This Week in Technology

This has been an exciting week in the computer lab!

Lower Elementary classes watched the next episode in the online adventures of Hector and his Friends.  We learned about how to determine if someone is trustworthy or not, and ways to tell the difference.  We identified adults that are trustworthy, like policemen, teachers, and our parents.  We also colored illustrations for a storybook version of the video to add to the classroom library.

Middle Elementary classes learned about computer viruses!  Computer viruses make the computer "sick", so it stops working quickly, and sometimes will not work at all!  We learned that viruses spread quickly, with the use of glitter and a fun outside game!  Then we learned how to prevent the spread of computer viruses - by using  antivirus.  Antivirus is like soap for the computer; just like we wash our hands to prevent the spread of germs, using antivirus can prevent unwanted programs from spreading to the computer.

Upper Elementary classes also learned about computer viruses, malware, and trojans.  We played a fun outside game to learn about how antivirus tracks down and stops computer viruses.  We also learned important terminology and reinforced our knowledge with a computer game on Netsmartz Kids.  Next week we will learn about password safety and avoiding and preventing cyberbullying, in preparation for our Gaggle accounts!

Middle School classes reviewed basic skills for typing papers for class.  We reviewed how to create documents, format, use spelling and grammar check, and save documents.  We also talked about various ways to store our documents to bring them in, particularly using the Digital Locker in Gaggle, and how to turn them in using the Homework Drop Box features.  We reviewed how to open documents from our Digital Locker, both in Microsoft Word and using Zoho docs.

Seminar has started creating their own short presentations to share their knowledge of cyberbullying with students in Lower Elementary classes.  Each presentation will include a definition of cyberbullying, tips for preventing cyberbullying, and instructions for students to follow if they are victims of bullying online.  Students have used various tools to create these presentations - puppets, Pivot Stick Figure, Pixie, MS Word, and Scratch were all used this week!  We will continue working on our presentations next Wednesday, and I hope we can present them soon after Fall Festival.

This week the Robotics Friday Group is working hard on building four different robots.  We are creating the RoboGator, two different types of ShooterBots, and a Strider (spider) bot.  Last week we learned how to program our robots to move, make noise, and display various things.  This week we will combine these previously acquired skills with sensor programming so that our robots can interact with their environment.

Thanks to all students for another great week!