What we learned / did / explored together:
- Learning about Japanese Food and Dinning/Eating Customs. Mostly web searched and discussed differences in food and eating customs.
What I observed / inferred / connected:
- Students often mistake sushi for meaning 'raw fish'.
- learn to make sushi or use chopsticks with a meal.
Fifth Grade
What we learned / did / explored together:
- We are doing a mini unit 2 weeks on typing skills. Even though at the beginning of the year we went through the Type To Learn 4 program, we found it important to 'refresh' their typing skills at year's end.
What I observed / inferred / connected:
- Students jumped right in but I did have to make a few reminders to use home row.
What students can do at home:
- Practice keyboarding skills at home.
Fourth Grade
What we learned / did / explored together:
- We are doing a mini unit 2 weeks on typing skills. Even though at the beginning of the year we went through the Type To Learn 3 program, we found it important to 'refresh' their typing skills at year's end. Also introduced students to the 4th grade resources on my web page
What I observed / inferred / connected:
- WPM (words per minute) increases to 12 and I found many students don't have the typing speed yet to pass this level. I had to manually adjust students WPM goals.
What students can do at home:
- Practice typing skills on the 4th grade resources on my web page.
Third Grade
What we learned / did / explored together:
- We are doing a mini unit 2 weeks on typing skills. Even though at the beginning of the year we went through the Type To Learn 3 program, we found it important to 'refresh' their typing skills at year's end. Also introduced students to the 3rd grade resources on my web page
What I observed / inferred / connected:
- WPM (words per minute) increases to 12 and I found many students don't have the typing speed yet to pass this level. I had to manually adjust students WPM goals.
Second Grade
What we learned / did / explored together:
- I periodically give students a choice in anything we did during the year to see what interests them the most.
What I observed / inferred / connected:
- Pivot Stick Figure is very popular with this age group as well as Scratch and KidPix.
What students can do at home:
- Pivot Stick Figure and Scratch are free programs you can find a Pivot program that is compatible with your computer by searching in Google. Scratch can be used on line or download the Scratch editor for free.
First Grade
What we learned / did / explored together:
- We learned Type to Learn Jr. and typed by keeping both hands on the keyboard
What I observed / inferred / connected:
- Student tend to type with 1 hand at this age. Some students need constant reminders to use two hands when practicing typing.
What students can do at home:
- Practice typing skills on the 1st grade resources on my web page
Kindergarten
What we learned / did / explored together:
- I periodically give students a choice in anything we did during the year to see what interests them the most.
What I observed / inferred / connected:
- Students enjoyed going to KidPix and free playing with all the art tools
What students can do at home:
- Use one of the free online paint programs found on the Kindergarten resources on my web page
PreSchool
What we learned / did / explored together:
- Lego Duplo Construction set. I asked the students what they wanted to make today and it was unanimous. They all wanted to build 'scoop' and digging machines. I gave them pictures to follow and all were able to follow some parts of the picture and also to modify the directions slightly.
What I observed / inferred / connected:
- Students love to make up stories and play with their creations.
What students can do at home:
- Lego and Duplos are excellent hands on toys for kids to explore/create and imagine with.