picture created in Tux Paint as well as a Valentine message typed in Microsoft Word. For the project students gained skills in using the paint program, importing pictures into Word and also in saving files.

Week 14, 2009-2010

This past week was a busy one for Technology at TPES. During TPES Science Night, our laptops were used by students from grades 3-5 and their parents for several interactive activities. Students were able to test their knowledge of weather by taking the Jimmy Bowtie Weather Challenge. They were also able to create their own talking Voki (similiar to an avatar) in which they were to create an avatar, record what they had learned at Science Night and have the avatar say it back. The laptops were also used to generate CD's of digital stories that were created in the classrooms. For classroom work, the laptops were used by Mrs. Baniaga's class for two different projects. Students used the laptops to perform research for their states reports. They also used the laptops to begin creating their Powerpoint ABC books.

Grade 1: Students created their drawings for their valentine's cards using Tux Paint. After creating their drawings, they imported the pictures into their Microsoft Word documents. Through this project, students gained skills in file management, and using Microsoft Word.



Voki for Science Night to get kids interested in making their own Voki characters. Click arrow to play.
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