Our "Techno" School

The hustle and bustle of students, teachers and staff throughout the computer labs guarantees my days are never dull. With 2 labs containing a total of 42 computers and a cart of 26 laptops, you are sure to see technology being used almost non-stop at our school.

Students have become so familiar with using computers, they don't even blink an eye when one of the teachers says "let's go to the lab" or "we are using the COW (computers on wheels) today"

Teachers are coming up with innovative ways to use computers to enhance student learning and provide a fun alternative to paper, pencil and books.

STOP in sometime and spend a few minutes watching all the activity.

Bringing Technology Into the Classrooms

Our teachers were asked to step out of their "Comfort Zone" and try using technology to teach a lesson. It was great seeing all the different ways they came up with to do just that.

• You Tube videos to teach music and dance steps
• "Elmo" machine to demonstrate science experiments on the big screen
• Internet site giving step by step directions for solving Algebriac equations
• Virtual tour of the Sistine Chapel to help students understand all the paintings
• Powerpoint presentations to help teach a lesson or present information to parents

Hats off to all the Teachers for giving it a TRY!!

CLASS OBJECTIVES

TECHNOLOGY CURRICULUM

Kindergarten: We meet once a week to work on fine motor skills that help us use the computer. I provide educational games through CDs or the internet to help with mouse control. We learn to open and use Wordpad and Paint programs.

1st Grade: We work on mouse control, become familiar with the keyboard and master the use of Wordpad and Paint. I help them practice saving and opening documents. We create many projects to help us remember what we learned.

2nd Grade: We continue to master all skills learned in previous years. I begin teaching keyboarding skills using DanceMat Typing internet program.

3rd Grade: We continue to learn keyboarding skills using Type To Learn software. I challenge students to grow in their skill using Wordpad and Paint. We create our first slideshow in Kidpix program.

4th Grade: We extend our knowledge to using a complete software program StarOffice. I demonstrate how to use each component: Text document, Drawing, Slideshow and Spreadsheet. Students complete activities and quizzes to show knowledge. We continue to practice keyboarding skills in Type to Learn. This year we put covers over our hands.

5th Grade: We focus on getting ready for middle school by learning as much as we can about using text documents, slideshows publishing and spreadsheets. These will help to complete future projects given by any teacher. We also continue to improve keyboarding skills using Mavis Beacon software. Covers are a must to help develop good habits.

Middle School: Our focus is to learn the little extras about our software programs. We discover all the "ins and outs" using problem solving skills and shared learning. We practice notetaking skills while learning computer terminology and then apply that knowledge on weekly quizzes. Appropriate internet use is stressed. "It's all about making wise choices when surfing." Keyboarding practice is phased out as student skills reach our goals. An online grading program is used to help both parents and students continually evaluate progress in all subject areas. Students develop into independent users of technology, ready to face the challenges of the future.

GRADING is based on: Classwork, Participation, Keyboarding and Quizzes (middle school only)

HELPFUL HINTS

Midquarters & Report Cards the OptionC Way

Our middle school students have the ability to check grades, keep track of homework and upcoming tests/projects, view calendars of events and access teacher information with attachment files using our schoolwide Catholic internet-based program OptionC.

To help our environment and budget expenses, we are posting Midquarters and Report Cards electronically. Parents and students will access these with their username and password at http://www.optionc.com/ Search code: 5105.

STAROFFICE vs. MICROSOFT OFFICE

At Holy Spirit we use a software program called StarOffice. It is a free program to educational systems. There are 5 components to the program: Text Document, Spreadsheet, Slideshow, Drawing and Database. 3 of these components are compatible to Microsoft Office: Word, Excel and Powerpoint.

We have set up StarOffice to save documents as Microsoft Office, so students can save documents to their flashdrive and take them home to work on. Students may also start documents at home on Microsoft Office and bring them to school to finish. StarOffice is able to read those documents.

If you have Wordperfect or Microsoft Works programs at home, they are NOT compatible. Office 2007 has also been known to cause problems with compatibility. Check with me or have your student test it out.