It is hard to believe that we have been in school almost a month now. All grade levels have started working on at least 1 TechSteps project. It is unfortunate that we can't start creating class lists or entering assessments until the middle of this month. The 1st graders are working on the TechSteps project on drawing shapes. In our adaptation the students are creating pictures of a person or face and then they are typing their names complete with capital letters. This has been a great project to start with. I'm working with small groups at a time and I'm getting a very good idea of the skill levels of our 1st graders. This will help as we get ready to take on more complex projects.
Our county technician is spending afternoons with us and is slowly working his way through the computers getting them set up for use with Odyssey,TechSTeps, Acuity, and other programs. The school has purchased 3 network laser printers to be used with each cart. We have also re-arranged some furniture to create a lab in the library. We are planning to have one cart of the laptops set up daily in the library. This will save teachers some set up time and still leaves the other 2 carts that can be used in the classroom.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Moving forward slowly
This was a hectic week. All of the regular library classes (except kindergarten checked books out this week.) I worked with a 2nd small group of 1st graders on using drawing tools to create a picture of a person and learning to type their name with a capital first letter. I have 4 more groups to complete. I collaborated with the classroom teachers to use the 2nd grade TechSteps project on pictographs to compliment their school bus safety unit. I met briefly with 3rd grade to plan a project based unit built around the TechSteps Who am I project. I also met in extended planning sessions with the 4th and 5th grade teachers. In 4th grade we worked out a joint research unit on Native Americans and in 5th grade we discussed how to best to continue the project based unit on heroes in the library and in the small groups in the Intervention/Enrichment time. The PLC teams are working on data analysis and creating their smart goals.
On the equipment front, we are still waiting to hear from the technician on how soon the laptops will be ready for use and if they are going to be able to set ePearl up on the school server. I did rearrange some of the library furnature to allow 1 section of the space to be used as a lab with the laptops. The computers can be set up by 5th grade volunteers who will remove the computers from the charging cart and set them up each day. This will save teachers some time. They don't have to worry about moving the heavy cart and getting the computers out and then we still have the 2 carts that can be moved and used anywhere in the building.
On the equipment front, we are still waiting to hear from the technician on how soon the laptops will be ready for use and if they are going to be able to set ePearl up on the school server. I did rearrange some of the library furnature to allow 1 section of the space to be used as a lab with the laptops. The computers can be set up by 5th grade volunteers who will remove the computers from the charging cart and set them up each day. This will save teachers some time. They don't have to worry about moving the heavy cart and getting the computers out and then we still have the 2 carts that can be moved and used anywhere in the building.
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