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, photography, movies, Lego robotics, Scratch, and other online activities. We are always looking for new technology to experiment with.
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April 2014- 3rd, 4th and 5th Grade
For the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade classes, April has been all about Lego robotics. The kids have been working together in teams to tackle the competition challenges. It's been exciting to observe them working together these past few weeks. They have finally become true teamsl. They're programming skills have improved exponentially and they've gained a great understanding of how sensors work. They exceeded all of the expectations I had for them! It's been a fun 6 weeks. We are sad to see this unit come to an end.
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Animations by the 4th and 5th Grade Students
We did quick animations just to learn the basics. We used iTouch4s with the iMotionHD app. The iTouch4 image quality is substandard but we had fun anyway. We exported our projects to iMovie. Each student put together their own iMovie project, adding sound effects, music, titles and transitions. Here's just one example from each class project. Enjoy!
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March 2014
Robotics Mania begins!!!
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Wow- what a month it has been! Snowman stories, animal research, "Where I Come From" slideshows, animation final editing, completed Scratch projects, Lego robotics and more! It's been a fun few weeks.
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February 2014
It's been a full month. All 345 kids have school Google for Education accounts and are beginning to use Google apps. They are excited to have the freedom to work on their assignments at home. The 5th grade students are finishing up their Scratch projects. The 4th and 4th/5th grade classes are adding transitions, music and sound effects to their animation projects. Many of the 4th and 5th grade students are trying to complete the Computer Science class offered by Code.org. We are doing virtual programming online to prepare for our robotics unit. The 1st and 2nd grade classes are all doing slideshows in both KidPix and Keynote.
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January 2014
We've kicked off the New Year with units in Animation, Sketchup and Scratch for the 3-7 classes. The Neighborhood 4th and 5th grade classes shot their animations using iMotionHD and iTouches. They are beginning to edit their footage using iMovie. One of the 5th grade classes is working with Scratch to create projects that explain an idiom. It's fun to see the ideas they come up with. Click here to see their projects. The Odyssey 6th and 7th grade kids are exploring Sketchup. The Sketchup Gallery has an incredible collection of Roman buildings, fountains, armies, etc. that can be downloaded into a project. The 1st and 2nd grade classes have been doing Type to Learn- they love learning how to type! The Kindergarten kids are doing self portraits in Kid Pix- compare what they are wearing to what they are drawing- they are pretty cute!
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November/December 2013
There has been a lot of recording going on in the lab these days. The Odyssey 345 students have all recorded their animated manitou posters. The Neighborhood 3rd and 4th grade classes have finished their slideshows in PowerPoint and KeyNote. The Neighborhood 5th grade classes are recording the Spooky stories they wrote with a partner using a shared Google doc. They are doing their recordings in Garage Band and will add music and sound effects. All 1st and 2nd grade students have completed recording their "All About Me" slideshows and are beginning to focus on Type to Learn and IXL. Last but not least, the Kindergarten students are adding to their skills in KidPix. They have learned how to use the pencil tool and the shape tools. We are having a blast!
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October 2013These last few weeks have been busy in the lab! The Kindergarten kids have all learned to log into their IXL accounts and now they are beginning to learn how to use KidPix. They've learned the text tool (you'd be surprise how hard it is to make a capital letter!) and are now learning how to use the drawing tools. The 1st and 2nd grade students are creating slideshows in Kidpix. They love recording their voices. The 2nd/3rd grade Neighborhood kids are creating slideshows in Keynote. All of their shows include animations and sound recordings. The Neighborhood 4th and 5th grade now have Hayhurst Google for Education accounts. They have learned how to share documents and are writing stories together. The Odyssey 345 kids are all creating animated posters about their manitous in Keynote. All projects include sound recordings. The Odyssey 7th grade classes have been playing around with Scratch and have created a variety of games and activities which you can try out here.
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September 2013
It's been a quick start to the year. The Kindergarten kids are all using Starfall.com to practice their reading skill and to learn how to use a mouse. The 1st and 2nd grade classes are creating slideshows about themselves in KidPix. The 3rd and 4th grade classes are creating slideshows in PowerPoint and Keynote. The fifth grade class has been issued Google Apps for Education email accounts and are using the presentation software in GAFE to create slideshows. Some of the kids are using the drawing program to create treasure maps. They are excited to be able to work simultaneously on a project together. They are even more excited to have their own email accounts. Many of the kids are working on their projects at home.
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