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!
Thursday, October 6, 2016
Tuesday, September 13, 2016
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!
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.
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.
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!
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.
from https://techcrunch.com/2013/04/24/kalq/
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.
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!
Thursday, September 8, 2016
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
1st 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 1st Grade tab
2nd 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 2nd 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
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
1st 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 1st Grade tab
2nd 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 2nd 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
Friday, August 26, 2016
Week of August 22-26, Routines Establishing Well!
Good week! That's a greeting like "good morning" or "good day" but it's for the whole week.
We had a stellar week in Mr. M's Computer Lab. Kids were great, by and large, routines are becoming habits, and I actually have 3 classes already who are in the running for the new, important, and prestigious "Order of the Golden Mouse" award! What is that, you might ask? It is a long established clan of heroes who have achieved the award by being the most ready-to-learn-in-the-computer-lab classroom of the week. After all classrooms have attended lab,
a determination is made by a clandestine group of Mouse Masters, and on Monday morning the honored classroom finds
Speaking of mouses, we are working on mouse skills this week in Kindergarten and 1st grade. Working with children 1-on-1 while they visit an online "Mouse Practice" website allows me to make adjustments to the mouse usage and grip individually as needed. This site also requires reading, and for the youngsters who aren't at that level yet, I read for them. They learn how to play these unique and age appropriate games, learning to use the mouse correctly without even knowing they are learning.
Note the custom mouse pad! I did a little research after shopping for new mouse pads for the computer lab after discovering the cost would be in the 80 dollar range, and I modified one suggestion I found. I purchased a stack of "craft foam" from Michael's Arts & Crafts and a can of textile adhesive, sprayed the bottoms of the craft foam so they stayed put on the computer tables--total cost = around $13. Yay again.
All 2nd, 3rd, and 4th graders are beginning to identify key placement on their keyboards and this week we visited ABCya's Keyboarding Zoo as a first baby step toward acquiring the immensely valuable skill of touch-typing.
Expectations were varied as 2nd graders used their pointer fingers to type left hand keyboard letters with their left pointer and their right hand pointers for the right hand letters. 3rd and 4th graders were challenged to use home row key position but allowed to look at their hands. We'll keep working at this as this kind of activity is a good way to begin with a brief computer lab assignment and then free choice time--from a selection of choices available at http://tizmos.com/scottmerrick, our lab start page. Here's one group of 3rd graders on Keyboarding Zoo. They are on task and ready to learn!
I will gradually expand the duration of the lab assignments until we are producing products and building skills like I know we all can. For now, the baby steps are not just with keyboarding, but also with lab routines and expectations, positive free time choices with limits, and using quiet inside voices in the lab. It's already working well. Just hold tight and we'll see some real progress!!!
Have a great week.
proudly displayed over their classroom door for the week. We just started awarding the Order of the Golden Mouse last week, and it was claimed by Ms. Appleton's 3rd grade classroom, yay!
Here they are working in the lab this week:
Here they are working in the lab this week:
Note the custom mouse pad! I did a little research after shopping for new mouse pads for the computer lab after discovering the cost would be in the 80 dollar range, and I modified one suggestion I found. I purchased a stack of "craft foam" from Michael's Arts & Crafts and a can of textile adhesive, sprayed the bottoms of the craft foam so they stayed put on the computer tables--total cost = around $13. Yay again.
All 2nd, 3rd, and 4th graders are beginning to identify key placement on their keyboards and this week we visited ABCya's Keyboarding Zoo as a first baby step toward acquiring the immensely valuable skill of touch-typing.
Expectations were varied as 2nd graders used their pointer fingers to type left hand keyboard letters with their left pointer and their right hand pointers for the right hand letters. 3rd and 4th graders were challenged to use home row key position but allowed to look at their hands. We'll keep working at this as this kind of activity is a good way to begin with a brief computer lab assignment and then free choice time--from a selection of choices available at http://tizmos.com/scottmerrick, our lab start page. Here's one group of 3rd graders on Keyboarding Zoo. They are on task and ready to learn!
I will gradually expand the duration of the lab assignments until we are producing products and building skills like I know we all can. For now, the baby steps are not just with keyboarding, but also with lab routines and expectations, positive free time choices with limits, and using quiet inside voices in the lab. It's already working well. Just hold tight and we'll see some real progress!!!
Have a great week.
Call me if you need me:
615 576-0252 text or voice
Mr. M.
Saturday, August 13, 2016
First Week of School! GREAT!
Hey, parents,
The first week of school was spent working on routines in the classroom. Please talk with your child about how he or she enters Mr. M.'s Computer Lab, takes a criss-cross-applesauce seat on the lab's carpet, hears and sees directions for the day, and then earns a computer number card to
learn which computer they will be working on that day. I like to shake things up a bit and so have chosen to randomize (with teacher discretion) the placement each week. That will help me learn which students to place alongside one another and which might need some distance between one another in order to optimally work. In many cases, I may allow students to switch up to be nearer a good friend they know they can work with. A difficulty is that there are only 17 currently working computers in the lab, so in classes with 18 or 20 children, I put a temporary band-aid on that problem by pairing students on one computer. I will set a timer for one to be the driver and one to be the navigator so each gets equal time.
In keeping with my goal of providing voice and choice to my students, I started each class at the Warner Tech Start page with a set of choices available to them. had one this week, as I was concentrating on getting them to double-click to open the page and to select the Boowa and Kwala icon, then explore games, cartoons, and songs. Those little ones are a challenge, but I'm up to it!
The choices widened as grade levels rose--1st graders had 2, 2nd graders, 3, and 3rd and 4th graders could choose from Boowa and Kwala, Starfall, PBS Kids, and Nickelodeon. Most classes went very well, and I finished my week encouraged and completely hopeful we'll have a GREAT year.
As I only came on board a few weeks ago, and as it's been a bit since I've taught computer lab, I'm constantly seeking the very best of the best as I plan Computer Lab curriculum for the year. Stay tuned!
Here's a picture of the Start Page. Be aware--it's going to change!
The first week of school was spent working on routines in the classroom. Please talk with your child about how he or she enters Mr. M.'s Computer Lab, takes a criss-cross-applesauce seat on the lab's carpet, hears and sees directions for the day, and then earns a computer number card to
learn which computer they will be working on that day. I like to shake things up a bit and so have chosen to randomize (with teacher discretion) the placement each week. That will help me learn which students to place alongside one another and which might need some distance between one another in order to optimally work. In many cases, I may allow students to switch up to be nearer a good friend they know they can work with. A difficulty is that there are only 17 currently working computers in the lab, so in classes with 18 or 20 children, I put a temporary band-aid on that problem by pairing students on one computer. I will set a timer for one to be the driver and one to be the navigator so each gets equal time.
In keeping with my goal of providing voice and choice to my students, I started each class at the Warner Tech Start page with a set of choices available to them. had one this week, as I was concentrating on getting them to double-click to open the page and to select the Boowa and Kwala icon, then explore games, cartoons, and songs. Those little ones are a challenge, but I'm up to it!
The choices widened as grade levels rose--1st graders had 2, 2nd graders, 3, and 3rd and 4th graders could choose from Boowa and Kwala, Starfall, PBS Kids, and Nickelodeon. Most classes went very well, and I finished my week encouraged and completely hopeful we'll have a GREAT year.
As I only came on board a few weeks ago, and as it's been a bit since I've taught computer lab, I'm constantly seeking the very best of the best as I plan Computer Lab curriculum for the year. Stay tuned!Here's a picture of the Start Page. Be aware--it's going to change!
Friday, August 5, 2016
Nice to Meet You!
Just to reach out to parents who attended our open house today. I was glad to see any and all who were curious enough about our firing back up Warner's computer lab to drop in. I handed out little slips of paper for folks with two internet addresses I'd love for you to add to your favorites or bookmarks. For those who may have missed that, the two addresses are:
http://mistermtech.blogspot.com and http://bit.ly/weolab. The first is this blog that you are reading! I'll be posting at least weekly as we plan our fun and learning in Mr. M.'s Tech Lab.
The second is our start page at a platform called Symbaloo. This will be the start page I'll continue to add to throughout the year. If you have a computer at home that your child can use, this is a good place for them to start. NOTE: I'm switching over the start page to a new platform I purchased just yesterday. Watch the blog for more
Again, thanks, and I'll be so glad to have a band-aid on my schnozz tomorrow instead of this bulky bandage!
Call, voice, or text anytime to 615 576-0252 or email me at scott.merrrick@mnps.org. I'll get back to you within 24 hours if you leave me clear contact information!!!
Cheers,
Mr. M.
http://mistermtech.blogspot.com and http://bit.ly/weolab. The first is this blog that you are reading! I'll be posting at least weekly as we plan our fun and learning in Mr. M.'s Tech Lab.
The second is our start page at a platform called Symbaloo. This will be the start page I'll continue to add to throughout the year. If you have a computer at home that your child can use, this is a good place for them to start. NOTE: I'm switching over the start page to a new platform I purchased just yesterday. Watch the blog for more
Again, thanks, and I'll be so glad to have a band-aid on my schnozz tomorrow instead of this bulky bandage!
Call, voice, or text anytime to 615 576-0252 or email me at scott.merrrick@mnps.org. I'll get back to you within 24 hours if you leave me clear contact information!!!
Cheers,
Mr. M.
First Full Day of School
Well, I had a wonderful first day with my new kiddos, and I wanted to share that with you all. I truly feel we are off to a great start!
Today I saw only a few classes, but I want to thank you all for sharing your children with me. I told each and every one that it is my over-riding goal to make sure every one of them has a shining skill set by the time they leave Warner for Middle School. I plan to teach the 4th graders, and maybe even the 3rd graders to code, with the help of CodeAcademy.org.
Stay tuned! Much more to come, every single week of the school year!
Today I saw only a few classes, but I want to thank you all for sharing your children with me. I told each and every one that it is my over-riding goal to make sure every one of them has a shining skill set by the time they leave Warner for Middle School. I plan to teach the 4th graders, and maybe even the 3rd graders to code, with the help of CodeAcademy.org.
Stay tuned! Much more to come, every single week of the school year!
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