Weeks of January 14 & 21, 2013

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During the weeks of January 14 and 21st NWEA M.A.P. testing will be taking place in my lab.  We've been relegated to the second lab which has altered some of our plans.






K-1:  No change for the young ones this week.  We continue to practice opening the Internet and typing in URLs independently. Students spend their lab time these days visiting ABCYA.com, Starfall.com, ABCMouse.com and Game Goo (works best in Chrome).

2nd Grade: As most readers know I wasn't given much notice about my assignment in the technology lab this year. Because of the short notice I've come to rely on a few websites to help me find materials. Especially for the younger students (I was a 4th grade teacher prior to becoming the Lead Technology Teacher).  Oakdome.com has been an invaluable resource for me this year.

With Martin Luther King Jr.'s holiday falling in this week's lessons I decided to work on a poem generator with second grade.  Although the students know how to type in Microsoft Word the poem generator let them focus on their thoughts instead of how long it would take to type.  We worked together line by line.  Once the poem template was complete we copied and pasted the content into Microsoft Word so we could change the font and insert Clip Art.  The students did a great job!  Below are some samples.





Grades 3-6:
After some conversations with students about creating presentations I found that most didn't know how to create a PowerPoint presentation!  Using a New Year's template (talked about here) we started the program but were interrupted by M.A.P. testing.  We'll keep working on this next week.  In the meantime students in third grade are focusing on Studyladder.com when they finish working in KidBiz3000.com.  Students in grades 4-6 are also working in KidBiz3000.

Grades 7-8: 
As is the mandate by our Area Office all students, including seventh and eighth grade spend part of their lab time working in TeenBiz3000.  Beyond this all four classrooms are involved in projects through our TEAM. grant with Columbia College.  One 8th grade is focused on recording audio about their life using the book "Our America" as their catalyst. Another is working on a mosaic of activities based on Walter Dean Myer's "Monster". A seventh grade class is exploring the connection between writing and music.  Finally, the last seventh grade class is working on creating infographics about issues within the Austin community.  I'm working closer with this project than the rest.  Below are some pictures of the students working in lab.  If you'd like to read more about the experience check out my blog post about it (I'm in a fellowship program this year with the TEAM project).

 
This is also the week before the quarter ends.  Many students have been asking for usernames and passwords again to check grades.  CPS Teachers:  if your students need their username/password you can use your credentials to find the information here.  

NETS Standards Covered: 
1b: Create original works as a means of personal or group expression
6a: Understand and use technology systems
6b: Select and use applications effectively and productively
6d: Transfer current knowledge to learning of new technologies


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