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Thursday, November 1, 2012

Entering the 21st Century!

    Today, the fourth graders entered the 21st century, and boy were they excited.  As some of you may know, the fourth and fifth graders at DBS are piloting new technology.  We have brand new ipads and net-books for the students to use in class. We have been patiently waiting for the wifi in the school to be up and running so that we could use these devices to their full potential.  The students have been impatiently asking, "When, Mrs. West?"  Well, today I could finally answer, "Today!"
     As you can see on their faces, this experience was thrilling. We began the lesson reviewing the dos and don'ts of using technology.  This was just a quick reminder from a previous lesson that they had this year from Ms. Paquette, our Tech Integrationist.  I was proud of how much they remembered, and how eager they were to follow the rules.
     Our first lesson involved a wonderful educational app called Brainpop.  The spokesboy, Tim, and his robot, Moby, have educational videos on just about every subject under the sun. Today we spent a little time learning how the presidential election actually works.  As one student commented, "This is really interesting."  (Out of the mouths of babes). I enjoyed watching the students interacting with the technology. In pairs, they were able to rewind parts of the video, pause, fast forward, and replay over and over at their own pace to get the information that they needed.  They had so much fun "playing" with the ipads, that they really didn't realize they were learning as well. Isn't that the best kind?
     We are so blessed to have these devices this year, and I am excited to see all the possibilities that we can do with them.  Ask your child what they thought?  You'll be sure to hear about them a lot this school year.

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