Mrs. Seymour's Primary Class' display

Our annual Technology Fair was held June 3, 2000, here at Upton Elementary. At the beginning of the year, students were encouraged to choose an idea for a project to display at the fair. Various software and hardware provided at the school or software programs at home are to be used in creating a portion or the entire final product.

As the year progressed and units of study were introduced and covered, they decided with what curriculum the project would relate. The projects helped the students become more knowledgeable with the software and equipment available to them.

On that long awaited day of the Technology Fair, you could see the eyes of the students beaming with pride. As you walk down the hall you hear their excited voices exclaiming, "That is my project."

Some of our projects this year included PowerPoint presentations and books created with material gathered from the Internet and various sources. The simplicity of a white background combined with facts and gorgeous colorful pictures relating to the material made a beautiful presentation. On the other hand, there were vibrant colored backgrounds used in some presentations to enhance the data presented. The digital camera in our school was often used to add pictures to the presentation about activities in the classroom. One PowerPoint created by a fourth grader displayed the words to a song she created about "My Old Kentucky Home", and as the slide show advanced her lovely recorded voice filled the air with each note she sang to the words.

Kid Pix Studio was also used to show pictographs of data gathered within the classroom during certain lessons. This program was also used to create an ocean scene with learned information typed in the corner of the picture and sea animals stamped on the page.

In art, students drew pictures and scanned them. The scanned picture was then printed onto transfer paper. A T-shirt exhibited the drawing and was used as that student's project.

A combination of software programs is often used to create the project. Fact cards created with the Print Shop program asked a question about a certain animal. Under the question, a picture of the animal created with the Paint program was imported. The fact card unfolded to reveal the answer.

Two primary students created stickers about the Solar System unit using labels and the Print Shop Ensemble III program.

Several P1 students gluing on material printed from various programs and the Internet created posters.

A new capability here at Upton this year was Avid Cinema. One student took advantage and edited a video. Jordan had someone video him interviewing a student from each classroom about an activity in class this year. He then imported the video into the computer via Avid Cinema and edited each interview with an opening and closing transition. He also added a title to each segment. As viewers examined the projects, they only had to click the start button to see Jordan's edited interviews.

Our annual Technology Fair affords the students an opportunity to boost their self-esteem, learn more about available resources in the school and reinforce material learned in class. The teachers, staff and parents also become more aware of the technological capabilities within our school.

Coordinated by Connie Ireland