Miss Amy Ashford
Mr. Brian PriceTechnology Program
Students
at SPBS attend weekly computer classes in our state-of-the-art Computer
Lab in small groups. Our school's Computer Lab and technology curriculum are
coordinated and taught by a fully credentialed teacher, who also has a Master's Degree. The SPBS Computer
Lab, and our school wide technology networks, have recently been
remodeled and upgraded to include an interactive touch screen SmartBoard (see photos below) in the Computer Lab and new hardware and software. Our students now have daily access to 22
brand-new iMac computers, utilizing Office and Apple software. In addition, SPBS students have access to 32 wireless laptops, which are used not only
in the Computer Lab, but they are also available for student classroom use
via our "wireless cart" and router. Access to two different types of computer
operating systems allows our students to become proficient
in different technologies here at Saint Paschal Baylon School. The SPBS computer/technology curriculum
is based on National Education Technology Standards, and it
is designed in collaboration with our faculty. The SPBS technology program is integrated
with and provides cross-curricular support for each grade's various academic programs, projects, and curriculum throughout the school year.
Kindergarten
students have laptops in their classroom and attend classes in the Computer Lab, to help ensure they
become familiar with parts of the computer, and their multiple
basic functions. In addition, our Kindergarten students' emerging
math and reading skills are reinforced by our Computer Lab
curriculum, which is specifically designed for their grade
level.
Students in grades First through Third visit the Lab on a regular basis, in order to increase their computer skills, and to strengthen their reading, writing, critical thinking, and language arts skills.
Students in Fourth and Fifth Grades use the Lab, with its high-speed Internet access, for researching class projects. They also are taught keyboarding, word processing, and are introduced to different forms of multi-media through technology. Junior High students are taught additional software programs such as Excel and Power Point. They use these skills to produce class projects in conjunction with their math and science curriculum. At the end of the school year, a video is produced by the Eighth Grade students in the Lab using iMovie . Each Eighth Grade student receives a copy as a graduation “memento” from the school. Students also utilize the laptops for guided classroom web research.
SPBS students are also able to take individual Star Reading quizzes in the Computer Lab, on the wireless laptops, or on the Library computers as a part of our Reading Renaissance program. Our Computer Lab, wireless laptop computers, and student-use computers in the school Library are all networked and provide restricted Internet access via iPrism for our students.
We believe that our evolving computer technology program will help provide an ever-expanding world of information and increased skills to our SPBS students. This global access will in turn help to broaden our students' abilities, horizons, and understanding.
