Mrs. Carroll's News Update

May

The first 2 weeks of May all students in grades 1-8 will be taking the NWEA MAP tests.

Kindergarten will be working in several websites to enhance math and reading skills.

1st graders will be using a program called Tux Typing to practice early keyboarding skills. Please encourage your children to use both hands at the keyboard if they are using a computer at home. They will also be practicing basic math skills with some websites.

2nd grade will be working in drill and practice programs to practice math and reading skills. They will also be using Tux Typing to practice keyboarding skills. We are working on being more familiar with the placement of the letters and using both hands on the keyboards.

3rd grade will continue in Type to Learn. It is a formal keyboarding program. Please encourage your students to type with both hands and to try to use proper fingering if they are typing at home. Students will also be using Powerpoint to create a slideshow that integrates with a classroom project.

4th grade is working in Type to Learn to teach proper fingering and increase typing speed.

5th grade is building typing skills in Type to Learn. They will also be using some fun websites to improve basic math skills and explore some newer presentation programs.

6th graders are learning to program their computers using a program called Scratch. Scratch is a programming language that makes it easy to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art -- and share your creations on the web. As young people create and share Scratch projects, they learn important mathematical and computational ideas, while also learning to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively.

7th graders are doing a project that integrates art and technology. In small groups, they will plan and create a claymation or Lego Block movie. If you have any small lamps that you could lend to us for this project, please drop me an email. Also, we are in need of 2 or 3 small tripods for our cameras.

8th graders will be reviewing Scratch from last year and creating new projects using the programmin language.