Hello All,
Welcome back from Mid-Winter break! I hope you all had a restful time with family and friends. Here's what's been happening in our Mouse Pad:
Kindergartners have completed all three of the Sunburst certificate programs, Senses, Plants, and Animals. Here students completed nine levels of questions pertaining to the senses, animals and plants. Once completed, they were awarded a certificate. If your child did not complete all three, no worries, as we will revisit this as the school year continues. These programs are great not only for the subject knowledge but for enhancing the hand/eye coordination with the mouse. In the next few weeks Kindergartners will be introduced to our school wide web based typing program.
First Graders completed their unit on map making skills with Neighborhood Map Machine. They loved creating maps and solving mysteries using the program's compass and clues! Students are now learning about Kidspiration. This is a great visual learning tool that helps students organize and categorize information, brainstorm ideas, make connections, and share their thoughts. Currently they are using this software to create a web all about themselves. They are incorporating pictures, text, sound and links. They love the recording piece. Please ask your child about it.
Second Graders completed their programming unit with Alice. They culminated the activity by sharing their animated programs with their peers. It was great seeing such enthusiasm and creativity as they were sharing. Students then moved on to Inspiration. This is the advanced version of Kidspiration that they learned last year. It's also a great tool for developing ideas and organizing thoughts. Thus far, students are also working on an all about me web. They have taken their digital photo and have incorporated it into their web. Right now they are exploring with the software's animated symbols, importing graphics, and using multicolor symbols (they love adding color to their work)!
Third Graders are currently in a programming unit and are learning all about Scratch. They are so excited about this because this is what Vista 5th Graders are using at a more complex level. Scratch is a great programming tool developed by MIT and it teaches the students the fundamental ideas of coding by using a drag and drop method. It allows students to create animated sprites and assimilate video components such as voice, sound and background. Students have been getting familiar with the tools as well as playing some of the software's pre-installed games. For students who want to continue this at home, you can download it free. Please scroll down to the Scratch link to the right of this blog.
Fourth Graders completed their photo editing unit using picnik. They created a beautiful pencil sketch of themselves and they are currently displayed in the Mouse Pad. Students then were introduced to a math simulation software that helped them run a business. Here they were able to use their business sense as well as their math skills to advance to top level. Please ask your child about this particular program!
As usual please email me if you have any questions. Take care.
Rasha Sachdeva
