Another computer donation today

Today we recieved yet another old but serviceable Imac, which we are adding to our pool of reserve computers.
Remember, we take all working computers with the following specs:
Windows:
Windows 2000, XP, or Vista
Intel Pentium 4 or equivalent
CDrom, ethernet, usb all working.

Macintosh
OS 10.1 and up
PPC G4 or better(all intel Macintoshes)

We have given many older computers a new and useful existence here at Rancho.
Just call Cindy to make an appointment to have the computer brought into the school.

We are grateful for all donations.

Amazing Rancho Readers

Yesterday, I wrote that Rancho readers had already read a little over 2 million words.
Today, the school is up to 117 books and 3 million words. Clearly 4th and fifth grade have hit the ground running. I expect that by the middle of next week, we will have finished leveling tests for 2nd, 3rd,4th, and 5th grade, and that all the students will have the opportunity to begin doing A/R testing in the classroom.
It's going to be a good year for reading.

We're off to read again..

As all Rancho parents know, our school loves to read. School has barely started. We're just starting Accelerated Reader quizzes. With only a small portion of the student body having taken a quiz, your children have already read over 2 million words. They read 9873 books last year, up from 9069 the year before. I have the feeling that we're going to beat that record this year.

Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana

It's hard to believe that we're already finishing up our second full week of school.
So much has happened already. We've already set up Type to Learn,Math Blaster, and Treasure Math Storm. We're getting ready to start Accelerated Reader in the classroom next week. We're also in the middle of restarting Treasure Math Storm and Math Arena.

Nearly all of the third, fourth, and fifth grade classes have already done one full lesson on Type to Learn. I'm happy to say that most students did not forget their typing skills over the summer. This year, we have third graders who are already half way through this wonderful program. That's impressive.

We had two second classes start Treasure Math Storm. Because of the work first grade teachers did last year, it went very smoothly. The kids are very excited, because Treasure Math Storm is one of the most popular games in the lab for all grades.

We've started work on a "mini-mac" lab with 15 macintoshes. We're looking forward to starting podcast lessons in third grade latter on in the year.

Both of my my main volunteers have moved on to other projects, so I am looking for volunteers to work in the lab.
Friday I have classes in the lab all day. It's my busiest day, so I'll stop here.
More later.