So Much Fun

The kids have been having a great time with the Hour of Code activities this week, and many of them have asked it there was a way to do more at home. The answer is "Yes!"

The best introductory activity is Write Your First Computer Program. This uses Blockly code blocks and graphics from Angry Birds and Plants vs. Zombies to get kids started coding.

Once they finish all 20 levels of that activity, they should be ready to tackle the Build Your Own Game and Create an Animated Card activities.

Here is the basic intro video:

President Obama Kicks Off the Hour of Code

Too cool not to share

Be a maker, a creator, an innovator. Get started now with an Hour of Code.

The Hour Of Code is Coming!

We have an exciting week coming up in the Technology Lab: Next week all Community students will be participating in a worldwide initiative called the Hour of Code!

You can read about the Hour of Code here.  For even more information you can visit the Hour of Code website.

Happy (almost) Thanksgiving!

I can't believe it's already (almost) Thanksgiving!  I've been trying to cram as much as I possible into this week because I won't see the students again until December!

The 1st graders are taking a break from math practice and are getting creative on the computer!  This week we are making art with Doozla, an easy to use drawing program designed specifically for kids.  It allows students to use a variety of simple tools to create fun art on screen.  In addition to their pictures, the 1st graders wrote a sentence about their work, doing their best to use their typing skills outside of a typing program!

2nd grade continued to work on our MS Word formatting activity, and 3rd graders have been having a great time working with our 30 day free trial of Type To Learn 4.  Each student has their own account, which enables them to work at their own pace on the lesson and games for each level.  If we end up adopting this program school-wide, students will also be able to access their accounts from home!

In addition to their ongoing work familiarizing themselves with their LAUSD online student accounts, the 4th and 5th graders were given their first real PowerPoint project this week: Unsolved Mysteries.  Each student will choose a "mystery" to research -- I have given them a list -- and will create a presentation based on what they find.  This should be a lot of fun, and will really allow them to become comfortable using the many features of PowerPoint.  (Although they may do research at home, they will be given time to research in class.)

I'm getting excited about Computer Science Education Week -- December 9th-15th -- and have already pledged to participate in the Hour of Code with our students!  More details soon.  :-)



Happy Thanksgiving!

Trying New Things

We've got a bunch of new stuff going on in the Technology Lab this week.

We're getting close to settling on a comprehensive typing program for our school!  (And not a moment too soon -- the kids are going to be too good for Dance Mat Typing soon!)  During the month of November, two classrooms, six teachers, Carla, and I will be involved in a free trial of what looks to be the perfect typing program for us.  Stay tuned for more details.

The kindergarteners have been eying the laptops longingly all year, so I thought it was time to let them have a go.  :-)  Those who had "computer experience" were used to using a mouse, so it was fun for them to try using the track pad.  They visited the kindergarten area of abcya.com and played Alphabet BINGO.  This is a great game to help kids learn the letter sounds because you can select to either the "Letter Name" or "Letter Sound".  Most importantly, there is a "Repeat Letter" button.

2nd and 3rd graders started a two-week "formatting" activity in Microsoft Word.  This activity is great for becoming familiar with the features of Word, but also enables the kids to see that the computer does what THEY tell it to do.

4th and 5th graders continued to familiarize themselves with their LAUSD online student accounts.  Some of the teachers are more excited than the kids -- they can't wait to use Google Docs for collaborative projects!

It's the End of Ocober!

Where does the time go??  I guess time flies when you're as busy as we have been in the Technology Lab!

On Friday, Many parents met with Carla to discuss the Common Core.  On thing that became clear during her presentation was that, although there have been "technology standards" in the past, and we have known that having tech saavy kids will be imperative in this century, the Common Core model pushes teachers and parents to make it happen.

If you are interested in the specific ways in which technology skills are integrated into the Common Core, this document is helpful: http:// bit.ly/1aDHscs

One area in which parents can really help support their kids is in typing practice.  Once a week in the Technology Lab is not enough.  As I mentioned before, Dance Mat Typing is a great FREE online typing program.  We want our kids to feel comfortable writing on computers for many reasons, but the coming changes to standardized testing is a big one.

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been attempting to get the 4th and 5th graders set up with their LAUSD email/cloud storage/GoogleDocs accounts.  Ideally, by the end of this week they will all be set!

2nd and 3rd grade have been working on typing practice in a different way by creating "word cloud poems" about themselves in abcya.com.

1st grade has continued to work on math skills, playing Money BINGO and Base Ten BINGO on abcya.com.

 

 And finally, in abcya.com, for advanced typers only...

Happy Halloween!