Super Typers

When third and fourth grade students come to computers, they practice keyboarding for 15 minutes with the program Type to Learn. Each year I keep track of how many lessons they finish. This year's scores are the best ever! This graph shows the average lesson finished for each grade each year. Before 2008, students had 50 minutes of computers each week. In 2008, it was reduced to 40 minutes. Since then, they have had 60 minutes each week! That extra time with each class means we can spend more time practicing typing, among other things, and is why I believe the scores have increased. Why the dip in 2010 for fourth grade? They were in second grade the year I only had 40 minute classes. Second grade is when we talk about and really learn the different keystrokes. Congratulations to this year's third and fourth grade students. You worked hard and that will really pay off!

Tool School

Parents, community volunteers, and high school students came to the elementary school last week to participate in Tool School. Tool School is a career exploration program for third grade students organized by Gail Cherry. It ties into the third grade science unit on simple machines. You can read about it and leave comments on the third grade Tool School Blog. Students wrote the entries in computer class and hope to get many comments from Charlevoix and all over the world.

Writing Comics

Third grade students are using the Professor Garfield Comics Lab to make their own comic strips. First they search for recent strips by creator Jim Davis and browse through them for ideas. After that the students use the Garfield characters in each panel and write what they say in speech bubbles. Lastly, the class walks around and reads each other's strips.

Patterns and Symmetry

This week third grade students experimented with patterns using the web pages SnowFlaker and KaleidoDraw. They made patterns using LinoTiler and Tessalate! Teachers, all four sites are lots of fun to use on a SMARTboard.

Mad About the Parts of Speech

This week third grade students are practicing the parts of speech, including singular and plural nouns, adjectives, present and past tense verbs, and adverbs. They are using a "Mad Libs" type web page called Wacky Web Tales. Students fill in the blanks and the web shows them their story.

Slide Show Stars

Second and third grade classess have been working three weeks on some excellent slide shows. Second grade students created slide shows about Charlevoix. Third grade researched interesting facts about planets and put them into a slide show. Both grades adjusted layouts, spell-checked and proofread, and added images. Third grade students experimented with animations.

20Q and Whomp

Third grade students are using two interactive web sites this week: 20Q and Whomp! With 20Q the computer uses its database to ask yes or no questions and narrow down the possibilities until it comes up with an answer. Whomp is a Boggle type game where you try to make more and longer words than the monster you are playing against. Both activities help reading and cognitive thinking skills.

Third Grade Internet

The Third Grade students just wrapped up a unit on using the Internet. The classes reviewed how to navigate with links, searches, and using the address bar. Students also completed activities involving Internet safety and evaluating web pages.

Third graders are invited to bring guests to Teach Your Parent Night on Tuesday, October 19, from 5:30 to 7:00 pm in Miss Frank's room, where they can teach their guests all about the Internet.

Now Third grade classes are going to start a four week project. They are going to create slide shows about Michigan! This week they are gathering facts from the Internet using the search skills they learned and the web site Google.

Acceptable Use Policy

Starting today in computer class, third grade students, along with new fourth graders, will receive a copy of the district's Acceptable Use Policy. Some would say that it is a permission slip for the Internet, but it is more than that. It is a contract between the district, parents, and especially students to do their best while using the Internet safely and school computer network properly. The school board has approved the document, which needs to be signed not just by a parent or guardian, but by the student as well. Parents, please take the time to read over the document with your child and talk about Internet safety. I will be going over it again in two weeks when we start our Internet unit.