Week 13, 2009-2010

This week, the laptops were used by students in Grades 3, 4 and 5! Students in grade 3 used the laptops for working on their States research reports, students in Mrs. Saldivars 4th grade class used the laptops for narrating their digital stories and students in 5th grade used the laptops to create Powerpoint presentations on New World Explorers.

Completed digital stories for Ms. Saldivar's class can be viewed at: tpesr10.wikispaces.com (Note: A password is required for viewing the digital stories. Contact Ms. Saldivar or Mrs. Lin for the password).



Grade 1: Students in grade 1 completed their "I Have a Dream" project. For this project, students used Tux Paint to draw a self-portrait. Then they used Microsoft Powerpoint to add their "dream for the world". The above projects were created by students of Ms. Gonzales. Projects for Ms. Chiaro, Ms. Hilsen and Ms. Kluch can be viewed on the TPES Techkidz Showcase page.

Week 12 2009-2010

Welcome back from the winter break! Students in Mr. Ramirez's 5th grade class were first to use the laptop cart after the winter break. Students were busy this week working on their Explorer's Presentations that they are creating using Microsoft Powerpoint. Students in Mrs. Saldivar's 4th Grade class came to the computer lab to build their digital story projects using Microsoft Photostory. Next week they will add narration to the projects. I can't wait to see the results!



Grade 1: Students in Grade 1 started a new project in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. For the project, students were asked to draw a self-portrait using TuxPaint. Next week, they will import the project into Microsoft Powerpoint, and write one of their own dreams that they have for the world. Here is an sample of what the finished product will look like.

After-School: A new group of UCSD students were introduced to the after-school program this week. Torrey Pines students worked with their buddies on a variety of programs in the computer lab, including a program that let them create their own music as well as a fantastic drawing program that teaches them to draw their favorite cartoon characters called "Drawing Now" .

Week 11, 2009-2010

The laptops continue to be very popular with the upper grade classrooms. Mr. Ramirez, Mr. Devore and Mrs. Saldivar used the laptops this week to type up personal narratives as well as biographies for their author's reports. Observations of students using the laptops has highlighted the need for keyboarding instruction and practice. All students are urged to practice their keyboarding skills over the break. There are some excellent, free sites on the internet that offer keyboarding instruction as well as games for reinforcement. Two of my favorite sites are: Dance Mat Typing and Free Typing Games. Both sites are geared toward children and offer lessons as well plenty of practice opportunities.

As far as activity in the computer lab, Grade 1 students finished their very first Microsoft Word project. For the project, students typed and formatted a Snowman Poem. As part of this exercise, students learned the following: opening, closing and saving Microsoft Word documents, importing clipart, changing fonts and many other skills. For a first attempt at using Word, students did great. We will continue to reinforce this skill throughout the year.

Week 10, 2009-2010

The laptop carts were fully utilized this week in the upper grade classrooms. Mr. Devore's class typed "letters to the editor" and worked on their Explorer's Powerpoint presentations. Ms. Saldivar's class and Ms. Randi's class typed their literary essays. All fourth grade students researched polar bear facts as part of Ms. Isom's Science Rotation and began creating a fact sheet of their findings.

In addition to classroom laptop cart usage, students in Grade 1 were introduced to Microsoft Word in their weekly computer lab rotation. Students typed simple words and learned about the space bar, changing the font size, use of the enter key and more.

Week 9, 2009-2010

Final touches were put on digital stories for Mr. Ramirez's class this week. Stories were posted on a wiki for parents to view. Students did not come to the computer lab this week due to parent teacher conferences. Classroom books are posted on the TPES Techkidz Showcase page. Here is a sample of one of the books. To see others, please visit the Showcase page.

Classroom ABC Books on Living and Non-Living Things

Week8, 2009-2010

The laptops were utilized in three different classrooms this past week. Mrs. Saldivar's class used the laptops to perform research for social studies. Mr. Ramirez's class used the laptops to finish typing their narrative stories as well as for digital story narration. Mr. Lee's students typed their reports on the various regions of California.

In addition to technology used in the classroom, the computer lab provided students with technology instruction. Here is a summary of what students did in the lab.

Grade 1: Students in Grade 1 completed their pages of the class ABC book on living and non-living things. Those who finished early, worked on BBC's "Dance Mat Typing", which is an excellent introductory typing instruction program.

Grade 3: Students in Grade 3 were introduced to a collection of online games designed to provide students with keyboarding practice. Students were encourgaed to practice keyboarding at home using the games that were introduced.

Week 7, 2009-2010

This week was another busy week for technology. Fourth grade students in Mr. Lee's class used the laptops for the first time this year for a project realted to their study of the regions of California. The project will involve students using keyboarding skills, using comic strip making software, manipulating pictures, using online folders and more. Students will continue with the project next week. Fifth grade students in Mr. Devores class completed the narration on their digital stories, while students in Mr. Ramirez's class started creating their digital stories. Students imported pictures, rotated, edited, built title and ending pages, created their own music and customized motion. Students enjoyed working with the Photostory software and are looking forward to the narration of their stories.

In computer lab, students continued to advance their technology skills.

Grade 1: Students in Grade 1 used Tux Paint software to create their page for the class ABC book on Living and Non-Living Things.

Grade 3: Students in Grade 3 worked on their typing skills using Type To Learn. Students also prepared for a test that wiel be given next week.