It is hard to believe that our school year is nearly half over. All students have spent time in the computer lab or with the laptops in their classrooms. Tritt Elementary student continue to demonstrate their superior technical knowledge and ability. With our new technology standards, we’ve been refining our previous years’ lessons, as well as developing new lessons to match up with the curriculum.
Kindergarteners have been working in our Mega Math program mastering patterns, sets, and counting to ten. Each student has had the opportunity to explore www.starfall.com, which they all love. We have worked on sorting shapes and colors in Kidspiration and reviewing letter sounds in Kid Pix. One class of Kindergarteners has “Tech Buddies”. This class has teamed with a Fifth Grade class to create stories and illustrations done on the computer. This arrangement has proven to be advantageous for both the older and younger students. Your Kindergartener probably has brought home some of their creations from the computer lab. After our Winter Break, our Kindergarteners will be learning how to use the computer keyboard to type word families in Microsoft Word.
The First Graders have worked on Mega Math mastering their addition facts and strategies. Some classes have typed a sentence, and then illustrated it in Kid Pix. Kidspiration has been a great tool for math, spelling, and weather activities. You may have seen of this work come home in your child’s folder. After our Winter Break in December, our first graders will be learning how to publish their own writing in Microsoft Word. We will have a number of writing opportunities for First Grade.
The Tritt Second Graders have been introduced to keyboarding which helps them tremendously when they publish written work in Microsoft Word. Mega Math has helped our second graders with their addition and subtraction facts, as well as working with money and telling time. Some of our second graders have had the opportunity to work in Kid Pix illustrating a story they have written in the classroom. It is always amazing to see the creativity that emerges from computer drawings. Some of this work may have made it home already.
The Third Graders have begun to publish more and more of their written work using Microsoft Word. Some classes have been able to insert clip art into their documents, adding a personal touch. With the study of rocks in science, the third graders have been able to demonstrate their mastery of the subject in Kidspiration. One class has used Kid Pix to illustrate multiplication arrays, which helps them visualize how multiplication works. Other classes have created Power Point presentations in at least one subject area. The students have enjoyed learning this new and valuable skill.
The Fourth Graders have been introduced to Internet research with their study of weather and explorers. They’ve been shown how to use Cobb Virtual Library and Kid-Friendly Search Engines. At school, students are not permitted to use Google unless they are under the direct supervision of a teacher. They have been shown the resources available to kids to give them age appropriate content. In addition, fourth graders are still learning to master the keyboard with both hands. While some adults have demonstrated that “hunt and peck” works, we encourage students to use both hands and the correct finger placement. The fourth graders will have opportunities coming up to create Power Point Presentations. The teachers usually end up learning some new tools when watching the children build their masterpiece on the computer. These will usually end up coming home on a CD.
The Fifth Graders have been working on keyboarding in preparation for Middle School. At each teacher’s discretion, most fifth graders have been introduced to the online textbooks for Math, Science, and Social Studies. As the students were told, these are by no means meant to replace the regular textbook, especially for homework due the next day. The kids have been assured that an Internet outage or unavailability of a computer are not valid excuses for homework not completed. Fifth graders have also conducted research using the Internet. They’ve been shown how to use Cobb Virtual Library and Kid-Friendly Search Engines. At school, students are not permitted to use Google unless they are under the direct supervision of a teacher. They have been shown the resources available to kids to provide age appropriate content. Most of the fifth graders have been able to publish their written work using Microsoft Word.
