Students introduce Mrs. Wilder's Class to the Kyle Firefighters.

First  and Second graders at several HCISD schools come together via a video conference to ask Kyle Firefighters questions about fire safety. Students in Mrs. Wilder’s class at KES worked hard for over a week to prepare for the Stop, Drop and Roll Video Conference. Mrs. Lombardo, KES librarian, read the book Stop, Drop and Roll by Margery Cuyler. Students then prepared and practice questions to ask a panel of  Firefighters. Other schools that participated included Hemphill, Fuentes and Blanco Vista. Several schools were able to stream the video conference and send questions in using instant messaging.

Teacher version of "We Are the World"

On Jan. 4th for staff development, Fuentes staff members were challenged to question their beliefs and actions in regards to their teaching. At the end of a day full of multimedia experiences, groups were handed a Flip camera and sent on a creative mission. They were to film a short segment that represented what they gained from the day and communicate what their teaching beliefs were. The outcome included several musical performances, a puppet skit, and written messages accompanied with music. Viewing the taped performances set a perfect positive tone to end the day with.

First grade MaxWrite Thanksgiving project

Ms. Hempel, a first grade teacher at Fuentes Elementary, taught her students how to use MaxWrite and MaxPaint to express what they are thankful for this Thanksgiving.  The outcome was many delightful, precious, and thoughtful writing of gratitude. What was even more impressive was their detailed paintings created from scratch. Above is one of the many great outcomes of combining technology with upcoming holidays.

Fifth grade students at Fuentes Elementary are showing off their understanding of European settlers in the New World by creating a brochure with Publisher. They have traveled through a mental time machine to place themselves in the lifestyles of these settlers. Their brochure will feature the colony in which they settled, their job, a table with geographical information about their colony, and a letter convincing others why they should come to the New World. The fifth grade teachers, Ms. Denton and Ms. Hett, collaborated with the Instructional Technologist, Michelle McCoy, to come up with a technology lesson that integrates both social studies and language arts.