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Avenue for Community Involvement
The Tech World flyer published by the Technology Committee of St. Mary School provides St. Mary Stakeholders with information about implementation of our five year Technology Plan.The Technology Committee Members are a group of gifted people who give generously of their time and talent to the faculty and staff of St. Mary School.
Our Parent Community through its generosity has brought life to our Tech Plan and is seeing to it that their children are prepared with life skills for the work place.
Communicating with the Community---- Do you want to know what projects your child is doing in school? Did you misplace your school calendar? Is the school closed because of weather? Do you want your children doing their research from Kid Friendly Web Sites? Would you like to know about the different clubs and organizations at St. Mary School? Check it out!-------www.stmaryschool.net.
Engaged Learning Model
The Teachers and Technology Coordinator continue to develop projects that integrate technology into the curriculum. Online research is second nature to St. Mary students as it can be done in the lab, library, and classrooms.E-Pals engage the students and teachers to explore the cultures of other countries while doing collaborative projects with schools from around the world.
Global Communication continues at St. Mary's, The Wilderness Classroom Organization continues to work with our students at St. Mary School. Our guides, Dave, and Eric utilize technology, connecting with our students while bringing educational adventures into the classroom. The 2009-2010 school year will find our 3rd -8th grade students moving on to a new adventure called North American Odyssey. It will begin on Earth Day, (April 22) 2010. The Wilderness Classroom team will paddle 1,400 miles by sea kayak from Seattle, Washington to Skagway, Alaska during the first stage of their 11,700 mile journey across North America.
The Pacific Northwest is teaming with life above and below surface. They plan to study a variety of animals including Orca Whales, Gray Whales, Seals, Sea Otters, Black Bears, Grizzly Bears, Salmon, and Bald Eagles.
The ecosystems they will explore include giant kelp forests, inter-tidal zones, and temperate rainforests. The Pacific Northwest consists of the largest temperate rainforest eco-zone in the world! We will also be looking at several environmental issues and how they impact the region, people and history of the area. For example, as we approach Skagway, our studies will turn toward glaciers. The shrinkage of glaciers serves as an indicator of global climate change, affecting the Pacific Northwest and the rest of the world. The explorers will be updating the website from mid-April through the end of the school year! This information has come from; http://www.wildernessclassroom.com.
Cable in The Classroom assists the students and teachers to engage in a variety of rich study guides, lesson plans, and activities, for example: www.historychannel.com/classroom offers " Ideas From Teachers" tips for using the programs in the classroom, and links to other related sites that deal with historical events and landmarks. Jr. High, The Library/Resource Center, and The Technology Center, have the opportunity to use this resource.
United Streaming has been added to our daily researching of topics. This has taken teaching to the next level. St. Mary School have been members of Discovery Education for over 3 years. http://www.unitedstreaming.com
The classrooms have at 3 to 5 computer work stations, all of which are online. TV presentation systems and VCR's have been added to each classroom from 2nd to 8th grade. A mobile cart outfitted witha TV and VCR are available to teachers in Preschool through 1st grade. A new addition to each floor of the school buildings is a mobile Smart Board, this will move teachers and students to engage more in intersctive strategies during their school day.
The 2009 / 2010 school year again finds the Administration and Technology Committee supporting the faculty to continue to work toward innovative use of technology in the classroom. Teachers have a "Technology Core Skill Checklist" to help them "set" their technology goals for the school year. After school training is offered by the technology coordinator to help the faculty work through the "Technology Core Skill Checklist" to "achieve" their technology goals. The teachers will be engaged in after school in-services to learn the exciting iWorks software. In the beginning of the school year, 2009-2010, there will be a two day training class to learning about our new Smart Boards. We have a mobile Smart Board on every floor of the school. The teachers are very excited and are all hoping for their own mounted Smart Board in the classroom. This new technology is not going a way and is part of the 21st century classroom!
Room 5-3 English DEL
Video Clips of Smart Board in action.
English Class Room 5-3, 10-10-09
Room 5-4 Math
Room 5-4 Science Test Review
Room 3-18 Reading
Room 7-9 & 710 Math
Room 3-18 & 6-7 Christmas Jeopardy with Partner class.
Upcoming conferences that some of the staff will take part in are: The Illinois Technology Conference for Educators 2009-2010 sponsored by the Illinois Computing Educators ( ICE ) in February "A Learning Odyssey."http://www.il-tce.org. Some of the teachers will also be taking summer classes through the Office of Catholic Schools called "August Opportunities." Throughout the whole school year teachers are informed about Educational Technology Workshops so staff development is on going.
