Mrs. Searls

Mickle Middle School

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Mrs. Searls Classroom Information

Computer 7

Computer Basics and Operating System

Computer Basics--Students should have some understanding on how computers evolved from simple counting machines to the multimedia machines of today. Students will understand the basic operating system of their computer, how to manipulate the desktop, and how to navigate when saving.

Lesson: System Information

What system are we running?	How much RAM do we have?
How big is the hard drive?	What is the desktop?
What is an alias?	What is in the menu bar?
What applications are located in the dock?	How do you hide, show and move the dock?
What is the difference between close and quit?	How do you login, logout?
How do you force quit an application?	How do you control the sound volume on your computer?

Activity:OS Activity 1.

Window Information: What is a window and what is the function of each of its parts (title bar, scroll boxes, toolbar, view menu, red-yellow-green buttons, etc.) How do you relocate and resize a window? How do you change the View from icon to list to column? How do you reorganize a window? Icon recognition between folders, documents and applications. How many items are in a window? How much space is available on the harddrive? Use Find to locate files on a computer.

Activity: OS Activity 2 (Desktop) to review desktop terms.

Lesson:Server

What is a server and where is ours located? Log onto the server.
Students will know how to drag files from the server to the hard drive.
Review procedure for saving backups of your files on the server.

Navigation: How do you know where you are saving? What is the difference between saving on the hard drive and saving on the server?
What types of connections do we use (USB, firewire, Apple, SCSI)
Type of connectivity--dial up, broad band, network, fiber optic. At home, do you use dial-up, cable or DSL?

Word Processing

Students will type articles, reinforcing the use of home row for accurate typing. They will explore various formatting (font, style, size and color), use spell check, thesaurus, headers, footers, word count, tabs, bulleted lists, invisibles, date and time, graphics and text wrap.

Lesson:Type a paragraph of text.

Students will use word wrap and not the return key at the end of each line. Students will learn how to locate and open the Formatting Palette.

Change the font, style, size and color of text. Learn Bold, Italic, and Underline. Insert a Title and learn to center the title. Double space the paragraph. Insert header and footer. Save the document to the server. Students will learn how to know where they are printing.

Activity: WP Optional 1

This allows students to get to know each other and also become familiar with typing and saving a word processing document. Simple formatting and printing are also learned.

Activity: WP Activity 1 and WP Activity 2

Use the spell check to correct errors. Then proofread. Rename, save, print.

Activity: WP Activity 3

Use a thesaurus to replace underlined words. Learn to copy, cut, and paste to put the items in proper order. Then learn to highlight and drag as a shortcut.

Activity: WP Activity 4

Students will learn to make lists: Bulleted lists, numbered lists and tabs with leaders. They will use invisibles to identify tabs.

Activity:WP Activity 5

Students will learn to insert time and date, insert a graphic and do text wrap.

Activity:About MeSpell check and proofread. After paragraphs are written, students will use the toolbox to draw themselves. Use word count to see how many words they wrote.

Activity: Newpaper Students will create a one-page newspaper with a two-column format. They will insert their name, centered in the header and then insert their completed articles. Students will need to know how to move and close windows in WP. Students could also add a graphic and then text wrap the graphic. A picture from the digital camera could also be added to the page. Formatting and styles could be up to the student.

Graphics

Students will explore the PhotoShop Elements software. They will learn how to crop photos, add filters, clone items and create a basic slideshow of their work.

Quick Fixes	Cropping	Cloning
Filters	Layers	Masking

Activity: Students use given photographs to crop the picture.

Activity: Students use given photographs to clone a part of the picture into another area of the same picture.

Activity: Students use cameras to a take a picture of themselves and then clone themselves onto a famous persons body.

Activity: Students will create a collage page using photos taken in class or brought from home and scanned in.

Drawing: (From within Word)

Drawing Palette	Resize	Pen Formatting
Layers	Grouping	Wrapping

Activity: Make a tick-tack-toe board and play with a partner.

Activity: Use the polygon tool to draw a crown. Use reshape to adjust the points of the crown. Use the Regular polygon tool to draw the jewels on the crown.

Activity: Students will draw a house; Complete the drawing with details such as a shingled roof, curtains on the windows, flowers, bushes and trees around the house, a sidewalk, a mailbox, etc.

Activity: Kite scene.

Activity: Students will draw a cartoon of their own, complete with speech balloons.

Spreadsheet

Students will identify terms such as: Spreadsheet, Rows, Columns, cell names, cell, entry bar, cursor, values, labels, formulas and functions. Students will open a spreadsheet and practice navigating ( tab, shift-tab, return, shift-return). Students will also create their own spreadsheets to assist them in completing a task.

Activity: Students will create Family Budget and complete the worksheet SS Activity 1.1. This will provide a practical application in using the terms they learned in their notes.

Activity Students will open Money Saving Sample and see how formulas can be used to help make decisions about things that are important to them.

Activity Students will open a new spreadsheet and enter data with information provided in SS Activity 2.1. They will examine how formulas work. They will use functions including SUM, AVERAGE, COUNT, MAX, MIN and RAND. They will format all data properly. Students will be able to set the print range and print the spreadsheet.

Activity Complete the spreadsheet MIDDLE SCHOOL GOLF by using SS Activity 3.1. Students will learn to combine functions to make more complex formulas.

Extended Activity Students will be able to use their own data to generate a spreadsheet and then create various charts and/or graphs. The webquest for Pizza Family Reunion will require students to create five different spreadsheets. Students should make a pie or graph chart for at least one of their spreadsheets.

Extended Activity For using spreadsheets for data analysis and probability, try Suzanne's Math Lessons.

Internet Basics

Lesson The student will be able to identify the different browsers, know how to use the toolbars, understand privacy and safety issues, develop a working vocabulary of internet terms, know how to conduct an intelligent search, explore different search engines, evaluate the accuracy of web information, and learn to download graphics from a web page.

Activity The student can launch a browser and identify the information in the toolbars. Take a look a the LPS web site. Link to the elementary schools. Students go to an elementary school site and see what's on the web sites. Then navigate to the Mickle site and explore the information on the site. Who is the webmaster? Go to the sec. it webpage and look for tip of the day. What are banners and advertising, and what should you do with them?

Activity Refer to the following web pages for safety issues, privacy, avoiding viruses and netiquette:

* Internet Safety Tips
* Safety Contract
* Get NetWise
* Surf Swell Island Play a Game with Mickey and Minnie and print a Certificate of Swellness

Activity Internet Glossary Learn definitions to basic internet terminology. Basic navigation terms include but not be limited to: Universal Resource Locator (URL), web browser, Back and Forward buttons, Favorites or Bookmarks, Go menu, Webpage and Website, Links, Refresh, Search Engines and Web Crawlers.

Activity Learn how to spend your time wisely to do a search.

Activity Explore at least five different search engines. (Google, Alta Vista, Ask Jeeves, etc.)How do they work? Why are the results not always the same? Conduct several Boolean searches. How can you tell when you arrive at a page if the information is accurate? If you were doing a bibliography for a report, what information would you need from the web page?(Noodle.com) When you go to Apple.com, do you realize you are actually going to a computer in California?

Activity Students will be able to copy information and paste it in a WP document. Learn about copyright issues. Students will be able to copy AND download an image or graphic. Why is it not okay to download audio and video on school computers?

Internet Activity 1.1 Students create a postcard from Lincoln by downloading a picture from the web and then adding text that they have copied from the web.