Superbowl Sunday!

I've got my reserved Superbowl seat for Sunday's game.  I'll be waited on hand and foot.  (The fellas in my house think I helped with the last 2 minutes of the last game day)!  Truthfully, I'll probably be reading/listening to an audiobook or watching my vampire show on my mini screen.  To each his own...

On that thought, we've been working more and more with students creating and responding with their own choices.  We have scientists, dancers, football players, musicians, etc...all in the making in our student body.

Kindergarten students used Follett Shelf from our library website to access eBooks of their choice to read or have read to them.

First Grade had their second opportunity to create a scene using drawing tools.  This week, we really focused on the conventions of writing (proper use of spaces, capitals and punctuation).

Second Grade also read eBooks again.  This time they read from the Mackin Via eBooks.  They all took an Acclerated Reader quiz to boot!

Third & Fourth Grade answered a new blog post of mine.
If you were given 5 minutes to get out of your house, what is the one thing you would take first besides a person/animal?  Answer in one paragraph. 
How did you get it?  
Why is it valuable to you?  
How long have you had it?  
What does it look like?
Label your title "Treasure".

The posts are entertaining and insightful.  We'll be working on conventions and adding a picture to that post next week.

 

Reading & Writing with Technology

Ahhh yes....I have finished weekend work just in time to watch the last 2 minutes of the NFC Championship game. The best 2 min of the game! 

Here's what we've been up to:

Kindergarten-2nd go around for drawing using color, line size, text box etc... showed improvement.

First Grade-used Mackin Via to read books online. They are identifying books that can read to them, opening the title to a 2 page spread, changing the color background to be easier on the eyes, zooming in and out, etc...

Second Grade-continues to amaze me with their eagerness to complete very difficult tasks. Can you identify all the skills used in this little project?

Third and Fourth Graders-were introduced to the new Kidblog format. Students are adding pictures to their blogs and identifying resources. 

Mrs. Skeen's Class Shines

This very poorly shot video was amazing proof of how I want my tech classes to run.  Kids are out of their seats asking for help and helping others.  Classes throughout the week were reminded to tap a friend before getting help from me.  To communicate to someone else what you've learned is evidence of growth!

January 2015--And We're Off!

Kindergarten is working on using a digital drawing program to create a scene.  They are using line thickness, color, shapes, and learning to erase just part of their drawing not the whole thing when mistakes are made.  They are also adding text with text boxes to label their drawing with their name and a descriptive title or sentence.

First Grade is using our library eBooks.  They type in the username and password to access the school books, turn pages, make the layout a 2 page spread and can identify when the computer will read it aloud to them. Please contact Mrs. Paul, the librarian, or myself to obtain that username and password if needed.

Second Grade is creating a graphic organizer in the publishing layout of Word.  The pyramid shape is teaching them to visualize how large topics can be narrowed. The pyramid on the right is an extension.  Kids could use the internet to search for images that match their diagram and add them to their work.

Third and Fourth Graders were learning how to resize and move windows and work with them side-by-side.  They learned 3 new keyboard shortcuts to copy, paste and do a quick page find.  We worked with the internet (Google Chrome as the browser) and Microsoft Word (publisher format).  Some students learned about making pictures "hot" so they can be manipulated.  The 2nd Week of January, students will be blogging about their news finds using their Kidblog accounts.