Today, Will successfully completed a PowerPoint assessment where he opened the program, inserted a slide with text and picture, and changed the formatting. He was able to do so 100% on his own without guidance. I'm proud of him. After the assessment, I showed him how to add a hyperlink on PowerPoint, and then I introduced him to Publisher, the next program we will be working with.

Today, Will and I reviewed ways to add audio to his PowerPoint. He recorded his speech onto a couple of slides, editing and re-recording when his voice was too low. The final result was pleasing, and we will continue to add audio during our next two sessions.

Today, Will added two slides to his Lord of the Rings PowerPoint Presentation. He retrieved images from Google Images and added them to his two slides. He changed the background images, added text, and looked at formatting options. We will continue to work on the slide show for a week or so.

It was a pleasure meeting Will today. I began the session by showing him the final result of a PowerPoint presentation, so that he would understand the program and our goals. We discussed his interests (Washington, D.C. and The Lord of the Rings, for example), and how they can be the focus of a PowerPoint presentation in the future. I also showed him how to search Google Images for pictures that can be used in future projects.

Baylie participated in a group Easter activity during this time.

Baylie used the abcya.com website and practiced typing all of the letters of the alphabet on a program called Keyboard Zoo. This program helps Baylie to find the keys on the keyboard without looking down. The keyboard is shown on the screen so instead of Baylie looking down at the keys all she needs to do is look at the keyboard on the screen to see where the placement of the letter is. After practicing keyboarding, Baylie used the rest of her computer time to play educational games on sumdog.com as well as pbskids.org.

Baylie practiced typing letters on the home row keys using Microsoft Word. Then, Baylie continued to practice playing a few keyboard games on typingtest.com. Baylie created and typed an acrostic poem using the word baseball. She came up with creative adjectives to describe her father in this poem. She did a beautiful job on this typing assignment.

Gwendolyn practiced typing the home row keys on the keyboard by playing a keyboard game on funtotype.com. This helps her practice using the home row keys without looking down and to memorize where these keys are. She is doing a great job in keyboarding!

Baylie practiced typing letters using the keys on the home row of the keyboard. She practiced on the abcya.com website. Baylie is getting better with the letter placement of the home row keys and is practicing not looking down when she types. In addition, Baylie played educational games on fun brain.com and pbskids.org.

Baylie typed ten of her spelling words from her spelling list this week. She did this using the abcya.com website and created a crossword puzzle from the words she typed. Baylie is beginning to become familiar with the keys on the home base of the keyboard. She is working on typing the keys on the keyboard without having to look down. During the last half hour of class Baylie explored sumdog.com and razkids.com.