September
The focus of the ICS computer lab in the 2011-2012 school year is the 6+1 Writing Traits. Currently we are working on creating characters with a distinctive voice. We are illustrating those characters and giving them "rounded qualities through the Writer's Notebooks that we have begun. The laptop computers leave the lab almost every day to assist with projects in the classrooms, and the wireless printer is busy printing documents being sent from all over the school. Our three SmartBoards involve the students in exciting interactive lessons. ICS is a lively learning environment!
October
All the students at ICS continue to explore the 6+1 Writing Traits using several different programs and internet sites. The boys and girls in grades 4-8 are developing some very exciting documents including a Writer's Journal using Microsoft Word. Depending upon the grade, the importing of text, tables, and graphics are making these notebook style files look very interesting. The younger students are learning the vocabulary also, but in a very graphic way using Scholastic and Kid Pix creating posters and storybook pages. ICS students are talented authors!
November
Research, research, and more research. All the grades from K-8 will be researching one topic or another and turning their findings into multimedia reports. Kindergarten will be creating a KidPix slideshow spotlighting all the letters of the alphabet right up through the Eighth Graders who are researching the newsworthy events which occured during their grammar school years. Many of the classes have completed classroom projects in the computer room. Grade Six just created travel brochures for the Hanging Gardens of Babylon , and the Fourth Graders are creating the title pages for a collection of original stories. There is rarely a dull moment in the ICS Computer Lab, and when there is, we type in such cryptic phrases as thisissand and drawastickman.