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.

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!

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.