Updated: 07/06/2020
Please scroll all the way down for the most recent tech class activity posts...
Dear Parents,
HI, I am Gwen Allen and I teach your child/children technology once a week at Saint Nicholas School. I know that this is a difficult and challenging time but we will get through it!
In 1st grade technology we honed our keyboarding and drag and drop (mouse) skills and explored basic graphics tools. Please find below links and instructions to work on your skills for September.
https://www.abcya.com/games/ab... this is a graphics game that we have been working on for a while. The students are now able to save their work and/or clear it.
https://www.abcya.com/games/ma... This is a really fun easter egg designing game. Your child can design multiple eggs and place surprises inside them then hide them in preparation for a virtual Easter egg hunt! This is very good for enhancing mouse manipulation skills.
https://www.commonsense.org/ed... This is an age appropriate musical video about digital citizenship and safety that will help your child further develop their understanding of how to safely navigate the internet.
Click here for Handwriting Practice
https://www.abcya.com/games/fi... This is a great game that will help familiarize your 1st grader with many of the different types of technology they will use or come into contact with in their school or home life.
https://www.abcya.com/games/ma...This game guides students through making faces out of several feature menus. It is the tool we are using to maintain and develop our drag and drop skills for this week's class. If you have time parents and caregivers, please instruct your 1st grader to use the horizontal menu across the bottom of their completed faces on the screen to save and/or print their work.
Learning Coins https://www.abcya.com/games/le... this is a super useful tool to help your first grader to keep improving their drag and drop skills while simultaneously familiarizing them with U.S coinage and it's value. If you can, be sure to guide your child to first click the "learn" button to get the instruction they will need to complete the later tasks and then the "sort" button to access those tasks.
Letter and Number Tracing https://www.abcya.com/games/le... this activity will help your first grader make progress in their formation of letters and again, help their dexterity with the mouse. If possible, please use a plug in mouse for this game, it is slightly easier for small fingers to navigate.
Let Me Grow! https://www.abcya.com/games/le... This is a really cute little game! It is also effective in continuing to grow your first graders mouse and keyboarding skills. In this game your child has to click on the sandy blocks to release the water that the flowers need to grow. They should be able to drop this fairly independently up to level 6, when they may need your help :)
Cake Topping: https://www.abcya.com/games/ca... This game is pretty fun and also helps keyboarding dexterity. It is a little faster paced than the first game. Your student will need to click on the cake layers on screen at just the moment they are positioned on the cake so it is a little more challenging but great practice.
Alphabet Sliders: https://www.abcya.com/games/al... This game is great because it hones drag and drop skills but also teaches and reviews the alphabet. It's a win:win! I hope you enjoy this weeks tech class activities.
Melody Maker: https://www.abcya.com/games/ab... This is a super cool tool that your child can use to compose their own music! Each raindrop that they click on represents a note that will play in their composition on a 6 second loop. This activity will enable your kindergartener to progress in their keyboarding skills while being creative and having fun.
Lilly the Wildcat Storybook: https://www.abcya.com/games/ch... This is a tool that will read a story to your child while displaying the words and highlighting each one as it is read to help reinforce literacy skills. Your child may need assistance remembering to use the arrow and speaker buttons to turn the page and hear it's contents.
Dress for the Weather: https://www.abcya.com/games/dr... In this fun little game your first grader will continue to develop keyboarding skills while learning which types of clothing are most appropriate for different types of weather.
Magic Mirror Paint https://www.abcya.com/games/mi... is a simple but fun graphics game where your student can practice their keyboarding skills and manual dexterity while reinforcing their familiarity with the basic computer graphics tools we user in class.
Make A Treehouse https://www.abcya.com/games/ma...We use this fun game in class intermittently. Your first grader may not have played it in a while and may enjoy revisiting it. There object is to design your own tree house, complete with furnishings! This game is a favorite because it lets students use their imagination while providing valuable "drag n drop" mouse practice.
Five Senses https://www.abcya.com/games/fi...This game will give first graders a deeper and broader understanding of our five senses while providing them with keyboarding practice. It is both informative and fun.
Bandemonium https://www.abcya.com/games/ba...This is a fun and fantastic game! It enables your 1st grader to explore different instruments and sounds while practicing keyboarding skills. This game can be a little noisy but the compositions are beautiful and extremely entertaining for little ears.
Birthday Candle Count: https://www.abcya.com/games/ki... This fun game enhances your little student's numeracy skills by having them figure out the ages of different characters by counting the birthday candles on their birthday cakes. It his intuitive enough for them to play unassisted once they get going.
Road Rally: https://www.abcya.com/games/ro... This is a great game for sharpening keyboarding skills. 1st graders will have fun racing and using the toggle keys to go faster or dodge other cars on the road. They will increase their score by collecting coins along the way.