This week the students started keyboarding. We did an introduction to keyboarding lesson and went over the new Typing Agent interface. I really love the new changes they made in this release. I reminded the students that the most important thing is to use the proper fingering and always return your fingers to the home row keys. After that, they should work on accuracy. Speed is the least important thing to worry about. Their goal is to type 15 words per minute with 85% accuracy. They are off to a great start!
In the month of February, in Library class, the students made the "Bobcat Broadcast". They came down to the lab with their scripts and recorded themselves in front of the blue screen. Then they used the 3DC app to edit their videos by putting in the background and thumbnail images. I stitched the segments together using iMovie. They did a great job!
Today we wrapped up the Jamestown Infographics project by talking about what we learned about the Jamestown Colony population in the early years. The students talked about:
I showed the students a spreadsheet that looked similar to theirs, but I added a column that included the incremental population changes (theirs only included total population). Then we did some "what if" scenarios. What if new arrivals never came in August 1609? It was easy to see from the graph that the colony would've collapsed and who knows how that could've affected history. The same is true for the other ships bringing new arrivals. We talked about how spreadsheets are used to calculate, analyze, and graph data.
Today the students reviewed why we use graphs and different types of graphs (bar, pie, etc.).Then they created a line graph using the Jamestown Population spreadsheet data. They added a chart title and axis labels.
The students used Apple Keynote to create their Infographic. They started a new presentation, selected a template and copied over their graph. In the next class they will add images to make the graph easier to understand. We joined millions of students from around the world for the Hour of Code. The Hour of Code was meant to be a one-hour introduction to computer science, designed to demystify "code", to show that anybody can learn the basics, and to broaden participation in the field of computer science. It has since become a worldwide effort to celebrate computer science. This year I challenged the 4th Grade to create a Whack-A-Beagle game using Scratch Jr or PBS Scratch Jr. I was impressed with the progress the students made in thinking through how the game worked and how to translate that into code. Many students successfully completed the challenge. Here is one approach: To celebrate the completion of the weather unit in Reading and Writing Workshop and science, the students made their own weather videos. First the students learned about Chroma key, an electronic special effects process to combine a background with a live video in the foreground.
Then the students:
We're going to design and print 3D bookmarks. Here are some examples to give you inspiration. Mrs. Komnik had the other half of 4th Grade play with LittleBits. She gave them some supplies, so they could make Halloween circuits like scary light up eyeballs. It was fun to watch their creativity in action.
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AuthorMrs. Komnik, Ms Luehrs, Mrs. Chaleki Frequently UsedGalleryArchives
February 2019
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