Teachers and administrators at Sonshine have always understood the importance of utilizing technology in the classrooms. Our elementary classrooms have had interactive white boards, document cameras, and access to computers and tablets since the school began. This year we are making a more focused effort on not only providing more technology for all of our students, but also using technology for higher order thinking skills. Sonshine’s fourth and fifth grade students all have their own personal Chromebooks to use at school and to also take home for further learning opportunities. Mrs. Palmer, our fourth and fifth grade teacher, attended training during the summer on using Google classroom and then all of Sonshine’s teachers attended a training before school began on using Google classroom. The fourth and fifth grade students have taken off with Google classroom and all of the Google apps. They have created slide show presentations, collaborated on group projects using various web sites, typed up reports, and continue to excel and expand their knowledge of all the internet and technology has to offer them.
Recently, our fourth and fifth grade students have become mentors for all of our lower grade students. It is not unusual to find the fourth and fifth grade students paired up with kindergarten students as they help the kinders learn how to create a slide show presentation, or you may also find them teaching our second and third grade students how to use Google classroom!
Our goal for next year is to provide a personal Chromebook for all third through fifth grade students. We will also continue to teach our lower grade students how to use computers and tablets. If you would like more information on how we use technology at Sonshine please send us a question or write us a comment and we will get back to you!
Rosemary Warner (Sonshine Principal)