Seventh Grade Technology 11-24

Seventh grade technology students have currently been working on a small group project in which they develop and distribute a "future product" that has not yet been invented. Students have been researching and developing these products and are now in the phase of putting together their presentations, visual aids, and a short, 30 second commercial to help sell/explain their new inventions. The students have had some very creative ideas thus far and I look forward to seeing how they market the products to their fellow classmates. With the shortened week ahead due to the holiday, the projects will be due the week that we return from break. I hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving!

Sixth Grade- New Term

I know it has been some time since I posted a blog, but with the end of term and a very entertaining three-day field trip, I have been a bit behind. So, first and foremost, this sixth grade term has begun quite well. I first asked students two questions in order to gauge their current and potential knowledge on the subject of technology. I asked "What do you know or think you know about technology" and "What would you like to know about technology"? This is my way of getting feedback from students in regards to where we can begin our lessons, and more importantly, where they would like the lessons to lead them. Our first project consists of groups of two working together to develop their own fairy tale story. The only stipulations that I placed on the assignment were that: 1) If original be at least one page in length and appropriate fairy tale material, and 2) If it were an existing fairy tale, the hero and villain would switch roles. Some interesting stories have been written to say the least! With the short week ahead, I will be working with students who have finished their work on acclimating themselves to the typing lesson program that we will be using this semester. I also encourage all students to practice homerow typing skills at home to help improve their speed and accuracy. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving break!

Seventh Grade Technology 10-20

The seventh graders are finished/finishing their Excel workbooks, which were quite labor intensive. The students should now have a working gradebook that can be used to calculate their own work in class. Our next work will be a shorter Excel workbook in which we use the data collected from our catapult project to design a graph of distance as well as a chart to make data easily understandable. Powerpoint presentations will follow our work in Microsoft Excel, most likely starting Monday of next week.

Eighth Grade Web Design 10-20

Students have recently critiqued their groups and group members via a list of clear goals as a means to streamline the web publishing process. The students were asked to give both strengths and weaknesses of their groups, as well as what they thought their strengths and weaknesses were. The group process has been going well, with some groups putting content on their page. It is a possibility that groups will be able to post their finished pages by the end of the week. I am very excited to see how these sites will encompass what we have learned this semester.

Seventh Grade Homework 10-2-08

Seventh graders have received work to be completed online at home or the library that deals with Microsoft Excel workbooks. The assignments deal with making a mock gradebook, the website to find the directions is as follows: www.wresa.org/introxlxp/p1.htm. Students should be completed with Module 5 and be continuing on with 6,7, and 8.

Eighth Grade Web Design 9-29

Students in Web Design have completed a short HTML tutorial and should also be nearing completion of their first web page. This week will be the beginning of group work in order to combine similar pages and layouts together, essentially making a dynamic page. Once collaboration has occurred these pages will be linked and viewable on the school website. Keep your eyes peeled for the newest ACMS website!

Seventh Grade Technology 9-29

Students have currently been becoming familiarized with Microsoft Excel in order to begin graphing and tabling their information from the catapult experiments. Students are becoming familiar with adding worksheets/columns/rows, opening recent documents, entering data, and using beginning functions. The students will be working independently on making a simple grade book program that will encompass everything needed to graph project data from the catapult experiments.

Seventh Grade Technology 9/17

Students in the Seventh grade have just finished and tested their catapults in class. The students have tested variables such as angle, power, and different ammunition types (marshmallow, paper wad, clay ball, etc) to find what combination of variables is most beneficial to the end result, farthest distance. After all data has been compiled, students will learn the basics of the spreadsheet application to weigh the data, finding averages and making a graph of their distances.

Eighth Grade 9/17

Students in web design have developed their first-dimension web pages about aspects of ACMS that will be the groundwork for their subsequent pages. The students used HTML (hypertext markup language) to make these simple, introductory pages. In the following week students will be broken up into groups according to their preference in the category the chose for their page; putting together a dynamic page that will be posted on the school website (one per group).

Seventh Grade technology homework

The seventh grade class has a homework assignment regarding proper informational websites and the ability to use key word internet searches. A webquest can be found at "www.kidsnetsoft.com/webquest/html/introduction.html". The second section on the main page has a student activity attached regarding sample websites to be analyzed by the class. A hard copy has been handed out during the class period, but another copy can be printed from the page as well. The activity is to be completed and returned by tomorrow 9/10.

Eighth Grade Technology

Students have been furiously learning about HTML technology, web page layouts, and the "do's and don'ts" of a dynamic web page. The students took their first quiz on dynamic web pages covering how to compile the data used on their page. This week students have begun to brainstorm ideas for their first page, in which the subject is ACMS students and extra-curricular activities. The first page will be developed using first-generation site attributes, with updates to their page to follow using ideas from second, and eventually third-generation site characteristics.

Seventh Grade Technology

The seventh graders have completed the assignment regarding uses for technology that do not simply fall under the "computer" realm. A two paragraph report on a chosen inventor was also an introduction to the Microsoft Word program. Students answered the who, what, when, where, why, and how of their chosen topics, and were informed of the proper way to set up a research paper. Title, indentation, margins, and paragraph structure was described, with more in-depth analysis of their papers to follow this week. An introduction of Medieval technology was also described to give background to the first project, developing a working catapult. Data will be tallied and entered into a spreadsheet to be used later in Math class.

The first week for Seventh graders...

The seventh graders have had a technology "history lesson" as well in the first week. Seventh grade technology has been discovering past technology that does not necessarily relate to computers or computer software. Students have chosen a topic from the past, anything from the invention of the laser, to the culmination of the first celebration of Earth Day. A two-paragraph explanation is being worked on, with discussion to follow as to how these inventions have effected life today.

The first week for Eighth graders...

Eighth grade students in the past week have been learning a brief history of the World Wide Web (W3), web browsers, and the differences between web pages. First generation, second generation, and third generation sites have all been covered, along with a look at the face of some potential fourth generation web sites. The goal for the week is to visit several sites and determine what category specific web sites fall under. The goal is to understand what elements make up each particular site as a means to make their own pages more dynamic.