Elementary Technology Integration

I have been serving as the Elementary Technology Integrator for four months and have been increasingly encouraged and energized by the teachers and students at Northpoint Christian School each successive month. One of our goals is to have our students CREATE using technology, and that is what you will see if you peek inside our classrooms.

In the library, older elementary students created wordless books on the iPad for students in the Enrichment Center.

 In third grade, Mrs. Morris and Mrs. Lee’s classes used the iPad digital storytelling and presentation app Haiku Deck to produce non-fiction book reports. Haiku Deck allows students to be engaged in demonstrating knowledge of their subject while developing 21^st Century skills necessary for future success.   

Sixth grade students use the laptop cart and the laptops in the computer lab to conduct research, earlier on Ancient Greek culture and most recently on body systems. From their research, they will produce a Glogster, an online interactive project, to showcase what they have learned in a creative format.

Third and fourth grade classes are also using Quizlet, an online and app-based flashcard program (but so much more), to deliver content to students for practice of specific skills and content review.

Last week, the second grade classes brought life to their wax museum "exhibits" using a presentation recording app called 30Hands. View a brief clip of a student's project below:

In addition to the two laptop carts, iPad cart, and enrichment center classroom iPads, the first grade classrooms are now equipped with at least three iPads per room. Among other things, teachers are incorporating them daily into reading centers as well as using them to reinforce skills from math lessons using quality time and money apps.  

Our Junior Kindergarten and Senior Kindergarten teachers have begun to explore ways to customize lessons and deliver them to students via apps and web portals. This is a wonderful way to differentiate instruction, track understanding, and assess learning.

Ask your student what they are doing with technology to make learning engaging and relevant!

Jennifer Strunk
NCS Elementary Technology Integrator

Spanish in Elementary

Elementary students at Northpoint Christian School begin Spanish classes in Senior Kindergarten and progress through sixth grade with a rich cross-curricular program that integrates vocabulary, geography, social studies, science, math, and fine arts.

 Our Senior Kindergarten and first grade students are learning colors, numbers, and how to ask each other their names in Spanish.   Second grade is reviewing the months of the year and will be working on a calendar this month. Third grade students are reviewing the alphabet , while the fourth grade has been reviewing basic mapping skills before the study of the twenty-one Spanish speaking countries of the world.

Our fifth graders have learned 131 new words and have completed a study on Mexico. They will begin a study about the Aztecs later this month.  They come to Spanish as part of the fine arts program two days a week.

Sixth grade Spanish class has been busy reading two books aloud in Spanish and will begin a third one this month. They have also studied The Day of the Dead, a holiday celebrated in Mexico annually, and made traditional skull magnets and marigold flowers commemorating the celebration.  Sixth grade students may choose Spanish three days per week as an elective in the fine arts program.

As the curriculum builds each year, the students leave elementary school with a foundation of vocabulary and cultural knowledge to assist them in their study of Spanish as they enter high school.

   

Judy B. Arthur

Elementary Spanish Teacher

Penguin Day in 2nd Grade

In 2^nd grade, we have Penguin Day to conclude our study of penguins.  The students are shown a Powerpoint presentation with facts about several different kinds of penguins.  They also have the opportunity to read books about penguins.   The students then have to choose one kind of penguin and write a 3 sentence report about it.  They use this report to make a “Penguin Booklet.”  This booklet is penguin shaped, and the students color it to match the penguin from their report.  They write the facts from their report on the belly of the penguin and then share their booklets with the class.  

On Penguin Day, the students get to dress like a penguin by wearing black and white.  They also taste several different flavors of goldfish, since penguins eat fish, and vote for their favorite flavor.  We use the results of the vote to make a graph.  We also have some special snacks:  blue jello (the ocean) with cool whip (icebergs) and Swedish fish (fish) and a penguin looking treat made out of Oreo cookies and other candy.  The kids have great fun on this day and enjoy “waddling” down the hall!

Christine Ross

2nd Grade Teacher

Elementary Physical Education

Having a physical education program at Northpoint Christian School benefits our students in many ways. Some of the benefits are listed below:

Health

Participation in a physical activity can greatly improve the students’ flexibility, motor skills, endurance, and strength.  Exercise is proven to help reduce the risk of obesity with the aid of eating well balanced meals.

Self Esteem/Confidence

Confidence/self- esteem have a significant impact on our relationships with others.  I encourage the students, on a daily basis, to always do their best and never give up. Physical activity promotes a strong sense of confidence, self- worth, and independence.

T.E.A.M

Together Everyone Achieves More is the acronym for team. Being a part of a team means that we work together to achieve a goal.  P.E. is a time they learn fair play skills and cooperation. Students have an opportunity to develop teamwork skills, leadership, and responsibility.

This semester the first grade students worked as a team to invent their own game.  Mrs. Boling gave the students the following game instructions: list the equipment needed, explain the rules/instructions, include their names and group number on the paper.

Each group of students had the opportunity to present their game to the class. At the end of class, each child was given a ballot to cast a vote of their favorite game.  The team with the most votes had the opportunity to demonstrate their game at the next P.E. c lass.

We all know how important exercise is in our daily lives.  Exercise and nutrition is the path to health and well-being.  Northpoint Christian is hosting the first ever Color Run 5k on Saturday, March 29^th.   This is a great opportunity for families to exercise and spend time together.   For more information about the event, contact Trisha Pihringer at tpihringer@ncstrojans.com or 662-349-5129. Hope to see you there!

Wendy Boling

Elementary Physical Education

Elementary Library

The elementary library is always a busy place. I am grateful that the reading program our school uses, “Foundations and Frameworks,” sparks an interest for pleasure reading in our students. 

During the first semester, the elementary library has had several fun activities for students to foster and support this love of reading:

The Scholastic Book Fair is always a big event. This year’s fair was a huge success! Thank you to all who supported this fundraising event. The rewards provided the teachers with two eBook subscriptions to use in the classrooms as well as several new books for the library.

Junior and Senior Kindergarten

We had a special guest come and share her chickens with the Junior and Senior kindergarten classes in October. One of our sixth grade students, Galin Burton, is an active member of a 4-H group. She raises chickens to show in competitions. Galin and her mother, Carol, came and shared about raising chickens and what goes into getting ready for competitions. The students learned a lot from Galin and enjoyed petting Galin’s chicken named 41.

First, Second, Third Grades

The library acquired an iPad cart over the summer. The first grade students have enjoyed using the iPads as a center time. Reading Rainbows is a favorite!

The second and third grade students used the iPads over several weeks as centers for an author study about Jan Brett. Each station had a QR code activity that pulled up on the iPad. Some of the activities included: a biography where Jan Brett told about herself and her work; Jan Brett giving step by step instructions how to draw a hedgehog; raising chickens (to incorporate Jan’s book, Hedgie’s Surprise);  and raising a pet hedgehog. The students enjoyed this ongoing lesson and learned a lot about Jan Brett as well as her favorite animals.  Second and third grade enjoy Reading Rainbow on the iPads, too.

Fourth Grade

I have shared a lot of Pour Quoi storied with these students. The fourth graders will begin creating their own version of a Pour Quoi, or ‘why tale’, on the iPads as a slide show with illustrations. We will email the completed stories to the preschool teachers to share on their Smart Boards with their students.

Fifth Grade

The fifth graders used the iPads for an ongoing project to ‘pen’ stories for the Pre-K students. I provided several wordless books. The students partnered up and used the camera on the iPad to snap a picture of each page of the book they chose. They then ‘penned’ the story. We emailed the completed projects to the Pre-K teachers to show on the Smart Boards to their students.

Sixth Grade

I read a book over the summer and knew I had to use it somehow with the sixth graders. I am holding a ‘book club’ each week with the students. I am reading the book, Wonder by R.J. Palacio, to the students. We have had some very good discussions about peer pressure and how to handle yourself in difficult social situations. I am pleased with the responses I get each week. Our sixth graders have a heart for the Lord and the underdog!

Cheri Saunders

Elementary Librarian

Hall of Heroes

Who is your hero?  We all need heroes.  

 At NCS, we want our students to learn more about Christian heroes, role models whose lives challenge us to live for the Lord.  A. W. Tozer wrote, “Next to the Holy Scriptures, the greatest aid to the life of faith may be Christian biographies.”  To encourage our students to choose Christian heroes to emulate, our sixth grade students presented the Hall of Heroes on Dec. 17.

During the second nine weeks, our 6^th grade students studied “On Mission with God,” an adaptation of the Bible study by Avery T. Willis. This study helps preteens learn how God called people in the Bible to serve Him. By studying how God calls, prepares, sends, guides and uses people to carry out His mission, students were challenged to serve God with their lives too. Along with this study, the 6th graders read a Christian biography. These biographies were about the lives of great missionaries, evangelists, scientists, authors, and others who gave their lives in service to God. After reading about a Christian hero, the students wrote a book report as part of their reading classes.

After learning about a being on mission with God and about a Christian hero, the students chose at least two creative ways to share what they had learned about their Christian hero.  Some students dressed as their hero or as someone from the people group their hero served. Some students served food from or drew maps of their hero’s country. Others made time lines of key events in their hero’s lives or even shadow boxes of their hero. The 6th graders used the items on Tues., Dec. 17, to share about their hero with the other elementary students. Displays were set up in the Trojan Hall gym, and the 6th graders were visited by students who listened as they told about the Christian heroes they had studied. We hope our Hall of Heroes projects inspired some of our students to become Christian heroes too!

 

Shoeboxes for Soldiers Project

The 2nd graders collected items during the month of October to send to soldiers from DeSoto, Marshall, Tunica, Tate, and Panola counties.  The Shoeboxes for Soldiers project is sponsored by Baptist DeSoto Hospital.  The items they collected were toiletries, candy, other non-perishable foods, and puzzle books.  There were other classes that donated items as well.  

Northpoint Christian School donated 307 boxes to the project!  We were 4th out of the 21 schools that participated.  The students also colored Bible Verses and wrote notes to the soldiers.  Mrs. Ross’s class was interviewed by News Channels 3, 5, and abc24, the Commercial Appeal and DeSoto Times newspapers and the hospital’s film crew, who aired that interview on WKNO.  They came while the students decorated their boxes and wrote notes to the soldiers.  The students got to help load the truck when Baptist DeSoto came to the school to pick up the items.

Not only did the 2nd graders collect things and write notes, but on Veteran’s Day, they went to Baptist DeSoto Hospital to recite John 15:12-13 and sing “My Country Tis’ of Thee” to the Army National Guard guys that were there and to the veterans.  The teachers wanted their students to understand the importance of telling the veterans and current soldiers “Thank you.”  The students wore patriotic shirts and waved flags as they sang.  They also got to hand the shoeboxes filled with items to the soldiers who were present to help them load the truck. 

Christine Ross

2nd Grade Teacher