Torrey Pines Elementary TPES Monthly Tech Updates

April 2012 Review

Sun, 13 May 2012 22:08:42 GMT

Spring is typically the time of year when students have a chance to take the technology skills learned during the year and apply them on larger project. This Spring was no exception. Kindergarten students practiced their research skills while at the same time learning about animals from Africa. They used an African Animals website to learn about animals such as meerkats, the hippopotamus, tigers and other African Animals. They practice summarizing information learned into short sentences. Grade 1 students participated in several technology activities related to their Animal reports. Students used the internet to research different animals, used Microsoft Paint to draw a picture of their animal and are now working on their Animal webpages. Stay tuned for the finished products! Grade 2 students in Mr. Serafin's class are also involved in technology projects related to their Animal reports. Students have been performing research using the internet and are currently writing and typing their animal reports. Grade 2 students in Mrs. Gillespie's class have finished their personal narrative digital stories. Grade 3 students are finishing up their Native American webpages, and are also completion on their States brochures. Early finishers in Mrs. Baniaga's class are creating Comic Life comics to demonstrate their knowledge of plant growth. Students in Mrs. Kluch's class are creating their Comic Life comics on a sport that they have researched. Looking back, it has been a very busy month.

March 2012

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 00:31:06 GMT

Not only did we move our clocks forward in March, but students at Torrey Pines made a leap forward in their usage of technology this month. Kindergarten students were introduced to inserting pictures in Microsoft Word. They combined their new found knowledge of Word to create WANTED POSTERS for the leprechauns that they were trying to find for St. Patrick’s Day. Continued with the St. Patrick’s Day theme, Kindergarten students also used Primary Wall to write messages to the leprechaun after their traps failed to catch any leprechauns. Grade 1 students continued to gain confidence in their Microsoft Word skills. They are now able to perform basic word processing skills such as entering text, aligning text, changing fonts and inserting pictures with very little assistance. It is amazing how quickly they have picked up these skills. Students used their skills after viewing 3^rd Grade Native American projects to type up a summary of what they learned. This month, Grade 1 students also learned the basics of Microsoft Paint as they created Spring pictures. Grade 2 students in Mr. Lee’s class completed their two month keyboarding unit. Grade 2 students in Mr. Serafin’s class began using the internet to perform research for their animal reports. Students in Grade 3 continued to work on their Native American webpages and their States brochures. Students in Mrs. Baniaga’s class completed their Native American podcasts. Students have been doing a fantastic job on these projects and have also been enjoying learning about these new processes. Grade 4 students created Explorers webpages, doing a fantastic and efficient job. Students loved the freedom that they had on creating their webpages.

February 2012

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 19:01:59 GMT

Students at Torrey Pines Elementary continue to build their skills on the computer. Kindergarten students learned the basics of working with Microsoft Word. This month, through their weekly lessons, they learned how to change the size, font and color of their text. They used these skills to create a Valentine for someone special in their life. Kindergarten students also used several online interactive sites to reinforce classroom learning in telling time, measurement and the names of coins. Students in Grade 1 expanded their knowledge of Word, learning how to use spell check, insert clip art and learning the copy and paste commands. To complement their classroom study of character traits, Grade 1 students used their word processing skills to create Kindness Posters using Comic Life. For this project, students had to import images and enter captions. Students in Grade 2 received twice weekly instruction and practice in keyboarding using Type to Learn software. Grade 3 worked on several different projects. All Grade 3 classes continued to create their webpages on the Kwakiutl and Cheyenne Indians. Students also began recording their Native American podcasts. Finally, students in Grade 4 began creating their webpages on California Explorers!

January 2012

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:52:52 GMT

Technology activities are in full swing after the holiday break. Here is what was happening with technology in the classroom in the month of January: Kindergarten students weer busy learning more about the keyboard and ways that we can change text. Students had a chance to explore what the shift, enter, backspace and space bar can do. They also learned about changing the size, font and color of text. Kindergarten students also had a chance to practice their measurement skills at the Curious George Measurement site. Grade 1 students gathered data on animals from online resources. They took the data and used an online interactive resource to create a chart on animal facts. Grade 1 students also created non-fiction book reports on a book that they were reading in class. Students composed their non-fiction book content, typed it up and printed their reports. Grade 3 students started building websites on the American Indian tribes that they had been studying in class. Students have learned how to add sections, enter content, manipulate pictures and format pages. Web pages look very professional and students are really taking pride in their work. Grade 5 students are continuing to research data to help them write their papers about topics related to the environment.

December 2011

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 02:14:39 GMT

Seasons Greetings to all Torrey Pines families! December was busy month is so many ways. Although it was a short month, there were plenty of technology activities taking place in our classrooms. Kindergarten students created their own classroom books based on a set of books called the Meanies that they had been reading in class. The Meanies are little monsters that are, as the title implies, "mean". Kindergarten students were instructed to make a page for a classroom book called the "Nicies". On their page, they were to draw a picture of a someone being nice and describe what the nice person was doing. Students used Tux Paint to complete their drawings. The results were insightful and cute! Grade 1 students have been learning about how to read non-fiction materials. Students used the National Geographic Young Explorers website to gather facts from many interesting non-fiction articles. After selecting several non-fiction facts read from the articles, students shared what they learned with their classmates by posting a fact on a "virtual" classroom walls. Grade 3 students from Mrs. Baniaga's class completed their ABC Book Powerpoint projects. Grade 3 students also had an opportunity to brush up on their keyboarding skills. Grade 5 students created podcasts using Audacity software. The topic of their podcasts was New World Explorers. This was a first attempt of podcasting at TPES and the results were extremely positive. Students really enjoyed this project and put forth 110% effort in making their podcasts sound great.

November 2011

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 11:06:27 GMT

I can't believe that it is already December! It seems like November just flew by. Here is a summary of how students at Torrey Pines Elementary used technology during the month of November.

Kindergarten: Kindergarten students were introduced to a drawing and painting program called Tux Paint. Tux Paint is free to download and has many of the features found on Kid Pix, which is a popular but pricey children's drawing program. After spending a week getting used to the tools available in Tux Paint, students complete several project related to the Kindergarten curriculum. For the first project, students stamped out different combination of animals, plants or other objects to make ten. For the second project, students used the stamps to demonstrate their knowledge of patterns. Grade 1: Students in Grade 1 continued to work on their keyboarding skills. The majority of students are now keyboarding using the both hands on the keyboard. I encourage students to continue to practice keyboarding outside of technology time, in order to keep up their keyboarding skills. There are a number of free keyboarding practice sites that I will be introducing over the next few weeks. Grade 1 students were introduced to an excellent online kid friendly research site called World Book Online Kids. Using this site, students compared animals and also gathered animal facts. With the knowledge that they had gained, they were given a chance to "teach" their Science teacher, Ms. Isom, by sending her an electronic postcard wtih the fact that they wanted to "teach" Ms. Isom. Kids loved this project and were totally engaged in their research and writing. Finally, grade 1 students have been studying the weather. Each day in November, students from Ms. Hilsen's class have been diligently recording the weather. Students took their actual weather data and created bar graphs using an online program. Grade 3 students had a variety of projects that they worked on during the month of November. Mrs. Baniaga's class continued to work on their ABC books. This is an on-going project in which they have been building their Powerpoint and research skills. Mr. Kent and Mrs. Kluch's class completed their "Are You Smarter than a 3rd Grader" Powerpoint quizzes on the topic of the Solar System. Grade 3 students were also introduced to some ways to find information quickly on Google via Google Quick Finds. In addition, students in Mrs. Kluch's class learned how to format typed assignments with correct headings, paragraph spacings etc. Grade 5 students worked on their Author's Wax Museum Powerpoint presentations as well as typed letters to authors.

October 2011

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 02:10:29 GMT

I can't believe we are already into the month of November! October flew by with student's technology skills growing. In October, kindergarten students started the month with additional instruction on using the laptop mouse. Most are now proficient with click and double click operations but many still need more practice in order to master dragging and dropping. Kindergarten students were introduced to some important keys on the keyboard such as the backspaces key, spacebar and enter. Students used a program called "Keyseeker" that gave them practice in finding the letter keys on the keyboard. Finally, kindergarten students, using ReadWriteThink student interactives, created their own "word walls" by typing in words from their classroom word walls. In this lesson, they located keys on the keyboard, used the enter/backspace keys and learned how to print their work.

Grade 1 students continued to work on their keyboarding skills by completing more lessons in Dance Mat Typing. Their progress so far has been absolutely amazing! In addition to keyboarding , students in Grade 1 were introduced to several educational websites. The Cool Math Games site was introduced as a place to practice Math and critical thinking skills. At the Cool Math Games site students were able to play Peg Solitaire and a slider block puzzle. They enjoyed the games and had a real brain workout in the process! Also introduced this month was the district subscribed "World Book Online Kids" website. Students were taught how to search for information on the site as well as look at satellite images of notable places on earth.

Grade 3 students were busy with a unit on using the internet. The unit covered topics such as internet searching, evaluating websites, internet safety, Google Quick Finds and more! Kid friendly research sites such as Ask for Kids, and KidRex were also introduced. Students in Mrs. Baniaga's Grade 3 class worked on two separate projects this month. The first was a Powerpoint ABC book in which students started took the first steps to create an ABC book on a topic of their choice. Using research skills, photo editing, Powerpoint skills, writing skills and more, students are making great progress on their ABC books. As a special Halloween project, Mrs. Baniaga's students wrote, illustrated and narrated Halloween digital stories. Students really enjoyed the digital story project and learned a lot in the process. Thank you to Janie Lentin for lending a hand on this project. Here is a sample of the work that students created: eugenia photostory compressed.wmv

Finally, Grade 5 students created Powerpoint presentations on Native American tribes. By the time students are in 5th grade, they are quite proficient in creating Powerpoint presentations. Most students were able to work independently with very little instruction

September 2011 - part 2

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 16:55:07 GMT

Typically, September is a very busy month for technology at TPES. This year past September was no exception. From scrambling to find laptops for new teachers to dealing with dead batteries, there is always so much to do. Thanks to parent Brian Archibald, for stepping up to help with some of the technical issues that have come up at the beginning of the year.

Push-in technology lessons have begun for Grades K, 1 and 3. For 45 minutes each week, students have been receiving technology instruction. So far, the first few weeks have been introductory, but after that technology lessons are built around what students are learning in their classrooms. Kindergarteners have been learning how to get their computers from the computer cart, how to log in, maximize the screen and also learning some of the terms associated with

using the mouse (left click, double click, drag & drop). Kindergarten students used a program called Tidy up the Classroom to help them practice their mouse skillls. Using the built in mouse has been a challenge for some, but after practice many have mastered this basic skill. Grade 1 students are learning about the jobs of each finger for keyboarding. They have begun their keyboarding lessons using Dance Mat Typing. Grade 3 students have been introduced to their netbooks. They recently typed up a poem in Microsoft Word and practiced saving their work, retrieving it from the server and some basic editing commands

September 2011

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 15:09:04 GMT

Welcome back to all TPES families and especially welcome to all our new families! I am very excited to be back for another year of working with your students. As in previous years, my focus will be on extending the grade-level curriculum with the use of technology. Depending on your child's grade level, we will be working on developing skills in keyboarding, office applications, and a variety of web based applications (district subscription research sites, math enrichment sites, literacy subscription sites, blogging sites and more).

Please know that I am open to any concerns or suggestions that you have about technology. In addition, if you are interested in serving on the technology committee or would like to help out as a technology volunteer, please contact me at jlin@sandi.net.

Best wishes for a great school year!

Mrs. Lin

May 2011

Fri, 03 Jun 2011 16:51:25 GMT

The last month of kindergarten technology rotation was one of exploration and creativity. Students visited several websites that allowed them to create animations, experiment with electronic music, practice keyboarding and create digital art. Students especially enjoyed the site Digger and the Gang, where they had a chance to learn about and create their own animations. Grade 1 students completed their animal webpages. To make the animal webpages the students researched an animal of their choice and learned all about the animal's diet, lifespan, stages of growth, habitat and more. The students then drew pictures of their animals using Microsoft Paint and typed up facts about their animal into their Kidblog webpage. After webpages were complete, students were instructed to view their classmates webpages and record three facts that they learned from their fellow students. The facts that students learned from their classmates were shared as a whole class activity. As a final activity, students received instruction on how to leave a comment for their classmates. The students LOVED leaving comments for other students in the class and also LOVED reading comments left for them. To view the webpages for each class, click on the teacher name: Hilsen, Gonzales, Boone, Block. Grade 2 students completed the narration of their digital stories. The stories written were really amazing. Students enjoyed adding music and their voice to make their stories come alive! Grade 3 students in all third grade classes completed their States Posters made with Comic Life software. They also completed their States Brochures that they made with Microsoft Publisher. Students in Mr. Serafin's class completed their work into online portfolios created with Kidblog online blogging software. It was very satisfying to see all the work they had done throughout the year, collected together in a single online portfolio. Finally, Grade 5 completed an online virtual frog dissection in preparation for the "real" dissection. The online virtual frog dissection site did an excellent job helping students to learn about dissection procedures and body systems of the frog.

April 2011

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 22:23:12 GMT

There's been no slowing down in the integration of technology into the TPES curriculum. At the same time that curriculum learning has been taking place, students have been gaining valuable skills in word processing, presentation software, keyboarding, desktop publishing, internet research and more. Following a trip to the Birch Aquarium, Kindergarten students created mini-books about what they saw on their aquarium field trip. Through this project, students were introduced to Powerpoint, had an opportunity to import pictures and also enter text. Once students were finished with their aquarium book, they were given a chance to explore the website abcmouse. If you have not yet visited this fabulous site, you should definitely check it out! Grade 1 students were very busy this month with several technology activities related to their animal unit. Using the world book kids internet site, students performed research on animals chosen for their classroom animal reports. Grade 1 students also created graphic organizers using the read/write/think animal inquiry online activity. Grade 2 students wrapped up their poetry narrations. Students in Mrs. Gillespie's Grade 2 class worked for two sessions creating digital stories using Microsoft Photostory. For this project, students imported pictures, learned how to digitally enhance the pictures, added movement and also music. During the next session for this project, students will record themselves reading their poems. I can't wait to hear the finished products! Grade 3 continued their States report cover which they are making using comic life software and also started creating a state brochure using Microsoft Publisher. Finally, Grade 5 science students have been preparing for the State Science test. During their Science rotation, students played three TPES created "Quia Rags to Riches" games to review for the state Science test. Students had lots of fun with this activity and had a chance to review what they had been learning in Science.

March 2011

Mon, 11 Apr 2011 14:08:51 GMT

Torrey Pines students continued their work on curriculum based technology projects. Kindergarten students reinforced their knowledge of fractions and ten frame additon through a fractions interactive math site and a ten frame addition interactive site. In addition, kindergarten students practiced their critical thinking through an online peg solitaire exercise as well as completing a sliding block thinking puzzle. To extend their study of health, students in Grade 1 created health comics using Arthur comic strip creator. Grade 1 students also practiced critical thinking skills using the peg solitaire and sliding block websites. Grade 2 students continued their work on formatting and recording their poems. Students in Grade 3, created covers for their States reports using Comic Life software. In addition, they are creating brochures for their states using Microsoft Publisher. Grade 4 students are continuing to add to their online portfolios. Recent additions to portfolios include: images, thesis summary papers and non-fiction summaries.

February 2011

Fri, 04 Mar 2011 05:48:13 GMT

A variety of technology projects designed to extend curriculum learning were completed this month or are currently in progress. Kindergarten students studied animal life cycles in Science. During technology time, they created posters using Comic Life that demonstrated their knowledge of the different life cycle stages of a chicken. Students in Grade 1 have been learning about careers from Ms. Reiny, our school counselor. Using Microsoft Paint, students created pictures of a career that sounded interesting to them. Students then created a narration in which they described the career and the preparation required for the chosen career. Grade 1 students also used technology to take advantage of a unique opportunity in the Raz-Kids reading program. Students recorded themselves reading a Raz-Kids book. Students really enjoyed hearing themselves read and were conscientious about creating a narration that reflects their excellent reading progress. Grade 2 students under the direction of poetry teacher, Mrs. Montali, have begun publishing their poetry using Microsoft Powerpoint. Grade 3 students have started a project in which they are creating cover pages using Comic Life for their States research reports.

January 2011 Update

Thu, 03 Feb 2011 05:55:40 GMT

Students continue to gain skills in technology. Kindergarten students were introduced to a program called tux paint this month. Using Tux paint, students created pictures of the water cycle based on what they had learned about the water cycle in science. It is our goal at torrey pines to integrate technology into the curriculum as much as possible. The water cycle project is an example of how technology education is being integrated into student learning. students in Grade 1 have been learning about different careers from the school counselor. To extend their learning and gain technology skills, students used Microsoft Paint tools to create a drawing of a career that they might be interested in pursuing. The pictures created were adorable! Students will be adding narration to their pictures in the coming weeks. Students in Mr. Lee’s Grade 2 classroom finished their keyboarding brush-up unit. In preparation for their animal research reports, they also learned how to do research using the internet. Grade 3 students have been involved in a variety of technology related activities. Students in Mrs. Baniaga’s class are using Powerpoint to create ABC books on a topic of their choice. Students in Mr. Kent’s class are using Powerpoint to create Matter & Energy Powerpoint quizzes for their classmates and parents. Grade 3 students in Mr. Serafin’s class are creating online non-fiction books using Storybird. As books are being created, classroom learning regarding the elements of a story (such as theme, setting, characters) is being reinforced. Grade 4 students in Ms. Saldivar’s class have begun creating their online portfolios using an online secure blogging environment called Kidblog. Grade 5 students have checked out the laptop carts numerous times for research and typing up papers. For more examples of student’s technology work, please visit the TPES Technology Showcase.

Regarding technology support around campus, it is a continual challenge to keep up with the various technology support issues that need to be addressed. There have been numerous issues with the Thin Clients, we have had numerous issues with printers this month (bad network cards, old rollers etc), network connection issues, as well as teachers and parents needing applications support (United Streaming, yearbook). In short, it has been another busy month!

December 2010 Update

Mon, 03 Jan 2011 11:29:14 GMT

Technology was fully utilized by students at almost all grade levels during the month of December. Kindergarten students continued to learn more about the laptop environment as they navigated their way through the Raz Kids Reading program and Key Seekers. The Key Seekers program is the first step in helping children use both the left and right hands in their keyboarding. Grade 1 students completed their keyboarding unit. It was truly amazing to watch the progress that was made during the short time that students had to learn keyboarding. Grade 1 students will have a chance to put their skills to work as they type up one of their classroom assignments. Grade 3 students used their netbooks to begin a unit on internet research. Students in Grade 3 had a chance to explore the World Book Online research site that our district subscribes to. Grade 4 students used the laptops to type up their personal narrative pieces. Finally, Grade 5 students started building their online portfolios using an online application called KidBlog. It has been rewarding for the students to see all of their work collected in a common place!

As far as other news, I had an opportunity to attend the i21 support class this month. The class instructor provided some useful tips for supporting the i21 technologies that are on our campus. Finally, the laptop cart checkout process is now online. This change should make it easier for teachers to checkout the laptops.

November 2010 Update

Thu, 11 Nov 2010 14:24:56 GMT

Classroom visits to Grade 3 (Baniaga and Kent's classrooms) continued this month. Students reviewed for a science benchmark test on Shadows and Phases of the Moon by completing activities on a variety of Websites. One website in particular was especially useful for helping students review the effect of the light source on the length of a shadow. The website used by students to review this concept was a BBC Kids site called light and shadows. Grade 1 students (Hilsen, Gonzales and Block) began keyboarding instruction using the BBC Kids site called Dance Mat Typing. Students really seem to be enjoying this program and are catching on quickly! It is amazing to see the progress that students have made in their keyboarding skills in such a short time. Kindergarten students in Mrs. Bell's class have been becoming familiar with online books during their computer time. Students in Mrs. Gaze's class have been learning about some basic keyboard functions as they enter text into WordPad.

The Torrey Pines Tech Committee met this month. Tech Committee members this year include Andrea Dahlberg, Julie Lin, Bob Mutch, John May, Ashley Gaze and Martha Randi. Jim Solo and Renee Kenagy were also in attendance. The Technology Cluster Committee for the La Jolla Cluster also met this month. The Cluster discussed the need for more technical support and training from the district as well as problems that have been occuring across all schools. Finally, I had an opportunity to attend the San Diego Computer User Educators Conference at the beginning of the month. From the Conference, I was able to learn about many new ways of using technology to enhance learning. I can't wait to implement the new technologies and ideas in our classrooms at Torrey Pines.

October 2010 Update

Tue, 09 Nov 2010 21:11:51 GMT

Classroom visits to Grade 2 and Grade 3 were started in September and continuing into October. Grade 3 classrooms (Baniaga and Kent) received instruction on how to use the classroom netbooks. Students also received instuction in file managment and word processing using Microsoft Office 2007. Student in Mr. Serafin's class started an introductory keyboarding unit using an online keyboarding program called Sense-lang. Keyboarding accuracy and technique were stressed over speed. Sense-lang accounts were also set up for all other classes except Kindergarten and Grade 1. Finally, laptop lessons for kindergarten started in September. Kindergarten students have been practicing mouse skills and learning about window management. The site, Tidy Up the Classroom, was used to help students practice their mouse skills. They also received instruction on properly starting and shutting off their laptops. Finally, Grade 5 completed Powerpoint Presentations on Native American tribes.

September 2010 Update

Thu, 07 Oct 2010 08:31:34 GMT

September has been a busy month for technology at Torrey Pines. Much of the push during September was getting all of the equipment up and running. All laptops had to upgraded and cleaned up - a job taking more than 40 hours to complete. Thanks to the help of parent volunteer, Kim Sambawa, this task is officially behind us. Another big push during September was getting teacher webpages up and running. All teachers had to be trained on building webpages. In addition, a high speed scanner was purchased for scanning homework and assignments. Visits to the classrooms have started. Student in Kindergarten and Grade 1 have been trained on using Starfall and Raz Kids reading software. Grades 2-5 are using the thin-clients for typing papers, performing research and developing Powerpoint presentations on New World Explorers. Students in Grade 5 received instruction on a visual learning tool called Kidspiration. Once trained, students created concept maps on the theme of a story that they had read in class.

2009-2010 In Review

Tue, 09 Nov 2010 12:28:04 GMT

Today's students are tech-savvy. They feel strongly about the value of technology and rely on technology as an essential and preferred component of their lives. There is a correlation between technology and increased student motivation, communication, collaboration, and problem-solving skills. Technology is an important part of learning at TPES.

New Technology in the Classroom
This past school year our school received 75 new Thin Client classroom computers. Our Technology Teacher and Facilitator, Julie Lin, helped with the set up of these computers, did the trouble shooting, and delivered in-service training to the teachers on how to operate and use them. Mrs. Lin also created grade level web pages to facilitate student access to the appropriate grade level sites. Each classroom except for grade 3 classrooms received 5 Thin Client computers. Initially, Grades K-2 will use the Thin Clients for center work, research and publishing. Grades 4-5 will focus on research, publishing and academic skill reinforcement. In addition, our 3rd grade classrooms received Netbooks and are now equipped with Smart Boards.

Technology Enhances Our Students’ Daily Work.
Numerous technology projects were completed this year with our classes using our laptop carts. These projects were linked to the curriculum and supported the teacher’s goals. These projects included digital stories of narrative pieces written by the students, “comic life” projects, PowerPoint presentations of research projects, creation of movies, publishing, and research. We’re looking forward to the coming school year and will continue to encourage technology skills in our 21st Century learners! We look forward to more innovation, creation, communicating, and collaboration through our technology program!

FOUNDATION-FUNDED TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM – Through your contributions the Foundation is able to provide our students and staff with a fully qualified and dedicated Technology Teacher. The Technology Teacher will work with the classroom teacher to deliver a program that uses technology to enhance class work.

The Foundation has also fully funded 2 laptop carts with 40 laptops, printers, and necessary equipment. Our Technology Committee works closely with our staff, school administration, and teachers to create the best technology learning environment. Currently the following three goals have been identified:

Training provide staff development training on instructional methods that effectively integrate technology into the curriculum;

Digital Classroom Infrastructure build the technological infrastructure to support student learning, classroom management, parent communication, and staff productivity;

Laptop/Netbook Learning incorporate technology into specific curricular areas to improve student academic achievement as well as to develop technological literacy.