If you can have one computer per student, here are two ideas I picked up at a technology workshop yesterday. Both ideas use word processing software, nothing fancy.

Idea #1:
Each student types in their own name. They can put it in a big font size, color it, etc. Then class rotates. Everyone must type in one nice thing about the student whose name is on the computer. I could have students type in complete sentences or just adjectives (for adjective agreement). For adjective agreement you could put two girls together and two boys and a mixed group too. It was suggested that this feel good activity is appropriate just before group work, during which time students may grow to hate each other. So in middle school you may have to say, "If you can't say anything nice, don't type anything at all. Keep your hands behind your back."

Idea #2
The other idea is each student types in their own name. Class rotates. Eventually every student types in a question. (Ex. what is your name, age, where do you live, favorite sports. Why am I assuming hs students will ask polite, boring questions like these?) The student then return to their computers, and either as homework, or I prefer, right then in class, students write a paragraph / paragraphs about themselves in which they answer the questions they were asked.

I have used Powerpoint to do a "Fashion show"'. Each student in the class produced 1 slide, which included the following:

- a photo taken with a digital camera of him/her in their chosen outfit.

- a written paragraph introducing him/herself and describing the outfit. This paragraph must contain information on at least 5 clothing items (colors, fabrics, etc.), the season and weather, and what activity they were doing or going to do. The paragraph should wrap up with a closing phrase or compliment.

The students recorded their own voices reading the paragraph and also music of their choice (only instrumental parts were allowed) for about 10 sec. at the beginning and end of the slide transition.

I linked the slides into one Powerpoint to make the Fashion Show. It wa s a fun activity, students worked very hard, EVERYONE finished a slide, the music was a big motivator too. It was truly a class project that everyone was proud of.

As far as software is concerned, I found that the students, just like the adults, are all over the place with their knowledge and skills, so having them work in class allows them to help each other.

More Kindergarten ideas: We use web-based bookmarking to take the students on the Internet to sites about weather, community helpers, and sites that have short, simple read-along stories. By having all of the sites bookmarked for the students they don't have to type the URL.

At our school, each Internet lesson focuses either on a theme being studied in class or a letter. When studying animals we went to a site that had clickable animal sounds and had the kids listen to many different animal sounds. Then they drew their impression of the animal.

Teach them to use Paint. Have them make a scene to print on a postcard. Take tons of pictures of the kids and let them print them out and make cards, magnets, any crafty thing you can think of for all the holidays!

Example of a nicely integrated lesson: The week we were studying things in the sky (sun, stars, moon) and the letters V and W we read a book by author Lenny Hort called "How Many Stars" then we went to the computer lab to view Vincent van Gogh's "Starry Night" at a Web Museum. The kids practiced using the mouse to scroll and zoom in on the picture. Then we colored a blackline print out of "Starry Night" from Enchanted Learning while listening to the Don McLean song "Vincent." The students work was collected and bound into a book that resides in our student-produced section of the library.

I have my 1-4th grade students prepare KidPix slideshows based on webquest research on curriculum based items. Kindergarten students prepare the sounds of the alphabet slideshows. They place a letter of the alphabet in the slide, then add stamps that start with that sound. They also work on number slides (placing a number and adding the same number of stamps). 4th-graders on up will also work in PowerPoint to present their research material, student created stories and so on. This year I had the middle school students write a story on "Character Counts". They illustrated, authored and narrated their story. They decided to use KidPix instead of PowerPoint to run their slideshow.

I used Inspiration as a "getting to know you" activity in the beginning of the year. In the main idea section, each student placed his/her picture that we took with the digital camera. The students then wrote personal information (age, likes, dislikes...) and chose appropriate clip art.

Students were able to learn about each other and I displayed them in the hall for Open House. It was great for public relations! One parent even came to me because she couldn't find her son's picture! "Gee", I said, "If I received it, it's on display. Perhaps Johnny didn't turn it in." Guess who was waiting for me at my door the first thing the next morning...with his Inspiration project?

My students loved this and I loved the result as well.