Kindergarten Week of October 3

This week I put together some website games to help students with using the mouse.  These games do a great job of having them practice clicking, click and drag and selecting items on the computer screen.
We had a great time with the sites, especially the "Create a Car" game.  So check them out at home for extra practice our mouse skills!


Magnets


Create a Car


Make a Face


Build a House


Make a Pizza

Second Grade

The second graders are working on learning the parts of the computer.  After watching a PowerPoint on the parts of the computer and playing Simon Says, we learned how to insert word art on a PowerPoint slide.  We inserted a new word art for each person in our family including pets and extended family members.  The 2007 and 2010 versions of word art look different then 2003, so if you have an older version you might have to explain they made a lot of changes when they updated PowerPoint.  I like the older version better but you can still make some pretty cool word art images with your name!  If you have Microsoft Word or PowerPoint you can insert word art, so let your child teach you how!  :)

First Grade

After viewing a PPT and song about the parts of the computer, we practiced typing sentences in word.  We typed:

My name is ___________.

I am _____ years old.

My favorite color is ____________. 
This was a great activity to teach spacing between words, using capital letters and periods.  If you have a computer at home, encourage your child to practice typing sentences or words.  Typing their spelling words would be an excellent way to practice spelling and keyboarding!

Kindergarten ABC

This week students explored the stamper tool in Tux Paint by stamping the letters of the alphabet.  This is great practice for letter recognition and learning the sequence of the alphabet.  Tux Paint is a free download, so visit this site to get Tux Paint.   We also had fun watching this video about the alphabet!

Kindergarten and First Grade

After viewing a video and reading a book about our Pledge of Allegiance, students went to Tux Paint and drew pictures of the American flag.  We learned how to click and drag our mouse using the paint brush tool to make the stripes of the flag.  Next, we drew a blue square and filled in the square with paint.  Then we added white stars using the star paint tool.  It was so much fun to watch them draw their flags!  We have come a long way in using our mouse on the computer in just a few weeks!  I hope you enjoy pictures of some of the students working on their flags!

2nd Grade - Constitution Day Activities

The second graders listened to a book called "We the People" by David Catrow.  Mr. Catrow takes the big ideas and words of the Preamble to the Constitution and explains it so students can understand the concepts.  Next, we divided up in groups and made pictures to go with the words of the Preamble.  I will scan these pictures to make a slideshow in the near future so please check back on our blog!  The pictures are great!

New Lab!!

Our new lab is completed at Central Elementary!  The lab is just beautiful and full of new technology for our students to use. I am so grateful for all our new equipment and for all the hard work that went into setting up the lab and getting it running.  A very special thanks go to Anitta Staats, Kevin Goforth, Kay Grunewald and Tammy Williams for their time, effort and talents setting up the lab!  Please come in and check it out!