Welcome to the Computer Lab
Every Kindergarten through 5th grade student attends computer class at least once a week. Classroom curriculum is integrated in all projects. Our goal is to develop technical skills that will help students be successful in middle school and beyond. We focus on word processing, desktop publishing, keyboarding, multimedia presentations, podcasts, movies, Lego robotics, coding and any other new technology we might stumble upon and decide to integrate. All students have Google for Education accounts and learn to use Google Drive and a full suite of Google apps. Many of the online resources we use are on our Just for Kids page. Let the fun begin!
May 2017
Mrs. Eichman and Mrs. Anderson's 2nd grade classes have been working with the WeDos for the past few weeks. All of the teams built the froglet models as part of a guided activity. They programmed the froglet to do a variety of actions. Next, they were asked to modify the froglet model to look more like an adult. They explored more programming with the adult model. Finally, we challenged them to design a frog for the class race. The race was a blast!
April 2017- implementing the WeDo curriculumThe WeDo kits have been put into action and the kids love them! Mrs. Eichman and Mrs. Anderson's second grade classes are the first to work with the kits. I wish I could include an audio file of the oohs and aahs of their excitement. They couldn't wait to start building and programming!
We began with the Frog Metamorphosis unit. The students worked with partners to build a tadpole. Then they modified the model to mimic real life changes in a frog, adding rear legs and then front legs. After each stage, they experimented with the programming to move it around and make sounds. We are thankful to have such a generous community who donated the funds to help us build a class set of these kits. |
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March Robotics Mania
All 3rd, 4th and 5th grade classes do Lego Robotics as part of their technology curriculum. The students work with EV3 robots and program using the Lego Mindstorms software. All robots have two color sensors, a touch sensor and an arm for attachments. Teams may design attachments as they need. All classes are given a set of challenges to choose from. At the endo f the unit, the teams compete in a class tournament. It's a blast!
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March 2017March is always a busy month. We decided to teach the Kinders how to log into their GAFE accounts. It wasn't easy but they are beginning to figure it out. They have learned how to navigate to the Classroom app, find an assignment and open it. The first skills they're learning in GAFE is how to draw in Google slides. They're building houses. I'm pretty sure we have some budding architects in this group!
The first grade kids continued working on their penguin slideshows in Keynote. They're quite competent in importing images from a file, adding text, creating borders and adding fills. I'm always amazed at how quickly they learn. The second grade kids were focused on building their communities in MinecraftEDU. These kids are so creative with what they can build with cubes! Eventually, the two classes will explore each other's communities. The 3rd, 4th and 5th grade kids spent all of March preparing for the class robotics tournament. We are all sad when the robotics unit is over. |
February 2017We began a lot of new units this month. The Kindergarten students finished their unit in coding and had fun exploring Seedball. Our next step is to begin learning how to sign into their Google Drive accounts.
The first grade classes were Penguin research scientists. They watched several videos about penguins and recorded facts that they learned in their journals. The next step will be to build a slideshow in Keynote. Each 2nd grade class designed a community, created a community contract and worked with partners to begin making their community come to life in MinecraftEDU. The partners did Google image searches to help them agree on what their commercial buildings should look like inside and out. The 3rd-5th grade classes began the month doing virtual robotics online. Then we began the robotics unit with our EV3 robots. The kids have learned how to use both the color and touch sensors. All classes have been separated into teams of three and have been given a list of challenges for the class tournament. It's exciting to see all the different ideas for how to best compete in the final tournament. We love robotics! |
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December 2016/January 2017We spent all of December and what little time we've had in January devoted to coding. All of our 1st-5th grade students have Code Studio accounts. These accounts include self paced, skill building courses. The activities include coding Angry Birds challenges, writing stories using code, drawing geometric shapes, working with angles and much more. The kids are doing all kinds of integrated math without realizing it and they love it! So do their teachers.
In January, the Kindergarten classes joined in the coding craze. They are working within their accounts at Kodable.com. It also is a self paced program for nonreaders. These kids are hooked, too! Look out parents, here come the next generation of engineers! |
November 2016
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The Neighborhood Kindergarten classes just learned how to log into their IXL accounts. They are becoming experts on how to log into their accounts. The 1st grade is right there with them.
The 2nd grade classes did their first slideshow in Google Slides: a class project about their field trip to the Audubon society. Each student did one slide in the show. They learned how to add text, change fonts, add borders and fill, insert images, add animations and transitions. It was way fun. The 3rd-5th finished up their About Me and scary story projects and then we finished the month doing coding in their Code Studio accounts. We love to code! |
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October 2016The Kinders and 1st grade students have learned how to log into their IXL and RAZ Kids accounts. It's tricky when the keyboard has all upper case letters on it! They've also visited ABCYa.com. The 1st grade classes learned how to log onto a Chromebook. Now they can use them in their classes- yay! The 2nd grade classes are now comfortable using Type to Learn, IXL and RAZ Kids. We did our first project in Google Slides, a space drawing, and the kids had a blast.
All 3rd - 5th grade students have been working hard to complete their All About Me slideshow projects. All are using Google Slides. We are eager to move onto our next series of projects. The kids are now experts on how to use the research tools, how to insert images, add transitions and animations, and how to use the drawing tools. We've learned a lot about the students during this project, too. We recently began using Garage Band with the 4th grade students. The kids wrote scary stories, recorded them in Garage Band and are adding layers of sound to bring their stories to life |
September 2016It's been a quick start to the year. The Kindergarten and 1st grade kids began with Starfall.com to practice their reading skills and to learn how to use a mouse. You'd be surprised at how difficult it can be to use a mouse when you are used to using your finger! All the 2nd -5th grade kids have started with Type to Learn, IXL and RAZ Kids.
We're off to a great start! |
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