Archive for the ‘Computers’ Category

What do you remember?

Monday, September 6th, 2010

Welcome to a new year of Computers at FBCS!  Most of us are starting the year by making sure we remember what we learned last year.

In Grades 2 and 3, we are writing about our summer holidays in Microsoft Word, adding clip art to illustrate our short stories, and saving the document to our My Documents folder.

In Grade 4, we are telling the same story using Microsoft PowerPoint.  We should know by now how to add new slides, choose a design, animate our text entrances and add transitions between slides.  We’ll soon see if we also remember correct presentation manners, such as facing our audience and not reading aloud from the screen.

In Grade 5/6, we’re quickly reviewing Microsoft Excel: where to put column headings, how to average a column of numbers, and how to format our cells.

Once we’ve caught up to where we should all be now, we’ll press on with an exciting new year of learning and discovery in Computers!

Computer Classes for June

Monday, May 31st, 2010

For the last month of school, here’s what we’ll be doing in computer classes:

Kindergarten - We’ve spent nine months working on the basics of using a computer.  It’s time to have some fun!

Grade 1 - We’re getting to be experts at touch typing.  We should all know by now exactly where to place our fingers on the keyboard, even though it’s a long stretch for some of us.  We’ve also just learned how to save our work into a folder, and open it again later.

Grade 2 - We’re learning how to organize our files and folders.  We know how to navigate through folders to find specific files.  Next up, creating our own folders.

Grade 3 - We’re focusing now on typing without looking down at our hands.  It’s often hard and frustrating, but we’re improving with practice, and will be even better if we always type properly at home, too!

Grade 4-6 - We know what it means to “Photoshop” a picture, now we’re learning how to manipulate digital images.  We’re learning the same skills and concepts you need to use Adobe Photoshop (layers, cropping, transparency, selections, and color adjustments) but doing it with software you can use at home too.  Just download Paint.NET from here!

Computer Classes

Friday, April 30th, 2010

Here’s what we’ve been doing in computer class lately!

Kindergarten - We’ve been learning how to log in, start a program (like Tux Paint), create a drawing, save it, close the program, and shut down our computer.  We know what it means to double-click on something, and we’ve just learned how to navigate the globe in Google Earth.

Grade 1 - We’ve spent a lot of time this year with Microsoft Word. By now, we are able to start the program, choose a font and color for our text, and type sentences in proper case using the Shift key.  We know how to fix our mistakes, and move the cursor with our keyboard or our mouse.  We’re just now starting to learn our home keys on the keyboard.

Grade 2 - We know how to sit properly when typing at a computer, we’re starting to memorize our home keys, and we’re getting to know Paws in Typing Town very well! Earlier in the year, we spent a lot of time learning the proper names for things on our screen: windows, title bars, tool bars, the taskbar, the Start menu, the desktop, icons and more! We know how to maximize, minimize, restore, move and resize windows.

Grade 3 - We are now experts in Microsoft PowerPoint! We can create presentations, choose designs and transitions for our slides, add bullet points and graphics, and give presentations to the class.  We’ve worked on summarizing information for our slides, and practised giving presentations to the class.  We use PowerPoint to enhance oral presentations, not replace them!  We know we need to face our audience, speak confidently and fluently without just reading bullet points from our slides, and make sure that our slides don’t distract from what we have to say.  Now we’re developing our touch typing speed along with Paws in Typing Town, and starting to look up while we type, trusting our fingers to find the keys on their own!

Grade 4 - We’ve continued working on our touch typing prowess, looking up as much as possible, moving on to Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing as we graduate from Paws. We have also been getting started on creating spreadsheets with Microsoft Excel. We’ve learned the terminology of rows, columns and cells, and added data to spreadsheets.  We used AutoSum to add a column of numbers, and learned the basics of formulas using cell references.  We recently used Excel to create column and pie charts representing the fat content of fast food, helping illustrate what Coach Claire has been telling us all along!

Grade 5/6 - We are learning all about operating systems.  We’ve learned that operating systems are responsible for communicating with computer hardware, and know some of the differences between Microsoft Windows, Mac OS and Linux.  We have enjoyed learning how to install and use Ubuntu Linux on the computers in the lab.  Earlier this year we learned the fundamentals of computer programming, including loops, conditional statements and variables, using the easy and fun Scratch environment.  We’ve talked about the history of the internet, and learned a little bit of HTML.

Many of these programs are available for use at home.  Tux Paint, Scratch, and Ubuntu Linux are available for free!  While Paws in Typing Town is relatively expensive, the far more affordable Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing works very well, too.  And practising correct typing posture and using home keys can be done in any program, for free!

Free Software Links

Monday, November 16th, 2009

We have a lot of fun learning about computers and information technology at FBCS.  In our modern computer lab, equipped with a brand new SMART Board, nineteen computers and a wireless response system, we use a lot of great software to help us learn.

Here are some of the software titles you can download and install for free at home!

  • Tux Paint
    • Tux Paint is a free, award-winning drawing program for children ages 3 to 12 (for example, preschool and K-6). It combines an easy-to-use interface, fun sound effects, and an encouraging cartoon mascot who guides children as they use the program. Kids are presented with a blank canvas and a variety of drawing tools to help them be creative.
  • TuxTyping
    • TuxTyping is an educational typing tutor for kids starring Tux, the Linux penguin. This educational game comes with two different games for practicing your typing, and having a great time doing it.
  • Scratch
    • Scratch is a computer application aimed primarily at children that allows them to explore and experiment with the concepts of computer programming by using a simple graphical interface.
  • Paint.NET

    • Paint.NET is free image and photo editing software for computers that run Windows. It features an intuitive and innovative user interface with support for layers, unlimited undo, special effects, and a wide variety of useful and powerful tools.