Technology in Education

Junior High

8^th graders are working on a TIME Magazine project.  They have replicated the cover of TIME in Powerpoint, with themselves featured at some point in the future, and reference to those future events that have earned them world-wide fame.  They will be interviewing one another to develop an “On The Cover” story/biography of the famous SJF Class of 2010 Graduate.  These completed projects will be on display at Just Desserts. 

The 8^th graders are also constructing a VERY LARGE periodic table of elements.  Each student is responsible for 2-3 element tiles that provide name, symbol, atomic number and average atomic mass, in addition to a visual depiction of the element.  These will be displayed in the junior high hallway. 

The 7^th graders are working on a powerpoint presentation for science, fine-tuning their research skills in their exploration of a range of science topics in categories including erosion, water, and the ocean.  They will also prepare an oral presentation, which will be given in science, and graded by Ms. Grabowski.

Sixth Grade

Students will be responsible to research a randomly selected European Country. Students will have three full class periods to compile their research. After which, they will create an eight-slide PowerPoint project on their chosen European country. The title of the project is “Can you guess my country?” Only on the eighth slide will students “give away” their answer. Other students watching the presentation will have to guess, given clues like surrounding countries or bodies of water, languages spoken, major cities, etc.

Fifth Grade

Students are studying Native Americans in Social Studies and we will be working on various Native American Projects.  Students will be learning the paint program and drawing an Indian Pottery piece.  We will then move into Microsoft Project and creating a post card from their exciting visit to an Indian reservation.  Finishing the lesson with a PowerPoint presentation of their knowledge of the Native Americans. 

Fourth Grade

The fourth graders are excited about finishing up their “All About Me” PowerPoint presentations.  They learned how to copy and paste pictures, animate slides and change slide speed. Students will begin to present projects by mid-October. The last class of the month will be spent playing Halloween-themed math games.

Third Grade

Students are busy learning to type papers using Microsoft Word; learning to change size and type of font, as well as how to double space their papers. We will use these skills for a Halloween project. Also, we will be working on a Christopher Columbus assignment before Columbus Day.  On Wednesdays, students continue to improve their typing skills.  We have moved from “home base row” to the top and bottom rows of the keyboard.

Second Grade

We will begin the month by working on an assignment about Christopher Columbus.  Move into learning new software that will enhance their Math Skills.  Finally, we move to Halloween, where we will explore great Halloween websites, draw pictures using Kid Pix and Kid Works, type a scary Halloween poem and play a lot of fun games.

First Grade

We will also begin the month by working on an assignment about Christopher Columbus.  And move right into celebrating Halloween drawing fun pictures using Kid Pix, exploring great Halloween websites and learning to insert text into our Kid Pix creations

Kindergarten

We will start off the month working with our Kid Pix program, learning how to use the stamps and stamping out our names and numbers 1-10.  We will move into working on a project to celebrate Columbus Day.  We will end the month with some exciting Halloween projects using Kid Pix. 

Preschool

What fun the preschoolers are having! Students are still becoming familiar with how to use the mouse confidently. Students will be making fall pumpkins, using the KidPix Program.

Tech Blog Intro:

SJF Faculty, Staff, Students and Parents will be pleased about the many improvements to the technology facilities at St. John Fisher this past summer.  All computer equipment in the O’Neil South Lab was replaced over the summer, and we now have brand new Dell Desktops with flat screen monitors.  We’ve transformed five additional classrooms into “Smart Classrooms” bringing our number of Smart Classrooms up to 12.  The Smart Classroom has a ceiling mounted projection unit wirelessly connected to either a tablet PC or a MAC laptop.  We plan to continue until all classrooms are equipped.  In addition to the new equipment in our classrooms, teachers have been participating in extensive professional development in educational technology, so look for many improvements in your child’s educational experience!

Students will come to the computer lab weekly and meet with Mrs. Maxwell, Mrs. Alfultis or Mrs. Reed depending on grade level.  Our three labs are also available to classroom teachers, so technology will be utilized to enrich and enhance the curriculum across all subject areas.

Seventh and Eighth Graders will begin the year with a unit on Internet Safety.  They will also be given time during computer class to work on various writing assignments given in English class.    We are transitioning to MS Office 2007, so they will become competent on the more recent versions of Word, Powerpoint and Excel over the course of the year.  It is important that every junior high student have a portable flash drive in their possession throughout the school day.  We are emphasizing the importance of backing up all documents, and using the flash drives to transport documents between home and school.  These can be purchased at school for $8.

Grade Six (Monday)

We will review the Acceptable Use Policy and focus on Internet Safety (Ways to Combat and Avoid Cyberbullying, Proper “netiquette” and Protecting Privacy Information). Students will start with a science unit on the Biomes of the World, using Microsoft Publisher.

Grade Five

We will review the Acceptable Use Policy and focus on Internet Safety (Private Information, Safety with Cyberpals, Safe Talking with Cyberpals, and Cyberbulling).

Grade Four (Wednesday)

Students will cover the topic of Internet Safety (Privacy Information, Preventing spam and viruses, Proper “netiquette”, etc.) I’m very excited to teach these students again this year! We started learning Microsoft PowerPoint at the end of last year. So we can begin our next project with ease. We’ll start the “All About Me” PowerPoint Project. Students will make their own slides which will include animation and personalized clipart and text.

Grade Three (Monday/Wednesday)

Mondays: Students will begin with a science lesson, focusing on insects.

Wednesdays: Students will have Keyboarding Instruction and Practice. Students will identify “Home Base Position” on the computer keyboard.  They will then have practice and lessons on the letters A, S, D, F, G, H, J, K, L, ; and spacebar.  After students feel confident finding the keys, they will have practice tests and complete “Adventure Challenges”.

Grades One and Two

We will review “Rules of the Computer Lab” and the use of computers.  Internet Safety will be a main focus for the month of September, “Going Places Safely, Private Information, Who’s Property is this” and many other topics.  We will continue with Internet Scavenger Hunts using a number of different websites.  This will teach our students how to locate information using the internet.

Kindergarten

We will begin the year discussing the rules of the computer lab and the use of computers at great lengths.  StarFall and Enchanted Learning are two different websites that will be used throughout the school year.  I will introduce the two in the month of September which will strengthen your child’s letter recognition and will help them maneuver around using the mouse.

Preschool

Students will become familiar with the parts of the computer, rules of the lab and begin with the Starfall website. This website helps children with letter recognition, sounds and learning how to read!

If you teach the history, geography, or culture of Chicago, or simply have an interest, you will enjoy Metro Joe.    It’s similar in format to “You Don’t Know Jack” but is a one- or two-player game on Chicago trivia.  Enjoy!

I’ve put together a project for my 7th and 8th grade students on Internet safety.  The students are enjoying it, as it’s quite interactive.  Within the project students learn about safe use of chat rooms, the hazards of cyberbullying, cell phone issues, spyware, viruses, and much more.  If you would like to look at it, click here.

DropBoks provides up to one GB of free online storage for your files.  Files are encrypted, authenticated, and secure.  AND the service is free.  I wish I knew about it before my hard drive crashed.

After hearing about Google Maps’ Streetview, I was interested to see a truck cruising down my block taking a digital photo of the front of every house.  My daughter and I sat on the front porch waving as the truck passed.  If you haven’t checked out Streetview, go to Google Maps and click on Streetview.  Certain cities have the service available, including San Francisco and Las Vegas. 

I was very excited to learn about  Stumble Upon.  After installing the stumbleupon toolbar, I’ve spend hours refining my interests and coming across cool new sites, particularly in science and geography.