Technology Use at Oak Street Elementary

Technology is buzzing across the curriculum at Oak Street Elementary School. Since the upgrade of all computers to the latest operating systems, Oak St. computer lab the addition of a new projector and, most recently, a Smart Board, teachers have been finding new and unique ways to integrate technology into their classrooms.

In the Art Room
In Mrs. Sullivan’s Art room at Oak Street, we use digital cameras and monitors to record, store and display art work. Students take photographs of their art, and of classmates working on projects.

We recorded the Mural Club’s weekly progress, and featured student artwork from two projects at school assemblies: "Students Helping Students: Plattsburgh to the Gulf Coast," created after the Katrina disaster; and the beautiful artwork that we exhibited in Albany at last year’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Day celebration. Fifth grade students will be working in our computer lab to help produce the Bailey/Oak yearbook during our Clubs Month.

In Mrs. LaTorra's 3rd Grade
During their weather and the water cycle Science units, Mrs.Latorra’s and Mrs.VonBargen’s third grade classes used weather websites to track and graph our local temperature (in both Fahrenheit and Celsius), precipitation and daily weather.

Our third graders checked satellite photos on usatoday.com and weather.com every day to keep on top of developing weather patterns. Students also visited snowcrystals.com, a snowflake site, to complete this unit.

Mrs. LaTorra's class also uses Science Court software, most recently utilizing it for a water cycle unit. Science Court allows children to work in groups to answer questions on science topics, which are explained through cartoon clips. The students love it and it is an effective teaching tool!

In the Speech/Language Room
Students working on correcting their speech sounds use Locutour Articulation, advanced software that displays pictures containing target sounds in words, phrases and sentences. It allows a student to listen to the correct production of a word, and then record their own production, learning to monitor their own speech.

Speech Therapist Mrs. Rock also uses our digital video camera to give her students some time in the spotlight! We have produced a DVD called Body Idioms in which speech students demonstrate the literal meaning of idioms and then explain the figurative meaning. Our Visual Vocabulary DVD shows students acting out target words without using their voices. Later, other students view the video and try to determine the meanings of the words.

Mrs. Rock and her students are having lots of fun learning to use Oak Street's new Smartboard. Between the many wonderful language sites on the Internet and Smartboard notebooks created by Mrs. Rock, we can work on vocabulary, articulation, grammar and syntax and language development!

Odyssey Enrichment Program
Mrs. McCarty’s Global Village students kicked off their projects with the application of research skills in one of Oak Street’s online encyclopedias. District librarians have obtained licenses to several online encyclopedias for use at all grade levels. Using the Smart Board in combination with these resources, students explored the organization of an article, read for key ideas, highlighted, took notes and created original writings about the physical geography of their regions.

They were also able to compare what they read to physical maps, labeling landforms and analyzing map keys. The interactive practice with these internet resources prepared them for independent work with sites linked to Mrs. McCarty’s eBoard website.

Math in Action
Fourth grade Math in Action Students are working on a mechanical drawing and geometry project with a Smart Board presentation as their visual. As they learn to manipulate a compass and straight edge to form a variety of geometric forms, they are able to create models and plot predictions on the interactive screen, leading to a deeper understanding of the mathematical concepts.