Category Archives: Student Resources

Are You Ready for 2ndary?

Here’s an article that covers valuable skills for students entering middle school. It is titled “Are Your 5th Graders Ready for Middle School?” by Yonina Lermer click here

One of those skills is the importance of staying organized.  Reading the article, I also thought about the distractions that come with navigating a middle school environment for the first time. The article also discusses time management tips, and the art that note taking can become. Digital age communication skills is another area to reflect on. There are number of really cool lessons provided through Common Sense Media that can help develop how a student prioritizes and maintains their digital footprints. One of the biggest tests is accountability and helping students develop a sense of consistency as it relates to a 2ndary life style.

Families, what do you think about this article? Students, how do you feel about your strengths and challenges in these kinds of skills? For those of you that have moved on into high school and higher ed what tips would you have for 5th graders entering middle school for the first time?

Typing With Accents Key

It’s important for us to learn to use accents when we type! Here are some simple steps for how to make sure you’re including accents on words/letters that require accents. I pulled these instructions from a page on Google Search…

For PC/Windows Users

Press the “Num Lock” key on the keyboard.

Select the “Alt” key and hold it down while you type the corresponding four-digit code for your desired accented letter. Use the numeric key pad to type in the numbers. On most PC keyboards this the key pad to the far right of the letter keys.

alt + 0225 = á
alt + 0233 = é
alt + 0236 = í
alt + 0243 = ó
These are acute accents.

alt + 0224 = à
alt + 0232 = è
alt + 0235 = ì
alt + 0242 = ò
These are grave accents.

Instructions for the tilde (1) Move cursor to point on screen where the Ñ or ñ is desired (2) Turn on Num Lock to use numbers pad (3) Press/hold down Alt key (4) With Alt key held type 165 to type Ñ or 164 to type lower case ñ. Let go of the Alt Key to allow letter to appear.

Other:
alt + 0234 = ê
alt + 0202 = Ê
alt + 137 = ë
alt + 0203 = Ë

**Release the alt key once you have typed the digits, and the letter and accent will appear.**

More codes: click here

For Mac Users

Select the “Option” key and hold it down while you type the letter “e” to “load” the acute accent symbol.

**Release the “Option” and “e” keys.**

Type the letter you wish to accent: á, é, í, or ó.

Type option plus `, then your letter for grave accents (è); option plus e, then your letter for acute accents (é); option plus i, then your letter for a circumflex (ê); option plus u, then your letter for a diaeresis/umlaut (ë); and option plus n, then your letter for a tilde (ñ).

 

For other accent options Google search the accent to look up the formula!

Virtual Clubs @ Canyon Hills Middle School

Currently, I sponsor two clubs at Canyon Hills Middle School, our Cobra Chess Club, 2x Regional Chess Champions active since 2017 and the Cobra Beats Club, a music beat making club that started this summer in 2020. For more information on how to join contact Mr. Lee @ ltrhyane@episd.org or mrleebooks@gmail.com. Our club welcomes participation from 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students at Canyon Hills Middle School. I also volunteer with the El Paso Public Library and can provide info on ways to connect to both Chess and beat making supports asynchronously or through connection with community members and schools. Below are quotes from an article recently published in edutopia by Vivian Hernandez titled ‘Creating Online Clubs for Students During Remote Learning’. The link below will open a new tab with the full article displayed at edutopia.

“When educators sponsor a student club, they’re building community. These clubs can be volunteer, scholarly, skills-based, etc. However, they all have one common element: They bring students together.” – Vivian Hernandez

“Student clubs do not have to stop because of Covid-19. In fact, they may be more important now than ever.” – Vivian Hernandez

Article provides great resources on starting a coding club and makes an important point for how to create asynchronous activities to allow students that are busy to still participate. The idea is to allow all students to join! At Canyon Hills, our Cobra Chess Club and Cobra Beats club both have Schoology Group pages that members can join to stay up to date on events, meeting times and other learning opportunities. Along with the link to the full article by Vivian Hernandez, I’ve posted our Cobra Chess Club flier and a flier created by our first member of the Cobra Beats club this past week. She goes by Dark Mayhem and is also a member of the Cobra Chess Club. They call her Queen Abalea aka The Nightfall.

Article title: Creating Online Clubs for Students During Remote Learning. To read the article in its entirety visit edutopia click here. Author: Vivian Hernandez @SPRINGintoDL Date 9/28/2020


cobrachess.edublogs.org

Barnes & James

“I am every good thing that makes the world go round. You know-like gravity, or the glow of moonbeams over a field of brand-new snow.

I am good to the core, like the center of a cinnamon roll.

Yeah, that good.”

The creative work of  Derrick Barnes & Gordon C. James caught my eye! Here’s two books to check out, beautiful.

I Am Very Good Thing: click here

Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut: click here

Mr. Lee aka BOOKMAN

Student Tutors of El Paso

Headline shared on EPISD Newsletter promoting STEP Student Tutors of El Paso. Here are some notes from the article! To receive tutoring services here are the steps!

  1. Visit steptx.org
  2. Select the subject under the ‘Tutoring Options’ tab”
  3. Website displays classes offered & calendar for booking
  4. Select a date and time
  5. Fill out the questionnaire with name, email and topics you would like covered

“…students respond better to help from student tutors than their parents. STEP not only assists students academically, it also takes some of the burden off of parents.” Reminds me of tutors I had as a college student…

“Our tutor-selection process not only ensures that our tutors are academically capable of tutoring, but also that they would be able to create a comfortable and productive environment with the student…” This is key!

Original full article titled “Need help with classes? STEP can help” at EPISD: click here

NorthEast Wi-Fi Center @ Wellington Chew Senior Center

For Cobra families in the 79904 the City Parks & Recreation will launch Wi-Fi centers for those without access or with limited access. Below is a map of where to find the NorthEast location to connect which is at the Wellington Chew Senior Center located 4430 Maxwell Avenue. For more information contact (915) 212-0423. Wi-Fi centers will be available from 8AM to 6PM, Monday – Friday and 9AM to 2PM on Saturdays. There are a number of other locations throughout the city that will provide access as well. Please see the following link to the article titled ‘City Parks & Recreation launches Wi-Fi centers for those without access’ posted by KTSM: CLICK HERE

Virtual Beat Making Workshops for Youth

The following are virtual beatmaking workshop opportunities for students ages 10-18 provided by a non-profit group Today’s Future Sound. During the 2017-2018 school year, the El Paso Independent School District launched their Power Up initiative providing 15,000 MacBook Airs for high school and middle school students throughout the city. This provides students in our district with a way to access digital resources and a unique opportunity in 2020 to connect with Today’s Future Sound, a non-profit educational program that develops and enhances the student experience with technology through creative expression techniques such as beatmaking.

The trainings below provide students with the opportunity to learn from educators that work with children and youth all over the world. Today’s Future Sound provides hands-on beat making and music production instruction as an outlet of creativity, personal expression and critical thinking. More information is available at their website todaysfuturesound.org. Below are fliers and registration links that detail the days and times that the program is provided during this pandemic time virtually. Please keep in mind that the times noted on the fliers are Pacific Time which for Mountain Time would be one hour ahead in El Paso. So 11AM start time, is 12PM (noon) here. If you’d like additional information or need help completing registration I’d be glad to help. You can reach me at mrLeebooks@gmail.com or Ltrhyane@episd.org…especially for students attending Canyon Hills Middle School, I teach at Canyon 6th grade Cobra Tech Academy and 7th Grade English.

Registration Ages 13-18: click here

 

Registration Ages 10-12: click here

 

Registration Ages 10-17 (Girls & Female-Identified Youth): click here

Introducing the #2ndaryLibrary

I stumble across many books, especially when we were back on campus with our awesome school librarian, but today from one social media feed to another, I run into a number of titles that I think would be great for our secondary readers. I’m gonna start listing them here on site to encourage summer reading, to bookmark for myself, or to encourage teachers to integrate into classroom reading, and also to provide visitors with references to books to share with others (especially our younger readers)! The hashtag will be #2ndaryLibrary! on Twitter @mrleebooks!

I heard about the following title from the El Paso Holocaust Museum FaceBook page. It’s written by Erika Sanchez. Amazon page linked from the image below!

Mr. Lee aka BOOKMAN