Computer Lab News 0910 – 8th Grade

Posted on May 30, 2010 by Vicky Sedgwick

Wow, what a year it’s been! 8th Grade has been really busy in the Computer Lab this year. Here’s a recap of what they’ve done:

September: 8th Grade started the year listening to President Obama’s Back to School speech and setting goals for the new school year and contributing to a VoiceThread about those goals. They then created self-portraits and a resume, reviewed how to format papers for English and Science Labs and did a short Keyboarding assessment to gauge where they were in their keyboarding skills to start the year.

October: October kicked off with a review of basic Internet Safety and the month ended with creation of Leaf people in KidPix and writing of Bio Poems for their Leaf people.

November: During November, 8th grade created their very own Home Pages on the Computer Lab wiki and set some safety rules for themselves on those pages. As November came to an end, 8th Grade created turkeys in KidPix to celebrate Thanksgiving.

December: Since December means Christmas, one project completed during December was a rewrite of the Twelve Days of Christmas with a partner using Scribblar to collaborate on the project. This project kicked off with a really fun rendition of the Twelve Days of Christmas used as inspiration:

January: 2010 started out with a few catch up days for those students who hadn’t completed their Wiki Home Pages or other projects. 8th Grade then began creating short videos to educate younger students about Internet Safety. They used PowerPoint to put together slides which they exported as images and then created the video using Animoto.

February – April: There was more work on the Animoto videos and then alternate versions were created using Flixtime and PowerPoint uploaded to the web at authorSTREAM and finally Windows MovieMaker uploaded to SchoolTube. At the end of the project, all completed versions were posted to the wiki and the students compared the tools that they had used. More than 50% of the class said they could see themselves using both Animoto and Flixtime for their own projects at home. Here’s what they had to say about the different tools they used:

Also during this time, 8th Grade participated in World Math Day, helped 7th Grade out with a survey project they were doing and voted for their favorites of the videos they had created.

May: May was Keyboarding time. 8th grade spent five classes working on their keyboarding skills. As 8th grade moves on to high school and then college, they’ll be called on to do more and more typing so we like to spend some time on refreshing keyboarding skills.

Now, it’s nearly the end of the year and 8th grade is working on their final project which will be previewed at the Graduation Breakfast!

If you would like to see some of 8th Grade’s completed work, you can find it in our Safari Scrapbook on the Computer Lab Wiki.

Computer Lab News: Week 5

Posted on October 9, 2008 by Vicky Sedgwick

KINDERGARTEN: Kindergarten only had computers once this week and spent their day in the lab exploring the educational software program, Jumpstart Kindergarten. They will be using this program throughout the year.

1ST GRADE: 1st Grade had an introduction to Microsoft Word this week in the lab. They first learned about some important keys on the keyboard using a paper keyboard: Space Bar, Caps Lock, Enter and Backspace. Did they bring the paper keyboard home to show you what they had learned? After learning where the important keys were, they went into Word and typed their name multiple times making it bold or italicised or underlined. During their second day in the lab, they once again used Word typing their name again but playing with making it multiple colors and changing the font and font sizes. Most of the students printed out what they had typed. Did you see your child’s rainbow name?

2ND GRADE: 2nd Grade finished their ABC Charts in KidPix. They were then introduced to the collaborative project they will be working on called Online Autumn. They then brainstormed ideas about Autumn using an online tool.

After the brainstorming session, the 2nd graders began creating pictures of the things they like best about Autumn using KidPix.

3RD GRADE: This week in the lab, 3rd Grade finished up their ABC Charts in KidPix and reviewed the parts of the desktop. They then began to work on and All About Me project in KidPix. KidPix is a very fun program with a lot of built in stickers and stamps and special effects but for this project they need to use the basic drawing tools to draw themselves and use the ABC Tool to list some facts about themselves too. When these are complete, your student will be bringing theirs home and we will be displaying them in the computer lab too!

4TH GRADE: This week in the lab, 4th Grade learned all about the collaborative project they will be working on all year called Voices of the World. They were introduced to some of the schools that will be participating using a Live Search Map and then we recorded the class saying “Hello, we are (name of school), from (location) and you are listening to Voices Of The World, Goodbye.” on a Voki:

You can listen to all of the Vokis created on the Voices of the World Wiki. 4th Grade also started creating their All About Me picture in KidPix. Like 3rd Grade they will be drawing a picture of themselves using the standard drawing tools in KidPix and adding at least 8 facts about themselves and decorating this with stamps and stickers as they wish.

5TH GRADE: 5th Grade only had computers once this week and they spent their time working on their All About me pictures in KidPix. Also, a few of the 5th Graders finished up their recording for the Summer Reading VoiceThread.

6TH GRADE: This week in the lab, 6th Grade practiced their keyboarding skills each day. They were introduced to their year-long collaborative project, A Room With a View and some of the classes that will be participating in the project using a Live Search Map. One of the 6th graders will be taking a photo from the same place in front of the Computer Lab each month and another will be recording information about weather, etc. and submitting the photo to the project as well as posting it online. All students in 6th grade also be reflecting on each month with a VoiceThread. We also reviewed the formatting of Science Labs and worked on this during class for anyone with questions. 6th Grade also worked on an All About Me project in Word.

7TH GRADE: 7th Grade only came to the computer lab on one day this week due to the Fall Fund Raiser Assembly on Friday. On that day, they were introduced to their collaborative project Human Genetics: A Worldwide Search for the Dominant Trait and taken on a virtual tour of where the participating schools are located. They also spent some time working on their keyboarding skills in Mavis Beacon.

8TH GRADE: 8th Grade continued to explore the Social Studies Wiki and create their profiles. They will be starting to update the content on the wiki in the 2nd quarter.

Computer Lab News: Week 4

Posted on September 28, 2008 by Vicky Sedgwick

2ND GRADE – 8TH GRADE:

All students in grades 2 through 8 are adding their opinions about their Summer Reading Books to our Summer Reading VoiceThread. We are still recording some grades and/or students but you can check out what we have so far:

KINDERGARTEN: We continued to review the parts of the computer both by singing Our Computer Song and by learning about the desktop using a PowerPoint presentation:

Uploaded on authorSTREAM by stmcomputers

Kindergarten also continued working in KidPix this week creating pictures using different size stampers and the pencil tool. They also spent some time on the Starfall web site. This is a wonderful site for pre-readers to early readers with many activities at each level.

1ST GRADE: This week 1st Grade also learned about the Computer Desktop and sang Our Computer Song to review the parts of the computer that they already know. They also spent time in KidPix reviewing the bent pencil tool, stamps and the flood fill tool. 1st Grade created pictures of a hill and added stamps to make their hill all their own. These were printed and the students could take them home. I hope that you all had the chance to see your child’s creation. In addition, 1st Grade also spent time on the Starfall web site.

2ND GRADE: 2nd Grade continued to work on their initial letter sounds ABC Chart using stamps in KidPix. We will be printing these and sending them home next week. The students in 2nd Grade also began to add their voices to the VoiceThread above. Check out their reviews. A few of the students do not have avatars yet – these will be added once they are completed – and a few of the students were absent.

3RD GRADE: 3rd Grade continued to work on their initial letter sounds ABC Chart in KidPix using stickers. We will be printing these and sending them home next week. 3rd Grade will be adding their voices to our Summer Reading VoiceThread next week.

4TH GRADE: 4th Grade wrote their Summer Book Reviews in Word and began recording these on our Summer Reading VoiceThread. Scroll back up to the top and listen to those that have been completed. We will be continuing to record the rest of 4th Grade next week. We also began an All About Me project in KidPix.

5TH GRADE: The focus for 5th Grade this week was to complete their written Summer Book Review in Word and to record those on our Summer Reading Voice Thread. Most of the class has completed this so scroll back to the top and check out what 5th Grade had to say about F is for Freedom. Since 5th Grade had to recite the preamble this week, they were also given the opportunity to review this by playing an Unscramble The Preamble game or by watching a video:

Some of the 5th Graders also helped donate rice to those in need by playing the Free Rice game while they were waiting to record their reviews. Once they were done with their reviews, 5th Grade started an All About Me project in KidPix.

6TH GRADE: Since the next book report due in English requires a Crossword Puzzle, this week 6th Grade learned how to create one using Excel. 6th Grade also worked on their Summer Reading Book Reviews in Word and began recording these on our VoiceThread. There have been a few issues with background noise or microphones that seem to cut out so some students didn’t get a chance to record yet and some need to re-record their reviews. They will be doing this next week. 6th Grade also spent part of one day doing their Daily Typing exercise and some began working on an All About Me project in Word.

7TH GRADE: 7th Grade learned how to create a Crossword Puzzle using Excel since their next book report requires a crossword puzzle. They also worked on their Summer Reading Book Reviews in Word and began recording these on our VoiceThread. We will be finishing these next week but scroll up and listen to 7th Grade’s opinions so far about Where The Red Fern Grows. 7th Grade also set up their folders on their computers and completed a Daily Typing exercise. 7th Grade will usually be typing once a week for approximately 15 minutes.

8TH GRADE: 8th Grade also learned how to create a Crossword Puzzle using Excel since their next book report requires a crossword puzzle. They also worked on their Summer Reading Book Reviews in Word and began recording these on our VoiceThread. Most of the 8th Graders have completed these but we will be finishing those who haven’t next week. Scroll up and listen to their opinions. 8th Grade also completed a Daily Typing exercise. They will usually be typing once or twice a month for approximately 15 minutes. Most 8th Graders type well so we will not be focusing on this as much this year. There may be exceptions for some of the students who have not yet memorized the keyboard.

Computer Lab News: Week 3

Posted on September 20, 2008 by Vicky Sedgwick

This week we ran into Internet connection problems on some days and during some classes. This meant that things we had planned to do will have to wait another week. We are hoping that the issues have been resolved.

KINDERGARTEN:
This week in the Computer Lab, Kindergarten learned the printer verse to Our Computer song and sang all the verses they’d learned so far.

Kindergarten learned how to use the Wacky Pencil tools, Uh-oh Man and small eraser in Kid Pix and spent some time drawing pictures using just the pencil tools.

Kindergarten also visited the Starfall web site. There were Internet connection programs on the day we did this and didn’t get to spend as much time exploring there as we would have liked. We will be exploring this site more in the future.

1ST GRADE:
1st Grade reviewed how to use the Wacky Pencil tool, the small eraser and the Uh-oh Man in Kid Pix. They then drew a self-portrait using only the Wacky Pencil tool and added their name and age to the bottom of the drawing. After their portrait was finished they were allowed to use the Bucket tool to fill in the background if they wished. I will be sharing their self-portraits (without their names) soon.

1st Grade also spent time exploring Sebran’s ABC which is free software for kids.

2ND GRADE:
2nd Grade continued to work on their avatars in Kid Pix and we started recording our Summer Book Reviews too. We had Internet connection problems this week so the recording of these will be continued late next week or the following week.

During the time we were recording reviews, students who had finished visited Spelling City to play games using their weekly spelling words. We will be posting these each week and you can visit this site at home too for word review or games with your student’s spelling words. Just search for Mrs. Sedgwick in the Find A List option.

2nd Grade also reviewed how to use and change and resize stampers in Kid Pix and then started working on an ABC Chart. They will be finding pictures of things that start with the first letter of each letter of the alphabet. We will be finishing these next week and I will post these online so you can see them and your child will also be printing these when they are done.

3RD GRADE:
3rd Grade finished the basics review in Word. We reviewed: changing fonts, font sizes, font colors, text alignment, bold & italic text, word art & clip art. We will using Word for many writing projects this year.

3rd Grade also reviewed how to use, resize, delete, flatten and erase stickers in Kid Pix and then started working on an ABC Chart. They are finding pictures of things that start with the first letter for each letter of the alphabet. We will be finishing these next week and I will post these online so you can see them and your child will also be printing these when they are done.

4TH GRADE:
4th Grade finished the basics review in Word. We reviewed: changing fonts, font sizes, font colors, text alignment, bold & italic text, word art & clip art. We will using Word for many writing projects this year. Some of the 4th Grade students finished their avatars at Mini Mizer. Due to problems with the Internet connection we were not able to start recording 4th Grade Book Reviews. 4th Grade also spent one day working on their keyboarding skills using Disney’s Adventures in Typing.

5TH GRADE:
5th Grade completed their avatars at Mini Mizer or DoppleMe. They began writing the script for their Summer Book Reviews using Microsoft Word and began recording their reviews on our Summer Book Reviews VoiceThread. We will continue with the recording next week. 5th Grade also spent one day working on their keyboarding skills using Mavis Beacon.

6TH GRADE:
6th Grade completed their avatars at DoppleMe, Otaku Avatar Maker, Portrait Avatar Maker or Portrait Icon Maker. They began writing the script for their Summer Book Reviews using Microsoft Word. We will record our reviews next week. 6th Grade also spent time working on their keyboarding skills using Mavis Beacon.

7TH GRADE:
7th Grade completed their avatars at DoppleMe, Otaku Avatar Maker, Portrait Avatar Maker or Portrait Icon Maker. They began writing their script for their Summer Book Reviews in Microsoft Word and will be recording their reviews next week. 7th Grade reviewed formatting for Book Reports & Science Labs.

8TH GRADE:
8th Grade completed their avatars at DoppleMe, Otaku Avatar Maker, Portrait Avatar Maker or Portrait Icon Maker. They began writing their script for their Summer Book Reviews in Microsoft Word and will be recording their reviews next week. 8th Grade spent one day working on their keyboarding skills in Mavis Beacon.

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Computer Lab News: Week 3