Mesopotamia Rap Music Video

This morning, the Narwhals came to the computer lab excited to try something new. They'd learned a neat rap song in social studies and wanted to make a music video. So, we popped out the iPad, downloaded the song, opened the Video Star app, and started making the video. Taping completed today, and our directors will be completing edits on Monday for a pre-Fall Festival debut on this blog! Here are some sneak-peek photos I snuck around to take as they rehearsed, planned, and shot their video.

Star Power Update

Students in Middle and Upper Elementary classes have continued to do a great job being positive and helpful in class. Students have impressed me this week with their polite words and great questions!  Here are the Star Power standings for this week: 

Oyster Catchers: 97 / 165

Harp Seals: 108 / 180

Hammerheads: 107 / 150

Barnacles: 105 / 165

Coral Creators: 106 / 180

Key: (# stars earned / # stars for reward)

They continue to impress and delight!  Great job!

Carnegie Cyber Academy

This year, students in Upper Elementary and Middle School classes are learning about cyber safety at the Carnegie Cyber Academy.  Students have created their own username and password, and have enjoyed doing in-game activities during Technology classes.   Here's a page where you can read more about the game and see a demo video.

We will be continuing to use the site for classroom activities in the computer lab, but many students have also expressed an interest in continuing the activities at home.  If parents wish, the game portal can be downloaded to the computer at this link:  http://www.carnegiecyberacademy.com/login/  Login information must be entered in order to download the game.  Hey, students: Remember, always ask your parent/guardian before downloading anything onto the computer!  When they are ready to login, students should know their username and password, and the group code is com-8149.

A download-free way to continue the Carnegie Cyber Academy activities at home is by playing the online games and activities related to the Cyber Academy safety game at this link:  http://www.carnegiecyberacademy.com/funstuff.html

Visit the Caves in Lascaux

Middle School students started the year learning about ancient cave paintings and early civilizations. One of the great "virtual field trips" was to the caves in Lascaux in France.  Students used these paintings as a springboard for ideas for their own cave paintings now displayed in the middle school classrooms.  To see this awesome cave painting tour, go to: http://www.lascaux.culture.fr/?lng=en#/fr/02_00.xml

Beginner Robotics Day 3

In day 3 of this group, students built a new robot from plans. Each group had a slightly different build. Students selected the builds from the following choices: Robogator, Strider, Shotroller, and Shooterbot. All groups completed the build, and some made an introductory program. We will do more programming practice next week in the morning, and hopefully build some musical robots in the afternoon. We are having a special lunchtime discussion of robots in history, and their impact on the world during our next group meeting as well.

Star Power Update!

Students in Middle and Upper Elementary classes have continued to do a great job being positive and helpful in class, both to me and to each other!  Here are the Star Power standings for this week:

Oyster Catchers: 67

Harp Seals: 75

Hammerheads: 67

Barnacles: 70

Coral Creators: 79

They continue to impress and delight!  Great job, guys!

Technology Update: Middle School

This was a good week in Middle School Technology classes. 

Students in Emilie's and Linda's classes learned about online searching and citation.  We learned that you should always carefully consider your sources - are they credible or not?  We also learned that you should be a detective and look for facts in at least 3 places to make sure they are accurate before using them in our papers. Students discussed various types of files and information you can find on the internet - videos, interactive activities and games, sound and music files, text, newspaper articles, blogs, vlogs, maps, pictures...and more!  We learned that no matter what it is, if we use it for our paper we have to list it as a source in our bibliography.  We learned the format for citation and how to do a hanging indent on Microsoft Word.  

Students in Katrina's and Seminar classes started this year's cyber-safety activities on Carnegie Cyber Academy.  They will use these games and activities to learn and practice safe skills online, in a fun, game-like format.  Students created online accounts and know our group code, so they are welcome to visit the game anytime they wish. (Many students expressed a desire to continue playing the game on their own time!) We will revisit the game and online activities periodically throughout the year.  

This week, forms were sent home from the Technology Program to Middle School families.  The first form is the Computer Usage Agreement.  Students reviewed this document in class with the teacher.  Please read over the agreement, discuss with your child, and return it to the school signed by both the student and a parent/guardian.  The second form is about our Google Apps in Education accounts.  These accounts will include email, chat, calendar, online storage, and other useful Google tools to help students complete academic assignments.  We will discuss proper use of these tools in class.  These accounts are administered by the Technology Teacher.  Please review the information and return the signed form before Fall Festival.  If you have any questions, please feel free to email me!