Through the Maine Learning Technology Initiative, all Bonny Eagle Middle School 7th and 8th grade students and teachers have received new laptops this year giving them one-to-one access to wireless notebook computers and the Internet.

This year, the state decided to continue the learning initiative program and supplied the middle school with new laptop computers. SAD 6 purchased the old laptops the middle school had been using from the Maine Department of Education. Some of these computers have found new homes in the district’s elementary schools where they are shared among the classrooms.

Two second grade teachers at Steep Falls Elementary School, Christy Sayre and Nicole Gleason, have been using laptops as part of their daily lessons. The students there have looked at the water cycle for science on Thirstin’s Water Cycle page, which is an animated story. The class is going to use the World Book for a geography lesson about Earth and globes. There is a section that shows the Earth spinning and the students can select day and night. They will also discover a lot of great places in the atlas section. The students will continue to use the World Book throughout the year.

Rachel Lees, who is the computer integrator for grades 2 to 5 in Limington and Standish schools, has a Web page that the classes will also use this year to practice typing and work on math. Her program is designed to support the classroom curriculum with computer lessons and technical support.

Teacher Nicole Gleason says, “I am still experimenting myself to see what we have available to us and what is appropriate for second grade. Using the laptops this year will be a great learning tool for the students. The students ask each day when we will be using them again. Their excitement makes this an even greater tool.”

SAD 6 students receive new laptop computers