Happy New Year!  We had a productive first half of the school year incorporating keyboarding, Word, PowerPoint, internet webquests and research, and refining online search skills, along with integrated classroom projects.  Take a peek at what’s in store for the second half of the school year:

Grade Pre-K has done a great job practicing correct use of the mouse as well as learning the alphabet through a program called A to Zap!  Students will learn the different parts of the computer and reinforce grade level skills through specialized computer software.

Grade K will continue to use enhance classroom learning through Kid Pix and other programs such as Learn About Numbers, Thinkin’ Things, and Key Skills.

Grades 1 - 8 will begin the New Year practicing keyboarding, review the features of Microsoft Word, and advance to other portions of the Microsoft Office Suite.  As the Presidential Election season begins, special projects related to Elections will be included. Here’s a snapshot of what we may be covering:

Grade 1:  Continue to learn basic features of Microsoft Word through simple Word projects.

Grade 2:  MS Word Draw tools, Dinosaur webquest, and Create a Graph in Excel

Grade 3:  Catholic Schools Week project, My Favorite Season PowerPoint slide show, Class Favorites spreadsheet and graph, and Butterfly webquest and Kid Pix project

Grade 4:  Catholic Schools Week project, Solar System Webquest and PowerPoint presentation, Planets database and spreadsheet, and format Acronym names poem in Word

Grade 5:   Catholic Schools Week project, learn to format a “friendly letter” and Cinquain poems in Word, Native Americans webquest and PowerPoint presentation, Rainbow spreadsheet, and Animal classification posters

Grade 6:   Elections Webquest, U.S. Presidents database and PowerPoint presentation, U.S. cities temperature tracking spreadsheet and graph, Election terms Word Search in Excel, and Country postcard project

Grade 7:   Elections Webquest, U.S.A. States database and PowerPoint presentation, Sports teams standings spreadsheet and chart, format a business letter in Word, Federal Government organizational chart in PowerPoint, Amusement Park Math webquest project

Grade 8:   Advanced formatting project in Word, review of methods of storing and saving digital data, Math formula spreadsheet, Environment webquest and Brochure project, Introduction to HTML for websites, and Graduation project to be determined.