Staff writer
While Centre High School has been on the forefront of technological advancements with the virtual school program, Superintendent Jerri Kemble and technology coordinator Vicki Jirak have not forgotten about Centre Elementary School.
CES has two advanced technological instruments.
The morning announcements are filmed using a computer and then emailed to every elementary school teacher, before school starts, as podcasts. Students read a greeting, inform classmates about the weather, and recite the Centre motto.
“When we used to do it, it was only fourth grade,” Jirak said. “Since everyone’s been begging, second and third grade are doing them now, too.”
The announcements were previously read over the intercom. Teachers now have a choice of when in the morning to play the announcements over their projector screen.
Podcasts give students a visual on which to focus. With the longer format, students have added knock-knock jokes to the announcements.
“Before, people didn’t get to see anything,” fourth-grader Kyle Naerbout said.
Students read podcasts on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Kemble always performs podcasts on Mondays to relay important information to students. On Fridays, guest speakers do podcasts; this past week it was the school cooks.
“It makes us feel like we’re all together,” Jirak said. “Isn’t this a good way to start the morning?”
While first-graders and kindergartners have thus far been excluded from podcasts, every CES grade level has used iPods in the classroom since November.
On Thursday, Candace Tajchman’s third-grade class used iPod programs to study the U.S. and to work on math problems.
The Stack the States program features questions as difficult as matching states to their nicknames.
“It’s good because they have to know their states for fourth grade,” Tajchman said.
Another requirement for fourth grade is knowing multiplication tables for numbers 0 through 5 and 10. The math game on the iPod quizzes students in multiplication and division to keep them sharp.
Other grades have also used reading and spelling programs on the iPods. Fourth, third, and second grades have enough iPods for each student.
“The programs also let them get ready for state assessments,” Tajchman said.
Although they are drilling school curriculum, Tajchman said her students always race to pick up iPods when they have a choice to use them.
“They like them a lot,” Tajchman said.