Prairieview students enhance learning with technology

Third-grade students at Prairieview School in Haineseville have been busy utilizing new technologies to enhance learning.

The students have been doing research on natural disasters: what causes them, when and where they occur, if they can be prevented, and what to do to prepare for disasters. The third-grade team collaborated with Information Specialist Kirsten Innes to integrate technology into their curriculum and research projects.

All third-grade students are creating Google presentations using Chromebooks in the Prairieview computer lab. By logging into their own Google accounts, they can access their projects from anywhere there is Internet access.

Students in Amy Erickson and Julie Mayer's third-grade class are also utilizing Apple iPad mini devices, which are part of the CCSD 46 technology 1:1 pilot. Students have compiled their research done on the iPads into movies using an app called Puppet Pals.

Each student in the third grade has also been creating a PowerPoint presentation, which they shared this past February during student-led conferences. The students created graphs in one program, exported the data into graphic files, and then imported the graphics into their presentation. The graphs represent how they feel they are doing academically and behaviorally in school.

Prairieview students are learning that technology can enhance their learning process in many ways, no matter which technology tool they utilize. Prairieview School has four third-grade classes led by Amy Erickson, Danielle Faubert, Megan Jansen, and Julie Mayer, with Principal Vince Murray.

Community Consolidated School District 46 serves parts of the villages of Grayslake, Third Lake, Hainesville, Round Lake, Round Lake Park, Round Lake Beach, and Lake Villa.

The district comprises seven schools: four kindergarten through fourth-grade neighborhood schools: Avon Center, Meadowview, Prairieview and Woodview; one kindergarten through eighth-grade neighborhood school: Park Campus; one fifth- and sixth-grade intermediate school: Frederick; and one seventh- and eighth-grade middle school: Grayslake Middle School.