School+Visit-Hawthorn

School: Hawthorn District #73 Visitors:, Pat Rancine, Allison Van Alstine, Stan Taylor, Jason Meltzer Date of Visit: February 12, 2008 Contact Person: Lisa Gosen, Technology Coordinator Web Site: [|http://www.hawthorn73.org] Structure of Visit: We first met the technology coordinator and 1st grade teacher at one school. We visited her classroom and then a computer lab. We then visited another school to visit with their technology facilitator and elementary technology teacher. Materials Collected:

Specific Technologies Observed:
 * Video recording studio used for daily announcements

Observed Technologies Applicable to Oak Grove:
 * Write here

Other Topics of Interest:
 * We first met with Miss Bleck, a first grade teacher at Hawthorn Elementary North. She showed us how she uses two programs extensively in her classroom, Kid Pix and Kidspiration. She uses Kid Pix as a center and in the lab and has designed specific task cards (pictured below) for the students to use. In Kid Pix she has created a number of templates for the students to use for math and writing practice. She also has them use it to illustrate much of their writing. They have created many "class books" which are circulated home for all the families to see. In Kidspiration she has her students practice grouping, outlining, formulating main and supporting ideas, and writing. She had a lot more to share with us but we ran out of time.
 * Next we met with Mrs. Meiners, the K-2 technology teacher at Aspen Elementary School. Her classes meet two days in a row for 40 minutes every six days. She uses two online typing programs to work on students' keyboarding skills - Dance Mat Typing <[|www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/]> and Nimble Fingers <[|www.nimblefingers.com/index.html]> She has created a word wall with technology related vocabulary and adds new words as they are introduced in class. She keeps a daily blog on the school website where she and the students write about what they are doing in class. She intersperses her hands-on technology instruction with other appropriate lessons (computer related coloring pages, a 'design a screen saver' contest, Internet safety instruction). Each student is issued his/her own set of headphones which are kept in a plastic bag with their name on it.

Pictures