School is out for the summer at Lewis Elementary and I'm looking forward to a bit of time for planning and housekeeping (such as imaging 70 computers...) over the summer weeks. This spring a principal colleague from a neighboring school and I wrote a grant proposal to fund the purchase of iMacs and digital video cameras for incorporation into our technology/literacy programs. We recently learned that the proposal was funded and we should have the equipment arrive in August. I'm looking forward to getting the machines in place over the summer so that we can hit the ground running in September.
I am very happy that Tony Jamesbarry, our music/technlogy arts teacher, will be working full time at Lewis this coming school year. Tony is a fantastic teacher. In addition to teaching music to all of our students, he also offers instrumental music instruction, a recorder club, and an orff ensemble we call the Boomin’ Beats. We would also like to add for our 2nd grade students a music keyboarding class. We are looking to raise about $2000 to purchase hardware and software to implement this program. We are also gladly taking dontations... :-)
In addition to teaching music, this past year Tony worked in the mornings with 3rd, 4th and 5th grade students in the technology lab. During this time Tony had students working on projects that utilized tools such as iMovie, GarageBand, Google Earth, and Comic Life. In addition, he helped students with writing assignments utilizing our wiki installations. With the addition of the grant machines, and having him full time in our building, I'm anticipating a great year of student growth and creativity...
Speaking of fundraising... Lewis Elementary is selling engraved bricks as a fundraiser to help us finish our outdoor classroom structure. These bricks will become part of a pathway to be installed in the outdoor center over the summer. If interested in having your name in brick on the Lewis Elementary school grounds, please consider purchasing a brick to support this effort.
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