PreK's Tribute to Mondrian

Dutch painter, Piet Mondrian (1872-1944), was one of the most important artists of the 20th century. His abstract designs have had a huge influence on graphic design, architecture, and interior design. He was best known for his stylized, geometric designs of black and white grids filled with bright, primary colors. 
Although Mondrian worked with oil paint on canvas, PK students used the simple applications of line, shape, and color within a Pages document to create their own artwork in the style of Mondrian!

These are the skills they used in the lab this week:

• Inserting shapes and lines
• Modifying size and color of shapes
• Modifying the thickness of lines
• Manipulating and moving shapes and lines within a document

What's Going On This Week?

This week first grade was introduced to Microsoft Word. In a very short time, they were able to open the application, create a blank document, type a blurb about themselves, then name and save their work. They also learned about applying basic writing conventions to their typing, using the space bar, shift to capitalize, using periods, and using enter to start a new line.  

Kindergartners and second grade were introduced to the iPads. The Lower School has recently acquired 20 iPads for both lab and classroom use. Both year groups were introduced to the machines and some of the new skills required to use them. Touching/pointing, holding while touching and pointing, pinching, accuracy with touching/pointing and sliding in all directions are all different skills needed when interacting on the iPads. Kindergarteners used a drawing program to write -at words, then draw pictures to illustrate them. Second grade did a very quick exercise on copying and pasting images into Pages, and inserting shapes and text. 

I'm very excited about the possibilities that come with having iPads in the classrooms! 

This week, fourth graders have finished typing some poems, then put the finishing touches on them. They then practiced their keyboarding skills. Here are some tips to reinforce good typing habits with your child:

1. Hands on Home Row
2. Elbows tucked in
3. Wrists flat
4. Use correct posture - sit upright
5. Relax!

What's Going On This Week?

Happy Monday!

Today in the lab, Pre-K students made pictures using various shapes in Pages. They practiced dragging and dropping the shapes to form some very creative pictures! Here are a few examples:

Third grade students are continuing their research of Romans. Each class is completing it's own project to display their work. Mrs. Ansorger's class will be making a 3D display of their work with a "Roman Cube" while Ms. Annesley's class will be compiling their expertise into a Roman Times magazine. Look for examples of both projects in the coming weeks!

It's Internet Safety Week!

Brought to you by Mrs. Elliott and Mrs. Bagley!

This week we will be working with grades K-4 to discuss various aspects of Internet safety and global citizenship.

Please see the Internet Safety tab above for LOADS of great links and resources. Common Sense Media is one of my favorite sites for reliable information about media and technology. I refer to it often as both a teacher and a parent. 

Stay SMART! 

US Elections 2012

Making sense of the electoral process can be overwhelming for children, but even the youngest child will understand the process of voting. All children want to feel they are being heard, and an election is the perfect time to discuss the voter's right to have his/her say. 

There are a range of election topics that you can discuss with your child, from fairness to the electoral college. 

And if you want to start an interesting family discussion, ask the question, "what would you do if you were President?" 

Here are some links for child-friendly election information. 

Scholastic Magazine - Election 2012

Time For Kids - Election 2012

Ben's Guide to US Government for Kids

And for tips about talking to children about elections, check out these parent links:

'Talking to Kids About Elections' - from Highlights Parents

Election 2012: Answering Kids Questions

The Race is On! A Parent's Guide to Talking About the Presidential Election

Welcome Back!

I hope everyone had a restful and/or exciting October break!

With Halloween just around the corner, here are a few links for some games and activities with a spooky theme!

PBS Kids Halloween

It's Halloween is an interactive Halloween story complete with audio and music.

Pumpkin Dress-UP

Pumpkin Patch Match 

 Ghost Blasters is a fun math game for students who need to work on multiples. 

Garfield's Scavenger Hunt

This Pumpkin Patch is great for counting and sorting different kinds and colors of pumpkins.

Candy Corn Math - a memory style addition game

Boo - like that old Simon game, click on the monsters in the right order.  

Whack A Monster 

Halloween Pumpkins  - a fast-paced matching game

Funschool Halloween

LS Internet Safety Seminar

Many thanks to everyone who attended the seminar this morning, and to PIRC for sponsoring the event. I think we touched upon some really important topics, and I hope that you found it informative and thought provoking. 
Thank you to Erin Bagley for her expertise and input as well (and that dizzyingly amazing slide show!)
All the resources and links that we spoke about can be found under the 'Internet Safety' link above. 
Please contact either Erin or myself if you have any questions or concerns. 

This Week in the Lab

I can’t believe it’s October! Autumn is officially here. 

We had another busy week in the lab last week and the students have done some amazing things. In the lower grades, we’re concentrating more on having students practice a curriculum skill while learning to control the mouse. In the upper grades, students are beginning to create documents, so we’ve spent some time on saving and naming documents. 

Last week, Pre-K used the website Starfall to learn more about shapes. They worked on a variety of skills, including matching 2D shapes to real life examples, i.e. matching a rectangle to a book cover. They also sorted shapes by the number of sides and color. They also used various shapes to make pictures. The children are really improving in their mouse abilities. Dragging and dropping  and double clicking are tough skills for little hands, but they’re all making great progress! This week, they did a Sesame Street activity about going to school and all the mixed feelings that it can bring on!

Kindergarten also did some work with shape and mouse skills. They worked on a website called abcya.com, where they dragged and dropped shapes to form pictures. They also worked on scrolling a webpage, understanding that sometimes you cannot see the entire web page on your screen at any one time. They worked on scrolling to move the page around so that different parts of it appear on the screen. This week they’re working on the alphabet using the PBS website. There are some great videos, games, and activities, including sections on Sesame Street, Curious George, The Cat in the Hat, and more! They also have a great parent site at www.pbs.org/parents.

First grade continued their work with opposites. This week they inserted their images into a document, then resized and repositioned them. They also added text boxes and speech bubbles. I’m very impressed with what they have achieved so far. In a very short time, they’ve covered lots of IT skills, from manipulating images and text, to saving and naming their documents. This week they’ll put on the finishing touches, formatting the text and adding colors.

Second grade also continued their Westward Expansion research from last week and have started creating a fact sheet about their topic. They’ve also created text boxes, then resized and repositioned them within their documents.

Third grade also continued their Viking research last week and created a fact sheet using text boxes. This week, as they finish with their facts, they will insert images to make the document more visually appealing. Then they will personalize their work by adding colors, fonts, and borders.

The fourth graders continued their virtual trip around the world last week and will be finishing up their travels this week. They used Google Earth to great success to map out their trip, find the coordinates of the places they’ll visit, then calculate the distance travelled. As they are working with partners, it’s been very interesting to see how they cooperate and communicate to form a strategy to get around the world in the shortest distance. It’s also been a great geography lesson!

Have a great week!

Mrs. Elliott

Whats Happening in the Lab this Week?

It was great to see so many parents at Open House on Wednesday night! Thank you for coming.

Here’s what been going on in the lab this week:

PreK & Kindergarten – We’re working a lot on mouse control and coordination right now, with lots of practice clicking, double clicking, and dragging and dropping. This week, the students sorted out a pile of Autumn leaves by dragging them and dropping them into new piles, reinforcing the concepts of color and shape.

1^st Grade – We opened the lesson by talking about opposites, with the students brainstorming many examples. We then did an internet search for clipart images to match some of our opposite pairs and saved them onto our desktop. Next week, the students will insert their images into a Pages document and create captions. 

2^nd Grade – Students worked in pairs to research an aspect of Westward Expansion, then took notes on a graphic organizer. They will continue their research next week, then organize their findings on a handout for their classmates.

3^rd Grade – Students researched the Vikings on the BBC website, watching videos and playing a Viking game.

4^th Grade – This week, 4^th graders began a virtual Around the World race; in partners, they have to plan a trip around the world, starting and ending in Thorpe and visiting all seven continents. They must record the latitude and longitude of each of their destinations and calculate the distance using online resources and Google Earth. The team that can achieve this while travelling the fewest miles will win!

Have a fab weekend!

Mrs. Elliott

Welcome to the 2012-13 School Year!

My name is Katie Elliott and I will be teaching IT in the Lower School computer lab this year. This is my eighth year at TASIS, having previously taught 2^nd grade and 4^th grade. I am delighted to be working with Pre-K through 4^th grade students and look forward to the upcoming year.

I would like to extend a huge welcome to families new to TASIS, and welcome back to returning families. It’s a fantastic place!

I was born and raised in Indiana, and completed my degree in elementary education at Indiana University. During my time there, I was very fortunate to be able to student teach in Norwich, England. I fell in love with this country and decided to then teach here for one year; here we are 11 years later and I haven’t left yet. In that time, I taught in British state schools in Norwich, then in Virginia Water, before discovering TASIS.

My objective is to give pupils a sound level of IT capability and the skills to build upon in their learning of other subjects. The TASIS LS Lab is a fantastic facility for students to learn these basic skills. In the lab this year, your child may have instruction in the areas of internet safety, word processing, presentations, and keyboarding skills, among others. I will be working closely with your child’s teacher this year to plan lessons that are both fun and educational.

Email is probably the easiest way to reach me. My email address is kelliott@tasisengland.org. I check this email several times a day, including before school and lunchtime, but not during teaching time.

If you need to urgently reach me during the school day, call Alex Church in the Lower School office at 01932 582427.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to teach your child. I view my relationship with you as a partnership in which you and I work together for your child’s educational and social benefit. I look forward to an exciting year of learning with you and your child.

First Post Ever!

I've never blogged before! This is my first time.
Enjoy!