Category: 5th Grade

One of the benes of being webmaster for Ask a Tech Teacher is I get to review products for tech ed companies. Recently, I was asked to review a digital microphone called Easi-speak USB recorder from Learning Resources. I’ve been looking for an easy-to-use microphone for little ones as young as kindergarten that will inspire them to relax, communicate, and be themselves despite the intimidation of being taped. Easi-speak is an MP3 recorder in the shape of a microphone–a great way to make it user-friendly and intuitive to young children. It says it’s appropriate for children age four and up, but I was doubtful. I’ve read lots of reviews of products that claimed that kid-friendly mantle, but couldn’t deliver.

Right out of the box, Easy-speak appeared to be that sort of fun-and-easy educational tool that would meet its promises. It is colorful with bright, obvious buttons, the type that intrigue kindergartners and are intuitive enough for the more precocious of my second graders to figure out on their own. (I like guiding rather than lecturing. For me, it’s a more effective method of teaching.)

The mic is chubby, easy to hold for young hands, with a bright silver top that makes children want to speak into it. I like that the mic comes with a necklace to hang it around the neck, and the USB port cover is attached to the mic so it won’t disappear. It seems Learning Resources understands a child’s curiosity and propensity for distraction.

Here’s something else I love–the mic requires no batteries. You charge it using the USB port of your computer. The port, though, abuts to the microphone, which means it gets too fat to fit into a USB port if your bank of USB ports are (like mine) chock full of other peripherals (iPad, camera, USB drive, printer, etc.) and thus won’t allow the wideness of the mic to fit. Learning Resources solves that by providing an adapter which works wonderfully.

Here are some of the projects we used it on: (more…)

Every Friday I’ll send you a wonderful website that my classes and my parents love. I think you’ll find they’ll be a favorite of your students as they are of mine.

Age:

3rd grade

Topic:

Landforms

Review:

If your third grader has to write a report about landforms, try these websites (check here for updated list):

1. About Rivers www.42explore.com/rivers.htm
2. Biomes/Habitats http://www.allaboutnature.com/biomes/
3. Deserts http://www.42explore.com/deserts.htm
4. Explore the Colorado http://www.desertusa.com/colorado/explorriver/du_explorrv.html (more…)

My fourth grade students are working on poetry for a few weeks and I have discovered some truly wonderful, fun-filled websites. Here’s my list, each one tested and approved by 75 fourth graders. Just click the picture to go to the website:

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Every Friday I’ll send you a wonderful website that my classes and my parents love. I think you’ll find they’ll be a favorite of your students as they are of mine.

Age:

K-12

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As a working technology teacher, I get hundreds of questions from parents about their home computers, how to do stuff, how to solve problems. Each Tuesday, I’ll share one of those with you. They’re always brief and always focused. Enjoy!

Q: To copy an image from Google Images (or Bing), I right-click on the picture, select copy, then paste it into my document (with right-click, paste). But, It’s hard to move around. Isn’t there an easier way. (more…)

Every Friday I’ll send you a wonderful website that my classes and my parents love. I think you’ll find they’ll be a favorite of your students as they are of mine.

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It’s all in the sophistication. Second graders do less and not quite as well. Fifth graders do a lot, much better. This uses MS Word, takes about thirty minutes:

• If this is the first time your child is seeing MS Word, review the parts–toolbars, menu bar, canvas, most common keyboard shortcuts (Ctrl+P for print, Ctrl+S for save, Ctrl+Z for undo).
• Add a heading (name and date–use Shift+Alt+D for the date). Default is left-aligned, Times New Roman, size 12. Leave those as they are. We’ll play with them later.
• Push enter twice and write a story, a letter–whatever is a good topic for summer. A couple of sentences for second grade is fine, but 5-10 for fifth grade.
• Check spelling with the little red squiggly lines. Right click and clear them by selecting the correct spelling.
• Check grammar with the green squiggles. These require adjudication. I find them wrong about 50% of the time
• Pick five words (less for second grade) and change the font size from 12. Pick words that would benefit by a larger appearance–like the words Christmas or Bump in the samples–you get the idea. (more…)

As a working technology teacher, I get hundreds of questions from parents about their home computers, how to do stuff, how to solve problems. Each Tuesday, I’ll share one of those with you. They’re always brief and always focused. Enjoy!

Q: My fifth graders are learning outlining in the classroom. Is there an easy way to tie that into technology?

A: Outlining can’t be easier than doing it in Word. Here’s what you do:

• Select the Numbered List or the Bullet List in MS Word. MS Word 2010 even lets you select the style up front. MS Word 2003–it’s a bit more complicated
• Your first bullet or number appears on the screen. Type your item
• Push enter to add another number or bullet
• To create a subpoint, push tab after you’ve pushed enter to start the next bullet/number
• To push a subpoint up a level, push Shift+tab after you’ve pushed enter for the next bullet/number

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Every Friday I’ll send you a wonderful website that my classes and my parents love. I think you’ll find they’ll be a favorite of your students as they are of mine.

(more…)

Students select from a list of Wonders of the World (or locations put together in conjunction with the classroom teacher). They do brief research on it, locate it using Google Earth and make a short presentation to the class about it.

Jacqui Murray has been teaching K-18 technology for 30 years. She is the editor/author of over a hundred tech ed resources including a K-12 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum. She is an adjunct professor in tech ed, Master Teacher, webmaster for four blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice, CSTA presentation reviewer, freelance journalist on tech ed topics, contributor to NEA Today, and author of the tech thrillers, To Hunt a Sub and Twenty-four Days. You can find her resources at Structured Learning.