Hello Everyone,
We've had a busy month of April wrapping up units in the various grade levels. Despite the week off for spring break, a lot was accomplished!
Kindergartners wrapped up the robotic unit by taking their knowledge of programming with the physical robots to the virtual robots on the computer screen. They loved seeing their beebots online. Their challenge was to virtually move their robots all over the screen but it must end at its' original spot with at least 10 programming steps. They thought it was easy but once I placed these conditions, the challenge was very evident. In the end, they all accomplished it! Way to go Kindergartners. This is just the beginning of your programming years.
First Grade wrapped up their mapping/geography unit with the Neighborhood Map Machine program. After creating their own bird's eye view of their neighborhood, they took the challenge of solving the programs' mystery section. Here the program had several treasures that needed to be located and the students were able to use their knowledge of the compass to find the exact location. They loved it!
Second Graders are wrapping up their character web using Inspiration. They uploaded their picture and created bubbles and pictures around it to show who they were. By looking at one's web, you can get a good idea of who they are and what they love. They had much practice opening files through various folders and practice saving in the correct folders! We had no missing files this month!
Third Graders wrapped up their folk tale stories using Story Creator 2. They learned to edit and record voice to add that special effect. Several students even changed their voices depending on the character in their story. They did a fabulous job. Their next unit is a simulation on an African Safari. Stay tuned!
Fourth Graders wrapped up their unit of web designing. They learned how to link pages together and import images from the Internet using safe sites of course! They have a good idea of what a web designer's job is and seeing some of these final results, we certainly have some future web designers in the making! They are ready to begin an programming unit involving a turtle....stay tuned for that!
Fifth Graders completed a second voice thread involving a Spanish assignment given by Mrs. Brodahl. Students recorded information about a chosen Spanish speaking country and recorded the group comments on a single voicethread. Please make sure to ask your child about this as you can view the voicethreads at home with their unique login. They then got an introduction to Logo programming. Logo uses their creativity to input code which in turn created beautiful geometric designs. They delved deeper into programming by setting variables and creating procedures. Ask them about their designs.
Please contact me if you have any questions. Take care.
Rasha Sachdeva
