Vernon School

  Quarter 1 Technology Summary

Parents and Guardians,
In order to keep you informed about what your child is learning in technology I will be sending out an update at the end of each quarter with curriculum content and suggestions. All the programs we have used so far in class may be downloaded or accessed on your home computers for free – see the section below under Kindness Portaportal for details.

Introduction I have taught almost 30 years in a variety of subjects from grades kindergarten through college. I have been using computers since the 70’s and teaching computer classes since 1983. One of my college degrees is in Computer Information Systems so with all this background and experience I have a depth and breadth of knowledge and skills I can draw upon to meet your child’s 21st century technology needs.

 The Vernon Schedule
I see the 7th graders once a week for the entire year and also 8th graders that are in the leadership program.
I see students in grades K through 6 once a week for about 50 minutes for half of the year. The schedule is as follows-  

Vernon Curriculum

Kindergarten- 40 minutes each week
Students arrive with varying computer experiences - from none to some exposure. The initial lessons have heavy emphasis on mouse practice – wheel operation, moving around the screen, right and left click, dragging and using online activities to develop their fine motor skills and familiarize them with mouse functions Students also learned to navigate on the PC Desktop, log off and use the Internet. The rest of the curriculum has been aligned using classroom curriculum with input from their teacher. Kindergarten has mainly focused this quarter on ABC’s, reading, farms and farm animals, number practice, patterns, and other math skills.

1st, and 2nd Grade - 50 minutes each week

Students started out the year studying basic Object Oriented Programming using software developed by MIT called “Scratch”. It is predicted that computer programming knowledge will be required in many jobs in the future as technology steams ahead. These programming exercises reinforce math theory, analytic thinking, creativity, media skills and systems thinking as well as teaching basic computer science. This is a free program you can download at home

Some of the general tech skills students learned were: specialized keys, toolbars and menus, windows and controls, logging on and off skills, opening, closing and saving files, names of computer components, and other basic intro skills. I used “Openoffice 4 Kids” to introduce basic word processing skills, basic presentation software skills and basic drawing program skills. This software is also free and works on 3 platforms. I especially like it because the user can change the menu options from basic through expert increasing the number of buttons and options visible as the student progresses. First and second grade used the “Beginner Settings”.

3rd – 5th Grade - 50 minutes each week
These classes covered the same material as the 1st and 2nd grade but at a faster pace so it included more projects/depth. Students in these classes used the Beginner and Intermediate Settings in Openoffice 4 Kids.

7th and 8th grade (6th grade did not meet 1st quarter) 50 minutes per week

7th and 8th grades also learned about Object Oriented Programming and completed several projects. Desktop, Windows and Navigation were covered including making desktop shortcuts in the task bar. Students could use Beginner, Intermediate and Expert Levels in Openoffice 4 Kids. We also covered e-mail etiquette and procedures. Students were exposed to Khan Academy, an excellent online math tutorial program that includes quality/challenging interactive practice. They fed the world while increasing their vocabulary in “Free Rice” that was connected to a screen capture e-mail assignment. Then they started learning about the latest version of Microsoft Word with the new “Ribbon Format”.
Students in grades 7 and 8 are all registered users of Engrade, an online grading program. I encourage you to view your child’s grades on a regular basis using this program. Students can e-mail me through Engrade also by typing odugan in the “To” line. I will be teaching 6th grade how to use this program the first few weeks of quarter 2.
Homework and some class assignments from my class are posted as PDF downloadable files on the Kindness Portaportal (described below) under the Middle School Homework Links section. A few of my handouts are posted on Engrade but most homework can be found on the Portaportal. In the Portaportal under the Vernon Frequent Links category, you’ll also find a link to the grading program for Engrade to view your child’s grades.

Kindness Portaportal

  Let me know if you have questions 
Emma Dugan
bdugan@pps.net