What's Happening in the Bath IRC?!
What are my 4th and 5th Graders Learning?
4th Graders
Keyboarding
Digital Citizenship and Information Literacy
Google Drive/Applications
Reading and Literacy
Keyboarding- Students are using a website called Typing Club to work on their keyboarding skills. They get a little time each library period to work on touch typing. We are working on increasing accuracy and speed, with the eventual goal to be able to type by touch only by middle school. With the new Common Core standards and online assessments, this skill is more important than ever!
Digital Citizenship and Information Literacy - Being a good digital citizen is much like being a good citizen in the real world - and it is just as important. Students are learning about good online manners, online safety and privacy, cyber-bullying, citations and good web sources. The students are doing a great job learning about how to best behave in the cyber world. Students will use the free online teaching tool at Learning.com for many lessons about the Online World.
Google Drive/Applications - The 4th graders are becoming savvy users of Google Apps and now have their own Google Drive account. This enables them to access their work from any device at any time. They have also set up folders to be able to share work with me and their classroom teachers in a paperless format. Students will be able to create Google Docs and Presentations all from their Google Drive!
Reading and Literacy - Literacy continues to play a big part in our IRC program. Students check out up to three books a week. Book talks are also conducted, and an Online Book Club is open for those who choose to join. Classes recently voted for the Buckeye Book Award in an online election held throughout the state of Ohio. We will be holding our annual Scholastic Book Fair at the end of January/beginning of February. Bath students love to read and helping them find just the right book is one of the best parts of my day.
5th Graders
Keyboarding
Digital Citizenship and Information Literacy
Google Drive and Applications
Reading and Literacy
Keyboarding- Fifth grade students continue their keyboarding practice using Typing Club. They are encouraged to practice at home as well as in the IRC as that time is so limited. They will be focusing on their accuracy and their words per minute to prepare them for Middle School, where they will be expected to type without looking!
Digital Citizenship and Information Literacy/Research- In the 5th grade, students delve more deeply into the pitfalls of social media and the ways to protect their privacy and safety. This year we also focus on research skills. Students will work on how to evaluate web sites, how to find good sources, and how to cite them. Searching the web in a more effective way is also something we will practice. Students will use the free online teaching tool at Learning.com for many lessons about the Online World.
Google Drive/Applications - Students are now proficient in the use of their Google Drive, and they will learn how to use many of the other applications and tools. They will learn how to use the Research tool for citations in a document. We will also create book trailers with a movie-maker app called WeVideo.
Reading and Literacy - Our fifth grade students are voracious readers, and they are given a varied and updated collection from which to choose. They are encouraged to join Online Book Club and share recommendations with each other. There are online blogs for them to also make suggestions for books they would like to add to the collection. They should also be comfortable at this point in using the Online Catalog and finding the call numbers on the shelves for the book that they want. We will be holding our annual Scholastic Book Fair at the end of January/beginning of February.
Both 4th and 5th Graders will also do a variety of other projects throughout the school year which will be graded. They are graded on a regular 'A , B, C' grading scale this year.