This page is under construction.

What we hope to show here is how we have integrated technology into the curriculum

and have made our classroom an exciting place for the students to be part of and interact with each lesson.

For a specific example, we have a touch sensitive Smart Board onto which we project a pile of coins and paper bills.  To tell how much change to give back to the customer the student puts his finger on a coin and drags it to a place to show it as part of the change.  The student continues doing that until the correct amount of change is indicated.

We have a cordless (BlueTooth technology) computer keyboard and mouse that we pass around the classroom for the students to take turns interacting with the lessons projected on the Smart Board.

We have a cordless microphone we use for student oral presentations and I use it daily to ensure students around the classroom hear more clearly.

We have surround sound speakers around the classroom to immerse the students in the audio portion of the lessons and presentations.

We have developed PowerPoint presentations for all of our Math, Spelling, and Cursive Handwriting lessons.  These provide, using the animation feature of PowerPoint, step by step presentation of the items of a lesson.  I can be out amongst the students watching their writings while advancing the lesson with the cordless mouse.

We have developed electronic study guides in the NoteBook program of the Smart Board to coincide with our paper versions so that we can project on the board and have students write on it as part of the class lesson.  These NoteBook pages can be saved and printed for students missing the lesson.

We have a NoteBook version of our math checkbook register projected on the big board that all of the students can clearly see the volunteer student making his/her check writing or deposit.  These pages are often printed for students to reconcile their checkbook errors when the submitted math workbooks are found to be in error.

Each morning the students check-in on the Smart Board indicating homework turned in and their lunch requests.

They draw X’s in the boxes next to their names.  They have said they enjoy this much more than doing it on paper on the table.

With the touch sensitive Smart Board, anything we project from the computer can be interacted with by student finger used as the mouse pointer. 

Currently in reading we are reading a book about young boys and owls.  We have found short owl video clips and sounds on the internet and periodically throughout this reading we play videos or sounds.  The surround sound makes these audio presentations come alive.

We video record student presentations with student camera operators and sound assistants who put the cordless microphone on the speaker.  Our intention is to produce a class DVD individualized for each student in the form of a video student portfolio.

We use digital photography extensively in our classroom.  Each time our students accomplish significant goals we photograph them, overlay their name, event, and date, and print two copies of the photo, one to go home as a “show and tell” and the other to be posted on the classroom wall (peer recognition).  We photograph students receiving monthly Student of the Month certificates from the Principal and place it on the certificate for visual remembrance of the event.  We use photo ID cards for various uses throughout the classroom.  We use student faces on cartoon characters in the hallway for monthly events and recognition.

We use a ceiling mounted high lumens projector from which we project to the Smart Board things from

 the computer, document projector, DVD player, and VCR player.  This allows for more “front of the classroom activity” without interference with the projector.  It also allows “lights on” projection.

These are a few of the examples of how we use technology in the classroom. 

We hope to document these things here with photos and more examples to dramatize how effective technology can be in the classroom.  The students have said they love it, their attention is more on the lesson than before and it appears that their comprehension and retention is higher than before technology.

 In addition, after 33 years of teaching, teaching has become exciting again.