Kindergarten Spanish:
It's so much fun to meet our new kindergarteners-they grow up so much during that first year that I always forget how little they really are when they first start. We began by learning some of the areas of the classroom such as the alfombra(carpet), mesas(tables), puerta(door), and ventana(window) and then learned the Buenos Dias song that we will always use to start our lesson. Here it is, in case you want to sing at home(to the tune of "Are You Sleeping):
It's so much fun to meet our new kindergarteners-they grow up so much during that first year that I always forget how little they really are when they first start. We began by learning some of the areas of the classroom such as the alfombra(carpet), mesas(tables), puerta(door), and ventana(window) and then learned the Buenos Dias song that we will always use to start our lesson. Here it is, in case you want to sing at home(to the tune of "Are You Sleeping):
Buenos dias, good morning
Como estas, how are you?
Como estas, how are you?
Muy bien gracias, very well thank you
The rest of the class centered on the theme of amigos and how they act and treat each other. We read A Cat and A Dog by Claire Masurel in English and Spanish, colored our amiga Dora the Explorer, and tied the class into the Kindergarten yearlong theme of "Hooray for the World" by watching some of Dora's World Friendship Day.
1-2 Technology:
This is the first year I am teaching technology to the first and second graders. We started off by discussing procedures and respect for property-our first cyberethics lesson. We read Arthur's Computer Disaster, by Marc Brown and did a related color sheet(an hour class is a long time in the beginning of the year!) We then went to the computers and learned the difference between monitor and tower/computer, explored the desktops, and checked out the Fort Craig homepage. The highlight of the class for most of the students was exploring our Paint icon and practicing with the tools. 
3-4 Technology:
3-4 Technology:Our class theme for the next few weeks will be "The Inside Story." We read The Magic Schoolbus Gets Programmed and had some hands-on time with some hardware such as cables, CPU, disc drive, hard drive, and power supply. After reviewing our computer log-in procedures, we talked about the home row keys and proper keyboarding position. The students started their first Type to Learn lesson, a keyboarding program that we will use for 10-15 minutes at the beginning of each class. Finally, it was time to learn how to shutdown, not just turn off, the computers.
