Preparing for STAAR goes Interactive

As classes prepare for the upcoming STAAR Tests, they get interactive with Promethean Boards and Voting Devices.  Here are just a few examples of a 5th Grade Science, 4th and 3rd Grade Math Review Flipcharts.  Using the voting devices is a great way for teachers to get instant feedback on what skills need further review.

Create a Story Online

Second Grade Students enjoyed creating stories online through http://www.artofstorytelling.org/kiosk/ site. This coorelated with their writing unit they are working on. It was fun to select all the different parts of the story!

Skype to Saskatchewan, Canada

Have you talked to students in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada? First Graders at Gattis have! They took a virtual trip via Skype. The students of Moose Jaw shared some of their favorite book suggestions with Gattis students this week. Each student walked up to the webcam and showed their book and gave a summary. And of course they did talk about the weather.

New Technology

Gattis Technology had a facelift last week! Thanks to bond money in the past and the diligence of our Technology Department we were able to replace all of the desktop machines in the classrooms, office, computer lab and library. That’s over 100 computers!

Angles - What do we know?

Ms. Baker's 4th Grade class is going to be learning about Angles. The class worked in pairs to come up with what they already knew and then record their prior knowledge on the interactive whiteboard in the classroom. This page can then be saved and revisited as the class continues their learning. Great use of the Promethean Board Ms. Baker! What do you know about angles?

Software for Individual Learners

Computers are not just for the mainstream classroom. Here at Gattis and at many schools across the district we are able to purchase and use specific computer software to help with individual students who need some extra strategies. Here we have students working with Earobics software which provides individualized instruction in critical areas of reading. This software is interactive and has some fun characters that make the activity engaging and motivating for students! Our incredible Intervention Specialists are able to monitor and personalized plans for each student.

1st Grade Writes, Publishes and Reads Books

Ms. Kloecker’s Class wrote “All About Books”. To share the books, students used flipcams to record a peer reading the book, then published the video on their class blog. If you want to see and hear some of the students read their books, check out their blog at http://kidblog.org/mskloeckers1stgradeduallanguageclass/ckloeck1110/all-about-books/