October Technology News from Ms. Blink

Kindergarteners have just started technology this month and what a start it has been!  So far they have been assessed on parts of the computer and are working on logging in on their own.  Pushing control, alt, and delete at the same time continues to be our largest endeavor.

1^st  grade students have recently been assessed on their ability to open and close a program on their own.  Their next step will be to open Microsoft word and practice keying in their name.  Keyboarding is not the goal of this benchmark, but rather to get students familiar with what the word program looks like.

2^nd graders have been working towards their benchmark of typing and illustrating information with assistance.  Mrs. Evans and I have worked out a short list of statements about the stages of a butterfly’s life.  Each week the students type a statement and illustrate it in as much detail as possible.  Our next endeavor will be to do some basic typing in word and printing with assistance.

3^rd grade is currently doing basic work using Microsoft excel, a graphing program.  We have discussed the terms “column”, “row”, and “cell” as they relate to the program and just finished our first graph!  The graph was about the ways that the 3^rd graders get to school.  After voting to get class data, I walked the students through chart wizard to make a simple bar graph of their own data.

4^th grade is also doing some basic work on excel.  Their first graph will be about favorite after-school snacks.  These students have only worked on excel once before, so we are still in the introductory phases.  Key skills being emphasized are how to widen columns, make words appear in bold, and follow directions to make a graph.

Middle school (5^th-8^th) These students finished their first 6 weeks of technology early in October.  Their focus was on Microsoft excel.  Grades for this trimester are currently posted on snapgrades.  Each week there were 10 points available for completing assigned work during the period in a timely manner.  The other half of their grade came from 2 projects.  For 5^th and 6^th, these projects were data entry and graphing.  For 7^th and 8^th, the projects also included a short series of analysis questions about the graphs. 

Our next endeavor in middle school will be keyboarding during 2^nd trimester.  We plan to add a new dimension this year by using typing skins which are plastic molds that fit over the keyboard.  Students will not be able to see the letters on the keys.  The goal is for students to become used to typing without looking at the keyboard.  More information to come as the next trimester approaches.