Welcome to The Academy of Our Lady of Peace
Computer Lab Home Page
for the 2011-12 School Year!

2/4/2012:

We are in the final stretch of Trimester 2 and grades 7 and 8 will be finishing up their Business Project soon after making a TV or radio commercial and making a customer database in Microsoft Access.

Grade 6 is working on their "$1500 shopping spree" by keeping track of their purchases and balances in Excel.

Grade 5 was recently introduced to databases after gathering data on 8 states in America. They will generate some queries and a report in Access.

Grade 4 continues to learn about the fun features of Powerpoint.

We will put our computer skills to work in Grades K to Grade 3 using the upcoming Valentine's holiday.

PreK-4 continues to make progress with their "Letter of the Week."

Please note that Grades 6, 7 and 8 have a Technology Current Event for Trimester 2 due on Tuesday, February 14th. The students are to use the Essay Scorer online website to develop their essay and receive feedback before the due date. One point out of 10 will be deducted for every day late. If a student cannot access the Internet from home then they may turn in a hard copy of the summary.

Technology News Report Outline and Rubric:

Summary of article - 2 short paragraphs in own words (6 pts)

Opinion - 1 short paragraph (3 pts)

Source of Article: a complete sentence that includes where you found your article (1 pt.)

1/20/2012:

PreK-4:  Continues to learn their letters by drawing them, typing and finding stamps that begin with the letter of the week.

KG: Just finished putting the alphabet in order and then typing the matching word from the word bank for all 26 letters.

1st Grade: Did a great job on their Winter poems and then we discussed and drew the new food pyramid, which is now depicted as a healthy plate of the 5 food groups.

2nd Grade: Just finished making their own town or city in "Make a Map 3D" and then had an opportunity to "drive" their car througout the map they made. They learned about communities and how to follow directions using the scavenger hunt game.

3rd Grade: Finally finished their travel brochures for Mesa Verde National Park. They are now having fun using Callout Bubbles in Word to make clipart "speak."

Grade 4: Has been introduced to Microsoft Powerpoint. They are creating 6 slides on "Holidays in America" and will be moving on to a presentation about New Jersey soon.

Grade 5: Was introduced to making Bibliographies uing the online tool called the Citation Machine. This will be helpful for the Science Fair report and future reserach papers. Please see Homework Help on the school website for details. We are now learning about databases.

Grade 6: Just started a unit on Excel, using the Internet to shop for $1500 worth of items following a set of rules. Formulas must be used throughout the unit to calculate tax, a running balance, subtotals and grand totals.

Grades 7 and 8: Are finishing up the unit on creating documents for their business project. They have to create a sales flyer and make a TV or radio Ad lasting 60 seconds maximum. These documents will be available during the Catholic Schools Week Open House.

1/7//12:

This is a reminder to all the 8th graders  -

Bring in the pictures you want included on your graduate page in the Yearbook this Monday or Tuesday.  Also include a baby picture. If you can scan the pictures at home and store them on a flash drive that would be best. Otherwise I can scan them in at school. If you bring in actual pictures, place them in a bag or envelope with your name on it and leave them on my chair. Please DO NOT FORGET!

1/4/2012:

The test scores have been entered in Powerschool for Grades 5 and 6.

As the Middle School gears up for the Science Fair, I will be going over how to create a Bibliography that they will need for their Science Fair paper. Please be aware that on the "Homework Help" page on the school website there is a link to the "Citation Machine" that can be used to create the citations. It is very easy to use and I encourage all students to make use of this tool. Just remember that the Bibliography should be double spaced and in alphabetical order (ignore entries that begin with A or The) to follow the MLA format. 

There is also a Bibliography Guide on the Homework Help page that goes over how to type up and format the Biblioraphy page. Please do your best to follow it and see me if you need help.

12/31/2011:  Happy New Year to everyone!
Just a quick reminder that Grade 6 has a test on Tuesday, Jan. 3rd when we return. The review is below.

12/20/11:

Intel Journey Review - Grade 6
Test on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2012

What are the 4 components of Computers?

Know which hardware is an input device, output device or storage device.

Know the difference between permanent and temporary storage and give examples of each.

Know how transistors store binary data, what are the values that computers "understand."

What are bits, bytes, megabytes, Kilobytes and gigabytes.

Know about the "alphabet" of the computer (namely ASCII code) and how it's used.

What is a pixel and what impact does it have on a monitor or digital camera's resolution?

What does a microprocessor do and in what kind of environment are computer chips fabricated?

12/14/11:

Grade 5 just finished their unit on Cyber Safety and Cyber Bullying. We will be taking a test on this unit on Wednesday 12/21. Topics include:

• What are examples of Private Information that needs a parent's permission before sharing online?
• What information is safe to share?
• Define spam, adult monitors and a computer virus?
• What makes a password powerful (hard to guess)?
• What do you do when you receive an email from an unknown address?
• What should someone who witnesses or knows of cyber bullying do and not do in that situation?

Students took notes during each of our discussions and printed them out today to study from. Please make sure they are prepared for Wednesday's test. Thank you.

Grade 6 - This comingTuesday we will cover our last topic in the "Journey Inside the Computer" unit, namely microprocessors. Students have been taking notes and will be printing them out on Tuesday to study for a test when we return on Tuesday Jan. 3rd. I will list the topics for the test next week. There is also a website they can visit to review online if they wish. 

http://educate.intel.com/en/TheJourneyInside/ExploreTheCurriculum/EC_IntroductionToComputers/

12/10/11:

PreK-4: We continue to work on our Letter of the Week using the Kid Works Deluxe program. The students are catching on pretty fast to this exercise and have time to play freely on the computer when their work is done.

Kindergarten - We have been spending the last few classes working on our numbers and letters. They are currently working on a Kidspiration project where they are putting the alphabet in order and typing a word from the word list for each letter.

Gr. 1 - We have been spending the last few classes discussing Advent and Christmas. They made some beautiful Christmas pictures and will be taking them home shortly to share with their families.

Gr. 2 - We have also been working on Advent and Christmas projects. This past week we started a unit on Christmas Around the World. We will be visiting the traditions of Mexico, Italy and Germany.

Gr. 3 - We have started a project in Microsoft Publisher whereby each student will be creating a trifold brochure covering their knowledge of the Mesa Verde National Park they are learning in the classroom with Mrs. Kirwin. This unit encompasses online research, image downloading, word processing and of course Social Studies integration.

Gr. 4 - We just finished using Excel to keep track of the cost of shopping online for Christmas gifts. Students were "given" $300 to shop for a minimum of 4 items and also had to account for a $10 shipping fee. Students had to use formulas to track their purchases. These spreadsheets will be coming home shortly. We will next explore chart making in Excel - bar charts, line charts and pie graphs will be included.

Gr. 5 - We just finished our Cyber Safety posters and will now begin a discussion on Cyber bullying and what we can do to combat this serious problem.

Gr. 6 - We just finished making posters of the 4 components of Computing - namely input, output, storage and processing. We are continuing with a discussion of computer switches (transistors), what is a bit, byte, megabyte, etc. Did you know that the computer transistor which changed the world of technology forever was invented up the street from the Academy at the current day Lucent headquarters (known prior as Bell Labs)  on Mountain Ave.?

Gr. 7 and 8 - We continue to work on our Business project in Trimester 2. Students are responsible for designing 2 business cards in Publisher, designing their store's floor plan in Word, creating a Sales flyer, and producing a TV or radio commercial for their store. We will finish this unit with a customer database in Access and merging that data into a personalized promotional letter to be "mailed" to each of their customers. 

11/13/11:

Reminder: There are still some students in Grades 6 to 8 who have not turned in their technology current events. Thursday was the last day to receive full credit. Starting on Monday 11/14, 1 point out of 10 will be deducted for each day late. There has been ample time to do this assignment and the graded articles will be read out loud in class to share these current events in technology. Please check with your child to make sure they have handed in their homework. Thank you.

Current progress:

PK-4: We are now studying the letter of the week by drawing the letter (capital and lower) in Kid Works Deluxe and then finding stamps in the "Apple Book" that start with the letter of the week. We do this as a class in front of the SmartBoard and then individually.

Kindergarten was just introduced to the Graphers program where each student was given a "vote" on their favorite pizza topping. We discussed the concept of voting and then using the chart tool, we discussed how to interpret the results of the entire class by looking at a pictograph and bar chart.

Grade 1 is working on a science lesson that includes habitats and the animals that live there. We used a SmartBoard lesson to review and then each student created a habitat with appropriate animals in Kid Works Deluxe.

Grade 2 discussed Patron Saints and that these saints are special protectors and guardians for certain occupations and illnesses. Each student chose a saint and created a poster with the saint's name, feast day and the occupation or illness that saint protects.

Grade 3 is learning about Internet searching using the Google search site. We talked about using more keywords in the search to find better results. We discussed how to look for images that we may need for our class work and how to store those images in "My Pictures" directory for use in documents.

Grade 4 was introduced to spreadsheets using the Microsoft Excel program. Terms, including cell, active cell, and formulas were discussed. We will be doing simple math calculations and then some real-world examples for using spreadsheets.

Grade 5 is continuing with the Cybersmart online curriculum that discusses what is private information and how to stay safe onlione. We will discuss online chatting, adult monitoring, email do's and don'ts, viruses, spam, hacking, etc. Cyber Bullying will be covered as well and what to do to combat this serious online problem.

Grade 6 is studying the Intel Corporation's "Journey Inside the Computer" that covers the 4 components of computers, namely input devices, storage, processing and output devices. We will also cover transistors, bits, bytes, and the storage capacity of different devices.

Grades 7 and 8 are continuing to work on their business project. Many are working on the merchandise order using Excel, others have proceeded to work on their floor plans and business cards. Several different applications are being used to create these documents.

11/6/2011:

I first want to acknowledge what a tough week our families (and faculty) have endured this past week and I hope this coming week will get us all back into the "groove" of learning. In that regard, I want to remind all of my Grade 6, 7 and 8 students that they have a current events article due this Tuesday.

If you could not write the essay on EssayScorer due to the power outage then it is fine if you hand-write or type up your summary, opinion and source, and hand that in to me this Tuesday. Less than half the students have posted their articles on Essay Scorer as of today (Sunday). I will be printing them out to grade and read out loud in class. I will check again on Monday evening if anyone else submitted their article online.

Hopefully next trimester will be smooth and more students can take advantage of the EssayScorer feedback to help them develop their writing skills. If students cannot hand in their summary this Tuesday please let me know. I have given 2 weeks notice to do this assignment and will accept articles without penalty until this Thursday (11/10) the latest. After Thursday, 1 point out of 10 will be deducted for every school day that is late.

Take care. -Mrs. Raleigh

10/23/2011:

Just a reminder that all students in Grades 6, 7 and 8 should be working on their Current Events article about some advancement in technology, whether it be a new product, new discovery, or new invention, or the article can discuss a person or corperation who has made a major contribution to technology. The technology can cover areas such as science, medicine, and space exploration. 

The articles are due November 1st and must be submitted on EssayScorer. If this is a problem, please see me as soon as possible.

10/10/2011:

A change has been made to the Technology Current Events assignment. We are now going to use the EssayScorer website to write our articles so that our students get immediate feedback on their grammar and spelling. Also, Grade 6 will now join grades 7 and 8 in providing a current event for all 3 trimesters.

Articles can be taken from newspapers, magazines or web sites. For every day late, you will lose 1 pt. (10%). Students are also given multiple weeks advance notice as well as a daily reminder right before it is due!

Technology News Report Outline and Rubric:

Summary of article - 2 short paragraphs in own words (6 pts)

Opinion - 1 short paragraph (3 pts)

Source of Article: a complete sentence that includes where you found your article (1 pt.)

Due dates for Trimester 2 are as follows:

10/1/11:

PreK-4: The students are making lots of progress learning the drawing and stamping tools included in Kid Works Deluxe. We will be starting our projects soon after a little more practice.

Kindergarten: Students completed their first project in Kid Works Deluxe using the typing and stamping tools. They found 5 or 6 stamps of things they liked and stamped them on the paint canvas. They typed their names too. They are getting more familiar with the applications we will be using in the lab.

Grade 1: It was not easy but Grade 1 did a great job typing the alphabet in lower and uppercase letters (using the SHIFT keys), the numbers on the keyboard, and 1 complete sentence with capitals and the period. They then typed their name with a Capital letter and they used the ENTER key to move down a line. I think they are getting the hang of it and will be practicing their typing quite often. If they have access to a computer at home, perhaps you can have them practice typing as well (Even just opening Word and having them type their name over and over would be a big help. They also know about the SHIFT key.)

Grade 2: Last class we had a discussion about families from long ago and now. I presented some history on Family Crests and showed them some on the Internet. I then had them use a banner in Kid Pix to create their own family crest and find stamps of things that are symbolic of their own family (like activities they enjoy, foods they like, etc.) It was fun to see what each child picked. You might be surprised too.

Grade 3: They continue to make progress learning about common tools/features in Microsoft Word. We covered page borders and text boxes and started inserting and formatting clip art. Soon we will start our first document.

Grade 4: They finished their first document in Word of a food riddle that will be read to the class. This project reviewed their knowledge of Word. After Word, we will be moving onto Excel in our next unit.

Grades 5 & 6: They continue to make progress on the summer vacation digital stories they recently started. Several of my students brought in their own pictures to use. If you haven't already, please email me any photos your child wants to use in their story by Wednesday morning. We should be done with this unit either this week or next. If all goes well, your child will email you their finished product. Please give them an email they can use.

Grades 7 & 8: Students are close to finishing the planning stage of their very own "business" venture. After completing their planning document, they will move on to designing two business logos and then selecting one to use on the remaining business-related documents they will be creating.

9/18/2011:

PreK-4:  After our introductions, the students were happy to learn about the drawing tools in a program called Kid Works Deluxe - which we will be using most of the school year. We still have some other tools to learn before beginning our projects in class. They were wonderful listeners too!

Kindergarten: Students will learn that the computer is a machine that makes our lives easier and can be a lot of fun too. They will learn the tools and features of two programs, Kid Works Deluxe and Kid Pix, which we will use quite often during the school year.  

Grade 1: They were off to a fast start as many of them are experts in using Kid Pix to work on their computer projects. In particular, we discussed the various parts of a personal computer, what they are used for, and then they drew their own computer and labelled these parts. Grade 1 did a wonderful job and their print outs will be coming home soon.

Grade 2: They completed a worksheet with several sentences discussing their new grade at The Academy. Now they are typing this story into Kid Works Deluxe and will add an illustration on the second page. This project will help them practice their typing and language arts skills. They are off to a great start.

Grade 3: During our first class they were introduced to Microsoft Word which we will be using a lot during the school year. So far we covered some formatting items like font, font size, and alignment. We will continue to learn more features like borders, bullet/number lists, text boxes, etc. In addition, they will be learning how to edit their documents using cut, paste and copy. There's a lot to learn and soon they will be creating some really nice documents to bring home.

Grade 4: To review their knowledge of Microsoft Word, students will be editing and completing a riddle in Word by describing a food item of their choice. They will be adding clip art and then reading their riddle out loud to see who can guess what they are describing using clues and our five senses of taste, smell, touch, sight and hearing. 

Grades 5 and 6:  We will begin our first digital story project using Photo Story 3. If you have any pictures that you took this summer on vacation, during a day trip or during a camp experience, then please bring in the pictures either on a flash drive, in print form (I will scan them) or you can email them to me at mrraleigh@theacademyolp.org.   Grade 5 has computer class this Wednesday and Grade 6 meets with me on Tuesday afternoons. They can also use pictures from the Internet in their story. Grade 5 will first learn about Photo Story using sample pictures and then create their summer story. Grade 6 will have a quick review and then begin. When they are completed, each student will email you a copy of his/her video. Please provide your child with your email address. Also note that the email video will be of much lower quality pictures since it has to be small enough in size to be emailed.

 Grades 7 and 8: Each student will be running their "own business" in class and will have to create several documents to support his/her new business. They may decide to open a shoe store, sporting goods store, hobby shop, bakery, etc. No matter what they decide, they will have to first come up with a business plan, then create their store/brand logo, make business cards, create a customer database, design a floor plan, order products using Excel, etc. This project will take several weeks to complete and their progress will be recorded in Powerschool. Students will be responsible for 10 completed documents and I hope they will get a feeling for what goes into running a business and will appreciate those in the business world that take on such an endeavor. 

If a parent or relative has a career in Technology and would like to speak about what he/she does and career opportunities, please let me know. I would be delighted to arrange a school visit.

If you would like to volunteer in the Computer Room, please give me a call at the school (464-8657 x11) or send me an email. You can come weekly or whenever your schedule permits.

Here is my schedule for our youngest students:

Computer Syllabus 2011-2012
   Grade 5-8 Requirements:

• be prepared to take notes when posted

• Use the Notify-Me feature to receive web page updates automatically through email.

• when absent during a computer class, ask a classmate or me for any missed notes when you return
• Grades 6, 7 and 8 will be responsible for ONE Technology News Report per marking period. Web sites like cnn.com and wired.com are acceptable, in addition to newspaper and magazine articles. Computer ads are NOT to be used. Please follow the directions on the handout I gave you for your article or see the instructions above. Remember to summarize in your own words, attach the original article, and include the source of your information.

Skills and Topics for Grades 3-8:

• use appropriate technology vocabulary; understand computer parts and their functions
• use common features of the operating system, like creating, saving, and organizing files and folders
• create simple to more advanced documents with text-formatting and graphics using Microsoft Word
• construct simple to more complex Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, enter data, generate charts and interpret the information
• design and produce multimedia projects using Microsoft PowerPoint or Hyperstudio
• create more desktop publishing documents using Microsoft Publisher
• practice touch keyboarding with proper technique
• use network resources for storing and retrieving data
• use search engines and directories for information retrieval on the Internet

Skills and Topics for Grades 5-8:

• plan, design and create simple databases, produce reports, and create queries  using Microsoft Access
• learn about copyright rules, plagiarism, proper reference citing
• learn about Internet safety, email netiquette, and privacy issues
• learn about technology's impact on society and the workplace
• evaluate accuracy, relevance, and appropriateness of electronic information
• identify basic hardware problems and identify how to solve them
• learn about simple web page development
• use of digital cameras; learn how to edit and manipulate digital photos
• use Techno K'nex for model-building and problem solving using a K'nex programming language, motors, and parts
• produce short Digital movies using Digital Blue camera and software or Windows Movie Maker
• use programs like Scratch for basic understanding of programming languages
• use digital storytelling throughout the curriculum as another tool in sharing knowledge in the classroom

Skills and Topics for Preschool- Grade 2:

• basic understanding and use of computer devices including responsible use of technology and software
• practice typing and mouse skills
• use of applications that promote creativity, problem-solving, independent and cooperative learning
• enhance listening skills and following directions

General: Each year skills are reinforced and expanded upon. Also integration of technology with other subjects is a main objective for our school. Technology is a tool to enhance learning, problem solving and creativity.

Grading Policy Gr. 4 to 8:

Letter grades of O, S, I, or U will be earned based on lab work on projects, quizzes, homework, skills learned, effort and following directions.

Grading Policy Gr. K to 3:

Letter grades of E, S, D, B and N will be earned based on lab work on projects, skills learned, effort and following directions. 

Rubrics will be used to assess projects based on multiple criteria like:

Were all instructions followed, both verbal and written?

Was the output checked for spelling, grammar, clarity, neatness?

Did the student produce the expected results? 

Did the student work to the best of his/her ability?

Did the student respect the equipment, the teacher, and their classmates?

Did the student utilize their time to the fullest?

Did the student disrupt the class frequently?

Looking forward to another fun and productive year:)

God Bless -

Mrs. Raleigh