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.
Get a Voki now!

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