I can finally take a breath as we have all gotten started this year. I see every class in school once a week in the computer lab. The teachers are also allowed to use the lab on Mondays or send the older students down to use my spare computers. We also have 9 carts of netbooks that teachers in grades 2-5 check out for use in the classrooms. We also have a cart of ipads. Each teacher has 2 ipads (except 4th who wanted another cart of netbooks instead).
ANYWAY, this is what we've been doing in computer lab these last few weeks:
PreK & Kindergarten- we learned the rules of the lab, how to use the mouse and headphones, how to control volume and scroll windows. They have then been playing internet games that are tied to the academics going on in the classroom or learning how to use the mouse. Check out:
http://gullettech.weebly.com/kinder-links.html
http://gullettech.weebly.com/prek-classroom.html to see those sites.
They are doing great! There are a few kids I can tell have not been exposed to a mouse but all are using it great now!
1st Grade - First grade learned about the rules of the computer lab, how to make windows smaller and bigger, how to control volume and scroll. The students have played academic games on the internet. They do 15 mins of stories/reading sites and then 15 mins of math/science/social studies sites. They also did a project where they had to draw an illustration on the computer about what they did this summer. We printed it out in color. They had to show a friend and see if the friend could guess what they did based on their illustration (something the teachers were talking about in class). Back in the classroom they wrote about their summer under their picture.
http://gullettech.weebly.com/1st-grade-classrooms.html
2nd Grade - In second grade the big change is having to log into their computers. They have a login and a password that they will keep the whole time they are in AISD - until 12th grade! Second grade has been working on a project based on the Olympics. They are using a program called PIXIE which is a drawing/presentation/slideshow tool. They've learned how to type in information and change the font, the color, the size. They've learned to go to the internet to find pictures from the Olympics and put it in their presentation. They can draw in this program so some illustrated their sports and drew the Olympic Rings. We finished them this week and they should have come home in the form of a mini book.
3rd Grade - The third graders started learning to type at the end of second grade. Every time they come to lab they spend 15 minutes keyboarding. We are using a free online program called Dance Mat Typing. The third graders have also been working on an Olympics presentation. They are required to have at least 5 pages in their presentation. We spent one whole day talking about how to do research on the Internet, how to find legitimate sites, and how to traverse links. Each page of their presentation (also done in PIXIE) has to have at least 2 facts from the Internet (I've set up safe sites for this). In the end we are hoping to post these on the web for you to see. They are looking good!!!
ANYWAY, this is what we've been doing in computer lab these last few weeks:
PreK & Kindergarten- we learned the rules of the lab, how to use the mouse and headphones, how to control volume and scroll windows. They have then been playing internet games that are tied to the academics going on in the classroom or learning how to use the mouse. Check out:
http://gullettech.weebly.com/kinder-links.html
http://gullettech.weebly.com/prek-classroom.html to see those sites.
They are doing great! There are a few kids I can tell have not been exposed to a mouse but all are using it great now!
1st Grade - First grade learned about the rules of the computer lab, how to make windows smaller and bigger, how to control volume and scroll. The students have played academic games on the internet. They do 15 mins of stories/reading sites and then 15 mins of math/science/social studies sites. They also did a project where they had to draw an illustration on the computer about what they did this summer. We printed it out in color. They had to show a friend and see if the friend could guess what they did based on their illustration (something the teachers were talking about in class). Back in the classroom they wrote about their summer under their picture.
http://gullettech.weebly.com/1st-grade-classrooms.html
2nd Grade - In second grade the big change is having to log into their computers. They have a login and a password that they will keep the whole time they are in AISD - until 12th grade! Second grade has been working on a project based on the Olympics. They are using a program called PIXIE which is a drawing/presentation/slideshow tool. They've learned how to type in information and change the font, the color, the size. They've learned to go to the internet to find pictures from the Olympics and put it in their presentation. They can draw in this program so some illustrated their sports and drew the Olympic Rings. We finished them this week and they should have come home in the form of a mini book.
3rd Grade - The third graders started learning to type at the end of second grade. Every time they come to lab they spend 15 minutes keyboarding. We are using a free online program called Dance Mat Typing. The third graders have also been working on an Olympics presentation. They are required to have at least 5 pages in their presentation. We spent one whole day talking about how to do research on the Internet, how to find legitimate sites, and how to traverse links. Each page of their presentation (also done in PIXIE) has to have at least 2 facts from the Internet (I've set up safe sites for this). In the end we are hoping to post these on the web for you to see. They are looking good!!!
4th Grade - Fourth grade also does 15 mins. of keyboarding every week. This is something that will be so useful in their lifetime - starting in middle school where much of the homework is turned in typed (or emailed!). I have a couple 4th graders already typing in the 20 wpms! This year in 4th grade we've done a review of Word and some classes are typing up poems. We've done research on landforms and the regions of Texas. We've done some mapping skills and internet safety.
5th Grade - Fifth grade also does 15 mins. of keyboarding every week. Many of the students have already learned where all the keys are and so at this point they are working on speed and accuracy. We'll be having a friendly test to see where different people are (optional) and post it in the classroom where they can see their progress. Fifth grade has been working on an Olympics research project. They are in teams of 3-4 and researching a specific aspect of the games. We are then filming an interview related to the subject in front of a green screen. They will then learn some film editing to come up with a 1-2 min. inter