December - Technology Fun!

This was a short month due to snow days and Holiday Break. We continued to learn with technology and link to core classes when possible.

Kindergarten students have been getting more comfortable using our laptops. They practiced choosing what is different in a series of pictures. They began in a simple lesson on the Internet - http://www.funbrain.com/oddballs/index.html to choose which animal, shape or machine is different. Then we moved to our program Big Thinkers Kindergarten to choose which of 3 dolls is different. Some of these are tricky, so they need to look closely to be observant. Students had some fun during our last class together in Dec., decorating gingerbread cookies on a fun website, http://www.theoworlds.com/christmas. They were also able to build a snowman at http://www.starfall.com/n/holiday/snowman/load.htm?f. The students choose hats, scarves, and etc. for their snowman, then listen to the 10 little snowmen song.

1st grade classes worked on math skills in our fun Math Workshop program. They spent several classes in the "bowling alley" clicking on the answer to addition problems as they receive bowling pins, so the very silly gorilla could bowl. Students had some fun during our last class together in Dec. They created beautiful snowflakes that could spin, rotate, snow, melt and more at http://dinosaurdesign.com/SnowflakeFactory.htm. They were also able to build a snowman at http://www.starfall.com/n/holiday/snowman/load.htm?f. The students choose hats, scarves, and etc. for their snowman, then listen to the 10 little snowmen song.


2nd grade classes have begun their Wampanoag Indian power point slide. They completed the Internet research in Nov., so are working to type facts onto a power point slide as well as learn to change font, font size and color. When the slides are complete, I will put all of each class's slides together to create a class power point slide show. During the last class of the month, we built a snowman online at http://pbskids.org/readingrainbow/games/index.html. Students answered questions to reveal changes to their snowman. At http://dinosaurdesign.com/SnowflakeFactory.htm, they created beautiful snowflakes that could spin, rotate, snow, melt and more. The snowflake works well with symmetry that was being discussed in the 2nd grade classes.

3rd grade students have studied the characteristics of plants and animals in the classroom. In technology class they played an interactive game to review and learn about plant and animal characteristics at A Touch of Class http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/interactives/class.html

Both 3rd and 4th grade classes were able to have a little creative fun during their last class in December. "Make a Flake" at http://snowflakes.barkleyus.com/ is great for very creative snowflake design. Students can save their designs to view in the online gallery (by number only).

3rd and 4th grade classes are finishing up on their unit in keyboarding. This has been very important time spent in using proper fingering and learning the keys to improve their speed and accuracy when typing. We have only 30 minutes each week for technology classes. This month, the snow days impacted our keyboarding time. For extra keyboarding practice, I encourage students to try an online keyboarding game for additional practice. After break, both grades will need to move on to accomplish our technology curriculum.
As with all Internet websites, please check these in advance. Sometimes websites move or change. Some keyboarding websites to check are:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/

http://gwydir.demon.co.uk/jo/typing/

http://www.netrover.com/~kingskid/typing_spell/typing.htm

http://www.davis.k12.ut.us/cjh/appliedtech/Business/Keyboarding/Index.html

http://www.customtyping.com/goalie_demo.htm

http://www.powertyping.com/fog/foggies.html

http://www.typeonline.co.uk/copypractice.php

http://funschool.kaboose.com/fun-blaster/games/game_type_me.html