Mrs. Graham's Class

We’re finishing-up the presentations this week.  The students have done a wonderful job covering their topics.

Students are finishing the creation of their video games using Kudo.  A day of game swapping is planning for the last of this week or Monday/Tuesday of next week (5/13 – 5/14) depening on how long our presentations take to complete.

What’s next?
We will enter data in Excel to import into other programs, and explore how to use mail merge.

And, after that?
We will have a typing test next Wednesday (5/15), and begin work on Tynker.  Tynker is a programming site the students can access from home.  We’ll be working on this until the end of the year.

Students are putting the finishing touches on their Power Point presentations about:

1. How to apply for a job.
2. How to write a resume’.
3. How to have a successful job interview.
4. How to keep your job once you have it.
5. How to lose your job.
6. Ethical vs unethical behavior while at work.
7. Strategies for working with an uncooperative customer.
8. How to act during a business meeting.
9. Understanding your paycheck.
10. How to apply for a scholarship to a college or trade school.
11. Buying on credit.
12. Saving today means freedom tomorrow. (Saving for your future)
13. Dressing for work success.

They will be presenting to the class (dressed in work attire) beginning Wednesday.  Due to field trips, we’ll take a break from presentations on Thursday and Friday.

Next we’ll be doing some programming using Kudo.  See the link to the right for more information.

We’re almost finished with the main Access projects in the textbook.  We’ll revisit Access again for additional assignments later this year.

We’re doing a quick tour of Power Point this week.  We’ll also return to Power Point again later in the year for a review and other assignments

We also have a typing test scheduled for Thursday, with retest opportunity on Friday.  Our current goal is 45+ wpm.

Today we began our introduction to Microsoft Access 2007/2010.  Databases are used for organizing collections of data and are able to report (print/view) the data various formats.  Databases are a wonderful tool for searching and sorting data and then reporting it in various formats.  Databases are used in web commerce (e-commerce) too. 

If you happen to be absent or just need to review what we covered in class visit the Microsoft Office links to the right.  Please do not ignore the 2007 ones.  They are still relevant to our topic and can be very helpful.

Save this budget sheet to your H drive.  MonthlyHouseholdBudget1

You will delete the example payment/budget information from the sheet and replace the information with what you plan to spend.  BE CAREFUL not to delete the formulas in the green rows.  It would be a good idea to speak with your parents about expenses/bills to help you plan.  We will do research and discuss in class as well.

Visit the Practical Money Skill site for help with your budget.  There are payment calculators there to help you estimate your expenses.  This site was really slow, so you may want to use the calculators below.

You will find additional calculators here.

 Here is another handy site to help.

Apartment Finder

Home Finance Calculator

Zillow.com (Home finder)

Energy Information Administration

PaycheckCity (Check calculator)

We’re almost finished with Career Forward.  Most of what the students have been learning about has to do with planning for, training for, and getting a job/career.  Now, we’re going to see what it will be like to live on the money they make in their chosen career.  We will be doing research to see what it costs to buy a house versus renting an apartment, what it costs to buy a car (new versus used), financing, interest rates, and so forth.

Without sharing too much private information regarding your expenses, it would be helpful for you to have a discussion with your student about what some estimated monthly expenses might be if single living on their own for the first time.  We’re going to be creating a budget to see how far their money will go.  This is always a fun and eye opening activity.  Sharing estimated information about your expenses or their potential expenses would be helpful when we create the budget.  We will be plugging-in our income and expenses into a spreadsheet, and creating formulas to do the computations.  Be sure to discuss the cost of food – eating out as opposed to buying groceries and eating at home.

We are continuing to practice our typing and finish our Alice animations.  We’ll welcome March by sharing our animations in class.

I’ve been thinking about how wonderful it is to have supportive parents like I have.  I know my curriculum is important.  However, it is often the little things we “teach” as parents and teachers that are most important of all.  This is often called “the hidden curriculum.”  For example, how to behave in different situations, to respect authority (even if we disagree with it), how to be kind, respectful and tolerant of others, to value the truth, and tell truth even if it is difficult to tell, how to deal with different types of problems we face, how to love and care for others, how to do good deeds even if we don’t benefit from it ourselves, how to apologize, how to remain positive when life throws us a curve, to do the right thing, to be fair, etc. 

Thank you for your support.  It really does make all the difference in the world.  Thank you for teaching your students how to behave and supporting me when I have to tell you they didn’t behave as well as they should have.  I am truly blessed to work with your children and you.  The following poem seemed to fit this situation.  I always enjoy reading it.  I hope you will enjoy it.  Happy Valentine’s Day! ~~ Mrs. Graham

All I Ever Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten

~by Robert Fulgham~

Most of what I really need to know about how to live, and what to do, and how to be, I learned in Kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sandbox at nursery school.

These are the things I learned: Share everything.  Play fair.  Don’t hit people.  Put things back where you found them.  Clean up your own mess.  Don’t take things that aren’t yours.  Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody.  Wash your hands before you eat.  Flush. Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.  Live a balanced life.  Learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work some every day.

Take a nap every afternoon. When you go out into the world, watch for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.  Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the plastic cup?  The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.

Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the plastic cup ~ they all die.  So do we.

And then remember the book about Dick and Jane and the first word you learned, the biggest word of all:  LOOK.  Everything you need to know is in there somewhere.  The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation, ecology and politics and sane living.

Think of what a better world it would be if we all ~the whole world  had cookies and milk about 3 o’clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankets for a nap.  Or if we had a basic policy in our nation and other nations to always put things back where we found them and clean up our own messes.  And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.

Below are some links to information about Alice.  Keep in mind you can download Alice for free at your home.

Alice.org  (Download available here.)

 Alice website (with tutorials)

Tutorials from Software Training

Everyone should have completed their Money Skill lessons and post test by last Friday.

This week we will begin programming with Alice 2.0.  We will continue to work on our typing skills as well for a test on Thursday.

Type for 10 minutes at the beginning of the period.  Use a keyboard cover.  After 10 minutes, begin/continue working on the Alice assignment below.

Alice animation assignment:  Students should watch all the tutorials available when opening the Alice program to get a feel for how the program works.  Students should choose an event they have studied this year in my class, PE, science, history, or literature and recreate the event using Alice.  Be sure to save the project periodically to your H drive.  We will present these in class.  Be prepared to explain what your event is.  Do not share what your event is with other students.  You may work with your neighbor if you need help, but do not share what your event is or play your animation for your neighbors.

You should be mostly finished with your animation by the end of class Tuesday (next week).

Keyboarding test will be Thursday.

We will begin financial literacy lessons using Money Skill.  (See the link to the right under “Financial Literacy”.)  The grades from these online lessons and quizzes will be included in your nine weeks grade.  Take these lessons seriously.

We will continue to work on our typing skills as well.  Our current goal for a perfect score on a typing test is 40 wpm with two or less uncorrected errors.  A test is planned for this Thursday.