Hello Everyone,
Hope you all had a restful Thanksgiving break. For my 3rd and 4th Grade families, please keep in mind that when we have holiday breaks, I do not expect typing homework logs the following week. Many people travel and may not have that access.
Kindergartners have completed the robotics unit with the BeeBots. I hope they told you all about it. This month they were introduced to our art program called KidPix where they created digital masterpieces and even got to record their own voices on their drawings. They loved hearing themselves. They also got to go on talkingpets.org and dressed a pet up as well as customize the pet's voices. This is a great site to reinforce the mouse movements and single/double clicking. Please have them show you at home. The site link is listed to the right.
First Graders delved deeper into the Microworld's Jr. program and created animation using the turtle graphics. Their animation included at least 3 moving objects, a background, a textbox and a recording which could be composed music of their own or their own voice recording. They became pros at opening up the turtles backpack and adding code into it. They did not even realize that they were programming the turtle. Stop by and see their saved animation.
Second Graders completed their KidPix slideshows and shared with their peers using the smart board. They loved presenting their creation. Many students even added music and their own narration on each slide for a more dramatic effect. I was so proud to see the audience be so attentive and respectful as their peers were presenting. These kids have such great confidence in public speaking. We then began our programming unit using Alice. It's a wonderful 3-D graphics program where you can drag and drop code to make your objects move. Alice is available free to download. Just search for Alice and choose the elementary version.
Third Graders are learning to use PowerPoint to make effective presentations. They have chosen their own topics that they feel passionate about and are using designs, clipart and transitions. They are learning how to adjust speeds and sounds as their slide changes. I can't wait to see their finished products. They will also learn to use our OWS approved databases to add research to their topics and learn to site resources. A very important fact to know as they begin the road of many research papers!
Fourth Graders completed their dream homes using SketchUp. I was really amazed to see their creativity. Now students will begin using voicethread technology to record Spanish assignments given by Mrs. Brodahl. Voicethread is a great platform were all students can record on one page. They will be able to hear Spanish by their peers. It's a great way to learn about a new technology tool as well as practice their Spanish. We will begin recording their Spanish the week of 11/28.
As usual please feel free to email me whenever you have any questions. Take care!
Rasha Sachdeva
