Are you thinking about setting up an e-mail account for your child? This article might be helpful for you before setting it up: Do you want to take a typing test? Click the link below: The Hour of Code is here!!!!!!! December 8-December 12
Here are some recent activities we have played in Kindergarten. Click on the links to try them out: Online Safety is a PRIORITY at Lore School. This flyer from the NJEA might help you understand some key terms and how you and your child can be safe online at home as well.
Do you want to try it? Go to www.typingweb.com and if you were in grades 1-5 this year, you should have an account already set up. Just use your normal username and password that you use in Computer Class. Voila!! You may begin practicing!! If for any reason, you cannot log in, please email me at: sthughes@ewingboe.org and I will look into it and email you back very soon!! Check out some great websites that we may have covered during the school year. Check these out: We are always practicing our typing skills. We have our typing web portal that children can use while they are at home. Here is another website that will really help you strengthen your typing fingers. It's called Learn Typing. Remember....PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT. REMEMBER TO CURL YOUR FINGERS
The children know that on my end, I can see who is logging in, how long they are practicing for, what they are practicing and how they are doing with it. I've told them all..."Word speed does not matter to me. What matters is that you are typing with the correct fingers. Speed will come in time. Everything takes practice." If they are going to practice, ten minutes should be plenty of time. I want them to like doing it. I want typing to be fun. I want proper typing to be appreciated. I am a firm believer that typing is a skill that will be used for the rest of their lives. Back in the "dark ages", I was not offered the opportunity to learn to type until I was in High School (and if you're from those ages, you remember it being called "Typing Class" with an actual typewriter, not a computer - I was lucky enough to learn on an electric typewriter). Parents and Guardians: If you are still typing with two fingers and YOU would even like to learn and do some of the lessons, feel free to let me know via email. I can set you up with an account as well and we can all do this together. Should your child not remember their username or password, please feel free to email me and I will get back to you with the information as soon as possible. Do you want to write some more code??!! Here it is!! This is the activity that we did in class. Remember, "become the bird....be the bird....think like the bird and the directions should come easy". Look at your App Store/Market for FREE apps that also let you code from home.
Internet Safety Internet safety is paramount in today's society. It wasn't that long ago that a desktop computer was the only form of internet access at home. We always encouraged that the computer be placed in a central location in the home so that parents can closely monitor what their child was doing, sites the child visited and who they were talking to. As recent as only a few years ago, that all changed with the invention of the smart phone, the tablet, the iPod touch and a myriad of other devices that allow for internet communication. Even the gaming devices that children play on your television allow them to be able to communicate with others. Remember, while we as adults are constantly "on guard", the internet can be a fantasic tool and a wonderful learning experience right at our fingertips (no more car pool trips to the library!!) Click here for a wonderful web article for parents that shows 10 simple things you can do to help your child have a positive internet experience. Cyberbullying I also want to take a quick moment to talk about Cyberbullying. We hear the term at schools, on the news and amongst our friends. What exactly IS Cyberbullying? Cyberbullying, by definition, is the use of electronic communication to bully a person, typically by sending messages of an intimidating or threatening nature. It could come in the form of a text message, a social network posting or a chat room (chat rooms exist on that XBox too). Children may be reluctant to admit to being the victim of such. They may not know or understand that they are being Cyberbullied. Please click here for a web article that defines what exactly is Cyberbullying and things a parent could be looking for in their child that could be a clue to prevent such behavior. On a lighter note, please check back here from time to time. You can even bookmark this page so you can get here even faster ;-) I'll be updating this page soon with lots of goodies that we are working on in class. I'm so very excited to see the children typing...with all of their fingers...not just their thumbs!!
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