Typing/Keyboarding Resources

As the computer science curriculum continues to expand in the Lower School, we have decided to remove the keyboarding unit from classroom instructional time.  Below are recommended resources that your daughter can use at home to practice and improve her keyboarding skills.

Typing.com offers free lessons for your child.  You have the option of creating user name and password or completing the lessons without an account.  The benefit to having an account it tracking progress.

Typing Club offers touch typing for free.  Again, you can create an account or completing the lessons without one.  This site has good reviews from Common Sense Media.

The most important thing when learning how to type is repeated practice.  There are many other resources available online if you daughter is ready to go beyond these suggestions!

Award Season!

Roll out the red carpet!

No, I am not talking about the Golden Globes, SAG Awards, Grammys, or the Oscars.  In the world of children's literature it is Newbery Award season.

As stated by the Association of Library Service to Children, "The Newbery Medal is awarded annually by the American Library Association for the most distinguished American children's book published the previous year."

The award was named for the eighteenth-century English bookseller John Newbery.   

And the winner is...

Tune in January 23rd to find out 2017's big winner!

Guest of Honor

The Fifth Grade Annual Newbery Luncheon is almost here!  All parents should have received a packet of preliminary information regarding this fabulous affair.  

Our speaker this year is Clare Vanderpool.  She is a Newbery Award winner (wow!) and a Michael Printz Award winner.  She has a long list of other literary awards.  

Coming to a classroom near you!

 The excitement up the hill is palpable and we cannot wait to get started!

Art_Gift Exchange

The girls saw a reference to R-Mode in the story, The Art of Ms. Chew by Patricia Polacco, a wonderful book about a gift exchange between a girl and her teachers. Look at the picture below and ask your daughter why the fact that the girl has trouble reading is the same thing that makes her a great artist. It is all how you see it! 

They began a unit to practice "seeing" differently. They drew with paper: black, white and gray paper, only! They "drew" these gifts (see below) while thinking about a gift exchange they had with an important grow-up in their lives.  Reflections to follow.