Teacher Spotlight

After learning the ins and outs of PowerPoint this year, Holly Ingram and Rita Hudson, fourth grade teachers from Vickery Creek, taught their students basic PowerPoint skills and guided them in creating three to six slide slideshows.   Both teachers realize that just as students need practice to master skills, they too needed to revisit and practice PowerPoint by integrating a lesson into their curriculum.  Rita’s students created slides highlightling "The Senses" and Holly’s students each created a "Fourth Grade Memories" show.   Way to go Holly Ingram and Rita Hudson!

Internet Site of the Week

This great web site was developed to help students improve their math skills interactively. The game room lets students play exciting games like Matho and Hidden Picture. Students can continue to test their math skills with flashcards using all operations. A Homework Helper and Math Message Board provide math support and answers to math questions from other experts. The Find out What's New link is another feature to check out. This new link is found in Favorites in the Math folder.

Teacher Resource Site

What a resource for all educators, parents and children. This is a wonderful place to guide parents with children that have been newly diagnosed with a disability. A great place to start is the link, First Person.  First Person offers personal essays on first-hand experiences with the challenges of learning disabilities. LD in Depth offers a vast array of information on topics within the area of learning disabilities. Check out Summer Reading Tips under the parent link. These tips are great ideas to include in your end of the year letter to parents. My personal favorite is the Kids Zone-Interactive link. Here you can check out what it is really like to have a reading disability. Check this resource out under Teacher Resource, Teacher Sites.

Primary Template of the Week
"Commemorative Stamp"

Use the commemorative stamp that is saved in the L:\ drive under KidPix templates to design a stamp for summertime. Some suggestions:
   A Father’s Day Stamp
   A Fourth of July Stamp
   A Vacation Spot Stamp
   A Summer Camp Stamp
   A Summer Sports Stamp
   A Friendship Stamp
   A Family Reunion Stamp
The ideas are endless!

Intermediate Template of the Week
"A Summer Activity Calendar"

Many teachers create summer activity calendars for their students to provide practice on skills taught throughout the school year.  This year add a twist and let your students work in teams to create calendars for June, July and August or have the entire class work on a calendar for the month of July.

Create a calendar in Publisher by following the steps in the Wizard. Be sure you select the option to put text within the individual days. Save your calendar and let students cycle through the workstation to add a writing, reading or math activity for one day of the month. You can add your input by completing the remaining days. Run off copies for all students to have for the summer months. Kids will love this because they created it!