By:

Brandy Russell

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

6:00 p.m.

WES will be hosting it’s 1st annual Technology Fair this November.

This event will showcase the exceptional talents of our students in grades 3rd-6th and provide them the opportunity to compete with their projects.

There are 6 categories in our technology fair:

1. General Applications 2. Multimedia 3. Web Site Creation 4. Video Production 5. Hardware-Robotics 6. Computer Programming

Let’s take a closer look at each category:

General Applications:Word DocumentBASIC PowerPoint (no music or video/movie)SpreadsheetsWord processing programsDesktop Publishing programs

Example of previous General Application project:

Multimedia: PowerPoint (advanced) using different

programs, adding music, adding video clips/movies

Example of previous Multimedia project:

Astound Kid Pix KidWorks Deluxe Storybook Weaver HyperStudio Word Perfect Presentations Claris Works www.design-training.com and go to Multimedia

Video Production:Windows Movie MakerToshiba Movie DesignerAny program you have that converts video

to movies.

Example of previous Video Production project:

Web Site Creation:BlogsWiki’sGoogle sitesNingWeebly for educationwww.design-training.com and go to website

creation for childrenwww.lisaexplains.com is AWESOME!

Hardware-Robotics:Google search: Making a robot for kids

Computer Programming:

Google search: computer programming for kids

Students can do their projects on anything they are passionate about or any subject they have a lot of knowledge about.

Projects that have a school tie-in or that were directly assigned in class receive extra points at the Regional and State ACTE Technology Fair.

Students will compete in Levels Level I is 3rd and 4th grade Level II is 5th and 6th grade

Students may enter more than one category, but may have only one project per category.

Students may enter an individual project AND be part of a group project within a single category.

Students can compete in a groups of no more than 4. The student will compete in the Level of the oldest student in that group.

EXAMPLE: Suzie is in the 3rd grade. She enters an individual

project in Multimedia. She also enters a group Multimedia project with 2 of her friends and one of the friends is in the 5th grade. Suzie will compete in Level I for her individual project and Level II for her group project.

All projects need to be saved on a USB jump drive (flash drive)

All files, pictures, video clips, music, etc. will also need to be saved on that jump drive

Windows Movie Maker is VERY tricky sometimes if you try to create a project on a computer and copy it to a jump drive—it is best to begin the project by saving everything to the jump drive. That way everything will pull up wherever you are!

We will have space available for you to set-up a laptop if your project requires a certain program that we would not have at school.

Otherwise, your child will show their project to the judges by inserting their jump drive into a computer in the library.

There will be “practice” times available the week before the fair for students to bring their projects and make sure they pull up without “glitches”.

A project notebook must accompany every project.

Notebook requirements are on my website and are very detailed.

When you have decided on a project and are ready to begin, you may send your child to me and they can “check-out” a DVD that will take you step by step through how to set-up your notebook. Please return it within 2 weeks.

There will be a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winner in each category at our local fair.

1st, 2nd, and 3rd place projects will advance to the ACTE Regional Technology Fair at Jacksonville State University in January, 2011. (Alabama Council for Technology in Education)

There will be a 1st and 2nd place winner in each category at the regional level.

Those projects will advance to the ACTE State Fair in Montgomery in April, 2011.

Tuesday, November 14th

Students will compete throughout the school day and awards will be given out that evening at 6pm at the PTO meeting.

Judges will be teachers from other schools, employees from Calhoun County Technology Department, and Technology Sponsors.

Any questions: Please e-mail me at brussell.we@calhoun.k12.al.us