Mr. Funke's Blog

1st graders worked in Kidspiration complete a rhyming activity using the AT and IT sounds.

2nd grade finished up learning how to use Pages and started an insect assessment using Kidspiration as well.

3rd graders created Charlotte’s Web crossword puzzles at Puzzlemaker.

4th grade continues to follow the Tandys around the Northeast region of the U.S.

Kindergarten learned how to use Kidspiration this week. Kidspiration is an idea mapping program we’ll be using from time to time throughout the year. This week we used it to create AB and ABB patterns.

1st grade finished up learning how to play EMGames and began some rhyming exercises in Kidspiration using it to find rhymes for the IT and AT sounds.

2nd grade continues to work in Pages. This week we focused on writing and formatting paragraphs.

3rd grade went back to Charlotte’s Web this week using Puzzlemaker to create a crossword puzzle out of some of the more difficult vocabulary from the book.

4th grade is almost done but continues to follow the Tandys on their trip across the Northeast.

Kindergarten continued to practice login and logout procedures.  We’re comfortable with their abilities now and will be moving on to some pattern activities next week.

1st grade learned how to play 2 Fisted Penny Grab this week in EMGames.

2nd grade started learning how to use Pages. Pages is the word processor we use at school. We started this week by learning the function of the cursor and how to manipulate the font size and style.  We’ll be doing a lot of writing this year so these are essential skills for students to learn.

3rd grade continues to work on vocabulary in the library for our next Charlotte’s Web mini-project so we learned how to upload projects to the wiki this week.  Each class has a wiki we will be using to publish finished work throughout the year.  Wikis are linked to on the third grade page of this web site.  Go there now to see the word searches we made a couple weeks ago and come back soon to see their crossword puzzles and word clouds.

4th grade continues to follow the Tandy’s around the Northeast region of the United States in Google Earth.

Mrs. Goldstein and I started an exciting new project in the library this week. If successful, it should continue throughout the year and every year after. Visit our Tripp QR Codes web site for more information.

Kindergarten continues to practicing logging in and out of the computers. They’re getting much better at it.  In between logging in an out they’ve been exploring Kid Pix.

1st graders learned Two Fisted Penny Addition in EMGames this week.  These are fun games you can play at home with your child without the computer using materials you can find around the house.

Most of 2nd grade finished their Elgin Museum iPad field trip project this week.  It was a lot of fun to do and I look forward to doing more with the iPads this year.

3rd grade took a 1 week break from Charlotte’s Web to learn how to use Study Island.  Look for log in information for all of our online systems to come home soon.

4th grade is taking a trip with the Tandy’s as they explore the Northeast region of the United States.  Using Google Earth, they’ve been trying to find all 10 stops on the Tandy’s trip across the region.  This project will take 3-4 weeks.

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Welcome Back!

We have a new log in procedure this year that will be easier for our students in the long run but can be a little confusing at first so our kindergarten and first grade students have been practicing logging in and out of the computers as well as learning how to find programs that are not in their docks. First graders have also started learning how to play some of the Everyday Math games on the computers. We started with Top It this week which is a computerized version of a card game they play in their classrooms.

2nd graders worked on a very exciting project this week. As you may have heard, all of our K-3 classrooms now have a class set of iPads to use for learning and enrichment. Not wasting any time, we had our 2nd grade classes bring them on their field trip to the Elgin Museum this and next week. As they were learning, we asked them to use the iPad’s camera to take pictures to document their trip. Then, on the bus ride back to school, they used Sonic Pics to create and narrate a slide show about their trip. Look for these slide shows to be posted online soon.

Elgin museum

3rd graders started working on a series of mini-projects on Charlotte’s Web. This week we used Puzzlemaker to create a word search using the names of different characters from the book. We’ll be taking a break from Charlotte next week to introduce Study Island but there will be two more mini-projects to follow. Each project is meant to be started and finished in one class period.

4th graders are getting reacquainted with Study Island this week. Once Mrs. H and I have made sure everyone can and knows how to log in, we’ll send home information on how to log into all of our online learning systems.

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Lots of “secret” projects this week that we can’t really talk about too much. K-3 are all hard at work on an end of the year project that you will either see online or at Curriculum Night in a couple weeks.

4th graders are putting the finishing touches on state and animal reports.

1st graders are getting back into the re-opened lab after MAP testing. This week we’ve been working on our math and reading skills with EMGames and Treasures

I’d like to tell you more about 2nd grade is working on but that might spoil the surprise. You’ll get to see the final product in a couple of weeks though.

3rd grade began working on their Illinois brochures. Each student will be creating a persuasive 3 page travel brochure about Illinois. To do this, they’ll need to research 5 areas of interest pertaining to Illinois and write a paragraph about each. We’ll then add titles and images to make it look like a real travel brochure.

4th grade continues to work on their animal reports which we’ll be wikifying soon.

Sorry for the delay in posting. We’ve had a busy March and April

1st graders finished working on their How To comics which are posted here (along with their Solid and Liquid comics).

2nd graders worked really hard getting their George Washington timelines finished in Comic Life. You can find them posted online on their class wikis.

3rd grade finished their Simple Machine Quiz projects which are not only posted online on their class wikis but are also playable. Check them out. They’re a lot of fun.

After finishing their Rock Riddle projects, 4th grade started research for their animal projects. Their final product will be an animal encyclopedia on their class wikis which I will post links to when they are finished.

We just finished MAP testing and everyone is looking forward to getting back into the lab to work on some more projects next week.

Busy busy week.

1st graders started putting the finishing touches on their solids and liquids comic page. We should be finished by the end of next week so look for them to be posted online shortly after that.

2nd graders posted their map projects to their class wikis so they can be viewed outside of school. Just click on the 2nd grade tab at the top of this page to find links to each class wiki. We’ll be posting more projects during the year as they are completed.

3rd grade is in the middle of their simple machine quiz games. These will be posted and playable on the class wikis when they are finished.

Most of 4th grade worked on MyAccess this week while the others worked on finishing up their rock riddles.