What We Did:

• Google Classroom- mini scavenger hunt through the program. We will be using Google Classroom in our classes for assignments and information.  Please let me know if you’d like me to add you to our Google Classroom.
• We started a Mystery Slides presentation.  Students chose an item and then gave clues on a slides presentation.  Next class we will wrap it up and present to the class as they guess the item.   

What to Work On:

• Typing Agent

What We Plan to Do Next Week:

• Wrap up and present the Mystery Slide presentation
• Begin our Slides Challenge

Happy Holidays!  We had a great first semester at APEX.  This week we wrapped up previous projects and had fun with technology.  We also had a great time during the holiday party and enjoyed the holiday performances.  Grades are being posted. The students have worked hard and learned a lot. Please let me know if you have any questions.  Enjoy your holiday break with your families. My family kicked off our holiday break last night at the Georgetown Loop taking the “Polar Express” through the mountains.  We are looking to many more holiday experiences and memories in the coming weeks. I can’t wait to hear all about your holidays from your students when they return to school.  I will see everyone on Thursday/Friday, January 17 or 18.

Sincerely,

Anne Carpenter

What We Did:

• Students completed their Google Slides assessment where they made a pretend holiday card using formatting they’ve learned this semester

What to Work On:

• ** Any missing work and work that you want to re-submit for more points will be due on the student’s last day of school at the end of the day**

What We Plan to Do Next Week:

• We will be finish our assessments, then play some typing games or program Spheros for the last day of the semester

What We Did:

This week is the Hour of Code.  People around the world will be working on coding. In class we did some coding and made some fun programs.  Below are some resources to keep coding at home.

https://www.khanacademy.org/hourofcode

https://code.org/hourofcode/overview

https://hourofcode.com/us

From Code.Org: The Hour of Code is a global movement by Computer Science Education Week and Code.org reaching tens of millions of students in 180+ countries through a one-hour introduction to computer science and computer programming.

What to Work On:

• Continue to code at home
• ** Any missing work and work that you want to re-submit for more points will be due on the student’s last day of school at the end of the day**

What We Plan to Do Next Week:

We will continue to work on some review and assessments of what we’ve learned in class this semester.

Dear Parents,

I hope you all had a great holiday break with your families.  We continue to eat leftovers at our house and are ready to gear up for the more holiday treats.  This week all rubrics were returned to students-- many were left at school, but all grades are updated in Infinite Campus and rubrics will be returned again next week.  Any missing work has been emailed home and given to students in hard copy. Students can always redo work and resubmit if they would like to earn more points on assignments and relearn what they have missed.  I am always available to help students out, but I encourage them to take action and come to me for help. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

Anne Carpenter

What We Did:

• We wrapped up our fake social media page
• We made one in both Google Docs and Microsoft Word
• Students were able to work more in formatting in both programs and look at the different options in the programs

What to Work On:

• If your social media page is not completed, please finish it at home
• Continue to work in Typing Agent-- if your child has finished in Typing Agent, then I have another program for them to use

What We Plan to Do Next Week:

• We are beginning our mini holiday assessments of the programs that we’ve learned in class.  They aren’t “formal” assessments, but students are being given tasks to do in the various programs and encouraged to do much of it independently.  
• Next week we will be working in Google Docs

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you have a great holiday week with your loved ones. My family and I will be heading to Vail for the holiday with our extended family.  One set of grandparents, three adult siblings and their spouses, plus 13 kids in the mix- it’s going to be a lot of fun!

FYI- grades are updated regularly in Infinite Campus.  Graded rubrics come back to students and will be all returned when they come back from Thanksgiving break (many have been sent home already, but all grades are current in Infinite Campus).  Students are always welcome to redo their work and try to earn more points and learn more/master a skill. Students should bring back their original rubric or just let me know they’ve updated their assignment.  Please let me know if you ever have any questions.

What We Did:

• Wrapped up our fake social media page in Google Docs
• We will continue to make one in Microsoft Word to work on formatting in that program as well
• Formatting in Docs is slightly different than Word

What to Work On:

• Typing Agent

What We Plan to Do Next Week:

• No school next week- Happy Thanksgiving!
• When we come back:
• End of semester assessments as holiday activities in the programs we’ve learned
• More independent work to assess what students can do in the programs we’ve learned this semester
• The goal is for students to be able to do what we’ve learned in class independently, so they can use their skills on their work at home as well

What We Did:

• Started a new project in Docs
• Using drawing, changing colors, more formatting options
• Creating a fake social media page

What to Work On:

• Typing Agent
• Using Docs for classes you are doing at home
• For students who were absent previously- please be sure you Google Docs Challenge is completed (Thurs link) (Fri link)-- saved in the folder you created and shared with me
• Social Media Page- please be sure the following is completed-- saved in the folder you created and shared with me
• Title and shape
• 4 topics in a table
• Insert main picture
• Bulleted list
• 4 additional pictures to use next class

What We Plan to Do Next Week:

• Finish project
• Complete project in Microsoft Word
• Learn more formatting options in Word

What We Did:

• Wrapping up our Google Docs Skills Challenge
• Skills learned: margins, fonts, size, spacing, alignment, bulleted lists, inserting a picture, hyperlink, footer, inserting a table, and formatting a citation

What to Work On:

• Typing Agent

What We Plan to Do Next Week:

• Social Media Project- using Word to create a visually appealing page

What We Did:

• Google Docs
• Review and tutorials on skills in Docs
• Skills Challenge
• Alignment, font, size, color, inserting pictures, hyperlinks, making a list
• Assignment in Docs with a checklist for students to include

What to Work On:

• Typing Agent
• Formatting in Docs and using Docs at home for assignments

What We Plan to Do Next Week

• Wrap up and finish Google Docs Skills Challenge

What We Did:

• Typing Agent
• Excel and Google Sheets
• Entering data
• Using formulas (typing in your own and using AutoSum)

What to Work On:

• Typing Agent
• Use Google Sheets at home

What We Plan to Do Next Week:

• Wrap up Excel and Google Sheets
• Google Docs and Microsoft Word project- text boxes, inserting pictures, changing the style

It was so good to see many of you at Parent-Teacher Conferences.  Thank you to parents who reached out to me via email as well. I am always more than happy to meet to talk, email about your child, or give you a call as well.  Please let me know if you ever have any questions about what’s going on in class. Remember that many assignments can be seen in your child’s school Google Drive account.  Graded rubrics (on yellow paper) are sent home with the students once assignments have been graded (within a week or so of an assignment). Grades can also be found on Infinite Campus.  I tell the students that the best thing they can do to solidify what we’ve learned at school is to use the programs at home. For example, for Computer Skills students should look for any way they can do an at-home assignment with Google Docs, Google Slides, Google Sheets, etc.  Programming 1 students should be logging in to Scratch to play around and try out what we’ve learned in class. Typing is always available to students at home too. Students should be sure they can login easily, accurately, and independently to the various programs that we use. We are off to a great start and I look forward to working with your kids this year.

** Friendly Reminder: This week is Parent-Teacher Conferences and no classes will be running on Thursday or Friday.  I will be available to talk to parents about their student’s progress from 9am-12noon. Student grades are entered regularly into Infinite Campus and rubrics are sent home with students.  I look forward to meeting with parents or send me an email if you ever have any questions: [email protected].

What We Did:

• Login Quiz
• Intro to Google Sheets
• Data collection with a simple graphing activity
• Entering data and making a graph
• Intro to Microsoft Excel

What to Work On:

• Typing Agent

What We Plan to Do Next Week:

• Continue to work in Sheets and Excel (finish graphing activity CS 5-6)
• Sheets and Excel to do a Halloween Activity (CS 7-8)
• Compare and contrast Sheets vs. Excel

Computer Skills

Grading:

Grades are being updated regularly in Infinite Campus.  Students receive a participation grade each class and they receive graded rubrics for their assignments.  Rubrics go home within two weeks of the assignment being turned in. Please let me know if you have any questions.

What We Did:

• (7-8) We finished up Google Slides and presented our slideshows
• (5-6) Explored Google Slides and worked on our presentations
• Compare and contrast Google Slides and Microsoft PowerPoint

What to Work On:

• Make sure your Google Slides presentation is done for next class if you didn’t present
• Practice logging in
• Practice typing on Typing Agent
• Use the programs we’ve used in class at home with school work:
• Google Docs
• Google Slides
• Microsoft PowerPoint

What We Plan to Do Next Week:

• Google Sheets- data collection and graphing
• Login Quiz next week!  Students are allowed to use a notecard to help them.  Some of them made them in class. We have gone over login information in class, but if students need more assistance please email me and I’ll get you the info.  They must be able to login without assistance from someone else.
• Laptops
• Drive
• Typing Agent

What We Did:

• Wrapped up Power Point presentation
• Began Slides in CS 7-8
• (Thurs- CS 7-8) Presented project to the class

What to Work On:

• (CS 7-8) We will have about 25 minutes next class to work on our Google Slides presentation before presenting it to the class.  If you will need more time than that to complete the presentation, please work on it at home. It is the same rubric as the Power Point presentation, which has been dropped in the Student a Shared Folder for students to look at at home.
• (CS 5-6) Students will continue to explore Google Slides and create a presentation. They can begin to explore the program at home.

What We Plan to Do Next Week:

** Reminder: Login “Quiz” on October 4 and 5-- students may use a notecard with their login information on it, but they must login independently

• Google Slides
• Present PowerPoint and Slides presentations
• Compare and contrast Power Point vs. Slides