Mr. Gipson's Blog

It has definitely been a work in progress, but I’ve finally finished my Giant Keyboard!

 

 

 

 

 

The hardest part was “stitching” the takeout boxes together to make the bigger keys.  The spacebar was a nightmare!

 

 

 

 

 

This is a great tool to help show students where the keys are that I am referencing when we teach typing.  Instead of holding up a small keyboard, I can use my laser pointer to show the keys they need to use on a grand scale.

 

 

 

 

Home row!  The colors on the fingers correspond with the keys on the board.

Internet Safety has been the topic of discussion in my computer lab the last few weeks. Our district implemented an Internet Safety curriculum that all computer resource teachers must teach to the classes that come into the computer lab. As I begin my lesson on safe user names and passwords, I am reminded why this is so important. When asked what website my students visit when at home, the overwhelming majority of them say Facebook.

I teach at a K-6 elementary school. 6th graders are 11 years old, maybe 12. Facebook is for anyone 13 and older. When I tell my students about this rule, they often roll their eyes or laugh like it’s a big joke. Many say their parents helped sign them up, obviously fudging on their age. Some of the students are in 4th grade, 9 years old.

Facebook has become a dangerous site for young students. There have been horrible incidents of cyber-bullying that have lead to suicide in some cases. Depending on the students’ privacy settings, anyone can get on and find out where the student lives, where they go to school, how old they are, and even what they look like.

I know that I can warn my students about the dangers of Facebook until I am blue in the face, but it’s the parents who really need to be educated about the dangers. I am doing my part as a teacher to warn them and give them the tools to stay safe, but who knows how much they hear and apply when they get home and turn on that computer.

Here are some resources for parents I have found helpful:

http://www.safetyweb.com/facebook-monitoring-for-kids-teens-safety

http://www.connectsafely.org/pdfs/fbparents.pdf

Dust off the cobwebs and set your alarms! School has started here at Franklin Elementary School. I am back in the computer lab and getting our school set up for a new year. I have been entering student names into our Accelerated Reader program and our First In Math program. I’m real excited about a new program we are using this year called Education City! It is a web based language arts and math program that uses the California state standards to help drive instruction. There are a lot of bells and whistles and I think the students are really going to enjoy it! You can find out more about it here: Education City

I just recently earned a free iPad from Scholastic and I wanted to find a great app that will help me stay on top of my blog. Well, I think I found a great one! The name of the app is called Blogsy. It is a great way to utilize the iPad’s touch technology. You can easily drop and drag video, photos, and links with the tip of your finger(s). I’ve just started to use it, but already I can tell that it will be my go-to resource for posting to my blog! Now if I could only find an app that will cook dinner and then clean the dishes afterward…..

Just trying out a new survey program. Feel free to vote.

Our kindergarteners are learning about metamorphosis and I found this really cool time lapse video to show the transformation of a catepillar into a butterfly.

This is a state report power point I do with the fifth graders at my school.  The students research their state and then insert their information into the power point.

I’m looking forward to using this blog with my class.  I know there will be lots of opportunities to post student work, communicate with parents, and allow students to write.