Computer Availability

Students needing to use the computer lab to finish assignments or because their home equipment is not working are welcome to make arrangements to come in early or make arrangements to stay after school.  Students should see me to obtain a morning pass to come to the computer lab before school starts, or contact me if they need to stay after school

Computer Curriculum

All students in grades Pre-K through grade 8 have a scheduled, structured computer class once a week.  During these classes, Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten students primarily use educational software to increase their knowledge of basic skills in phonics, pre-reading and math, and learn basic skills such as how to type their name and how to print. Students begin learning Microsoft Word in first grade, and progress to learning keyboarding skills, PowerPoint, and Excel, and Internet research skills by fourth grade. In addition, other times during the week, teachers may sign up to take students to use the wireless computer lab for Internet research, work on various assignments and projects, or to use the SmartBoard. The computer labs and classrooms have Apple desktops and/or laptops. Each classroom has at least one computer with Internet access.   

The SmartBoard is an interactive whiteboard that allows software from a computer to be projected onto a whiteboard.  Students can write on the whiteboard and save their work to the computer.  For example, the Social Studies teacher can project a blank map outline onto the SmartBoard screen and have students come up and write in the names of the various cities and countries on it.   Younger students can trace the letters of the alphabet on the board and select pictures that begin that with a certain letter.  In addition, the SmartBoard can function as a large projection screen, so students in grades 4 and up may use it to present their PowerPoint presentations to the class, and teachers can project images from the Internet.   

The school also has two Elmo document cameras, which are similar to an overhead projector, but have the advantage of enabling you to project 3D images onto a screen.  In the science lab, the teacher can dissect a frog, or a teacher can read a book to the class, and the images of the frog and the pages of the book can be projected onto a screen for everyone to see more easily. 

Several of the classrooms also have a wireless Presentation system including a large LCD monitor that allows teachers to connect their computer or DVD player and show DVDs and PowerPoint presentations. 
 

Mrs. Lawson grew up in New York City.  She is married with two children. Mrs. Lawson has a B. S. in Education and a B. S. in Computer Science. She began teaching at Notre Dame in 1999, and prior was at Maercker School for 1 year and in Belgium for 3 years.  Wish her a happy birthday on October 27!

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