COMPUTERS NOW REACHING K-6

Teri Jones, fourth-grade teacher at Clippard Elementary School, assisted student Ashley Banks at the computer. Students place a red cup atop the computer when they need some help.

Writing on boards in the classrooms with fingers and playing computer games during school has become a trend in Cape Girardeau elementaries this year, and teachers and administrators are encouraging it.

It's the first year that computer labs have been available to K-6 children in Cape Girardeau public schools, said Helen Gibbar, technology training coordinator for the school district.

"I'd like to see their knowledge after three or four years," said Gibbar, observing a class of kindergartners in the computer lab at Jefferson Elementary. "They'll really be technology literate."

Teen-agers in Cape schools have had access to computer labs for about five years in the senior high and four years in the junior high. Implementing this in elementary schools has come more slowly because of training needs and a lack of money, she said.

"That's part of the reason I was hired as a full-time grant writer," Gibbar said. "There are a lot of technology grants, but they are very competitive."

At all elementaries except Franklin the labs have been funded from the district's master plan. Franklin's computers are being paid for by a federal grant with matching funds.

All the elementaries have computer labs with 30 computers up and running since the start of the school year, except for Franklin and Alma Schrader.

Franklin's lab was put on hold because of changing construction schedules from the district's master plan, Gibbar said. The lab at Franklin will be wired this summer.

Schrader was delayed when the original location for the lab was given to classrooms. Wiring and construction was completed over the Christmas break, Gibbar said, and Schrader has had its computers operating since January.

Some classrooms have a computer or two, but eventually the school district plans to have four in every room, she said.

Time in the computer lab has grown as teachers have gotten more training.

"The equipment is useless unless you have massive amounts of training," Gibbar said.

Training teachers how to use SMART boards has been another form of computer training. SMART boards are white boards that respond to the touch of a finger on the board. A person can press on an icon on the board, or screen, or use magnetic pens that write in erasable colors on the board.

Fourth-grade teacher Lorna Mueller at Blanchard can barely keep her students away from the board in her classroom.

"They all want to do it at once," she said.

With various computer programs displayed for interactive use on the SMART board, Mueller has taught children fractions, history and how to have fun. They have been building their own municipality with a program called SimCity, she said.

"It has to be fun," Mueller said. "We're competing with TV."

Blanchard has four SMART boards this year, with plans for five more next year, said Esther Rehbein, computer lab instructor.

Conditions are the same in other elementaries.

Extra help from computer-literate parents has been invaluable, Gibbar said. A biology instructor from Southeast Missouri State University volunteered to give children a computer lesson in biology, she said.

Parents are getting involved because they understand the advantage of their children having computer experience early on, Gibbar said.

The schools use a program called ClassWorks, specially prepared for institutional education with a compilation of grade-level reading and language skills.

"We can combine it with the Internet, so that children can work on projects with other schools across town or across the nation if they want," Gibbar said.

Some problems with the Internet have been experienced by Jefferson and Clippard schools. Trees have gotten in the way of radio signals used to transmit the Internet less expensively. The cost of equipment and a dedicated line have been barriers, but Gibbar said the district is planning on finding a more suitable option by the next school year.

The lab is set up with a plug for earphones at each monitor. All children have their own earphones, otherwise the noise from game-based learning programs would be deafening, said Gibbar.