Computerwise Kids is a computer program that has been brought to our school through the support and generousity of our Serrania Families through the Friends of Serrania Booster Club. With your continued suppport of our fundraising efforts, we hope to see the program continue for years to come!

Grades 2, 3, 4 and 5 will work once a week in the computer lab starting the week of 11-30-09. The students will be learning:

All about drives, how files and folders work, saving data on a CD, copying and deleting files were parts of the lesson. Understanding bytes and bits, and how many KB make a GB, the difference between a .gif, .jpg, .bmp and a .png image. Importing images from the internet and saving them appropriately for use were skills taught throughout the year.

The students have been introduced to the basics of keyboarding. Keyboarding is an important skill required in middle school. Visit www.computerwisekids.com/typing/index.asp to practice.

What does it look like inside the box? Understanding the kit of parts is as important as navigating thru the software. Here a thorough investigation was made to satisfy the curious eyes and minds. Ask your child about the CPU, RAM or motherboard.

Computerwisekids provided microphones for the computer Lab. The kids had a blast! Using the simple accessories tool, they recorded their own voices. Singing, laughing, screaming, giggling and animal sounds were part of this fun lesson.

The students have their OWN email address. Log on to www.cwkemail.com and ask your child to show you how it works.

An Introduction to basic word processing. The students will develop different projects. They will research the internet and format the information on the page. Tools used Font Type, Font Size, Font Color, Bold, Italicize, Underline, Copy, Paste, and also learning basic key functions: Shift, Space Bar, Enter, Backspace, and Arrow Keys.

The third graders will make a mini movie using the slide show software. All the animation was forced to come alive with animal characters and narrations. Adding slides and making a slideshow running the animation, adding graphics and timings were all part of this lesson. The kids imported images from the internet and learned about copyright issues too.

This was the first time many of the third graders were introduced to MS Excel. Excel is a powerful spreadsheet used to calculate all kinds of data. The students learned the relationship between cells and what are columns and rows. The tools learned were formatting fonts, adding equations, formatting columns and row and learning keyboard shortcuts to complete certain tasks.

Fasten your seat belts! We will travel the world on Computer Lab Airlines and visit Lockhurst Street Elementary School, the White House in Washington D.C., and even to the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. We also traveled to different countries our families are from such as Iran, Sri Lanka and Guam.

The 5th graders will design a webpage. There are basic computer skills that are reinforced in learning the HTML (hyper text markup language) required to make a webpage. Saving images appropriately, typing in correctly, checking your work thoroughly and composing a page are all skills the students learned.

PASSSWORDS WILL BE ASSIGNED ON THE FIRST DAY OF CLASS

Online Classroom (www.computerwiskeids.com/link.html)
This page contains helpful information for students to access:
1. Kid friendly search engines
2. Computer related videos
3. Grade based Project sites
4. Computer quizzes
5. Other great math, typing and reading sites

Typing Tutor: (www.computerwisekids/typingindex.asp)
Students (Grades 3-5) should practice typing at least 20 minutes per week to sharpen their skills. Mrs. Santos will be teaching the basics of good keyboarding habits and methods every class. Students need to use the assigned password to log in. A great online typing tutor tool to use all year round-including SUMMERS!

CWK Email System: (www.cwkemail.com)
This is a VERY secure email system used to teach students how to use email. Each student has their own email account and they may email ONLY the students in their grade. Go to www.cwkemail.com and ask your child to show you. Password: email08. Student?s need their individual password to login. Passwords will be assigned on the first day of computer class.

Student Work: (www.computerwisekids.com/galleryindex.asp)
During the year, student projects will be online for parents to view.
Visit www.computerwisekids.com and click on "Student Gallery". Password: gallery08
Feel free to invite friends and family to see the computer art, MS Office based projects the kids create.

If you have any questions please feel free to email Mrs. Jennifer Santos at jsantos@computerwiskeids.com.