Elementary Library is Entirely Renovated!
Elementary Library, Art Room and Primary Music Room receive new Activeboards
The elementary school students received a big surprise when they got back to school after winter break! The library has been entirely remodeled in the interest of the students' safety. The old carpet has been replaced and gone are the tall, looming bookshelves that formerly housed the books. Marsha Johanning, the school librarian is thrilled with the improvements. "The old bookshelves were a danger and the books on the top shelf were hard for the children to reach. The carpet was old and musty-smelling. One of the students remarked that the library no longer "smelled"." Mrs. Johanning spent 3 days of winter break setting up the new shelves and putting the library back together.
As an added bonus, the library is entirely wireless and is now home to 20 new netbook computers and a Promethean (Active) board. The Active board is an interactive whiteboard that Mrs. Johanning uses to bring technology to her lesson plans. The school was able to buy the Active board thanks to a 50% off promotional rate, which also allowed the Elementary Art Teacher, Mrs. Judd and the Primary Music Teacher, Mrs. Davis to receive an Active board.
The students have used the board and the netbooks to discover some valuable research tools that are available online and easy for elementary students to use. They are learning to use the touchpad on the netbooks while discovering information about dinosaur bones. One recent lesson had the students using an interactive puzzle that allowed them to drag each dinosaur bone to where it belonged on the dinosaur. Once the students had placed the bone in the correct spot, information about that bone, such as what it was used for, would pop up. Another activity that the netbooks have been used for is map skills. Students have been able to use a compass rose and follow directions on a map to capture pieces of information that help them solve an educational problem. In the future students will be able to use these netbooks to help them complete research project and write a research report or even write their own stories and create presentations to show what they have learned in researching a topic.
