Letters to Jesus- 2nd Grade

The 2nd Graders read a Christmas poem on http://www.alphabet-soup.net/chris/starry.html that compares Jesus to Santa.  They also read some notes that children wrote to Jesus.  After reading the poem, the 2nd Graders wrote their own note to Jesus:

Dear Jesus, You are the reason for Christmas.

Love, M.J.

Jesus, I am so glad that you died on the cross to take away my sins.

From, J.J

You are the reason for Christmas and thank you for dieing on the cross.

From, JJ

Jesus, I love you and happy birthday.  I am happy that you died on the cross.  You are the reason for Christmas.

Love, S.F.

ZSJ Kindergarten

I got a kick out of what our Kindergarten teacher wrote on the school website to describe her week.  It is so creative and cute.  I hope it makes you smile as much as it made me smile :-)

"Twas the week before Christmas in the Kindergarten room. 
The class was excited with Christmas so soon. 
The teacher was tired and worn out each day. 
"Please give me more patience!"  Is what she would pray. 
We practiced our songs.  We learned every line.
So the night of our program we really would shine. 
We know the true meaning of what Christmas is about. 
It's all about Jesus.  Let's all sing and shout! 
Merry Christmas we say...It's Jesus' birthday!"
-Mrs. Hetletvedt

Christmas Wish List- 3rd-5th Grade

The Third-Fifth Graders are using Microsoft Excel to create a wish list spreadsheet.  The students used specific tools to set up the spreadsheet, including "merge & center," "bottom boarder," and "$-accounting number format."  They reviewed Excel vocabulary including row, column and cell.  They also practiced skills such as widening columns, resizing and arranging the windows on the desktop and inputting data.

Christmas Scenes- 2nd Grade

The Second Graders began working on a project using "Paint."  They are using four shapes (triangle, square, parallelogram and rectangle) to create a gingerbread house.  I can't wait to share the pictures when the students are finished!  The kids are getting very creative with the tools available on Paint.  Later this week, as the students are finishing up their pictures, they will use Microsoft Publisher to create a Christmas card.  They will insert the picture that they created into the card.

If Wikileaks is bad, then aren't ALL wikis bad? 6th Grade

With recent focus in the news on the wiki-leaks scandal, some of the students questioned whether wiki-s are  lawful.  I felt it was necessary to cue the students in on some more detailed information so that they could understand the true problem.  First, I defined a wiki as a collaborative website where the average Joe (aka- you and I) can request to join the wiki, and with membership to the wiki, we can edit or add our own information, opinion or input.  I explained that the problem with the specific wiki, namely Wiki-Leaks, lies within the unlawful stealing of confidential information.  The students asked some really thoughtful questions, and for the remaining computer class time we immersed ourselves in discussion about proper Internet usage.  I believe today's discussion helped to clarify and resovle the students' concerns about wiki-s.

Wiki-s are the THING!

I just had an idea that I know the kids would love- we could possibly collaborate with other Iowa Lutheran schools using a wiki and possibly Skye.  I have created a new wiki under my administrator account.  Next I will contact computer teachers at other Iowa Lutheran schools to see if they would like to join our ZSJ students in various online projects!  I am so glad that I have finally decided to go ahead with the wiki introduction because it will raise our technology curriculumn up another notch!

Wikispaces- 5th & 6th Grade

The fifth and sixth Graders were introduced to a wiki that I created: zsjfalcons wiki.
I used wikispaces.com to create the website.  The zsjfalcons wiki is a website where approved members can work on the site simultaneously.  Anyone can view the site, but only approved members can edit the pages. 

As an introduction to wikis, the 5th and 6th Graders are creating their own web page within the website. They will choose a subject and write about it.  Some of the subjects already chosen include cheer leading, basketball, paintball, military and babysitting.  In the future the students will choose a specific subject that correlates with a Social Studies or Science unit that they're learning in their homeroom.  The kids are truly excited and motivated create their web pages! Please note that as of yet the wiki is a work in progress. 

Nativity Scenes- 3rd-4th Grades

The 3rd/4th Graders are finishing up their Nativity scenes on Paint.



The fifth graders chose to play Poptropica and the sixth graders chose to play Skywire VIP. 

The second, third and fourth Graders are using Paint to create navitity scenes.

Thank you to Mr. Pipho for covering for me on Monday and Tuesday while I was overcoming strep throat.  I'm happy to be back and feeling better!

WWII Presentations- 5th/6th Grade

A big thumbs up to my fifth and sixth graders for creating wonderful slideshows/movies!  Many of the presentations sparked intriguing questions and discussions.  We learned about D-Day, the Nazi members and supporters including Adolf Hitler, Joseph Goebbels, Heinrich Himmler and Neville Chamberlain, the Jewish Holocaust, Anne Frank, Pearl Harbor, the atomic bomb that ultimately caused Japan to finally surrender, and women's contribution to the war.

Restructure for Thursdays- 2nd-6th Grade

All of the students have been notified that their "educational freedays" will be modified in order to ensure that everyone is using approved educational games.  From now on, a site or educational game will be randomly selected from a list of approved games and sites, and the whole class will work on the chosen site.  The list of sites will include the following:

• Free Rice
• Aqua-Energizer
• Simon Says
• Word Sailing
• Fowl Words
• Word Vine
• Trivia Machine
• Ice Breaker
• Sveerz
• Stackopolis
• Snow Line

Power Point Presentations- 2nd through 6th Grades

All of the students are finishing up their Power Point slideshows. 

• The 5th/6th Graders created slideshows about WWII subjects, and the students will present their work on Thursday. 
• The 3rd/4th Graders are finishing up their slideshows about the animal of their choice that is featured on kids.nationalgeographic.com. 
• The 2nd Graders are also finishing up their slideshows about a featured animal on the National Geographic for kids site.  The 2nd Graders were working in pairs, and I was providing them with step-by-step instruction throughout the entire process.

Communication is the Key

I would like to welcome parents to contact me if they have questions or concerns about computer class at ZSJ.

Should Kids Be Driving Alone?

Nuff said.

WWII Projects- 5th & 6th Grade

The 5th and 6th Graders will present their WWII projects on Thusday, December 2nd.  Their work will be graded and recorded in Social Studies.  The students will be asked to answer the following about their subject: who, what, where, when, why and how.  Here is a link to the rubric: WWII Rubric

Publisher- 3rd & 4th Grade

With our relatively new suite of Microsoft applications, we're expanding the ZSJ technology curriculmn and learning how to use the many tools that Microsoft has to offer. Publisher is one of those applications that is now available to us.  With Publisher, we can create newsletters, cards, calendars, buisness cards and resumes to name a few.  The 3rd and 4th Graders used a greeting card template in Microsoft Publisher to make a card to be sent to the Middle East to our soldiers. 

Student Blogging and Wikis

I am looking extensively into the value of blogs, wiki-s and other Web 2 features in the classroom.  Below are some links that I am checking out:

1. Blogging Basics
2. School Blogs
3. Edu Blogs
4. 21 Classes
5. Classroom Teacher blog
6. Classroomteacher.edublogs.org

And the list goes on and on and on....  There is a wealth of resources on the Web.  I hope to be integrating blogs and wiki-s into the technology curriculum at ZSJ!

Windows Meeting Place- 6th Grade

The 6th Graders made an exciting discovery today.  They found "Windows Meeting Space," which is a standard application provided by the Vista OS.  With this application, students can share documents and websites from their computers.  One person in the meeting space takes control of the screen while the others watch. 
WMS offers connection to other users within the same network.  In other words, users outside of the ZSJ network are not able to join a meeting that has been initiated by a ZSJ network user.

Picture Show- 3rd-6th Grade

The kids are using Gickr.com to create picture shows for their Power Point presentation.  Check out gickr.com!  I created a picture show of my two horses:

The steps for using gickr.com for a Power Point presentation:

1. Google images
2. Save the images to the "pictures" folder on the computer
3. Navigate to gickr.com
4. Click "browse" and select an image
5. Select the speed and size
6. Click "continue"
7. Click "download"
8. Save the file to the "downloads" folder on the computer
9. Launch Power Point
10. Click the "insert" ribbon
11. Click "picture"
12. Browse for the gickr file in the "downloads" folder and select the gickr file
13. Preview the slideshow to watch the gickr picture show

Raking Party

Oh boy did we have a blast raking today!  The kids were just working like busy bees.  Thank you to all of the parents who supplied the treats, drove the pick ups and helped to manage the kids.  Most of all, praise the Lord for the glorious weather and for everyone's safety. 

WWII Project- 5th & 6th Grade

The 5th and 6th Graders are working on their WWII projects.  Some of the students are working in pairs.  Some reliable websites that the students are using for research include:

• http://www.ddaymuseum.org/
• http://www.nationalww2museum.org/
• http://www.cfo.doe.gov/me70/manhattan/
• http://www.ushmm.org/
• http://www.annefrank.com/
• http://www.army.mil/d-day/index.html
• http://www.chuckhawks.com/higgins_boat.htm



National Geographic for Kids/ Power Point Slideshow- 2nd-4th Grade

The 2nd-4th Graders started a new project today.  They visited the National Geographic website to choose a featured animal to research, and next week they will work on a Power Point slideshow about the animal.  The 2nd Graders are working in pairs, and the 3rd-4th Grades are working individually.  Check out the National Geographic website!

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/animals/



WWII Slideshow- 5th & 6th Grade

Beginning on Monday, the 5th and 6th Graders will research a person or topic from the WWII era and create a slideshow.  Some of the choices include:

• Winston Churchill
• Franklin Roosevelt
• Eleanor Roosevelt
• Dwight Eisenhower
• Harry Truman
• Oveta Culp Hobby
• Douglas Mac-Arthur
• Neville Chamberlain
• Adolf Hitler
• Benito Mussolini
• Joseph Stalin
• Emperor Hirohito
• Anne Frank
• Pearl Harbor
• D-Day
• Stalingrad
• Kamikaze
• Battle of Britian
• Holocaust
• Marshall Plan
• Atomic Bomb

Anatomy Arcade- 3rd & 4th Grade

On Monday and Tuesday, the 3rd and 4th Graders will play "Whack-A-Bone" and "Poke-A-Muscle" to help them learn the names and locations of the bones and muscles in the human body.  Check out the site!  It's a fun way to learn human anatomy!
Anatomy Arcade



USHMM.ORG- 5th/6th Grade

Careful thought was put into the 5th and 6th Graders' computer activities this week.  Because the kids have recently finished reading Number The Stars, a novel that takes place in Europe during WWII, and because the students are learning about WWI and WWII in Social Studies, I looked into WWII resources on the Internet.  I found an excellent site to share with the kids- USHMM.ORG  We used this site to answer some questions that the students had about WWII and the Holocaust.  Specifically, we used the site to

• define the Holocaust, antisemitism, propaganda, concentration camp, ghetto and Treaty of Versailles
• discuss the origins of anti semitism
• discuss the impact of WWI and the Treaty of Versailles on Germany
• discuss the ways in which the Nazi propaganda changed the way of societal thinking
• view some of the types of literature that was used as propaganda

USHMM.ORG is an excellent, reliable source that I hope the students will visit when they are asked to study the Holocaust in more depth.

Math Magician- 2nd Grade

The second graders have been completely enthralled with Math Magician where they have been working to improve their addition and subtraction fact memory!  They have requested to work on the website on Monday and Tuesday.  I am pleased with how much they improved their addition and subtraction skills.  When they began using Math Magician, they were finding it difficult to complete all of the 20 facts before the 1 minute expired.  By Tueday, the kids were breezing through the facts, completing the 20 facts in times as low as 40 seconds!  Practice DOES make perfect!

Short Week Recap

This was a rather short week for computer class, with no school on Monday and Reformation parties on Friday.  The kids typed their spelling words on Tuesday and practiced web-based math facts on Thursday.  Friday served as a "fun day" for the kids because of all the excitement and anticipation of the class parties.

I pray that everyone has a safe and fun weekend!

October 18th-21st

Last week was short with Friday serving as a professional development day.  All of the classes followed the prescribed routine (typing on Monday, Spelling on Tuesday and Educational Free on Thursday) with the exception of 5th/6th grade.  The 5th/6th graders did not have a spelling list for the week, so they spent Tuesday brainstorming ideas for a Power Point slideshow.  It looks like the topic will follow what they're learning in Social Studies, which is the WWII. 

I hope everyone enjoyed their four day weekend!  It's back to the grind tomorrow morning :-)

Ellis Island Web Tour and Power Point

The students from 3rd-6th grade learned about Ellis Island in computer class today.  We started with Google Earth, locating Ellis Island and exploring the surrounding landmarks including Liberty Island where the Statue of Liberty stands, Wall Street, the harbor, etc.  Next, we went on the Ellis Island Web Tour at www2.Scholastic.com. 

We listened to the audio recordings and watched some of the videos.  Unfortunately there wasn't enough time to complete the web tour.

The 4th graders were so enthralled with the Google Earth exploration that we didn't quite make it to the Scholastic website for the Ellis Island Web Tour. 

The 2nd graders reviewed what they've learned in Power Point from the last two classes, and I set them free to do their first slideshow about their favorite things.  The 2nd graders will work on their slideshow for a couple more days before we can share them on this blog!

Aqua-Energizer

Aqua-Energizer is a great puzzle game that can played on Thursdays for educational freeday.

10/12/10

When the 6th graders finished typing their spelling words, I shared the following short video clip:

The 2nd graders did some more exploring in MS PowerPoint.  They reviewed yesterday's objectives, and they learned how to change the design of the slide background, choose slide transitions and animate clipart with "motion paths."  The 2nd graders are learning that MS PowerPoint is a powerful and fun application!

10/11/10

The 2nd graders were introduced to MS PowerPoint today.  They learned (or rather, they reviewed) how to  type in the text boxes, modify the font, add clipart and add animations.  The kids really enjoyed inserting the animations!  Tomorrow the 2nd graders will learn more about PowerPoint!

The 5th graders got to do something different today in computer class.  Haily brought a thumb drive full of pictures from her summer vacation to Yellowstone Park.  She showed everyone the pictures.  She had some really cool pictures of Old Faithful, the Continental Divide, glaciers and all sorts of wildlife including polar bears and bison!  When Haily was finished showing the pictures, we googled some pictures of the sights and wildlife from Yellowstone.  Today's activity sparked engaging discussion and stories! 

Below are some of the pictures that the 3rd and 4th graders made using Paint! 

Pumpkins Galore!  By Sarah

John Deere Harvest by Matthew

Carved Pumpkin by Sean

by Selina

Happy Halloween! by Wylee

Halloween Scene! by Alexis

by Tate

John Deere Harvest by Adam

Halloween by Hunter

Austin

Mikayla

Jonah

10-8-10

    Explore Ancient Egypt

The 5th and 6th graders completed this web tour and quiz in computer class today!  The students took turns reading the information about each location in Ancient Egypt, and they did the quiz as a whole class.  The 6th graders finished off with a video about King Tut's mummy.

The 3rd and 4th graders used Paint today to create a harvest or Autumn picture with their choice of jack-o-lanterns, combines and tractors, hay wagon, autumn trees, etc.  They'll finish up their work on Monday!

A first grader made this picture on Paint!  Awesome job!

A Popular Miniclip Game for Thursdays!

This game takes some serious strategic thinking!
Bloxorz

A Sixth Grader's Favorite!

10/5/10

The 2nd graders explored Google Earth today in computer class!  They were so excited when they saw the aerial view of their school and house!  Some of the students found particular interest in locating the Mediterranean Sea and Cancun, Mexico.  What fun!

One of the 3rd graders stated that it was easier to type when he used the proper typing position with his fingers on the home row!  Way to go 3rd grade!

10/4/10

The first graders enjoyed exploring Paint today in computer class!  They learned how to launch a new paint document, zoom in and out, and use many of the tools!

The 3rd-6th graders were introduced to "Speed Skins."   These are thin covers for the keyboard that hide the letters on the keys.  The students learned how to properly handle and store the Speed Skins.  Unfortuately the Speed Skins were not very popular because they have a different feel from what the kids are used to.

The 3rd graders have learned the proper finger placement on the home row keys, and they are already learning to touch type the home row, the "e" and the "h" without looking at their keyboard!  This 3rd grade class is doing a fantastic job!

The 2nd graders showed me that they know how to insert clipart, format clipart, change the font (style, color and size), save, and print today!  Good job second graders!!!

I encourage those with Facebook accounts to search for Zion-St. John School on Facebook, if they haven't already!  Let's stay connected!

10/1/10- Blabberize.com

On Friday the kids explored http://blabberize.com/. They googled an image of their favorite animal, saved the image to their pictures folder and uploaded the image to the blabberize website. Some of the students had enough time to record their voice for animating the mouth that they drew onto the animal. Unfortunately the website was experiencing technical difficulties, and the recording process took a long time.

These "blabberized" animations can be saved and used in the students' slideshows and WMM movies! What fun!

Recap of September

The first week of computer class I took pictures of each class, and the kids uploaded the pictures onto picnik.com where they could use various tools to edit the pictures. Some of the most popular editing tools that were used were the color modifiers, stickers, frames and text inlay.
Check out all of the cool stuff you can do to your photos at picnik.com!

The second week of computer class I introduced the kids to switchzoo.com. At this site the kids made their own animals by combining different kinds of animals together. They could also give their animal a name and write a short description. The kids loved this site, and they even chose to visit the site during their educational freeday! The computer lab door is covered in the student's work. Some of the students who had extra time explored the website and found some fun games such as "Feeding Time," "Sound Match" and "Build an Online Habitat."

The third week of computer class I introduced the kids to cooltext.com where they could create their own logos. The kids were amazed with the endless possibilities of font styles, text colors, background images, etc! I was impressed with all of the logos that they created! I was delighted when some of the students used Christian phrases such as "God is Love," and "The Lord is my Savior!" Many of the kids used their new logo as the background for their desktop account!

As a special activity, the fifth and sixth graders read an entry from their journals about where they'd like to visit. They used Google Earth while the rest of the students viewed the image that was projected onto a screen. Following the activity, many of the students used Google Earth to explore different locations including Disneyworld, Hawaii, Dubai (UAE) and Paullina. Google Earth is an amazing tool that we will no doubt use again and again!

In addition to using Google Earth and the three websites mentioned above, the second graders have been working extensively in MS Word. They are learning the various tools on the MS Word 2007 such as spelling check, numbering/bullets, clip art, font style/size/color/etc and save/print/open/etc. The kids recently completed a mini project on Word about their favorite things.

Looking ahead in computer class, I plan to use MS Excel, MS PowerPoint, MS Word and Windows Movie Maker to integrate subjects that the students are learning in their classrooms!