Each elementary school has a fulltime media teacher and a fulltime paraprofessional. About half the media teacher's time is spent on library-related work and the rest is focused on technology. The para does some of both as well. Plus each school has district desktop support and staff development (either site-based or district).

Each classroom has: SMART Board, ceiling-mounted projector, a surround-sound system, as well as a DVD player. NOTE: Even with the projector mounted, there was still a fair amount of shadow-management required.

District ratio of students to computers is aproximately 4:1. However, sites determine how to allocate computers. At this site: Grades 4-5 have 4 computers per classroom, Gr 3 has none, Grade 2 has 1 computer per room, and Grades K-1 have none.

Deephaven has three kindergarten levels: Ready Start Kindergarten for younger kids with summer birthdays, half-day kindergarten, and extended day kindergarte. Sort of unique, I thought.

Deephaven has the same media center personnel and classroom configuration with SMART board, projector, sound system etc.

They sponsor Lighthouse Publishing (or use the service - not clear) whereby students are invited to submit stories from home. Then monthly, students and the principal and staff get together and read stories together. Paricipating students receive rewards / treats. Motivates literacy. Stories are submited via email, as far as I can tell.

Some Things We Saw in Elementary Schools:

Kindergarten: 16 students max at early grades, kids were using board to match images to words.

Note: A small plastic step ladder for the little ones to step up on to manipulate the board - very good idea.

Grade 1 Math in the Lab Setting: Using a combination of McGraw-Hill's Everyday Math and RiverDeep for review, extensions, differentiation.

Grade 3 set-up at Deephaven: SMART board, 2 laptops with headsets at each table - off their shared school laptop cart. Were exploring mean, median, mode with examples and video. Also using GraphClub software.

Grade 3 Math with Digital Cameras: Each pair of students had a low-end Sony camera (around $200-300 each). They were taking photos of three different types of angles they could find inside the classroom. Then downloading to teacher computer and viewing via the board - sorting into the types of angles.

Grade 4: Powerpoint Book reports but shared via the board.

Quizdom Reponders in Grade 4: Reviewing division facts in two teams. All punch in answer at the same time; students instantly know if they got it right or not (plus teacher can see who got what right on his/her computer). First person in - and gets it correct - can elimnate a player on the other side. Quizdom software evidently allows teachers to create games, include fact sheets, etc.

4th Grade Music class: In the lab, using Music Ace Maestro software to review notes etc. Also use Finale for music composition.

Notes: Finale Notepad is a free download. Also, they were using Califone headphones in the lab ~ The are smaller in size and fit elementary students' heads better than the big clunky adult types.

Grade 5 in Media Center: Creating SMART recordings using the Notebook software. A big aha! : You don't have to be connected to the board to use the notebook software recording tool. They use Labec external mics.

Grade 5 Blackboard: Use of discussion boards for assignment directions, listing work done and to be completed, book group discussions, daily reflection for homework.

5th Grade Math: Probability using the virtual dice, a spreadsheet, and an interactive web link

5th Grade Social Studies: Combo work in book, on paper map, and on Smartboard. In a way, this was very traditional, except it added visual/audio appeal.

Art Room: Teacher had a board and an Elmo document viewer w/zoom connected to her computer. With the viewer projected to the board, she could demonstrate what she wanted students to do. In this case, getting started with a clay project.

Other Miscellaneous Notes:

• Both attendance and lunch count are tied in to the Smart boards. As kids arrive, they check themselves in on the board, and that info is submitted to Skyward (their SASI). When the check in, they also check off which lunch they want and that gets submitted to food service, so they know exactly how many of each offering they need.

• Professional development is required as part of equipment deployment throughout the schools.

• Blackboard services they use include: Photos posted, one-time log-in for parents to see all their children, drop box, SMART Board PDFs posted, discussion boards. They have a Bb trainer at each site. Paid for a few hours a year (that seems minimal but it's what one told me).

• Desktop support uses a lot of remote access to desktops to fix problems - saves lots of miles. They are able to handle 60-70% of problems over the phone and using the remote desktop access.

• Their media specialists have a Library-Media Specialist credential, but interestingly enough, the "libray" part of that has fallen out of the personnel title.

• They do a fair number of half-day pull-outs for technology professional development. Also what they call "short shots" - brief after school sessions.

• Blackboard: They purchase three modules (to our one) ~ Learning System, Content System, and Community Portal. Since they use Bb in all grades, K-12, that would be a pretty pricey contract each year.

• No iConnect kind of program. For kids without computers, teachers allow them to use ones in class the first or last few minutes of the day. Also computers available in the library.