As Notre Dame's lower division (lower school) starts phase 4 of its International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme—and with the entire Notre Dame academic community continuing its push into a new world of academic technology—it is perhaps fitting to recall what the school's junior-kindergarten through fifth-grade students have accomplished in terms of technology during the just-completed phase 3 of instruction.
From the most recent edition of "IB-PYP News," a newsletter published by Notre Dame's IB-PYP Coordinator Emily Giacona. . .
Technology connections in the lower division
Entire division: On December 9, all students in the lower division joined the rest of Notre Dame in "The Hour of Code," a one-hour introduction to computer science designed to show that anyone can learn software coding basics in order to be a maker, a creator or an innovator. Students will continue to learn coding techniques throughout the year. During phase 4, most grades in the lower division have started using keyboards with their tablets and logging onto www.typingweb.com to practice their typing skills. Students also were given login information so they also can practice at home.
Junior-kindergarten: During the last phase, students created a "30 Hands" narrated slide show about their families. They also had 5th-grade guest presenters come in to teach them about nutrition.
Kindergarten: Students in kindergarten learned about signs and symbols. They watched videos about symbols representing America and about safety signs after which they created pictures of symbols and signs in the program called "Doodlebuddy." Students also learned about avatars and about how avatars are symbols that can be created to represent themselves. The kindergartners also created avatars of themselves using the "WeeMee" app.
1st grade: First graders used the "30 Hands" app to create a slideshow about the origins of Thanksgiving and things they were thankful for this season. They also were assigned a celebration to research resulting in a "Popplet," which they created from their research.
2nd grade: During phase 3, second graders learned about the various modes of communication. They wrote letters to soldiers, created a class "30 Hands" narrated presentation, and planned and created books about themselves in the "Book Creator" app.
3rd grade: Third-grade students watched videos about the the three branches of government in the United States as well as the three levels of government. They subsequently created an "Explain Everything" presentation, which was then shown at the most recent IB assembly.
4th grade: Fourth graders spent this phase focusing on natural resources, which led them to a project of tracking and graphing their personal water use. They then compared their own water use to others in their class using the "Create a Graph” app. They also created a presentation about natural resources—what they are and why it is important to conserve them—in the freeware application "Quickoffice."
5th grade: During phase 3, fifth-grade students were assigned different types of storms to research after which they created a "30 Hands"-narrated slideshow for their summative assessment. The fifth graders also created a list of items needed to make up an appropriate emergency-preparedness kit.