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Curriculum Faith & Technology Curriculum


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St. Louis School

Faith & Technology

    Curriculum

           

All classes begin with prayer. We call upon God to calm us and bless us and our work. We review Sunday readings and discuss what liturgical season we are currently in. We pray for hackers and virus creators and ask God to touch their hearts and help them use their intelligence for good. This year the focus is on "Peace" and what students can do to make St. Louis a more peaceful place.

In General:

Computer Skills Building: Keyboarding/Touch Typing, Application Mastery (Word processing, Spreadsheet, Graphics Programs, etc.). Demonstrations and Hands on experience with laptops, digital cameras, scanners, webcams, microphones and a variety of handheld devices such as the iPAD2. In 2009-10 we began using video conferencing to visit other schools in the US and Europe. We hope to continue in 2011-12. Students also get to see the inside of computers and other tech devices as I open them to repair them often with the students involved in the trouble shooting process.

 

Specifically:

1) Integration of Faith & Technology - What you can't explain leads to God. The integration of Faith & Technology is key and one of the many blessings of having your children in a Catholic school.  For example: Virtual Reality is shown through a virtual tour to Jerusalem's Via Dolorosa www.z360.com/cross/  and  3-D Modeling & animation is demonstrated and discussed while showing the Shroud of Turin and the models of the face & body created by scientists and graphic artists. Windows Media Player and Power Point are used to edit and create multimedia shows of Marian & Christian Images set to Christian music.

 

2) Keyboarding- All students K-6 keyboard in every class and learn new keyboarding tips and techniques. Hands are small in K-2 so we adjust requirements for their hand size.  

 
Starting at grade 3 keyboarding is more formal and students track their performance in a keyboard tracking card that is inside their name tent. Extra credit is given for keyboard practice done at home and recorded and confirmed by a parent's signature. I recommend FreeTypingGame.Net on the Internet.
 
At the end of the 2011-12 school year,  prizes (large stuffed animal) & certificates will be awarded to the fastest keyboarders in grades 5 & 6 (usually this is just for grade 6 but this year is special).
 

3) Child filtered use of Internet as a teaching tool. The Diocese supports filtering software, which is installed on all student & teacher computers. Your child's safety is our priority. Only web sites that pass the filter and are thoroughly reviewed are allowed to be used.

 

4) Re-enforcement of other subject areas through the use of computers. Includes collaboration with classroom teachers to team teach subjects.  Also includes project based learning across specials. For example, students compose digital music with the music teacher, then they design a CD cover in tech class and then they go to art to complete the design, cut and insert in a CD jacket. Eventually they burn their music to a CD in tech class and insert it in their custom CD case.  

 

5) Computer History & Innovations in Technology  - From an abacus to todays technology. We discuss current trends and future predictions. The school owns excellent DVDs purchased from the History channel and the Internet is used.

 

6) Technical Vocabulary- Gives the students confidence with Tech Talk .

 

7) Identification of Computer & Technology Parts- Including a look inside.

If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact me at lrivera@dordcs.org

I am here to serve the Lord's children.

 

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Computer Technology
St. Louis School