Computer Lab News: Week 1

The first week in lab always starts with a review of the Rules of the Road (aka Lab Rules). This year each grade was shown a PowerPoint presentation as the rules were explained. Next week some of the grades will be playing a Jeopardy type game which will include questions/answers about the rules.


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KINDERGARTEN:
What fun it is to have new Kindergarteners in the lab. I know for some of them it’s a very fun place to visit but for others it might be a little intimidating. This week in addition to hearing about the rules of the lab, Kindergarten started learning a song all about computers. We’ve practiced the first verse as the students worked on learning to use the mouse. This can be a tough skill to learn – knowing the left button from the right button, clicking, double-clicking, clicking and dragging and just having your hand positioned correctly on the mouse when your hands are so small!

All mouse practice this week was done using various web sites and here are the ones that we used:

All of the students visited and did the activites on the first two sites listed and some of the students were also able to use the last two sites.

1ST GRADE:
This week in addition to reviewing the rules of the lab, 1st grade learned where they were going to sit in the lab and worked a little on their mouse skills. Even though 1st grade had computers all last year (at least those that were at St. Martin’s) it can take some time to master the mouse. It’s a hard skill to learn: knowing the left button from right button, clicking, double-clicking, clicking and dragging and just having your hand positioned correctly on the mouse can all be a challenge!

All mouse practice this week was done using various web sites and here are the ones that we used:

We had a few technical problems on some of the computers so not everyone got a chance to really practice on these sites. We’ll be continuing to work on mouse skills in the coming weeks with these sites and more.

2ND GRADE:
We reviewed rules of the lab and then went to some web sites to review the Parts of the Computer.  First the students visited Booker’s Computer and clicked on the various parts of the computer to hear what they do and whether they are Input or Output devices. When they were done with this, they visited ABCya! Find the Technology to search and computer parts in a very messy room.

Since 2nd Grade only came to the lab one time this week, many of the students weren’t able to fully explore both of these sites. Next week we will continue our review of the parts of the computer and play a game to review these and the rules.

3RD GRADE:
3rd Grade’s first visit to the lab was spent reviewing the rules of the lab and learning about what we will be doing this year in computers. All of the 3rd graders had great feedback on the rules and are ready to get started with the Parts of the Computer review that we will be doing next week.

4TH GRADE:
For 4th Grade our journeys in the computer lab started out with a review of the rules of the lab. After the rules were completed, 4th graders went to the Computer Lab Wiki and visited Carmen’s Computer and clicked on the various parts of the computer to hear what they do and whether they are Input or Output devices.

Next week we will continue our review of the parts of the computer and play a game to review these and the rules.

5TH GRADE:
This week in addition to reviewing the rules of the lab, 5th grade reviewed the parts of the computer using the following web sites:

  • Dwayne’s Computer – On this site, 5th grade clicked on the various parts of the computer to review what each part did.
  • ABCya! Keyboard Challenge – The challenge on this site is to place all of the letters, numbers and punctuation marks where they belong on the keyboard while trying not to peek at any of they keyboards in the lab.
  • Computer Hangman – Computer terminology review with a fun hangman type game.

5th Grade was one of the lucky grades that had both computer classes this week so in addition to review the parts of the computer, 5th grade worked on creating avatars to represent themselves in the lab this year using either DoppelMe and Mini Mizer.

MIDDLE SCHOOL:
The year in the computer lab started with a review of the rules of the lab. Once we went through all of these, 6th, 7th & 8th grade completed a review of the parts of the computer using these web sites:

  • Yasmin’s Computer – On this site, students clicked on the various parts of the computer to review what each part did.
  • ABCya! Keyboard Challenge – The challenge on this site is to place all of the letters, numbers and punctuation marks where they belong on the keyboard while trying not to peek at any of they keyboards in the lab.
  • Computer Hangman – Computer terminology review with a fun hangman type game.

8th Grade’s major project this year in computers will be the 8th Grade Social Studies Wiki which they will be building throughout the year. The wiki will be viewable by anyone but can only be maintained by me and the 8th Grade students. In order to participate in the wiki all 8th Grade students must return a signed Wiki Warranty. They should have brought this home for your review and signature. If you have not seen this please download it, sign it and have your 8th grader return it.