Loftis' Ladybugs Combine Service Learning and Technology

     Mrs. Loftis' students wrote letters to soldiers currently serving in the military as part of a service learning project.  Service learning combines educational goals with worthwhile projects in the community.  Students learn that they can help impact their community in beneficial ways and also that the skills they are learning daily are applicable to the real world.
     The second graders came to the lab and used the skills they have been practicing in Word to create letters to the soldiers. They practiced with capital letters, punctuation, the tab key, and inserting clip art while remembering letter writing conventions, such as the use of "Dear Soldiers," and a closing. 
     Please enjoy these two samples.  All of the letters were fabulous and I am sure that the soldiers will be very glad to receive the letters!

Newton's Nightingales Practice Publisher!

Mrs. Newton's students tackled Publisher this week!  They learned how to open a Publisher template for a greeting card, then modify the template. The students practiced typing in a greeting to their parents and manipulating the graphics. Students applied what they have learned about clip art in Microsoft Word and Kidspiration to change the size and orientation of the clip art in the cards. Some of the students also learned how to change the clip art to another picture. 

I am very impressed with how the students are beginning to transfer their knowledge of one program to another program.  We hope the parents enjoy the cards; their students had a lot of fun creating them!  Please enjoy these three sample pages. All of the cards were fabulous, but for space reasons we could only display three of them.