What's New from Mrs. M.

Magellan students and staff have been busy practicing their computer skills. Integrating the computer with class curriculum engages students in new ways. The additional interaction with material often assists students in their understanding and mastery of the subject matter. Learning to use the computer as a productivity tool is also an important life skill. All Magellan students have participated in sessions about Internet safety and the Magellan Acceptable Use Policy. Classes have also received information about Copyright law and citing sources.

Take a look at all the interesting ways that students are using computers at Magellan!

The third graders are practicing their keyboarding skills. They have published beautiful poems and are currently creating covers for their biography reports. To practice their skills in math, science and language arts, third graders are using Study Island both at home and at school. The students particularly like the skills games. They have also enjoyed interacting with their lessons on the SMART board.third graders use the computers frequently at centers in their classrooms.

The fourth graders are demonstrating growing keyboarding ability. They have published some beautiful poems and stories so far this year. They have also conducted Internet research and shared their animal information in a multimedia presentation using Hyperstudio. In math class students have engaged in an Internet hunt of interactive web sites to practice their math skills. Please continue to practice keyboarding at home. Check the fourth grade web page for keyboarding links.

Magellan fifth graders are becoming expert word processors after completing attractive and informative Native American reports for social studies. In science, they completed geomorphology dictionaries while reviewing their landform terms. Fifth graders need to continue to independently practice their keyboarding skills.

In sixth grade language arts, students recently researched and prepared PowerPoint projects about ancient Greece. In math, they have created spreadsheets tracking their stock growth. Magellan sixth graders frequently use the computer as a writing tool to compose and publish their papers.

Logo programming was undertaken by our seventh graders as they explored similar and congruent figures earlier this year. In language arts, Missing posters were created in conjunction with their literature book, The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm. Recently, students learned to construct and manipulate a database to detect patterns and draw conclusions about the politics and economics of North Africa. During the atmosphere unit in science, students experimented using computer probe ware to measure radiant warming.

Eighth graders routinely use computers to investigate science through virtual experiments, research, and experimentation with probe ware. Students recently participated in a global online project called Down the Drain. Using a database of the shared data, they sorted and filtered to understand patterns in the data about water use. During a study of the book Fever 1794, the eighth graders researched and created historic newspapers using desktop publishing software. In math class they used data in spreadsheets to compare and calculate statistics from various epidemics in the United States and around the world. PowerPoint slides were created as a tool to share information about the original colonies during Mr. Winter's social studies classes.

Magellan teachers have many options to update their own computer skills during workshops offered after school and on work days.

Elementary School Acceptable Use Policy(PDF)

Middle School Acceptable Use Policy(PDF)