Dear Parents,

We will be using Typing.com, an online typing tutor, to teach your child about proper touch-typing techniques and improve their keyboarding skills. Learning to touch type helps students be more productive and better prepares them for success in school and beyond. On Typing.com, your child can practice and master the keyboard one lesson at a time. It allows them to pick up where they left off in the course and displays a keyboard and hand diagram as they type to reinforce proper finger placement.

Learn to type at Typing.com

TechKNOW Tuesday, April 10, 2018

https://www.smore.com/wjzb8

Hello, World!

This week's TechKNOW Tuesday.

SJDS Kindergarten through 6th grade participated in the 2018 Doodle 4 Google contest by entering their own original Doodle 4 Google artwork. We are so fortunate to have so many talented students at St. James Day School.   We are patiently waiting for Google to announce the results the week of April 9th, 2018. Once Google judges have narrowed the field to the 53 best doodles, the public will be invited to vote online. Voters will be asked to select their favorite doodles, one from each grade group.  I just know we will have a National Winner who will win a $30,000 college scholarship, a $50,000 tech package for our school, and a trip to Google Headquarters in California.  

These are just a few examples of artwork from Kindergarten through 6th-grade students. 

There are more coming soon!

We absolutely LOVE our new Google Chromebooks!  Our amazing board voted '"YES" to adding a set of 28 chromebooks to our campus.  We want to thank our board for purchasing these educational tools for our students.  

Lenovo Chromebook Yoga N23:

Versatile and durable, this 11.6" 2-in-1 is built for education, both inside and out. It offers the versatility of multiple modes – Laptop, Tablet, Tent, and Stand – that allow a student to make the best use of multitouch interaction with educational apps, as well as the security, boot-up speed, and intuitiveness of Chrome OS.

The Drone Academy Leadership Team prepare for instruction by practicing to perfection!  They will be teaching their peers in the 6th grade as well as, all students in 4th and 5th grades.

Claymation and Stop Motion were the key topics for our Kindergarten-3rd graders as directed their own movies. 

This week we designed and constructed our very own hearts out of Legos.

TECHKNOW TUESDAY "PICTURE PERFECT"

Students who attended TechKNOW Tuesday demonstrated principles of photography as they took quality photos of objects with acute angles, obtuse angles, 90* angles, parallel line and intersecting lines, 

This week we worked together in groups using problem solving and trouble shooting skills to programed our robots to complete several different mazes.  First grade through sixth grade students met the challenge as they programm degree turns on acute and obtuse angles with distinct accuracy and precision. 

Thanks to the generosity of members on the St. James Day School board, the St. James Day School Drone Academy was able to add a DJI Mavic Pro to their fleet of drones.  Members of the leadership team, Dawson Palmer, Jett Mayo, and Dylan Yost, unboxed the DJI Mavic Pro. 

The St. James Day School Drone Academy was launched January 2018.  This academy is offered to all students in fourth, fifth, and sixth grades.  The goals of the program are to:

• Extend the current computer science programs.

• Implement a leadership based learning environment led by students.

• Develop a curriculum that will prepare students for the FAA Part 107 Aeronautical Knowledge Test.

• Implement Civil Air Patrol Aerospace/STEM Education Programs in grades 4-6.

The St. James Day School Drone Academy is led by Shannon Kirkland and her leadership team members.  This leadership team  is comprised of sixth-grade students, Dawson Palmer, Jett Mayo, Dylan Yost, Chris Ayers, and Hudson Wood.  These students have spent over 100 hours in preparation to teach their peers in a leadership based learning environment using a train the trainer model.  Each member of the leadership team is assigned a small group of students of which they will mentor and teach our Drone Curriculum.

For more information about the St. James Drone Academy please contact Ms. Shannon Kirkland, Director of Innovation & Educational Technology, at shannonkirkland@stjamesdayschool.org or by calling 903-793-5554.

AR, VR, & MR PART II this Tuesday!

TechKNOW Tuesday "Picture Perfect"

Students who attended TechKNOW Tuesday demonstrated principles of photography as they took quality photos of objects with acute angles, obtuse angles, 90* angles, parallel line and intersecting lines, 

This week we are programming EV3 bots for mazes that contain acute and obtuse angles.  In programming for these mazes, we are using problem-solving skills to troubleshoot for the degrees of each turn. Is a right turn 90* on a robot? We are finding out that the 90* will not give the robot a complete right or left turn.  Ask your student to explain......