Keyboarding Skills

The Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade students are going to take a couple computer lab integration classes to better understand the use of the keyboard in relationship to typing properly.

The Kindergarten and 1st grade students are going to primarily focus on using both hands properly to type. Not so much focus on the use of the home row, but using the right hand for the keys located on the right side of the keyboard and using the left hand for the keys located on the left side of the keyboard.  This will allow the students to double their typing speed by using two hand instead of 1.  Once they become better on recognizing where the keys are located then they can practice more with using the proper finger related to each key.  The students can use these games at home to better help them learn to type:

Big Brown Bear Keyboard Game
Keyboard Climber Game
KeySeeker Keyboarding Game
3D Typing

The 2nd grade students are going to primarily focus on using both hands properly to type.  They are going to focus on learning the hand placement on the home row and start off by using their best judgement for which fingers relate to which keys.  They are still learning where the keys are located on the keyboard so over time they will become more comfortable with using the proper finger related to each key.  The students can use these games at home to better help them learn to type, as next year in 3rd grade typing will be the main focus of their curriculum.

Keyboard Climber
3D Typing
Dance Mat Typing

5th Grade Internet Safety-Email

The 5th grade students took the opportunity to learn a little bit more about Internet Safety especially in regards to Handling Email and Email Manners.  Check out the documents below that they worked on in class, and hopefully brought home to better help you and them understand email and the responsibilities associated with having an email account.  If they do not have an email account, hopefully these documents to can provide with reasons why they shouldn't or reasons why they could.

Good Email Manners

Handling Email and IM

Computer Whiz Winners-March

Every month Mr. Morton announces a "Computer Whiz" winner to a student in each 3rd, 4th and 5th grade class that is going above and beyond to showcase First Class Eason Behaviors in the computer lab, and throughout the school day, each and every day. Mr. Morton is just looking for someone that is showing Respect, Responsibility, Safety and Caring as a student, because they "want" to, not because they "have" to.

For the month of March the winners are:

3W-Sierra R.

3P-Claudia B.

3SC-Will K.

3ST-CJ R.

4B-Reuben G.

4P-Chloe D.

4H-Taylor E.

4N-Christine E.

5C-Tino G.

5H-Will A.

5S-Claire W.

5B-Jordan M.

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.

3rd-5th grade MAP testing

3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students will be take MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) tests starting Friday, April 15th through Friday, April 22nd 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, 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: April 19 & April 22

3Sc: April 18 & April 21

3St: April 18 & April 22

3W: April 19 &a April 22

4B: April 19 & April 22

4H: April 18 & April 20

4N: April 15 & April 20

4P: April 19 & April 22

5B: April 18 & April 21

5C: April 15 & April 21

5H: April 15 & April 20

5S: April 15 & April 21

Kindergarten Integration-ABC Books

Some of the Kindergarten classes took the opportunity to create an ABC book.  Each student was assigned a letter and then through the use of KidPix and the Alphabet Template they found their Alphabet background, dragged it onto the drawing canvas and then use stickers, animations, stamps, drawing and/or writing to showcase items that started with their letter.  So for example if they had the letter A, they could look for an apple, airplane, alligator and other items that started with the letter A to put onto their Alphabet Template.  They did an awesome job with this and they printed their final product.  Below are a few examples:

1st Grade Integration-All About The Author-Finished Copies

Some finished All About the Author pages.

1st Grade Integration-All About The Author

The 1st grade students are and have been working on an All About the Author page using KidPix.  They are creating these to add to the stories they have created in their classroom so people can learn a little bit more about them, as an author of their stories.  During this process they learned how to insert a text box, resize their text and type in their information throughout 5-6 different categories, how to find a picture of themselves from within a folder on their computer that Mr. Morton put on their computers, and how to import their picture onto their KidPix page.  Below is the template they started with and soon I will provide some finish copies so you can see the finished product.