first grade
February 3, 2016 Update
Since the start of the school year, the first grader's skills have developed so much!! Some of the learning activities that the students have engaged in include:
- Logging on with their own usernames and passwords. The biggest advantage of this is that this will allow the students to save and archive their own work in the near future (we're already practicing some of the steps...it won't be long!)
- Adding, resizing, and moving images in Microsoft Powerpoint. Powerpoint is a powerful multimedia tool that is used as a classroom presentation medium in the classrooms starting in second grade and up. They have really enjoyed searching for, selecting, and inserting images of their own choice. Plus, by observing what sorts of images they choose, I have gotten to learn more about their personal interests!!
- Keyboarding. Touch typing is not taught in earnest until third grade, but first graders are exposed to multiple opportunities during technology special to become more familiar with letter locations on the keyboard. They do so through playing online keyboarding games on several websites including abcya.com and a BBC online program called Dance Mat Typing (see the links provided at the bottom of the page.
- Coding. Yes, computer coding! Code.org has developed an elementary school curriculum that allows even the youngest pre-readers to explore the world of computer coding. The program uses visual blocks that the students drag and drop to write simple programs. So far, code.org has been a big hit with most first graders. If you