Teachable Moments: Printing

Have you ever gotten to the end of computer lab time and asked your students to press the print button only to watch all of their hands go up multiple times as they walk their way through the series of print screens? Take a moment to check your students knowledge of how the printing process works and provide them with a foundation for how machines communicate with one another!

Free Friday: Interactive Sites Weebly

Whether you are familiar with an interactive whiteboard, or not, the site Interactive Sites for Education, created and maintained by Karen Ogren is an invaluable resource in the elementary classroom. Karen has graciously compiled a multitude of online games and activities based on their subject matter for use by teachers and students.

Teachable Moments: The Computer Lab Trap

My school district has no formal digital literacy curriculum so time in the computer lab is often spent on STAR Reading and Math assessments, reading and playing games on Starfall, on CoolMath4Kids, etc. While I do not discount these activities and recognize their potential in providing valuable reinforcement of essential skills (there is never enough instructional time), I believe we are doing a disservice to our students by using websites in isolation. Our approach to computer lab time should be a comprehensive one.