Welcome to the Computer Lab class page.
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The curriculum in the computer lab is project based for grades 1-8. Here is an overview of our current projects:
1st Graders are going to create a storybook. They will use Microsoft Word templates to learn essential word processing skills. Students will use the templates to learn how to use a keyboard to write sentences that have a capital letter, spaces, and a period. They will also learn how to insert, size, and move clip art to illustrate story pages. At the end of the project, students apply their knowledge to write a story entitled, All About Me.
2nd Graders will write, illustrate, and edit fairy tales using Microsoft Word. Students will begin learning how to customize the appearance of text by formatting words in The Frog Prince. Next, they will learn how to illustrate the action is a story by inserting clip art into the picture area in Wags Finds a Home. Afterwards, students practice their word processing skills by completing the fairy tale about a sad princess. Once students are familiar with the fairy tale genre, they create their own story.
3rd grade students will become poets! They create a booklet of poetry by editing, writing, and illustrating a wide range of poems. Word processing skills such as how to format text, insert clip art, change text wrap, apply pictures styles, add WordArt, adjust object order, and spell check a document are taught. Students use these skills to compose a collection of rhyming poems, picture poems, descriptive verse, and tongue twisters.
The 4th grade project is to plan a mock bake sale to raise money. This task requires the class to investigate food preferences and analyze financial data to make decisions about the fundraiser. Their findings are organized into a report with graphs to show why their decisions will make the bake sale a success.
5th grade students become web designers! They construct a web page that includes links to fun places for kids on the World Wide Web. Throughout the design process they pay particular attention to the ease of navigation, overall appearance, and quality of the content. This will ensure that their web page will get the kid stamp of approval.
In the 6th graders' project, students assume the role of an editor. Using Microsoft Word, students learn essential word processing skills that allow them to revise a collection of stories written for children. Students learn many of the commands on the Home tab and Drawing Tools-Format tab on the ribbon. These commands will allow them to edit stories, comics, and poetry.
Students in 7th grade will publish an electronic teen magazine (called an ezine). The ezine will contain a front cover, movie review, music article, and trend report. To create the content of the ezine, students learn advanced word processing skills. The publication is made interactive by bookmarking locations in the magaize and creating hyperlinks to those locations. Teenagers are going to enjoy reading these great publications!
8th graders become the CEO of a company in their first project this year. They create a presentation describing the financial success of a company. The goal of the presentation is to convince others to invest in their business. To start, students select a company name and product lines. Once the business is established, students create a company logo and summarize the corporate structure using an organization chart. Next, students use Microsoft Excel to summarize their financial information by organizing data in cells, calculating expenses, and graphing product sales. This information is then organized into a professional presentation using Microsoft PowerPoint.
All of the above projects will take several weeks. Feel free to stop by the lab to see your child's work in progress!
Mrs. Lindell