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, computer coding and any other new technology we might stumble upon and decide to integrate. 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!
April 18, 2016
The Neighborhood Kindergarten classes finished their animal riddle books and began learning how awesome the text tool can be. The Neighborhood 1st grade classes began their end of the year slideshows using Keynote. The Neighborhood 2nd grade classes completed building their communities in Minecraft. Each class then visited the other class community. Mrs. Eichman's class invited their parents to come into the lab and explore their community. They also helped the students rate the buildings. The Odyssey K12 classes all focused on projects about Asia. The Kindergarten classes did projects in KidPix and the 1st and 2nd are using Keynote.
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April 12, 2016It's been a fun robotics unit in all 3rd, 4th and 5th grade classes. The 3rd grades classes concentrated on learning how to program and use the color and touch sensors. The 4th and 5th grade teams were expected to use the touch and color sensors, as well as the arm to complete missions. Each grade level was given a set of missions to choose from for the class tournament. Each mission was assigned points. The team had 60 seconds to complete as many missions as they could. The team with the most points wins. Sounds simple, right? Ha ha- not really. Even though the missions seemed easy, most were not. What we learned is that had we spent a little more time studying the missions, we could have gotten more points with less effort. Strategy is key in maximizing points. We had a blast trying to complete the different missions. It was especially fun to see how the other teams solved the same challenges. We are always sorry to see robotics end :-( .
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March 28, 2016The Computer lab continues to be full of activity. The Neighborhood Kindergarten students have been working on animal riddle books, the 1st grade have completed their penguin slideshows and the 2nd grade are finishing up their communities in Minecraft EDU.
All 3rd-5th grade students are deep into the Lego robotics unit. It's always impressive to see how quickly the kids learn how to program the robots. Students have learned how to use the touch sensor, the color sensors and how to operate their arm. Now they are all hoping to beat their classmates in the tournament that will take place the second week in April. The Odyssey 5th grade students are working on TV ads using green screen effects and editing their footage in iMovie. They have discovered that adding music and sound effects can really bring their projects to life. We also took a little time for several of the classes to experiment a little with the Chrome Music Lab site. If you haven't checked it out, you should- it's pretty awesome! |
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February 24, 2016The kindergarten classes are back at working in KidPix. We are using the text tool and several paint tools. Both 1st grade and the Odyssey 2nd grade classes are continuing on their slideshows using Keynote. The kids have learned how to import images and how to spiff up their slides by adding borders and fill colors. The Neighborhood 2nd grade classes have designed their communities on paper and have begun to bring it to life in Minecraft EDU. All 3rd, 4th and 5th grade classes have just started the robotics unit. We did a little virtual programming online first (using BOTZ Puzzles and NASA) and have just started using the Lego Mindstorms EV3 robots. The Odyssey 5th grade class is working on TV ads. We are having fun!
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January 30, 2016We began the New Year with new projects. The Kindergarten classes did some coding at Kodable.com. The Neighborhood first grade classes watched penguin videos and collected facts. Then began working on slideshows in Keynote about their penguin. The Odyssey 1st and 2nd grade classes are working on slideshows in Keynote about clouds. The Neighborhood 2nd grade classes began their unit on communities. They designed a community on paper, researched what building might look like and then began building their community in MInecraftEDU. Neighborhood 3rd grade classes finished their multicultural calendars using Google Slides. Neighborhood 4th and 5th classes created sideshows in Google Slides about their Native American tribes and then built them in Minecraft EDU. Odyssey 3rd, 4th and 5th designed inventions in Minceraft EDU. The highlight of the month when Google sent out a bunch of cardboard 3D viewers for us to try out. What a blast!
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December 31, 2015
All 1st-5th grade students continued learning about coding this month. It's always amazing to see how quickly the kids learn to think like coders. We are grateful to Code.org for providing us with free accounts at Code Studio.
The Neighborhood 3rd grade students learned how to use Google Drawing, integrating their study of arrays to extend their classroom curriculum into the lab. The Neighborhood and Odyssey 5th grade students began projects in MinecraftEDU. The Neighborhood students are creating Native American settlements based on their research projects and the Odyssey students are creating inventions. We had a few hours one day without internet access so the 5th grade students had fun creating projects in Garage Band. |
November 30, 2015We've had a busy month. The Kindergarten classes are continuing to learn the tools in Kid Pix Studio Deluxe. The 1st and 2nd grade classes moved into coding at Code.org. We love to code! The 3rd grade Neighborhood classes finished up their Early Portland slideshows. The 4th grade classes did Type to Learn, IXL and have recently moved onto coding. The Neighborhood 5th grade classes researched Native American tribes and created slideshows. They are just beginning to build their settlements in MinecraftEDU. The Odyssey 3,4,5 classes learned all about inventions and created dynamic posters about a single Civil War invention. The Odyssey 5th grade class recently began creating inventions in MinecraftEDU while the 3rd and 4th grade classes began coding. We are having fun!
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October 25, 2015All 1st - 5th grade students have been working hard to complete their All About Me slideshow projects. We have used KidPix, Google Slides and Powtoon. 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 have written scary stories and are adding layers of sound to bring their stories to life. The Odyssey 5th grade students have created their first electronic portfolios using Google Sites. |
September 2015
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. You'd be surprised at how difficult it can be to use a mouse when you are used to using your finger!
For the rest of the students, its been all about creating slideshows. The Neighborhood 1st and Odyssey 1st and 2nd grade classes began creating slideshows about themselves in KidPix. The Neighborhood 2nd grade classes and all 3rd, 4th and 5th grade students are creating slideshows in Google Slides. The Odyssey 5th grade students are creating slideshows using Powtoon.com. Everyone is working hard. We're off to a great start! |
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