This week--Literacy Night at Warner

Hello, parents and others,

I've been working apace on several projects, in addition of course to delivering technology-centered classes for all our K-4 children.

Last week, the 4th graders started their first PowerPoints, beginning with a stock template called "All About Me." The children opened a folder on their lab computer desktop called "LANSchool files" which contains the template, then started by typing the byline on the first page, then discovered the "Save As" command to save their creation in the same folder with their own name as its filename. They then continued to enter several facts on two slides, then saved it again. This week, we'll be opening Paint and creating cartoon self-portraits that we can use in the developing document.

Kindergartners counted birthday candles and matched them with numerals at abcya.com's "Kindergarten Counting."

1st and 2nd graders worked on abcya.com's "Learning Coins" activity, in part because we identified the need for more coin literacy during testing this past month, while 3rd graders chose any reading activity at Starfall.com's "Learn to Read" or "I'm Reading." Allowing and encouraging scaffolded choice both empowers students and allows for differentiated instruction/support.

Speaking of literacy, please bring your Halloween-costumed child(ren) to our first ever Literacy Night, Thursday from 6pm to 7:30pm hear at Warner, beginning in the Auditorium. Parents will have the opportunity to investigate our plans for improving reading levels this year at every grade level.

In the computer lab, Ms. Sadler and I have combined our two small groups to make one group of 15, and we have been experiencing reading-specific games at Funbrain.com. for the approximately 45 minute block, students do one long block of those games, choosing and playing, then we take a whole class movement break at gonoodle.com and then go deep with audio-visual book readings by Screen Actors Guild actors and children at storytime.com. It's uncanny the way the room hushes as children become literally immersed in these readings, supported by closed-captioning so that they can read along. In the works for all children at Warner, a school-wide pilot of ReadingPlus, which I actually won last summer at the ISTE conference. See http://iste.com/conference for more information on that conference, and http://readingplus.com for more on this fantastic opportunity to make great strides in our children's reading proficiency.

It's all at http://tizmos.com/scottmerrick/Reading .

That's all for now, but I hope to have some pics for you next week from Literacy Night and also from work done in the lab. Thanks for all your support and your loving care for your children--our children.

Oh, we start our CodeClub afterschool today. I'm so excited! See the last post for details. And thanks to Nissan International's Mr. Patrick Fettig for leading off this initiative to get kids involved in learning a skill that can last them a lifetime!

Have a great week! And stay safe over Halloween.

Week 7--Happy Fall Break!

Hey, Wildcatters,

It's been a great 7 weeks in the computer lab. Yes, there have been some challenges, but yes, as my pappy said, "Some days you eat the bear and sometimes the bear eats you." So true.

Teaching is more art than science. That's a fact. Just trust me here. And from what I see around me at Warner, the school is full of teacher-artists. Our Principal, Ms. Denise Jacono, has nothing in the world at the forefront of her every thought than what is best for our students. Nor do any of my other colleagues, all the way from Pre-K to 4th grade. What you can do from a distance is to encourage your child to be a Wildcats Champion. Watch for exactly what that means in the near future, as we name our first two students at each grade level to that post on a monthly basis. Champions will receive a stunning wristband to wear always, and they will be featured on social media and with their photographs in our hallways. These students will be our leaders--ready to learn, ready to lead by example. Ready to give and receive the respect we all deserve in our lives.

Some parents will soon receive permission forms for our upcoming Warner Computer Coding Club, which will meet from 4 to 5 pm two days a week beginning the week of October 17. I will be helping with this, of course, but it will be lead by Mr. Patrick Fettig, a highly place information technology director at Nisson International. Our community rises to the occasion! I'm looking forward to learning from Mr. Fettig so that I can better roll out Code.org to every 3rd and 4th grade student in the Spring Semester. Are you skeptical? Watch this:
And tune in here for updates as we set off any student ready to make this journey on an upward life-path. Again, just trust me here. It's going to be better than okay!

Week of September 12-16--Testing week 1

Hey, families,

This week the Computer Lab is benefiting from extra grown-up hands as we administer one on one FastBridge testing to our young charges. This testing, though perhaps not the most exciting part of going to school, will help teachers individualize learning for their students in ways that cannot be done without the kind of data that FastBridge can deliver. Since we have a computer lab this year (yay), most of the testing can be done in the lab, making FastBridge testing even faster!

That said, we continued with planned activities started in the short week last week, and we'll move on into other plans for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

4th & 3rd graders are continuing keyboarding practice at e-learning with Monty the monkey. I see improvement every week as we concentrate on home row key position and knowing where the letters and characters are on a QWERTY keyboard. Some of my students have not yet developed the fine motor skills to do the two-handed home row technique deftly, but with them I am concentrating on keeping two hands up there and typing the correct letter with the correct hand. This will develop into traditional form and skill as the children develop.

I do still hear "This is too harrrrrrd" or "I can't do this" from some of my young 'uns. I persevere with encouragement  and humor with the reminder that anything good is worth working for--and this is good. I work with them one-on-one as I can get to them, which can be a challenge in the larger classes. In the words of Bob Dylan, "We do what we must do and we do it well." You can help. Encourage your child to learn this incredibly valuable skill. Anything worth learning is worth working for--and this is worth learning!

from https://techcrunch.com/2013/04/24/kalq/

Did you know the first QWERTY keyboard was designed on the advice of telegraph operators who used it for translating Morse Code? With smartphone usage growing, new keyboard system for use with thumbs only has been invented. Look for the KALQ keyboard on a smartphone or tablet near you soon.

2nd graders are continuing on their own initial typing quest with Dancemat Typing. This is a fun and silly animated platform let by a goat with a Scottish accent.

1st graders and Kindergartners are continuing on with UptoTen.com's "My First Clicks," working through the 25 Lessons, each with four games and a video (cartoon), highlighting new computer skills. I purchased the Premium license for this website with my own funds. I know it's worth it. Plus doing so removed ads from the rest of Boowa & Kwala at Uptoten.com--totally worth it. Click the image below to make it larger so you can read the scaffolded skills.

 

Thanks to everyone who joined in last Thursday for our re-do of Back to School night. I ended up getting "voluntold" to grill hotdogs, so I didn't get the chance to show off our new computer lab, but you know? There will be many more opportunities this school year to do so. Have a great week!

Week 4, Labor Day Week--a Short One!

Hello, Warner Parents,

This week we teachers got the Monday respite and on Tuesday spent our work day at school in professional development centered around making Warner Enhanced Option Elementary School the best school in the world. Seriously.

I won't go into details, but suffice it to say that we are as a team of professionals collaborating daily to make sure your child is safe, is happy, and is learning. A dedication to Peace is our current focus, and we will culminate a series of learning experience--delivered throughout the building--on September 21, Peace Day, with display of 307 Pinwheels for Peace on the front lawn of the school. For more information on this much needed project, visit Pinwheels for Peace.

Tonight we are holding a re-do of our Parents Night, originally held the first week of school. We want to get more parents involved in our agenda for improvement and a social meeting followed by opportunities to visit classrooms, including the computer lab, the art room, the music classroom, and the gym (with our fantastic new PE teacher, Mr. Southerland. As you know, we were without a PE teacher for a little over a week, and we are glad he's come aboard: One of our goals, originated by him, is to make Warner the healthiest school in the district! We can do it!

Have you seen the fabulous mural painted by one of our parents at the start of the school year? Here's a picture, but you really must come to see the original! THANK YOU, Mr. Ray!

This week, and on through Tuesday (so that those who were out Monday and Tuesday of this week can get everything, learn everything, those Wednesday through Friday folks learned) here's what's on the menu in Computer Lab (after each class completes a little survey I've put online to learn how much latitude I have to extend learning beyond the lab and into the classroom):

Kindergarten:
Make a Word - Short "a" sounds. "an". 
ABCya Numbers 1-10 counting and mouse practice 
After completion, free time from Tizmos Kindergarten tab 

1^st Grade: 

Make a Word - Short "a" sounds. "an".    
ABCya Numbers 1-10 counting and mouse practice.
After completion of Lesson 1, free time from Tizmos 1^st Grade tab

2^nd grade: 
Students do any two of the stages at http://kidstyping.weebly.com/   
Enrichment. Do your choice from these activities:

http://www.abcya.com/numerical_order.htm http://www.abcya.com  
http://www.abcya.com/alphabet_matching_game.htm

After completion, free time from Tizmos 2^nd Grade tab.

3rd Grade: 

http://www.e-learningforkids.org/computer-skills/lesson/module-1-prehistoric-time-alphabetic-keys/
After completion of Lesson 1, free time from Tizmos 3rd Grade tab 

4th Grade:
http://www.e-learningforkids.org/computer-skills/lesson/module-1-prehistoric-time-alphabetic-keys/  After completion of Lesson 1, free time from Tizmos 4th Grade tab