CCS Media Matters
The Latest News about Cos Cob School's Media Center
February 2015
Welcome to our first newsletter about what's happening in Cos Cob School's Media Center. Your children have been hard at work learning, creating, coding, and reading in their media and computer lab classes and I'd like to share some of it with you.
Grade 1 Voicethread
Each first grade student created a Voicethread as part of the Culture Unit. Parents came in to learn about Voicethread and saw their children's picture and heard their commentary! These Voicethreads are available to be viewed and shared with family members around the world! Please contact Nancy Shwartz or your child's teacher for details.
Nutmeg Titles Available!
This year there are two levels of the Nutmeg Book Awards for elementary students: the elementary level for grades 2-3 and the intermediate level for grades 4-5. These books are on display in the Media Center and students are encouraged to read as many as they can. Students will vote on their favorite book in April. Go to http://www.nutmegaward.org/ for a complete list of titles.
Google Apps!
Each student is grades 3-5 has been given a Google account that allows him or her to create and share documents, forms, spreadsheets, and presentations. The students all are able to log in with their user names and passwords, and can access their accounts from anywhere and any device that has Google Drive. This is a perfect fit for the Digital Learning Environment, and students are creating and sharing their work with their teachers and with each other!
Event Information
DLE Rollout Presentation
Come to a presentation by GPS Library Media and Technology Coordinator Fran Kompar and Cos Cob School Principal Gene Schmidt regarding the District's Digital Learning Environment Phase III Rollout of 1-to-1 iPads to all students and staff in the 2015-2016 school year. Come to this overview of the iPad rollout and get the answers to your questions!
When?
Tuesday, Feb 24, 2015, 07:00 PM
Where?
Cos Cob School
Ebooks are here! And your child can access them from home!
As the District moves quickly toward Digital Learning, the importance of ebooks and other digital resources becomes more important. Each student in grades 2-5 has been introduced to our ebook collection and can log into his or her account from anywhere there is an Internet connection. (Mobile users will need to install the Destiny Quest Mobile app and the BryteWave K-12 Edition app--both are free. Users of Android tablets will also require Adobe AIR app--also free.) Your child's user name is his or her 9-digit student number and the password is his or her last name. (If your last name has a hyphen or space, then that must be included in the password.) If you have any questions about ebooks at Cos Cob School, please contact Nancy Shwartz.
Coding is Cool!
Students in grades 3-5 have been working on coding skills, starting with a visit in December by the Bruce Museum. Selected 4th and 5th graders participated in an Hour of Code, and since then all students in grades 3-5 are coding like crazy! Each student has an account in code.org, which gives students the opportunity to learn block programming with games. The reason we are teaching this is that programming language is something that will be beneficial to your child in the future, regardless of what they want to be when they grow up! (Remember, your child may work at a job that hasn't even been invented yet!) Your children are welcome to code at home through code.org or through any of the coding sites at http://sqworl.com/p2x3m1, which is our coding Sqworl. If you need your child's user name and password for code.org, please ask! (We haven't started with Tynker yet, but your child is welcome to try it on his or her own!)
Please feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns!
Email: nancy_shwartz@greenwich.k12.ct.us
Website: http://www.greenwichschools.org/page.cfm?p=292
Location: 300 East Putnam Ave., Cos Cob, CT 06807
Phone: 203.413.8471