Robison




Spotlighting First and Second Grade
*Children at early stages use their own invented spellings and receive valuable practice in translating from sound to print. This practice and experience with letters and sounds form an excellent basis for reading. In addition, the activity develops self-reliance in dealing with print, and contributes to a do-it-yourself attitude which carries over into learning to read.

The students in Mrs. Raia’s and Mrs. Siever’s classes used Kid Pix to create a Venn diagram. First, they chose an animal that was living and an object that was non-living. Then they used symbols to represent them. After that, they wrote sentences to compare and contrast their living and non-living objects.




The students in Mrs. Gross’ class used Interactive Math software to make a graph of how many ants, inchworms, and grasshoppers they saw in the picture. Then they compared the graph they made to another graph on the Math Processor and recorded their data in a text box.

click here to view Aaron's graph		click here to view Julie's graph

During math class the students used the Inspiration program to make a fact family word web.


The students in Mrs. Grisham’s class used the Kid Pix program to compare subtraction story problems. They used the stamp tool to pick two objects to compare and the drawing tool to show the comparison. Then they used the text box to compose a story problem to go with the picture and solve the problem.



First graders used Instant Reader programs to practice reading strategies. The program not only allows students to read the words on their own, but it will also audibly self-correct if they come to a word they can’t decode. In addition, there are several activities students can complete after reading a story. The Science Instant Readers reinforce concepts and make important connections between language arts and science.

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Kid Pix Maps After learning about maps and map symbols, the students in Miss Irwin's class created maps of their classroom and bedrooms using the Kid Pix program. They drew the borders using the drawing tools, and then they used the stamp tool and sticker tool to insert symbols to represent the objects in the rooms. Finally, they had to make a Map Key using a text box and insert the stamps and stickers they used as symbols.



In writing, the first graders have been learning how to come up with their own ideas and organize their stories to tell them in order. As with most young writers, their pictures include important details that help tell the story. Kid Pix is a great word processing program that allows the students to draw their own pictures and make their stories personal. To create their stories, the students drew a picture using the drawing tool, and then inserted a text box to type their story.



Second grade science classes took a virtual field trip to the Science Resource Center using the distance learning equipment (web cam). Mrs. Martin, at the SRC, set up several animal displays for the students to view so they could determine whether an animal was a reptile, amphibian, bird, fish, mammal, or insect. The students enjoyed seeing the animals and speaking with Mrs. Martin via the web cam.



Second grade students created land habitats posters to identify different habitats and the ways in which plants and animals used them to meet their needs.



Students in second grade used their knowledge of animal groups to complete a web of facts. Students navigated through the software for pictures and applied their knowledge of word processing



Second graders applied their knoweldge of repeating patterns by completing patterns on Carnival Countdown software.



To practice odd and even numbers, second grade students used KidPix software to stamp objects and write a sentence about their picture.

In Language Arts students used a variety of proper nouns to compile an invitation to a party.



In Mrs. Lieberman's class students used a Storybook Weaver software to write and illustrate an original story.
Click here to view Jill's story

Students use Kid Pix software to construct a chart of three states of matter. They used drawing tools to design the chart and writing tools to label the columns. Then they used pictures to illustrate the three states of matter.



Second grade students practiced their keybaording which will enable them to become proficient writers.



To promote highter level thinking and problem-solving skills, students have been working with a partner to navigate through the Logical Journey of Zoombinis software. Here they must think through strategies and find patterns to solve problems.