Now that we're starting to know the routines of checking out books and bringing them back, we're starting to talk about how books are organized in the library. Even four-year-olds can identify differences between types of books. We talk about the difference between stories and "true books" (information), between chapter books and picture books, between comics and easy readers, practicing our vocabulary about literature.
We're also having conversations about the books we check out and why. This is important to help young children develop their own perspectives and opinions about books. We give "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" for every book we read, and how it's okay not to like some books.
Kindergarteners are just starting to be introduced to the laptops. We are practicing trackpad skills using the Kindergarten games linked from the media center web page. It can be very frustrating at the beginning of the year, but they improve quickly.
First graders and second graders are reviewing printing, saving and retrieving files. They learn the importance of using filenames that make sense and give us a clue about what the file contains. We are also reviewing all the KidPix tools. First graders are creating pictures of Pete the Cat's shoes, using color words and the paint bucket to change the colors, while second graders are continuing work on their Mercy Watson pictures as we read on.
Requirements for printing change with each grade level. In the first half of kindergarten, students are permitted to print one page each time as long as their name is on their paper. Later, once they learn to save, they will print less and save more. In first grade, they must write about their picture. In second grade, they must use proper capitalization and punctuation. Both first and second graders are not permitted to print personal work at school, but they may save it and keep it on their computer until the end of the year, when they make portfolios of their work.
We're also having conversations about the books we check out and why. This is important to help young children develop their own perspectives and opinions about books. We give "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" for every book we read, and how it's okay not to like some books.
Kindergarteners are just starting to be introduced to the laptops. We are practicing trackpad skills using the Kindergarten games linked from the media center web page. It can be very frustrating at the beginning of the year, but they improve quickly.
First graders and second graders are reviewing printing, saving and retrieving files. They learn the importance of using filenames that make sense and give us a clue about what the file contains. We are also reviewing all the KidPix tools. First graders are creating pictures of Pete the Cat's shoes, using color words and the paint bucket to change the colors, while second graders are continuing work on their Mercy Watson pictures as we read on.
Requirements for printing change with each grade level. In the first half of kindergarten, students are permitted to print one page each time as long as their name is on their paper. Later, once they learn to save, they will print less and save more. In first grade, they must write about their picture. In second grade, they must use proper capitalization and punctuation. Both first and second graders are not permitted to print personal work at school, but they may save it and keep it on their computer until the end of the year, when they make portfolios of their work.
The young fives are working on a unit on color. We're reading books about color, including Pete the Cat and Denise Fleming's Lunch, and using the tools in KidPix to make things into colors, in addition to coloring with crayons.
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