Tech Tip of the WeekDid you know that keyboarding is a lot like reading or playing sports? It takes practice to get better! Our students, K-5, have been practicing typing in Technology Class but can do it from home too! The following websites are a great way to practice this skill: www.typingweb.com, www.abcya.com, (search Dance Mat Typing) Tech Tip of the WeekMany of the websites we use in Technology class are linked through the Media Center Home Page for Petoskey Schools. This website can be accessed at www.petoskeyschools.org/elsearch
· * Speedy login to computers (timed also) * Typing Web * Review: copy and pasting pictures and text from a website into our table with a HUGE emphasis on plagiarism, making sure to type our Source of the picture and text in our table as well. * Finish research tables (example attached) * Emphasis on Plagiarism and looking at what we copy and pasted from the website so that we can put it in our own words * Checking to be sure that our titles have capital letters and that the font is easy to read * Making our tables “fancy” * Printing will happen next week at the latest. Kids will get a black and white copy and I might print a couple of color copies to hang up in the Computer lab. They’re very proud
Winter Learning Goals: · I handed out a silly letter to a snowflake that I made. It is in a formal letter style with the return address so that we can practice some right aligning. · Our main skills: o Typing stamina! (5th grade needs to be able to type 2 pages of words in one sitting by the end of the year; this is super hard for many of them to do.) I told them to set small goals for where they could type to so it wasn’t so overwhelming. o Justify Buttons (We adjusted the alignment after we were finished typing.) o We also inserted the date using the “date and time” button on the insert tab · We’ll finish typing the letter next week and then upload it to their Edmodo Backpack and turn it in as an assignment so that I can grade it there.
Coding!http://petoskeytech.weebly.com/hour-of-code.html The kids are able to progress through their coding courses at any time (in school and at home) as long as they can remember how to get to the website and remember their secret password or picture. All four elementary schools in Petoskey are learning code through this website during the next two weeks. You are welcome to visit the website that we are using… you can practice as a guest without logging in, or you can create your own free login and start moving through the courses! (We started on the “Elementary Courses”… course 1 for K-1 and course 2 for 3-5) http://code.org/ It is amazing to see what they can do with this… it takes quite a bit of problem solving and critical thinking skills to get through these levels. Plus they need quite a bit of grit in order to try and try again. It’s also so interesting to see those children that naturally excel at this type of thinking… our future computer scientists in action! A letter send home informs parents all about what coding is and how to get to many great coding websites for further learning at home. I also took them on a tour of about 5 different coding sites for them to try out. Many of them can be found on the Technology Website’s Symbaloo page… http://petoskeytech.weebly.com/hour-of-code.html more great coding sites are: www.Codecademy.com&www.kahnacademy.com/hourofcode (many are also offered in the App Store or Google Play for your mobile coding pleasure!)
Winter 2016 Learning Points: Review: Home Row Typing (We use Typing Web and you are welcome to use this with them as well, login anytime… they will remember how) Navigating Edmodo/Google Classroom (New Posts, Adding Pictures, Proper Commenting (BE KIND!) Capital Letters and Punctuation on all of our posts… a constant struggle as I’m sure you see in the classroom as well! Utilizing Edmodo as a planner/Homework help at home Creating a “New Tab” so you can work in multiple internet tabs at once New: Finishing up creating Mazes in MS Excel and posting to Edmodo/Google Classroom for others to try Print if it is valuable to you