Technology Update: Student-Powered Playground & Summer Coding School (05/03/16)

As the end of the year is drawing near, we are providing two great opportunities for our students to celebrate their year and jump start learning for next year.

Student-Powered Playground - May 26, 2016, 4:30-6:00 PM @ Yolo Education Center

Have a tech related project your students created this past school year? The inaugural Student-Powered Playground will celebrate our students’ skills and knowledge gained through the increase in technology to the classroom. This event is open to all TK-12 teachers and students and is completely voluntary. During this 90 minute event, students will have an opportunity to “show what they know” to their families and friends in an informal “playground” of student-led hands-on learning. We are looking for projects or activities that integrate with STEAM and the California State Standards (CCSS). Support our students by signing up for a classroom table - see more information at http://goo.gl/eNsFc9

Summer Coding School

A couple of weeks ago, flyers for the upcoming Summer Coding School should have been placed in the boxes of 4th - 7th grade teachers to be passed out to go home. This is a program that we are contracting with Code for Hood to provide to existing 4th-7th grade students as part of the regular summer school program. Summer school begins on June 13 and ends on July 14 and students would be expected to attend all 5 weeks (Monday-Thursday). The form is to gauge interest from our families and those who complete and submit the form will receive first priority when registration opens on May 12 (pending board approval on May 11). If you need a copy of the form, please see the attached PDF. Basic information for parents can be found at http://goo.gl/Hi5LQi

If you have interest forms that you’ve collected from your students, please send those to Christy Jourdan, Technology Department, via district mail.

There will be 60 spaces available and we hope to accommodate all that are interested while still maintaining equity of school site participation across the district. The content will most likely include the following (details are still being finalized):

• Digital Art Media – Intro to graphic design 
• Fun with Electronics – Introduction to electronics 
• Fun with Sketch Up – 3D Modeling introduction 
• Fun with Scratch – Coding class 
• Build a website – using open source software 

Thank you for your continued work with our West Sacramento students and please let me know if you have any questions. As always, we are here to help!

Kim