Library & Technology
December has been a busy month
@ the Hilltop Library Media Center!
3rd and 4th Graders have been busy researching. Students are using our district subscriptions for www.brainpopjr.com and www.brainpop.com to view informational videos, listen for details, note-take, and publish their notes in their Google Drive. Students understand the importance of citing our sources, and will incorporate a formal citation for their informational video when they embark on their second research topic.
Hilltop 4th graders participated in an HOUR OF CODE! We joined in on the largest learning event in history: The Hour of Code, during Computer Science Education Week Dec. 7-13. More than 100 million students worldwide have already tried an Hour of Code. In the Hilltop Library Media Center 4th graders were introduced to the basic concept of coding. Students learned about and wrote basic algorithms on paper. Students then proceeded to use Blockly, an introductory programming language in which students write code using visual blocks. Students were required to make sense of problems and persevere in solving them, reason abstractly and quantitatively, and attend to precision! Watch out for Mrs. LeMay’s after school “CODING” enrichment class. 
In honor of the winter holidays, students in grades 1-4 have been creating GEOMETRIC winter scenes in PowerPoint. Using their imagination, creativity, design skills, and digital drawing tools, students have created some incredible scenes! Stay on the lookout for these fabulous creations!
All 3rd & 4th graders are STRONGLY ENCOURAGED to continue their home keyboarding practice! Keyboard logs are due every technology class.
2nd Graders are deep into their state research projects. Students have used various digital and print sources to research their state, and are now beginning to put together a digital presentation. 
Physical Education: The classes have been focusing on their EYE-HAND coordination. For most classes this means Basketball. I work on developing their eye-hand coordination with different activities. For 1st and 2nd activities like Dribble freeze is played. For 3rd and 4th grade we play a dribble tag game. The younger children will shoot at a little tikes hoop using different size balls. The oldest classes will use the main baskets, and use a Jr. size ball. We all continue to keep our bodies in shape by jogging around the gym and keeping an eye on our heart rate.
