Technology is very active at St. Raphael Catholic School. Pre – K through 8th Grade attend classes in technology in the computer lab as well as technology in the classrooms. Pre – K Through 5th grade attend computer class once a week with lessons following the Texas Teks on computer literature. Students learn proper keyboarding skills, word processing skills, databases, searching techniques on the internet, power point presentations and so much more.
6th through 8th grades take the technology class every school year. They cover areas such as keyboarding skills, word processing, spreadsheets, databases, desktop publishing, Powerpoint and Prezi presentations and group projects. Eighth graders build web pages using HTML Coding, study video editing and podcasting. 7th Grade, if time permits programming. 6th grade studies keyboarding skills, word processing, lessons on copyright do’s and don’ts, and spreadsheets.
Our C.O.W. (Computer on Wheels), which have iPads that students use in their classrooms, is checked out to classrooms daily for Prekinder through 1st grade students. We purchased the iStation reading program which is used by the students on these iPads. Students from 2nd grade to 8th grade have school-issued iPads.
Technology for the teachers at our school includes an iPad and a chromebook for each teacher. Each teacher has an LCD projector in their rooms and some of our teachers have a J touch board in their classrooms. The J touch is a Whiteboard that can be wirelessly connected to our iPads and chromebooks.
St. Raphael School uses Facts/Renweb, an online grading program. Through the Parent Portal, parents can see their child(ren)'s assignments and grades. No more surprises. Parents get the report card through renweb. They can also communicate with the teacher through the email portion of renweb.
While speaking about communicating with the parents, I would also add that our teachers use Class Dojo. This program helps parents see how their child does in school every day. Teachers can leave messages and icons to the parents which show the behavior of their child(ren).