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, Powtoon, Scratch, Tynker and any other new technology we might stumble upon and decide to integrate. This year all 2nd-5th grade students have been issued Google for Education accounts and will be learning to use Google Drive and a full suite of Google apps. Let the fun begin!
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February 2015
February has been filled with a variety of activities. The kindergarten kids have learned how to use the text tool and are beginning to add sentences to their projects. The first grade students have been watching a variety of videos about penguins and recording facts that they will use in their Keynote slideshows. The second grade students design communities and are recreating them in Minecraft.. They used Google images to determine the design for their buildings. The third grade students have finished up multicultural calendars. The fourth grade kids did black history posters. The fifth grade students worked in teams to write and film animations about the moon. They have just started to edit their projects in iMovie. The Odyssey 345 kids finished their Colonial quizzes in Scratch and took the time to evaluate each other's projects. All 3rd, 4th and 5th grade students have just begun the robots unit by doing virtual robotics online using NASA and Botz Puzzles and more.
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January 2015We kicked off the year with a lot of fun new projects including building snowmen in KidPix for the Kindergarten kids and creating multicultural calendars with partners in Google Presentations with the Neighborhood 3rd grade. The Odyssey 345 are finishing up their Colonial quiz games in Scratch and hope to share them publicly soon. Several of the classes created their own apps in Code Studio which was a big hit. I was impressed with how quickly the students were able to create their games. Again, how can coding be so much fun?
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December 2014December was a short month but we packed a lot in! The Kindergarten kids learned how to use the shape and fill tools in KidPix and built their own houses. The Neighborhood 1st grade students started working on their "How To" books using Pages. Most other classes focused on doing coding activities related to the Hour of Code. The kids especially enjoyed being able to code their own versions of Flappy Bird. All Odyssey 345 classes started creating a Colonial quiz game using Scratch.
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November 2014November is always a little crazy because of all the "no school" days but we made the most of it. The Kindergarten students began learning how to draw in KidPix. They loved drawing their self portraits. We introduced the Neighborhood 1st and 2nd grade students to coding using Code Studio. They had no idea that most people are intimidated by coding and just had an absolute ball! The older kids continued working on their projects in Google Apps and Scratch.
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October 2014October has been a busy month in the lab. The Kindergarten students continue to practice their math skills in IXL and their reading skills in Starfall. All the 1st and 2nd grade students are currently working on "All About Me" slideshows. The Neighborhood 3rd grade classes are using Google Draw to create arrays and creative drawings. The Neighborhood 4th grade classes are writing stories with a partner in a shared Google document and the Neighborhood 5th grade classes are continuing to work on their Scratch Maze games. I think the kids have been shocked at how much code goes into creating a game. They are enjoying adding sound effects and new game levels as they continue to get better at coding. The Odyssey 345 students are all creating slideshows about their identities using Google Presentations.
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September 2014
It's been a quick start to the year. The Kindergarten kids began with Starfall.com to practice their reading skills and to learn how to use a mouse. The 1st and 2nd grade classes began with Type to Learn and IXL to get them up and running and ready to practice their keyboarding and math at home. Next the Neighborhood 1st and 2nd grade classes began creating slideshows about themselves in KidPix and the Odyssey 1st/2nd began slideshows about Portland Bridges.
All 3rd, 4th and 5th grade students began with IXL and keyboarding in Type to Learn 4. We also got the Easy CBM testing out of the way. The Neighborhood 3rd grade classes created posters about themselves in Keynote to share at Back to School Night. This week, Mrs. Mankowski's 5th class began designing Maze games in Scratch, a coding language, with partners. Next week all 3rd-5th grade students will begin working with their Google Apps account and learning how to navigate within their Google Drive. They will be doing a variety of projects including shared stories and slideshows. |
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