Monday, December 12, 2011

Camera Club Products

The Blackland Prairie Camera Club has been featured on our KBPE Wildcat News. Students in the Broadcast Crew have been showcasing the work of our student photographers. The photos are uploaded into the computer program and becomes the background for our news reporter.
Here is a photostory of some of the featured pictures from the fifth graders.

Monday, November 21, 2011

Ms. Mitchell’s 4th grade art students took photos of each other with digital cameras, down-loaded them, and used free software, Irfanview 4.20, to manipulate the images. After learning the basics of the program, the students took off with it! Lots of peer-teaching took place in this use of technology. The teacher was pleased to see how students who may have exhibited weaker  fine-motor control were able to shine by demonstrating that they have strong designing skills.




Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Kidspiration Is One Way to Organize Thoughts

First Grader Travis Walton really enjoyed reading the book, Tigers, by Mary Pope Osborne. When he finished the book, he found more information on Pebble Go, one of the Library Online Resources. He then used the program Kidspiration to make a Graphic Organizer of some of his thoughts on tigers. He displayed it in the Word Web and then in Outline form.

If you would like to know more about tigers, I bet Travis can tell you. He's in Mrs. Fuch's room!

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Fourth Graders Explore States of Matter via STEMScopes

STEMScopes, our online science resource, has "hands-on" activities and lessons to teach the science objectives, for Grades K-5.

Students in Mrs. Keller's fourth grade class were engaged in an interactive lesson on the states
of matter.
First, they completed  an online pre-test. Later in the lesson they worked on the science vocabulary by playing an interactive game.

Teachers are able to assign such activities and games to students to complete by placing them

in the "bucket." Students use the class login and password to complete the work at school or at home.

Everyone was thrilled to take the challenge - and you might even say, their knowledge of matter increased along with their "gray matter."

Going Batty in Second Grade!

Students in Mrs. Garretson's second grade class were asked to research bats. Using the award winning database for reading and research, "PebbleGo Animals", students discovered the world of bats. This is just one of the many databases that our library offers classrooms. (For home use, they'll need a password - check with library for more information!)

Using headphones allows student to hear the passages without disturbing others.
They were able to hear the spoken-word audio, text highlighting, and audio/ video clips to learn about these fascinating mammals. Students read about the bat's body, habitat, food, life cycle, and just plain, fun facts. Did you know that a male bat attracts a female by screeching? I prefer chocolates and flowers.
Watching the bat video is fun for some; a little scary for others.

Monday, October 31, 2011

Lights! Action! Cameras!

Students in the Photography Club  are equipped with digital cameras and computer netbooks to help them achieve that "Perfect Shot."

Along with the help of a guest speaker, who showed her displayed work on the Internet, students were able to view the photographer's work without leaving the confines of the building. 
The Photography Club at Blackland Prairie Elementary meets twice a month after school. Club Sponsors are Carmen Scott, Lori Corbett, and Kris Korfanta.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Life and Works of Nikolas Tesla





Fifth Grade Students in Mrs. Kessler's class have been studying various scientists. One student even located lost film footage of a scientific hero. 
The life and works of Nikolas Tesla. Wow!
That scientist looks very familiar! Let's take a closer look!

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Lock in Your Answers!

First Graders in Mrs. Jami Allen's class have been busy learning all about Matter in their Science class. After viewing a Brainpop video clip, they enthusiastically participated in answering the quiz questions, submitting their answers via Turning Point clickers. As the question was posed, each student responded his/her choice, and awaited the revealing of the correct answer. Immediate feedback met with some very excited students, as they conquered the quiz! The time of this lesson? It was 2:30 pm, Friday afternoon, taking a quiz - and having fun! Great work, First Graders!

Monday, May 23, 2011

New Netbooks for BPE!


 Students are using new Dell netbooks to create their projects! Mrs. Garretson's second grade class worked on their research, collecting information from the various databases. The netbooks are a real boost to our technology!


Thursday, April 21, 2011

Hello, Spring!

 Students in Mrs. Canales' Kindergarten class have been working hard on their "Hello Spring" pictures, drawn by using the graphics program, TuxPaint.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Tux Paint Flowers

Diagram of Flowers, drawn with Graphics Program
Drawing with computer Graphics Program, Tux Paint, can be fun. It can also produce some wonderful products, as seen here.
Kindergarten students did a fantastic job making their pictures!

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Music from Dr. Hazlewood's Class, using "Jam Studio"

Here are some chord sequences that were used in the music classes!  Using  the Jam Studio website, students made their own music.    Don't forget to check the loop page box to make it keep playing!

Try it! 
http://www.jamstudio.com/Studio/index.htm


Dr. Hazlewood will add more -
The Lion Sleeps Tonight                G C G D


I Gotta Feeling                   G G C C Em Em C C


Dynamite              Am G C F


Firework         G Am Em C


Viva La Vida        C D G Em


Banjo Music (By Ms. Kessler's Class's original creation)             G Bm C D




Baby Please Don't Go       C Em G Am


Don't Stop Believing            G D Em C

You Belong With Me


D A Em G two times
then
Em D G A two times

Monday, February 14, 2011

Discovering the Discovery Dome!

The Discovery Dome
Blackland Prairie Students had an "out of this world" experience when the Discovery Dome came to Blackland Prairie. The Discovery Dome is Round Rock ISD's portable planetarium, which is a digital theater using a Newtonian mirror system to project the images on the dome-shaped theater. It is awesome!
Students enjoyed their first of two visits scheduled for BPE. Teacher Debo Coats and ITS Anita Oliver delivered the lessons to students in Grades K-4.


Students in Mrs.Houghtby's class
enjoy a trip around the sun!





Back to Earth!

Projectors at Blackland


Teachers at Blackland Prairie are enjoying their Data Projectors and using them in countless ways. Tammy Conrad and her Kindergarten students completed a lesson using Excel and Unifix Cubes to graph the pairs of shoes students have.

Here's their photostory!  Great Job, Mrs. Conrad and Students!