The Techno Cheetah

This post is directed towards Mr. Robb’s 2nd grade technology classes.

Think about all activities you’ve done this year in technology class. Then, using the sentence starters, leave a comment with your reflections about technology class this year.

• My favorite activity we did in technology class this year was ___________ because ________________.
• Next year, I would really like to learn more about __________________.

This post is directed towards Mr. Robb’s 4th grade technology classes.

Think about all activities you’ve done this year in technology class. Then, using the sentence starters, leave a comment with your reflections about technology class this year.

• My favorite activity we did in technology class this year was ___________ because ________________.
• Next year, I would really like to learn more about __________________.

On Monday May 19 at 3:04 pm, Mrs. Shin had a baby girl – Claire Olivia.

Congratulations Shin Family!

The One Laptop Per Child Foundation, whose mission is to distribute laptops for education into lesser-developed countries at a low cost, showed off it’s next generation laptop at a conference yesterday. The laptop, called the XO-2, can be used by two students at once and doubles as an eBook.

I hope it works as well as it looks as it really looks like a cool piece of technology. You can read more about the XO-2 here.

^{Image Source:
http://blog.laptopmag.com/
first-look-olpc-xo-generation-20}

I hope to make the “Tech Tip” a regular feature on this blog. If you have a suggestion for a Tech Tip or would like me to answer a technology question please leave a comment or fill out the contact form.

My first tech tip deals with websites that are down. Have you ever tried to go to a specific website that’s not working and wondered, “Is this website really down or is it my computer?” Now you can find out the answer. Going to http://www.computerhope.com/cgi-bin/isitup.cgi will determine if your computer and/or internet connection is preventing you from accessing a website or if the website itself is down.

Bellows Spring’s part time technology teacher, Mrs. Shin, last day was on Friday (5/16).  Mrs. Shin will be taking leave the rest of school to take care of her new baby and her older daughter, Sydney.

Mrs. Shin was previously a first grade teacher and brought many wonderful ideas on ways to use technology with our younger students.  It was also Mrs. Shin’s idea to start giving out the “Tech Trophy Award” to students who worked extra hard after each technology class.  She was easy to work with and I know the staff and students at Bellows will miss her.

Mrs. Gross, who has substituted in our building many times over the past few years, will be covering Mrs. Shin’s classes for the rest of the year.

I will post an update when Mrs. Shin has her baby.

Wednesday evening’s enrichment fair was a terrific showcase of all the wonderful work our students have completed this year.  I saw many new and creative projects on display from the G/T program, the homeroom classes, and related arts.  Congratulations to Mrs. Colman and Mrs. English for organizing the event and to the students for all their hard work.

At the Educational Technology display, there were multimedia projects on display.  Did you know that you can view these projects on Bellows Spring’s website? Click on the following links to go view the projects online:

3rd Grade’s U.S. States Voicethread Project
4th Grade’s World Countries Voicethread Project
The Cheetah Chat, The BSES Podcast Network – includes 5th Grade Podcasts on health and science.