Update- 2nd-6th Grade

The Second Graders continue their exploration of MS Excel.  They recently finished their pet graphs, and they'll get to test their Excel skills by graphing the colors of Skittles candies! 

The Third and Fourth Graders are finishing up their slide shows about their bird.  Before their presentations, the students will make a link to a video of their bird.  I will preview youtube videos of their birds, post the videos to the student blog and the students will add a link to the video post on their slide show.  I'll be looking for youtube videos that are short in length, high in resolution, appropriate in content and interesting for young audience.

The Fifth and Sixth Gradres will be introduced to Glogster.com on Friday for "teacher-choice day." This whole week they followed the computer class routine with typing lessons on Monday, spelling on Tuesday, game of the week on Thursday and teacher choice on Friday.

Pet Graph on MS Excel- 2nd Grade

The Second Graders continue their introduction to MS Excel with a mini project of graphing the number of pets that they have.  On Friday, the students typed the labels into the appropriate cells.  On Monday they will use the "auto sum" tool and create a graph.  I think they'll enjoy experiementing with the various formatting features that MS Excel 2007 has to offer.  The students will print their completed graphs and put them on display!

Constellations Research- 5th & 6th Grade

The Fifth and Sixth Graders selected a constellation to research.  They are using the Internet to research their constellation and to find images that depict the characters in their constellation.  The students will create a poster by hand in their homeroom and present their work on Monday.

San Diego Zoo Website vs World Book- 3rd & 4th Grade

I ran into the San Diego Zoo website while exploring the World Book site.  The zoo website contains the perfect setup for the project that the Third and Fourth Graders will be doing.  The site contains a long list of bird species, and the type of information for each bird is age-appropriate for this younger group of students.  The World Book site was posing a hassel for the students because it requires a user and password (provided by nwaea), and the site was difficult to navigate.  The students were getting lost with all the steps to view information about their bird, and the information was minimal.  The San Diego Zoo site was linked to the World Book, and thus, I made a great discovery!

Glogster in 90 Seconds

Here's a cute video about Glogster :-)

Digital Learners- What's Your Opinion?

I want to hear from you.  What is your reaction to the following youtube video?  I had mixed feelings, but in a way, it's where our world is going, like it or not.  Please watch the video below and let me know your opinions.

Glogster- All Grades

There is just a bunch of cool resources out there on the Web!  I found another site that I look forward to sharing with all of the students, Second Grade and up.  "Glogster EDU Premium is a collaborative online learning platform for teachers and students to express their creativity, knowledge, ideas and skills in the classroom."

World Book for Research- 3rd & 4th Grade

The Third and Fourth Graders chose a bird species from the World Book- Kids selection of birds.  They will use the World Book-Kids site as the basis for their research.  They will create a PowerPoint Slideshow about their bird.  They will answer the following questions about their bird: 

• Where does the bird live in the world?
• What kind of habitat does the bird live in?
• What does the bird eat?
• What kind of nest does the bird use for its young? 
• What is the life like for a the young of this species?
• Is the bird a migratory specie?

Game of the Week- WORDO

Optical Illusions Power Point Presentation- 2nd-6th Grade

I shared a very cool power point presentation to the Second-Sixth Graders.  I would like to post the entire slideshow using google docs, however it is "macro-encrypted," which means it is protected from any kind of modifications.  I had to omit the third slide while I presented the slideshow to the students because of it's visual content.  I would like to share, however, one of the slides that the students liked the most:

Back to the Wiki- 5th & 6th Grade

We tried out VortexFlash, and I think the kids liked it.  The students will post their animation on the wiki.  This will require them to use a "widget" that decodes HTML/Java Script. 

We were running into road blocks with the blogs, so at the present time we'll be focusing on the wiki.

Web 2 in the Classroom

Cool Tools for Schools is an excellent wiki with awesome Web 2 tools.  I look forward to exploring these tools with the students!

Flash Vortex- 5th & 6th Grade

The Fifth and Sixth Graders will be using Flash Vortex on Tuesday!

Blog Introduction- 5th & 6th Grade

Today the Fifth and Sixth Graders were introduced to blogs.  We defined blogs as a "web log" where someone can keep a journal on the Internet.  We reviewed the definition of "digital footprint" and discussed the importance of posting appropriate material that leaves an acceptable impression of one's character.  The students navigated to zsjstudents.blogspot.com to log on with their generic google accounts and type comments to the first post.

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!