This week middle schoolers accessed their Gaggle accounts for the first time this year. We reviewed the importance of password security, and created brand-new passwords for the year. We reviewed e-mail and the Digital Locker, and introduced Zoho docs and the Homework Dropbox.
1. E-mail: Students can use their Gaggle accounts to email other students and teachers in the Community School district. Students can send emails to parents/guardians if desired (I'll simply have to whitelist parent emails so they'll go through). Students reviewed the selections available as we read email, the steps and options when we write an email, and how to reply, reply-all, and forward messages. We also reviewed some basic email etiquette.
2. Digital Locker: The Gaggle Digital Locker is an online storage space available for student use. Any kind of file can be stored in the locker (but the same rules of appropriateness for school apply, as always!). This is an ideal place for students to store files for homework, as it is available from any computer with an Internet connection.
3. Zoho docs: Students can access Zoho docs through the Digital Locker, allowing them to create, edit, and save files online, including text documents, word documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and images.
4. Homework Dropbox: Students can use the Homework dropbox to turn in homework digitally, saving paper, reducing lost homework, and hopefully simplifying the process for everyone involved. As we begin using this system more in class, students will be more fully introduced to the process of turning in homework online.
This year, middle school students will be utilizing our online tools more frequently in classes, and we hope they will find it an easy and enjoyable way to augment the learning process.
Next week, students will begin activities to introduce/review online safety and netiquette. We will use our Gaggle tools to complete activities to reinforce these lessons in a fun, engaging way, and to prepare students to use these tools for classroom assignments.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
This Week in Technology Classes: Middle and Upper Elementary
Our first unit in Technology Classes this year is all about being safer online. We will be concentrating on Internet safety and netiquette until after Fall Festival.
This week, students in Middle and Upper Elementary Classes have been learning about online safety through the Netsmartz program (created by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children). We learned the four rules of Internet safety:
We watched a funny cartoon called "Router's Birthday Surprise", and were introduced to the rules. We played a fun classroom game called "Which Rule is it, Anyway?", in which we considered some real-life situations and decided what we would do if faced with that problem. We also listened to songs to reinforce our basic safety rules for online and real-world safety.
Our study of the basic rules of online safety will continue through next week, with more fun games and activities. Students will then move on to more advanced topics (password safety, preventing cyberbullying, avoiding viruses/malware, etc.) in the following weeks.
Students did a great job during our safety discussions - they were engaged, excited, and full of great ideas!
PS - Parents/Guardians: Be sure to check out the Netsmartz Presentation for Trusted Adults, available for download on this page! It is full of great information and tips to help keep the kids you love safer online.
This week, students in Middle and Upper Elementary Classes have been learning about online safety through the Netsmartz program (created by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children). We learned the four rules of Internet safety:
1. I will tell my trusted adult if anything makes me feel sad, scared or confused.
2. I will ask my trusted adult before sharing information like my name, address, and phone number.
3. I won't meet face-to-face with anyone from the Internet.
4. I will always use good netiquette and not be rude or mean online.
Our study of the basic rules of online safety will continue through next week, with more fun games and activities. Students will then move on to more advanced topics (password safety, preventing cyberbullying, avoiding viruses/malware, etc.) in the following weeks.
Students did a great job during our safety discussions - they were engaged, excited, and full of great ideas!
PS - Parents/Guardians: Be sure to check out the Netsmartz Presentation for Trusted Adults, available for download on this page! It is full of great information and tips to help keep the kids you love safer online.
Friday, September 9, 2011
Happy New (School) Year!
Good morning! I am so excited to be back at Community School for another exciting year!
This week students in Middle Elementary, Upper Elementary, and Middle School classes have reviewed the Computer Usage Agreement. (The agreements can be found online in our Family Handbook - pages 22-24.) We reviewed what the rules are, and we talked about why these rules are important. Parents will need to return a signed form so that students can use computers here at school. I've already gotten many of the forms back, so thank you! Please try to return these forms next week. (Students in Lower Elementary will receive their forms on Monday, so please try to return theirs by Monday, Sept. 19.)
Students in Upper Elementary and Middle School also learned about Gaggle accounts. If parents provide permission, students will be given an account that will allow them to participate in several kinds of online communication with classmates and teachers here at school, including email, forums, chatrooms, and a social wall (kind of like Facebook). Students will also be given online digital storage lockers and access to online document creation tools, so that they can create, save, and access work from any computer with an Internet connection. One of the best features of the Gaggle accounts is the safety we can offer - these accounts are only accessible by users in our school network, and are monitored by teachers here at school. Gaggle provides online tools that kids enjoy using in a safe environment. It's a little like training wheels on a bike - if students can learn how to use their Gaggle accounts appropriately, then when they are older, and using accounts as young adults and adults, they will be safer, more knowledgeable users. A permission slip for Gaggle was also sent home this week. Please try to return it by Monday, September 12.
If any one discovers that their form has been misplaced, I have extras in the Computer Lab. Please feel free to come by to get one at anytime!
We have a lot of great activities coming up this year, so I hope everybody is as excited as I am for a new school year!
This week students in Middle Elementary, Upper Elementary, and Middle School classes have reviewed the Computer Usage Agreement. (The agreements can be found online in our Family Handbook - pages 22-24.) We reviewed what the rules are, and we talked about why these rules are important. Parents will need to return a signed form so that students can use computers here at school. I've already gotten many of the forms back, so thank you! Please try to return these forms next week. (Students in Lower Elementary will receive their forms on Monday, so please try to return theirs by Monday, Sept. 19.)
Students in Upper Elementary and Middle School also learned about Gaggle accounts. If parents provide permission, students will be given an account that will allow them to participate in several kinds of online communication with classmates and teachers here at school, including email, forums, chatrooms, and a social wall (kind of like Facebook). Students will also be given online digital storage lockers and access to online document creation tools, so that they can create, save, and access work from any computer with an Internet connection. One of the best features of the Gaggle accounts is the safety we can offer - these accounts are only accessible by users in our school network, and are monitored by teachers here at school. Gaggle provides online tools that kids enjoy using in a safe environment. It's a little like training wheels on a bike - if students can learn how to use their Gaggle accounts appropriately, then when they are older, and using accounts as young adults and adults, they will be safer, more knowledgeable users. A permission slip for Gaggle was also sent home this week. Please try to return it by Monday, September 12.
If any one discovers that their form has been misplaced, I have extras in the Computer Lab. Please feel free to come by to get one at anytime!
We have a lot of great activities coming up this year, so I hope everybody is as excited as I am for a new school year!
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Middle Elementary Project
The students in Katie's and Keri's classes worked very hard over 4 weeks of computer classes to create an "I Spy" book! They created their own collections and took pictures, selected them and imported them onto a PowerPoint slide, and then wrote their own text for the page. I am very proud of each and every student's great page. Here's a copy of our book for you to enjoy!
Technology Across Campus!
Technology is not just for Computer Class!
Lately we've been using technology in a lot of classes! Here are some of the great ways technology is being used across subjects at Community School!
I'm so excited to see so much technology being used so much as we wind down the year! The lab has been full and busy, just the way I like it!
Lately we've been using technology in a lot of classes! Here are some of the great ways technology is being used across subjects at Community School!
- Upper Elementary students have been learning how to do research online. Students also learned how to cite online sources (text, video, and audio) for their "Famous Inventor" report. Students will eventually type their reports; they will be able to put their excellent keyboarding skills we've been developing all year to good use!
- Middle School students have created and posted to blogs on Gaggle.net. They are using the blogs as an online reading journal, to share their thoughts on books being read for Language Arts.
- Middle School students are nearly finished with a great Photo Story project they completed for Language Arts! Students recently read books about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, and have now created a multimedia presentation to share the major elements of the book! Students started off by actually staging and taking photographs of the salient points in the books. They've been using Picnik (an online photo editing program) and Photo Story 3 to complete the project.
- Seminar students have been using Power Point to create lessons about various important topics and share them with classmates.
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| Middle schoolers used Picnik to edit photos! |
I can't wait to see all these projects completed! Every single student is working hard, being creative, and having fun... and, of course, learning a lot!
Friday, May 13, 2011
What does the Internet look like?
I've had some questions from visitors about the artwork featured on the windows to the Computer Lab this semester. Here's the scoop!
Students spent time pondering, researching, and discussing the question: What does the Internet look like? After all, it is a "place" to which we are often directed: "Look it up on the Internet." or "Let's go to the Internet!", for example. But it certainly isn't a tangible place we can plot on a map. Students represented the Internet on a map, and through a cartoon-type picture. We took the opportunity to learn how a browser works, and discuss various types of websites one can find online.
Drop by anytime to see the amazing artistic renditions of the Internet! (Pictures are a representative sampling from Middle Elementary, Upper Elementary, and Middle School students.)
Students spent time pondering, researching, and discussing the question: What does the Internet look like? After all, it is a "place" to which we are often directed: "Look it up on the Internet." or "Let's go to the Internet!", for example. But it certainly isn't a tangible place we can plot on a map. Students represented the Internet on a map, and through a cartoon-type picture. We took the opportunity to learn how a browser works, and discuss various types of websites one can find online.
Drop by anytime to see the amazing artistic renditions of the Internet! (Pictures are a representative sampling from Middle Elementary, Upper Elementary, and Middle School students.)
Thursday, May 12, 2011
TAG readers!
Middle Elementary classes have already enjoyed the new TAG readers, particularly the Silly Phrases Game. They also had the opportunity to share TAG books with little buddies from Early Learner classes. Next week the Kindergarten class will explore the world through our newest library additions, the US and World TAG Maps and Games! I can't wait!
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