Hour of Code Tech at FCE

Sixth Grade created Google Doodles for the Hour of Code Event.  Below is a sample of one of the Doodles

Click Here for Project

Primary grades worked on some unplugged activities to help understand how to program the BeeBots. They practiced being robots and programers. After learning how to program their partner, they worked on programing the BeeBots around the community map.

Intermediate grades worked on solving the Hour of Code puzzles on code.org, and creating projects in Scratch. We did a couple of unplugged activities to help understand the designing of exact directions and learning to fix problems that arise.

This unit uses a lot of collaboration and perseverance!

Tina's Class - Google Expedition Field Trip

Tina Petrick's class celebrated their classroom success by going on a virtual field trip. They explored different creatures of the ocean using Google Expedition viewfinders.  It was so much fun to listen and watch the excitement as they discovered where the different sharks were hiding.

Week of December 4th in Tech

First grade has been working hard to create PuppetPal videos using the beginning, middle and end story elements.  We celebrated all story videos with "popcorn and a movie"

A sample of one of the PuppetPal Stories:

Sixth Grade kicked off Hour of Code working through an unplugged activity - Creating an algorithm on how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Learning how important each direction is to the success of a sandwich.

This Week in Tech

3rd Graders are using Google Earth to research different locations in the countries they are studying with their Expedition.

6th Grade participated in a "Breakout" to show off their Digital Citizenship skills. They had to solve different puzzles to unlock the different locks on the box - all in 35 minutes!

Tech Club Exploring

Morning Tech Club used Google Expeditions to explore some virtual field trips. While others of us worked on programming Dash And Dot to play the xylophone. 

Fourth Grade’s Virtual Field Trip

Today 4th Grade experienced a virtual field trip to The Arctic to explore Polar Bears and their Ecosystem.  They took notes and shared the excitement of exploring the Arctic, and viewing the Polar Bears. 

3rd Grade Google Expedition

Today third grade traveled by Google Expeditions, a virtual field trip, to China, Kenya, Africa, and Australia to gain a better understanding of these countries.

Beginning of the School Year - First Rotation

We started off Technology this school year with a review of the Computer Lab Norms.  These Norms were created by the entire student body a couple of years ago. This year the older students reviewed the list of Norms as a whole group, then using Padlet or Today's Meet, we were able to collaborate on a couple of questions. Which Norm is the easiest for you to follow, and which Norm is the most challenging?
Below is one example of a classroom's shared thoughts. We found that norm #4 To have Fun is the easiest to follow for most of us. The most challenging norm for most to follow is between #7 Asking two friends before you raise your hand, and # 3  To be aware of your voice volume.

Our primary students reviewed a couple of the Norms and we will touch on them each time they rotate through the computer lab.
2nd Grade is working hard on practicing logging into their Google Accounts. They will start creating a digital drawing to communicate a time that they had to use Courage.
1st Grade was introduced to a digital drawing tool for the first time for most of them. They persevered to learn how to use the Shape, Line and Text box tools to communicate something fun that they did this summer.
Kindergarten had some fun learning to work a mouse in the Computer Lab. It is always amazing how fast they catch onto navigating the mulitple steps I give them.

1st Grade iPad Lesson

1st graders used iPads to explore the game WordMagic during technology time today

Top Typing Success for Grades 3rd through 6th.

Below are a list of the students that have the top words per minute speed for their grade level.

Congratulations to these students for all their hard work!

Updates on Tech for 2016-17 School Year to Date

This year has been a fun year so far working to introduce new tools for the students to learn.

In Kindergarten we worked on creating a "video" in Educreations. Educareations is an ipad application tool with an interactive whiteboard where the students can screencast a video. The students created Math Story Problems, supporting the learning of addition stories.

Link to a few examples:

• Educreations Video Example
• Educreations Video Example
• Educreations Video Example

During Hour of Code Week Kindergarten and 1st Grade worked on programing BeeBots to visit different areas on our Community Map. The students first started off with an unplugged activity to help with understanding algorithms, and how to follow the directions. We then progressed to programing the Bee's to move around the Community Maps.  This was a fun and excited room as the students learned from their mistakes and successes.


In First Grade we have worked on creating stories in an ipad application called Puppet Pals.  The students worked to make sure that their stories had the story elements of Beginning, Middle and End and some even added a conflict to solve. The students created their stories using an eye for High Quality Work, and then we shared them with classmates during a movie and popcorn party.

Click Here to watch a few PuppetPal Stories


In Second and Third Grade we worked on our "Here is What I Found" unit, on how to find research on the internet.
We asked the following questions:

• Do you like the subject of the site?
• Do you like the pictures?
• Are there fun things to do?
• Do the links work?
• Would you visit it again?
• Is the site easy for you to read?

 We then created a Stop Light in the Google Drawing tool to show our understanding of a site that might be "just right", "good site, but need support", or "not a good site for me".

 This Fall fourth graders created Blogs so that they may have a larger audience to communicate ideas too.  Students are learning how to post and publish writing, and how to respectfully comment on a classmates writing. This is a great digital tool to use for reflection on a topic. Have your child show you their Blog, the design and what they have written.
During the month of December the students worked on Hour of Code puzzles, we discussed how coding impacts our lives, and they collaborated to solve the different coding puzzles.

Fifth Grade is working on understanding how to create spreadsheets, and interpret their data. This unit compliments their current Expedition. The students worked to set up spreadsheets using video tutorials which showed them how to create formulas, and set up the spreadsheet with headers, and managing the text. Once students have the spreadsheets set up we play an Economy game, where they get to withdraw and deposit funds into their digitally created checking accounts.



Fifth and Sixth Grade during the Hour of Code week worked in Scratch to create their own animations. They had to first follow a "Getting Started with Scratch" guidebook to get introduced to the tool. After completing the guidebook, they had a choice to either create their own animation or explore the coding games on Hour of Code website.
Below are a couple links to the Scratch projects created: (link coming soon)
Cemetery Hunt
No Name


Sixth Grade was introduced to a new digital tool to show their learning called Stop Motion. They created stop motion videos of their choice to get an understanding of how the tool works, and if they might like to use this tool to show their learning. Below are a couple of links to their videos.


Baby Duck
House Falls On Lady