MAP Testing Information

The MAP testing software comes from the Northwest Evaluation Association. Their website has useful information about MAP to help answer some questions for you and you student(s). Additionally, if you click here, it will take you to a PDF document entitled 'Parent Toolkit' that will hopefully answer even more questions for you! As always, feel free to contact your student's teacher to ask about more information or how they use the scores to help your student.

5th grade copyright

5th grade students will be learning about copyright and digital literacy before they start their huge Project-Based Learning (PBL) Unit about, "Where Should I Go This Summer." They focus on copyright and digital literacy before they start the unit as they will be using many facts, resources, pictures and research from the the Internet that is not their own. They will learn how to properly cite the pictures they use for the Microsoft Word Poster and their Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation, along with learning how to properly take notes and cite in their own 5th grade language the research they gather on their country. This is important as we want students to know that if it is allowed to borrow others work, they need to borrow it for the proper reasons with the proper citation(s).

4th Grade Internet & Internet Safety

The 4th grade students will start exploring the Internet and Internet Safety at the beginning of October and will be using a web site called Welcome to the Web to complete this exploration. Welcome to the Web provides a variety of activities through each of its 6 sections along with a final challenge that all students enjoy completing. Each section provides detailed information and activities concluding with a short 4-5 question quiz, which provides the students with a secret code to use during the final challenge. The students will be using Welcome to the Web till Winter Break so please make sure to ask them what Internet or Internet Safety tidbits they learned each and every day. Thanks.

3rd grade keyboarding

The 3rd grade students have finally started keyboarding. They have been introduced to the names of their fingers, the 4 good keyboarding habits, the home row and have started typing the A and J key respectively.

The 4 good keyboarding habits should be practiced at home if the students are typing in any capacity at home. The four include:

1) CLEAR-work area

2) SEAT-sit up comfortable, not too close or too far away from the keyboard

3) FEET-close to the floor

4) FINGERS-wrists flat, fingers curved, typing with our fingertips

They also took a handwriting rate test for the purpose of understanding that they need to be able to type as fast or equal to what they can write by the end of third grade. For example: if they write 5 words per minute (wpm) they should be able to type 5 wpm or more by the time they finish third grade.

Once your students learn more keys please have them practice at home, library, friend's house, or grandparent's house at least once a week. Thanks.

3rd-5th grade MAP testing

3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students will be take MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) tests starting Tuesday, September 21st through Tuesday, September 28th in the computer lab. These tests are delivered on the computer but for the purpose of the students classroom teacher gathering data based on a Reading test and a Math test.

To better help your student(s), make sure they get a good nights sleep the night before the test, they eat a healthy breakfast the morning of the test, and explain to them the importance and seriousness of taking these test. These tests, taken in September, again in January and again in April, help the teachers with better placement/grouping of students in Reading and Math.

Here is when your student(s) will be taking their test(s):

3P: September 23 & September 28

3Sc: September 22 & September 24

3St: September 22 & September 28

3W: September 23 & September 28

4B: September 23 & September 27

4H: September 22 & September 24

4N: September 21 & September 24

4P: September 23 & September 28

5B: September 23 & September 27

5C: September 21 & September 27

5H: September 21 & September 24

5S: September 21 & September 27

Kdg.-2nd Grade

The Kindergarten through 2nd grade students have been in the computer lab at least once since the beginning of the school year. They will come into the computer lab at least 1 time per cycle if not more.

Mr. Morton took the opportunity for their first day in the computer lab to go over rules/procedures for a little while so each student knows what I and their classroom teacher expect out of them.

After that we explored the new way for all Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade students to login this year. Last year they used a generic username and password for all of the computers. This year, with a little time and patience, they will each have their own unique username and password to use with any computer at Eason. They will keep and use this unique username and password all the way until the leave or graduate from Waukee CSD. The process is identical to how the 3rd-5th grade students login and even to how the 6th-12th grade students login.

It will take some time and patience but should be beneficial for the students over the years.

This is what the computer lab looks like in case you have not been in yet.

3rd-5th grade

The 3rd-5th grade students have been actively involved in the computer lab since the first day of school. We started the school year being reminded of and learning the expectations in the computer lab and then went right into a mini-project where each 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade student designed their name, to be cut out and posted around Mr. Morton's computer lab for the school year. Each grade level approached this differently.

3rd grade just used the basic font/text features of Microsoft Word to create their name. 4th grade could used the basic font/text features or could use WordArt in Microsoft Word to create their name. 5th grade could use the Microsoft Word basic font/text features or WordArt or could use a web site that creates logo.

The web site is called Flaming Text. It is a great web site to create logos for free, which I have used extensively for the Eason Web Site, and if allowed by your student(s) (I reminded them to ask permission first) he/she could show you how the web site works, which could then be a new web site for personal use at home or for business work to create logos.