Pre-K and Kindergarten students continue working on basic skills using educational websites such as starfall, sheppard software, julia’s rainbow, abcya, and kidport,  to name a few.

First Grade students are working on their typing skills while studying spelling words in spellingcity and in Microsoft Word.

Second Grade students are practicing typing and math using different websites.  One example is ‘fruitshoot’ addition through sheppardsoftware.

Third Grade students created a times table in Excel using simple formulas.  They have begun their difficult unit involving covers over the keyboards.  The program “TypingMaster” used in school is designed to allow students to view the screen, which indicates finger placement, in order to avoid excessive ‘keyboard checking’.  This method promotes accurate and speedy typing.

Fourth Grade students are continuing their earlier studies using the covered keyboard method.  Students are encouraged to view the screen (which indicates finger placement) rather than constantly checking the keyboard for letter placement.  It is a challenging study, but many students have already mastered the skill.

Fifth Grade has detoured from the regular computer curriculum to work on Science Fair graphs and charts in Excel and Word.  As long as students have their ‘data’, beautiful charts and graphs can be easily created.  Fifth grade is also practicing typing using covered keyboards.

Sixth Grade students have been working on Men and Women of Computing as part of their Computer History unit.  They are also practicing typing with covered keyboards.

Seventh Grade students have begun their Access Database Unit by creating fields and entering statistics for their favorite sports teams.

8A

Eighth Grade students have completed their Excel employee and inventory spreadsheet assignments.  They are working in Publisher to create a business newsletter and in Word to “draw” a company check.

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Tech Club members teamed up with Environmental Club for a festive Christmas pizza party and recycled-ornament contest.  Participants were: Amaia Murphy (KA), Blaine Wells (3B), Cassidy Christian (KA), Cole Hawkins(4A), Elizabeth Stratton (5B), Grant Barksdale(4A), and Madison Goza (2A).

Miss Cassidy Christian(KA) - contest winner.

Our next Tech/Lego/Robotics Club meeting will be the second Wednesday in February, the 8th,  from 3:30 – 4:00 p.m. in the Upstairs Lab.

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Pre-KA and Pre-KB students are working on  mouse usage by popping virtual bubble-wrap.  Smart Technologies’  Airliner slate proves to be very handy in helping students manipulate the mouse on the SmartBoard.    Students are continuing to practice letter and number order using various websites.  They are also coloring seasonal graphics online.

Kindergarten students continue to practice letter and number recognition while visiting many educational websites.

First Grade students are learning Home Row keys on the QWERTY keyboard.  They have finished all the letters of the left and  right-hand keyboard letters.

Second Grade students have completed formatting their “Hail Mary” Word document and continue typing practice.

3rd Grade Computer Class Students

Third Grade students are continuing their TypingMaster keyboard lessons and have completed the “St. Isidore Prayer” in Word.   They are working in PowerPoint learning how to add slides,  set up their layouts, manipulate text and graphics, and learn more about the topic: The Holy Rosary. They are also continuing math practice using the program Mathscore.  The website for this program is http://elizabeth.tx.mathscore.com

Fourth Grade students are using Excel to locate the saints-game countries and create a Batchgeo map showing where our saints lived. They are continuing math  practice and hopefully using the times table they created in Excel.  They will also be practicing their typing skills in TypingMaster and various online typing programs.

Fifth Grade students are continuing work with Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 creating a presentation about the Holy Rosary.  We are taking time for typing and math practice, but will begin programming lessons using LOGO shortly.

Sixth Grade students are continuing their PowerPoint Unit.  They are also getting a glimpse of memory sizes from bit to yottabyte by adding a table to their final slide in this presentation.  We will be studying pioneering men and women of computing later in November since we have taken a detour toward Batchgeo and the Saints Game.  In December we will learn more about “the Woz” and Steve Jobs as well as other pioneering men and women of computing.

Seventh Grade students completed their PowerPoint Unit and have been working with Excel creating and formatting times tables and a geographical map.  They will begin programming in LOGO,  Scratch and other programs.

Eighth Grade students have completed their business cards and letterhead and are working on Excel employee and inventory spreadsheet assignments.  They will be using Publisher to create a business newsletter and create a mail merge with Access and Word.

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Thanks to donations of Lego blocks, students were able to build many structures and vehicles for our Lego-World city.   We hope to continue planning and building.  Our next meeting will be Wednesday, December 14, 2011 and our first meeting in 2012 will be January 11^th.

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Pre-K3 students are visiting websites that reinforce their teachers’ lessons about shapes, numbers, the alphabet and colors.

Pre-K4 students are practicing letter and number order using various websites.

Kindergarten students continue to practice letter and number recognition.

First Grade students are learning Home Row keys on the QWERTY keyboard.  They have finished the letters of the left hand and are beginning the right-hand keyboard letters.

Second Grade students are working on a Word document about the Hail Mary.  They have learned “center” justification and how to add a border and picture to their document.  We will continue work in typing through November.

Third Grade students are continuing their TypingMaster keyboard lessons and have been working on the “St. Isidore Prayer” in Word.  They are also continuing math practice using the program Mathscore.  The website for this program is http://elizabeth.tx.mathscore.com

Fourth Grade students have been working in Microsoft Excel.  They have used the ‘average’ formula and have learned how to re-size columns and rows as well as add highlighting and graphics to cells.  We will be using “batchgeo” to study the saints in November and map their native countries.

Fifth Grade students are working with Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 creating a presentation about the Holy Rosary in honor of the month of Mary. They are using the ribbon to add new slides, format backgrounds, select layouts and manipulate graphics and text.  We will begin programing lessons using LOGO in November.

Sixth Grade students are continuing their Computer History Unit.  They completed a question and answer series on early computing and have begun a PowerPoint about Computer Generations. They are also getting a glimpse of memory sizes from bit to yottabyte by adding a table to their final slide in this presentation.  We will be studying pioneering men and women of computing through November.

Seventh Grade students completed their flowcharts (the programmer’s version of thinking maps) and will create a PowerPoint and Publisher brochure about the Mysteries of the Rosary.

Eighth Grade students have completed their autobiographical “High Profile” document which is posted in the hallway near Mrs. Clem’s office.  They are now working on a ‘Business Project’.  All work is completed in class.

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Our second meeting was held in the Upstairs Lab.  Jordan Prasifka, an alumni of St. Elizabeth, shared his experiences in statewide Robotics-team competitions – the latest held at the Dallas Convention Center in April of this year.  Jordan is a High School senior at Emmett J. Conrad here in Dallas.  He and his teammates in FIRST – For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology – have been creating robots from scratch and have been very successful in their competitions.

Oscar Gurrola, 8B,  also shared his Lego-building expertise with us and explained how he creates original Lego-block designs.

Many thanks to those members and their families who donated Lego blocks for all to use.  We greatly appreciate your generosity.

We will meet in the Uplab from 3:30p.m. – 4:15 p.m.,  November 9th for our third Tech/Lego/Robotics Club meeting.    Please bring Legos to the meeting, because we will work on creating the “city”, and its many parts, that we talked about in our first meeting.  We will also work on frames and jewelry.  In addition, we need students to help with advertising using the software programs available to us to tell students about our upcoming meetings and activities. All of your suggestions are welcome and will be considered carefully.

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All Classes have been learning and reviewing procedures for the computer lab.

2nd through 8th grade students have been taking a reading lexile using the Scholastic Program, SRI.

Pre-K3 students began classes in the lab this month and have been listening to alphabet songs.

Pre-K4 students are progressing rapidly in mouse usage and order of the alphabet  by using various educational websites.

Kindergarten students have been reviewing mouse usage while practicing letter, recognition.

First Grade students are learning Home Row keys on the QWERTY keyboard.

Second Grade students have been diligently practicing home row and  the “Drill”  keys:  azaq sxsw dcde  fvfr gbgt hnhy jmju k,ki l.lo ;/;p

Third Grade students have been reviewing home row keys in anticipation of their first TypingMaster keyboard lessons.  They are also beginning math practice using the program Mathscore.  More information about this program will follow.

Fourth Grade students have been reviewing correct fingering on the keyboard while using TypingMaster.  They are beginning lessons in  Microsoft Word 2010 and practicing math facts in Mathscore.

Fifth Grade students are working with  Microsoft Word 2010 and will be exploring graphic manipulation and formatting.  They have completed a technology assessment online.  They have been practicing math skills in Mathscore.

Sixth Grade  students have begun their Computer History Unit.  They are also  working with  Microsoft Word 2010 and will be exploring graphic manipulation and formatting.  They have completed a technology assessment online and  have been practicing math skills in Mathscore.

Seventh Grade students are continuing algorithm and flowchart lessons as well reviewing ASCII and binary code.  They are working in Word 2010  and will shortly begin their unit in Microsoft Access Database using data from a PowerPoint presentation created last year in sixth grade.

Eighth Grade students have nearly completed their autobiographical “High Profile” document which will be posted shortly.  They will begin the “Building a Computer” project which will review word processing, spreadsheet, database, desktop publishing and web design using Office 2010.

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Mrs. Strunk, Ms. Martinez and Mrs. Stepniewski would like to thank the students and parents who stopped by our table at the Back-to-School Rally.  We appreciate your interest and support.

By the time you read this, we will have had our first meeting on September 14th, in the Tech Center (Uplab).  The club will meet from 3:30 – 4:00 p.m. the second Wednesday of each month.  We will discuss club goals, materials needed, Carnival participation and items of interest to students, teachers and parents.  We look forward to seeing you there!

For this meeting Mrs. Strunk created a flyer which has been posted in various places throughout the school.  The flyer will also go home in the Thursday folder.  Future flyers announcing our meetings will be created by club members and posted throughout the school.

If you have any questions about the club, you can email mstepniewski@saintspride.com  or kstrunk@saintspride.com

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This year is rapidly coming to a close and I wish to extend my very best wishes to the Eighth Grade Students.  May you be blessed in all you do!

Pre-K students are revisiting sites that emphasize the alphabet and early reading skills.

First and Second Grade Classes are continuing work in kidport, sadlier-oxford and dance mat typing, and will shortly have their end-of-year game day.

Third Grade is finishing their early PowerPoint lessons and are encouraged to continue mathscore practice during the summer.

Fourth is finishing the basic LOGO programming unit and continues typing practice using TypingMaster.  All students are encouraged to practice during the summer.

Fifth Grade is working on a project in Scratch and enjoying the complexities of the software.

Sixth is learning binary code and is completing the Pioneering Men and Women of Computing Unit.

Seventh Grade girls just completed a PreK4 graduation presentation using PowerPoint and MovieMaker.

Seventh Grade boys are also working in Scratch to produce a how-to project using sprites, costumes, sounds and backgrounds.

Eighth Grade graduates have completed their annual assessment and are wished the very best during their high school years ahead.

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8th Grade Students

A big thank you to the 8th Grade for a wonderful lunch and gardening gift!  What a delightful way to remember all of you in the years to come.

Seventh Grade students are beginning movie projects to take us through the end of the year.

Sixth Grade is continuing work on the “pioneers” of computer history.

5th Grade Students

Fifth Grade is completing the ballroom dance project with a poster and is continuing work in Scratch programming.

Fourth Grade is continuing programming lessons with MSWLOGO as their primary language.

Third Grade continues to visit websites that reinforce classroom teaching as well as practicing typing and math.  (The website for Mathscore is http://elizabeth.tx.mathscore.com.)

Second Grade students have been practicing telling time with an interactive clock.  They are also practicing typing and math skills on various websites.

First Grade continues to amaze us with their typing skills.  They frequently visit the Dance Mat Typing website.  They also practice math skills at the sadlier-oxford website.

PK and Kinder students continue working on websites that reinforce their lessons.  Some good websites are

www.starfall.com for reading, www.kidport.com for math, and www.abcya.com for general fun and skill-building.

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The winners of Teen Tech Week 2011 are as follows:

Type-Off:

First Place:            Kimberly Fontillas 5A 63 wpm

Second Place:       Destiny Sanchez 7A

Third Place:           Daryle Good 6A

Pinball:

First Place:             Ethan Paulsen 6A

Second Place:        Dylan Choate 5A

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3rd Grade Students

7A Students

3rd Grade Student

Upcoming Teen Tech Week Activities

Typing – open to all students

Pinball – open to all students

LOGO/SCRATCH Programming Contest

Video Game Contest

PK3 students continue working on websites that reinforce their lessons about the alphabet, numbers and shapes.

PK4 students continue learning  keys on the keyboard.  Many of our drills this month will again focus on letter placement, recognizing patterns, numbers and the alphabet.

Kindergarten students continue work in websites that reinforce their math and language arts lessons.  Students also continue pre-typing lessons by recognizing letter placement on the keyboard.

First Grade students are beginning lessons in Dance Mat Typing.  They are working hard and learning correct fingering.

Second Grade students have been diligently practicing typing in Dance Mat Typing and math skills at www.sadlier-oxford.com and www.kidport.com

Third Grade has enjoyed mad minute contests at kidport.com   They are continuing typing practice using “Dance Mat Typing” and freetypinggame.net.    Reminder:  The website for Mathscore is http://elizabeth.tx.mathscore.com.

Fourth Grade students are practicing keyboard skills and will take an accuracy test shortly.  Please encourage your students to practice from home row at home as much as possible.  Fourth Grade is learning about programming a computer with the  LOGO language.

Fifth Grade Mathscore practice continues as well as typing practice.  Students will take an accuracy test shortly.

Sixth Grade has been learning byte values as well as beginning work on the “pioneers” of computer history.

Seventh Grade Computer in collaboration with Religion Class is creating a Publisher brochure about a saint.  Hopefully, their work this year will facilitate the Sacramental Confirmation process next year when they choose their patron saint and sponsor.

Eighth Grade is working through the “Designing a Computer” project’s many steps.  Should anyone have older pc’s that they want to get rid of, we could use these for our project – with or without hard drives.  Print]]> http://saintspride.com/newsletter/2011/03/feed/ 0 http://saintspride.com/newsletter/2011/03/ http://saintspride.com/newsletter/2011/03/#comments Tue, 08 Mar 2011 04:00:01 +0000 Maureen Stepniewski http://saintspride.com/newsletter/?p=2254  Print

Upcoming Teen Tech Week Contests:

Typing – open to all students

Pinball – open to all students

LOGO/SCRATCH Programming contest

Video game Contest

Doodle4Google

St. Elizabeth’s Tech Club along with Mrs. Connelly and the ALA are again sponsoring Teen Tech Week.   Most of the activities are open to all age groups and are scheduled for Tuesday, March 7 – Mardi Gras!

Doodle4Google

Remember this year you can register at home for Doodle4Google or through the school. Also this year, the school is not limited by the number of entries we can submit to the contest.  Visit http://www.google.com/doodle4google for more information and registration.  The site provides the Google-letters template in color.  We hope you show your artistic side and enter the contest!

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Pre-K3 students continue working on websites that help them learn shapes, the alphabet and numbers.

Pre-K4 students are beginning to relate the letters of the alphabet to the keys on the keyboard.  Many of our drills this month will again focus on letter placement, recognizing patterns, numbers and the alphabet.

Kindergarten students will continue pre-typing lessons by recognizing letter placement on the keyboard.

First Grade students continue typing Home Row keys on the QWERTY keyboard and have been typing their spelling words in http://www.spellingcity.com.  They are learning about WordArt in Microsoft Word.

Second Grade students have been diligently practicing typing in Dance Mat Typing and math skills at www.sadlier-oxford.com

Third Grade is learning graphic formatting, copy/paste, and WordArt in Microsoft Word.  Third Grade Students continue typing practice using “Dance Mat Typing” and have been practicing math drills in Mathscore.    Reminder:  The website for Mathscore is http://elizabeth.tx.mathscore.com.

Fourth Grade will be practicing keyboard skills and will take an accuracy test shortly.  Please encourage your students to practice from home row at home as much as possible.  Fourth Grade is learning about tables and graphs in Word and Excel and will continue LOGO programming and PowerPoint studies.

Fifth Grade will continue programming in LOGO as well as learning MIT’s Scratch programming language.  Mathscore practice continues with emphasis on fractions.

Sixth Grade will be working in binary and ASCII code and will continue their unit on computer history.

Seventh Grade Computer in collaboration with Religion Class is creating a Publisher brochure about a saint.  Hopefully, their work this year will facilitate the Sacramental Confirmation process next year when they choose their patron saint and sponsor.

Eighth Grade is working through the “Designing a Computer” project’s many steps.

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And the Winners Are…

First Place: Jonathan Cuevas, 7th Grade; Second Place: Armando Medina, Kindergarten Congratulations!

The winners of the Hand-Made Ornament Contest sponsored by the St. Elizabeth Technology Club and Environmental Club enjoyed pizza, treats and awards at the Christmas party.  Jonathan Cuevas (7B) won first place with a CD snowman creation.  Kindergartner, Armando Medina secured second place with a charming red Santa Claus made out of a footed plastic bottle.

Thank you and congratulations to all entrants.  You made our St. E Christmas much merrier.

Members mark your calendars for our first Tech Club Meeting of 2011 scheduled for Wednesday January 19th at 3:30 in the Upstairs Tech Lab -Fundraisers and Doodle4Google contest to be discussed.

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6th Grade Girls in the Computer Lab

Pre-K3 students continue working on websites that help them learn shapes, the alphabet and numbers.  The Smartboard Airliner slate is a wonderful tool for the students as they learn to manipulate the mouse.

Pre-K4 students are beginning to relate the letters of the alphabet to the keys on the keyboard.  Many of our drills this month focus on letter placement on the keyboard.

Kindergarten students will continue pre-typing lessons by recognizing letter placement on the keyboard.

First Grade students continue typing Home Row keys on the QWERTY keyboard and have been typing their spelling words in http://www.spellingcity.com.

Second Grade students have been diligently practicing typing in Dance Mat Typing and math skills at www.sadlier-oxford.com

Third Grade students continue typing practice using “Dance Mat Typing” and have been practicing math drills in Mathscore.    Reminder:  The website for Mathscore is http://elizabeth.tx.mathscore.com

Working at their various skill levels, Fourth through Eighth Grade students created Microsoft Excel spreadsheets and inserted their work into www.batchgeo.com to create  an interactive map of our November saints’ birthplace.

Robotics Elective Students

Robotics Elective students are studying ways to use the robots to pick up and move “targets” for the upcoming Robotics Contest.  The “targets” are soda and tuna cans. A lot of Lego-block building and programming will go into the task, and our students are up to the challenge!

Awesome robot!

Elective Students

Upcoming:  2nd Annual Hand-Made Christmas Ornament Contest.   See Tech Club news for more information.

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ATTENTION!  ATTENTION!

The Tech Club and Environmental Club are teaming up to sponsor the

SECOND ANNUAL ST. ELIZABETH SCHOOL HAND-MADE ORNAMENT CONTEST

Save those recycled products and computer parts to create the best hand-made ornament the school has ever seen!

Hint: CD-ROM disks make especially shiny and decorative ornaments – check out these websites:

http://www.childfun.com/index.php/holidays/winter-holidays/christmas/270-christmas-ornaments-you-can-make.html?showall=1

http://www.mykindaliving.com/crafting/holidays/christmas/cd-ornaments.shtml

Contest details to be announced shortly.

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PK-3 – 8^TH Grade Computer

Word of the Month:  WebP, (pronounced webby) the newest graphic file format

“… a new image format, WebP, that promises to significantly reduce the byte size of photos on the web, allowing web sites to load faster than before.”
http://blog.chromium.org/2010/09/webp-new-image-format-for-web.html

(This “Word of the Month” was chosen because of questions about image formats voiced by many of our Middle School boys.  If you are interested in more “Words of the Month”,  please visit the Pre-K3 – 8^th Computer site linked from the school’s website.)

Pre-K3 students are working on websites that help students learn shapes, the Alphabet and Numbers.  Even though hands are small, mouse skills are improving with every class period.  Sometimes clicking only on the left side of the mouse is a challenge because small hands can barely grasp the mouse at all, but we’re working on this.

Pre-K4 students are becoming adept in recognizing Upper and Lower case Alphabet letters as well as numbers.  We continue to practice these skills through various online sites.  As many of you already know, http://www.starfall.com is a good site for this practice.

Kindergarten students have carefully practiced making the Alphabet letters and shapes in our paint programs.  This is harder than writing them on paper, but seems to help them memorize the various parts that make up each letter.  We use Tux Paint and Microsoft’s Paint programs.

First Grade students are learning Home Row keys on the QWERTY keyboard and have been typing their spelling words in http://www.spellingcity.com.

Second Grade students have been diligently practicing home row and all of the “Drill” keys:  azaq sxsw dcde fvfr gbgt hnhy jmju k,ki l.lo ;/;p.  They also use “Dance Mat Typing” to practice home row letters.  Please encourage your children to find the raised line or dot on the “F” and “J” keys to anchor their fingers properly on the keyboard.

Third Grade students have been using “Dance Mat Typing” for keyboard practice.  Please encourage your children to find the raised line or dot on the “F” and “J” keys to anchor their fingers properly on the keyboard.

They are also continuing math practice using the program Mathscore.  The website for Mathscore is http://elizabeth.tx.mathscore.com Please encourage your children to visit this site when they have free time on your computer at home.  If they forget their login information, you can email me at mstepniewski@saintspride.com or contact Mrs. Fabian.  Have your children click on the tab, “Assessment”, then double-click on any “red” topics and do the worksheets associated with that skill.

Fourth Grade students have created a very attractive Microsoft Word document about the “proposed” Patron Saint of the Internet, St. Isidore of Seville’s prayer.  St. Isidore was an amazing Middle Ages scholar and his work was divided into 20 books known as “The Etymologiae”.  Two of his brothers and a sister are also saints!  (Were his parents proud, or what?)

Currently, we are working on toolbars in PowerPoint and will create presentations as well as games using this program.

Fifth Grade students are reviewing the Kto8 Technology Assessment which introduces many computer terms such as input/output, RAM/ROM, hard drive capacities, etc.  They are working weekly in Mathscore.

Sixth Grade students have begun their unit on Computer History. They are learning about the abacus which is still used in many countries.  They will learn about Charles Babbage the “Father of Computing” and Ada Lovelace, considered the first computer programmer.

Seventh Grade students are continuing their unit in Microsoft Access Database.  We will be creating a form, a report and formulating some simple queries.

Eighth Grade students have completed their autobiographical “High Profile” document and have begun the “Building a Computer” project which will review word processing, spreadsheet, database, desktop publishing and web design.

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Tech Club members met for their first meeting of the year October 6, 2010.   Activities and volunteer work were decided upon. Members voiced interest in a Robotics Club as an offshoot of the Tech Club.  Plans for the Robotics Club are being formulated.  Anyone interested in working with Lego Mindstorms Nxt Robotics  is encouraged to contact Mrs. Stepniewski. It was agreed that spider web cotton candy would be sold at the carnival with all proceeds to go to the school.  It was agreed to meet again in October to finalize plans for the Tech Club table at the carnival.  It was agreed to have computer keyboard key rings and earring order forms available for Christmastime delivery.

Tech Club members met again October 20, 2010.  Carnival sign-up sheets were handed out to be filled out by members and their parents.  Computer-generated posters and banners were created by members to be displayed around the school promoting the carnival.  It was agreed to meet once more before Carnival to finalize booth decoration and signs.

Mrs. Strunk, Ms. Martinez, Mrs. Guerrero, Mrs. Stepniewski

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Pre-K3 students began classes in the lab this month and have been learning mouse manipulation along with letter recognition through online programs.

Pre-K4 students are progressing rapidly in mouse usage and letter recognition by using various educational websites.

Kindergarten students have been reviewing mouse usage while practicing letter, sentence recognition and math skills.

First Grade students are learning Home Row keys on the QWERTY keyboard.

Second Grade students have been diligently practicing home row and the first three sets of the “Drill”  keys:  azaq sxsw dcde.

Third Grade students have been reviewing home row keys in anticipation of their first TypingMaster keyboard lessons.  They are also beginning math practice using the program Mathscore.  More information about this program will follow in the Thursday folders.  They have learned “Heading” protocol in Microsoft Word.

Fourth Grade students have been reviewing correct fingering on the keyboard while using TypingMaster.  They have worked with Microsoft Word and recently began work in Microsoft Publisher creating a greeting card.  They have been practicing math facts in Mathscore.

Fifth Grade students are reviewing Microsoft Word, especially the drawing toolbar, while completing a computer usage survey.  They have been practicing math skills in Mathscore.

Sixth Grade students are also reviewing Microsoft Word usage and will shortly begin their unit on Computer History.

Seventh Grade students have been reviewing Word formatting tools and will shortly begin their unit in Microsoft Access Database using a PowerPoint presentation created last year in sixth grade.

Eighth Grade students have nearly completed their autobiographical “High Profile” document which will be posted shortly.  They will begin the “Building a Computer” project which will review word processing, spreadsheet, database, desktop publishing and web design.

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Our 8th Grade is finishing their Building-a-Computer Project by dismantling computers and re-assembling them.

7th Grade is working on a Pre-K MovieMaker/PowerPoint presentation as well as brochures about gaming systems and the States.

6th Grade continues its unit on the History of Computing learning about men and women important to technology.  They are also working on Scratch programming projects in anticipation of our upcoming Teen Tech Week Contest.

4th and 5th Grade students are working in Typingmaster, Mathscore, PowerPoint and LOGO.  We are creating a “What am I?” game using PowerPoint. Custom animation effects will make this project fun and challenging.

The school will hold its 3rd Annual Teen Tech Week the last week in March.  There will be contests and prizes for Pinball, Typing, and Scratch Programming.  Prizes will be awarded Wednesday of that week.  More information will be posted throughout the school and in the Thursday folder.

The school has two Watchguard fireboxes in good working order that we would like to sell. The licenses are not included.  If anyone is interested, please contact mstepniewski@stelizabethofh.org

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I hope you have a Blessed Christmas and a wonderful holiday vacation.

During this 2^nd Quarter, we are focusing on skill drills in all classes.

4^th and 5^th Grade students devote one class per week to Mathscore:  http://elizabeth.tx.mathscore.com; All other classes have been working in the site for short periods of time.  They are welcome to visit the site at home.

4^th Grade continues to learn programming using Microsoft Windows LOGO.

5^th Grade will be reviewing LOGO and continuing programming in MIT’s Scratch.

6^th Grade is continuing Computer History studies.

7^th Grade is working on a unit about Computer Crime and Abuse

8^th Grade is finalizing their project on Building a Computer.

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Over the holiday vacation, you may want to visit some sites to help you decide what your child/children can do online.  Some good sites are:

• www.netsmartz.org
• www.pbsparents.org
• www.safekids.com
• http://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/11_16/control/im.aspx
• www.fbi.gov/kids/k5th/safety2.htm
• www.microsoft.com/protect/parents/childsafety/age.aspx (tips for 2-10 year-old children)
• http://www.webwisekids.org/

The “thinkuknow” website originates in the United Kingdom and aside from using words like “mates” and “whilst” which our students don’t often see, the site has some good information/activities for adults and kids, tweens and teens.

Have a Blessed Christmas and a wonderful holiday!

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Fourth Grade continues to practice keyboarding from home row.  Most are progressing through capitalization.  Please remind them that the opposite pinky finger clicks on shift when typing a letter with the other hand.  So, if St. Elizabeth had learned to type,   she would hold down her right-hand pinky then click the E, with her left hand. Fourth Grade has also learned Find/Replace in Word and is preparing for a quiz on toolbar functions.

Fifth Grade has finished typing their book review on No Talking.  Their forms were well done right down to the extra lines and circles around their specific choices.  They worked patiently and meticulously to finish this assignment.  They have been researching their favorite saint and will use Word to finalize their report.
They will be reviewing their programming skills with LOGO and will create animations with MIT’s SCRATCH program.

Sixth Grade is well into their Computer History Unit.  They have uploaded their work to “Edmodo” to save the cost of printing each page.  They will next create PowerPoint slides about Computer Generations.

Seventh Grade has completed a review unit about Computer Generations and Binary Numbers.  They will be working on a unit about Computer Crime and Abuse shortly.

Eighth Grade has finished their Tech Terms Dictionary and has been diligently finding good prices for the various parts of a virtual computer they are building.  They are starting out “bare bones” with a tower that has no more than a power supply and building up from the motherboard, while staying under $1500.00 in total cost.

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In our last newsletter we mentioned techniques that online predators use to persuade young girls and boys to listen to them, and ultimately, meet them.  Here are the last three typical stages used by online predators:

• In Stage 4, they typically talk more about adult experiences and sexual topics, gradually introduce more sexual photos and pictures into conversations, encourage you to be sexually curious, and to believe that sex between adults and minors is normal.
• In Stage 5, they typically use threats of violence or public humiliation if you stop communicating or refuse to meet in person.
• In the Final Stage of the grooming process, Internet predators achieve their ultimate goal of arranging a face-to-face meeting with you. The text was taken from the website: http://www.dmoz.org/Kids_and_Teens/safety_teens.html

Has your child ever:

• Communicated online privately with someone you’ve never met face-to-face?
• Talked about meeting someone you only know from email, IM or online chat?
• Used acronyms like PIR (Parent In Room) or POS (Parent Over Shoulder) to let someone know your parents are in the room so you can hide conversations from them?
• Found out that someone you were talking to online was an adult pretending to be much younger?
• Pretended to be older or younger than you really are in email, IM or online chat?
• Answered personal questions about your age, sex or location in email, IM or online chat?
• Sent a picture of yourself to someone you’ve never met face-to-face?
• Created a profile that others can see or link to from your screen name?
• Created a private email account with passwords that your parents don’t know about?
• Opened email and attachments from strangers?
• Talked online about sexual topics or received sexually explicit links in email, IM or online chats?
• Been solicited by an adult online and not told your parents?

“If you answered YES to any of the questions above, then you are definitely taking risks online.”

We have heard about online predators for some years now, and often feel it happens to someone else who is more naïve and less aware, but we still need to watch what our children do online to keep them safe.  As always, be aware of changes in their attitude and “be there” for them.  When asked, many of our students say their parents are their heroes.  They will listen to you and are grateful that you care enough to safeguard what they do online.

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Fourth Grade
4th grade is diligently practicing touch typing and doing well. It is a slow process at first and that is when many just quit. If they persevere at typing slowly, but correctly from home row, their speed will pick up dramatically. They have begun Mathscore, a math drill program, and seem to enjoy it.

Fifth Grade
5th grade is also practicing touch typing, but concentrating on using the various toolbars in Microsoft’s Suite of programs. They are creating a publishable Word document about the Prayer to St. Isidore. This class did so well last year with Mathscore, and they are continuing the program in 5th grade.

Sixth Grade
6th grade is concentrating on spreadsheet charts and formulas for the next two weeks or so, and will begin computer history and create a timeline as their next project.

Seventh Grade
7th grade is using Microsoft Access to study some of the influential people in the history of computing.

Eighth Grade
8th grade is finishing their autobiographical, “High Profile” project and will begin building a computer – virtually.

All Middle School classes are also using Mathscore to improve their basic math skills, as well as learning about Internet Safety.

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Did you know…

If your child types PIR or POS in an instant message, they may be telling their friend that there is a “parent in the room” or there is a “parent over their shoulder.” Do you know how to take care of your child online? You may want to tell them to follow the 4R’s:

Recognize, Refuse, Respond, Report
According to iSafe online, there are six stages that you need to recognize.

• “In Stage 1 of the grooming process, Internet predators typically collect information from your profile or chat, disguise their own identity, and pretend to have common interests with you.
• In Stage 2, they typically support your point of view in online conflicts or offline arguments that you tell them about, pretend to be the only person who understands you, and become your IM or chat buddy.
• In Stage 3, they typically ask you to keep the friendship a secret, exchange email addresses and phone numbers with you, and use more adult-oriented language and materials.”

If you want to know all six stages visit iSafe, an Internet Safety Project endorsed by the Diocese of Dallas, or read our next, “Did You Know…”

Just reading some of this can send chills up our spines, I know. Be aware and know what your child is doing online and on their cell phone, but also have faith. Sometimes PIR just means “pizza in the refrigerator.”

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