Clarkstown Schools Hold Technology Celebration

Clarkstown School District students from elementary through middle and high school age showed family and friends how they use technology in the classroom. From SMART Boards in kindergarten to creating Google docs in the higher elementary grades and demonstrating applications of digital media in high school, students enthusiastically shared how technology has become another learning tool for them. 

More than 25 students led or assisted many of the 12 demonstrations held at Felix Festa Middle School on Monday evening.  Clarkstown’s Director of Instructional Technology John Krouskoff introduced the program by telling parents they were going to see dramatic changes from when they attended school.

“For those of you above 17 years old you’re going to see some things really different from the classrooms of 10 or 15 years ago,” he said.

Laurel Plains Elementary School kindergarteners demonstrated their knowledge of the story of “Goldilocks and The Three Bears” on a SMART Board. They showed the board’s tactile and visual features by either writing on the board or moving items around to answer Teaching Assistant’s Helen Cumba’s questions about characters, character traits and the story’s setting. 

Across the hall, Birchwood School students in Janet Haas-Broda’s science class displayed how they created a booklet with illustrations of Earth.

Lakewood Elementary School Fifth Grade Angeline took visitors through the development of a Google doc about Dr. Seuss.  She along with Library Media Teacher Patricia Sforzo explained how groups of four and five students collaborated on the project. Angeline showed the different slides she and classmates researched and designed with images, facts about the author and the books he wrote.

Sforzo said the students worked in school and from home on the projects. Some of the groups explored animation and videos on their own.

“I was so thrilled and so amazed (at) what they could do,” she said.