Discovery Education Board Builder

Second grade students are utilizing a new tool in their animal research project. Discovery Education's Board Builder app is a great way for them to continue researching their topic and digitally share their new-found information in a visual way. Students were able to add text and search for supporting images and video from Discovery's robust media library. With tons of design options, the students were excited about sharing their knowledge!

Science Fair Preparations Begin

Do you remember the science fair? Do you remember walking through the long isles looking at everyone's presentation and materials related to their project? Berkman students are in the middle of their research and experimentation in preparation for the 2014 Science Fair hosted by Austin Energy. Students are utilizing many digital resources such as online databases, searching through web content for the right information, and choosing tools to help them organize their findings, such as PowerPoint. Science and Technology come together for a memorable experience!

Celebrate Texas Public Schools Video Contest

A small group of students in Mrs. Loft's class took on the challenge of creating and producing a video for the Celebrate Texas Public Schools Week video contest. They brainstormed all of the qualities they loved about their school and made a plan for how to capture those qualities on video. With lots of quality video footage, it was quite tricky to narrow it down to sixty seconds, but they got it done. Fingers crossed, we win! Great work to all of the kids highlighting why we are Proud to Be a Berkman Bee!

World Travelers

openclipart.org

Students in Mrs. Loft's Talented and Gifted (TAG) Program are working on a travel project that has them researching and creating original products from start to finish. Students choose a location they would like to travel to and then do all of the research required to facilitate that trip including managing a budget in Microsoft Excel, finding travel prices online, using Google Earth to visualize the location and its surroundings, and lastly creating a presentation to share the information with classmates. Presentations take form on screen in Microsoft Powerpoint and visitors walk away with a paper brochure created in Microsoft Publisher. This project provides a real-world experience that has technology integrated throughout.

Year End Photostories

Third grade students in Ms. Yau & Ms. Smith's classes enjoyed learning about Photostory as they incorporated photos from throughout the year into a year end movie. Students learned how to import images, add text to each photo, add their own narration, and create music. They each enjoyed viewing their own finished product as well as their classmates' movies.

Black History Contest Digital Submissions

Each year, students are encouraged to participate our district's Black History Contest. The Black History Month Contest hosted by Round Rock ISD and The Voice in collaboration with the annual Black History Celebration asks students to research African Americans and their journey towards freedom and equality so as to create a product to present their research. This year, several students submitted entries that utilized technology. Along with the help of Mrs. Loft, students used tools such as Animoto, PowerPoint, and Word to submit their research as their entry. In addition to gaining valuable insight and information from their research, students also learned a great deal about the technology tools available to them.

5th Grade Research

Fifth graders have begun researching fossils and the time periods from which they come! Along with Librarian, Mrs. Day, students utilized books, district provided online databases and various websites to excavate the information. From there they built a presentation using Microsoft PowerPoint in order to share what they learned. This project targeted every technology strand including Creativity & Innovation, Communication & Collaboration, Research & Information Fluency, Critical Thinking & Problem Solving, Digital Citizenship, and Tech Operations & Concepts.

Click the links below to see their work!
Jaylen & Nick      Lexi & Aaliyah      Isaiah & Erick      Cole & Kosmo
Billy & David       Jaliyah                   Emani & Aisha

Fifth Grade Video & Music Producers

In their final session of Aspire, fifth grade students explored the world of video and music production. Students worked in small groups to retell or transform scenes from a short story they had read. Their project plan included storyboarding, script writing, role assignment and lastly shooting the video. Students also explored an online music creation program called Soundation Studio which was very easy to use yet complex enough that they felt like they were actually in a real recording studio! This was a great introduction into the world of multimedia!

Year End Photostories

First grade students in Mrs. Duffy's class enjoyed learing about Photostory as they incorporated photos from their classroom into a year end movie. Students learned how to import images, add text to each photo, and create music. They each enjoyed viewing their own finished product as well as their classmates' movies.