I was born and raised in Oregon City. After going to school, traveling & singing I moved back to Oregon to call it home. My parents were both teachers. When I was a child, I couldn’t wait to go to school. But I was too young to start when I was ready. So, my Mom took some time off from teaching and set up a school in our living room. I would kiss her goodbye by the kitchen, walk around the corner and then greet my mother as if I were in school. “Good Morning Mrs. Clapp!” I have never forgotten how creative she was with her lessons. When I was in “school,” I was an explorer, a deep-sea diver, a musician, and a great-speller. In my lessons, I got to visit the zoo, and go to Africa on safari, read an awesome book, and visit far-away places – like Seattle. (OK, it seemed far away to me).

My goal as a teacher is to bring the excitement I had as a young student to my classroom. I want my students to be challenged, to learn to think and expand themselves, and to be both compassionate and passionate in their life-long pursuit of knowledge and technology.  I have a B.A. degree from University of Northern Colorado. I have taught at Oregon Episcopal School and Clackamas Community College. I love computers! They are creative and challenging, and that same, child-like desire to learn led me to start my own computer business in 1998. For several years I did in-home computer repair, tutoring, and web design. At St. John Fisher I teach technology to First through Fifth grade students. This year, I want to continue to be creative about the way I teach. I firmly believe that if a child is excited to learn, they will find it easier to remember the technology that goes along with the exploration of their world. I would also love to meet you, the parents of these great kids! So please come meet me at Back to School Night, and also at the Parent Teacher Conferences. Let’s have a great year together!

Lori Day Grades 6-8:

I have lived in Oregon all of my life and couldn't be living in a better place.  I graduated from Oregon Institute of Technology with an degree in Software Engineering.  I can program in seven different computer languages.  I received my first computer with I was ten years old and the interest took off from there.  After working for a very short time in the IT field I found I enjoy computer networks so much better than programming so I kept pursuing that part of the IT field.  I came to St. John Fisher school in Sept. 2005 after working in the business world for 15 years and became their first IT Manager.  The next school year I was given the opportunity to teach computers for grades sixth - eighth and teach the elective classes Yearbook, Digital Photography, Web Design and Clay Animation.

Computers have always been a love of mine and truly enjoy sharing my knowledge with the students.  I love to see the light in their eyes when they understand what they can do with computers.  The students are always challenging me to keep up to date on the latest technology.  I believe the best way the students can learn technology is by using it themselves.  In my classes we continue expanding the knowledge in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher and Adobe Photoshop.  I also continue expanding their computer vocabulary knowledge, troubleshooting skills and internet safety.  When I am not teaching I am fly fishing, fly tying, riding my horses, camping, snow skiing or doing anything outdoors.

"Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of a true education," said Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Mrs. Mendenhall's Current Events

October 6^th, 2009

4^th Grade: The fourth graders have been working hard! In 3^rd grade, they began a program called “Dance Mat Typing.” In September, they picked up where they left off in this program, continuing until they get their keyboarding certificate. Some students have already started their next level of keyboarding using a program called “Ainsworth.”

We have a big month in October, when we will start our introduction to Microsoft Excel. We will learn about cells, columns, predicting outcomes, the sum function and making simple charts. They will be able to use all their new-found skills in a two-week lesson called “Build-A-Haunted-House.” Each student is given a different amount of play money, and they are also given a sheet of items they can purchase for their haunted house. Each house costs a different amount, and they can buy things like ghosts, spider webs, actors, and bats.  They will make an itemized list of items, and use the sum function to figure out if they have enough money. Their final activity in this lesson will be to make a pie chart showing how they spent their funds. This is a fun, seasonal activity that really gets them excited about Excel!

5^th Grade:  September and October for fifth grade concentrates on two-handed typing. The students are using a program called Ainsworth. Last month, we set a class-wide goal of improving their typing speed by at least 5 words per minute by the end of the year. Based on our current typing levels, this would put them at a speed of 15-29 wpm by June. They have an opportunity to test themselves and improve their scores during any keyboarding exercise in the classroom. Ask them what about Mrs. Mendenhall’s words to live by: CORRECT FINGERS ON CORRECT KEYS! What I’ve found is that though students are familiar with two-handed typing, they prefer to do two-finger typing when they aren’t in the classroom. If you want to help your student improve their typing in class, you might ask them to use two-handed typing whenever they are at the home computer!

September and October also holds the exploration of the computer itself. They are learning an entire list of computer terms, and also looking at the parts of a computer in the classroom. So far, they have learned the seven parts of a computer, motherboard, software, hardware, network, CPU and PC. They are typing their own study guide, which will come in handy for their big test on computer terms right before Thanksgiving! 

All in all they are doing a great job, and I’m proud of them . . . . . .

September 29, 2009

What a great month it has been for First through Fifth grades. Now that we are up and running, I thought I’d send you some highlights of what your kids are learning in technology. First, all parents can ask their kids about Mrs. Mendenhall’s rules. I only have three of them: Be Respectful; Be Attentive; and Be Kind. They are doing a great job working within the rules, and they are finding out that they can apply to pretty much anything they do in life! This week, I will focus on First, Second and Third grades.  Look for updates on Fourth and Fifth next week and thanks for reading!

First Grade:  First grade has such a learning curve to conquer. There is a certain sequence each student needs to learn in order to log into our computers, and it isn’t easy. I created a Password Song for First grade to help them remember the order of each step, and to help them memorize their username and password. We did quite a bit of practice on our cardboard keyboards, and when we finally got into the computer lab, our first log in was a great success!  Coming in October, we will be working on clicking skills with various websites specifically designed for clicking practice, the differences between a single-click and a double-click, opening and closing Internet Explorer, navigating the 1^st grade technology web page, and working in a drawing program called KidPix. They have done a great job so far, and I’m really proud of them.

Second Grade:  Second Graders have been reviewing what they learned last year about Internet Explorer, and getting up to speed with their 2nd grade username and password using the 2^nd grade Password Song. Coming in October, the 2^nd grade class will be working on learning their letters, but they won’t be attempting two-handed typing until 3^rd grade. Right now, we focus on where the letters are on the keyboard. We will be doing a review of Internet Explorer and Windows, along with some roll playing on Internet safety and chat-room safety as well.  We also will be working online, learning various computer terminologies and making sure their clicking skills are up to speed. At the end of the month, we will have some special online Halloween activities, including click-and-drag puzzles, following the bouncing ball with the mouse making pumpkins with KidPix for the Fall Bulletin Board.

Third Grade: The first couple of weeks we spent getting the kids used to their new username and password. Third grade moves to using their first name and last name as a username, and then their library code for a password. It has been a challenge for them to remember their codes and learn the new process, but they are doing very well! This year, we will concentrate on working with Microsoft Word. In fact, today, we learned how to open Microsoft Word, how to use the caps lock and the shift key, and also how to give the document a name using “File, Save As,” and using “File, Save.” October holds our a really fun project called Holy Cow, where the students learn to use the draw program in Word, and also how to use word art in Word. October also brings formatting the font and color, and using the menus in Microsoft Word. Next week, we will create covers for their Travel Buddy Books, which will include importing clip art and keyboarding. We have a full month ahead!

Mrs. Day Current Events: 

Reminder for 6th grade - the parts of the computer, the vocabulary, plagiarism, and internet safety test is on Thursday, Feb. 25th.

Reminder for Yearbook Class - test on Feb. 23 that covers exactly what your last test did.

I just want to thank Jane Brillhart, FBI agent to coming to our school on the evening of Feb. 9th to educate our parent about internet safety.  It was a very informative meeting about social networking and she gave us things to look out for and ways to help protect the children.  At SJF internet safety is something that we take very serious and it is discussed starting in the first grade and going all the way through to eighth.  Jane informed the parents that one of the best ways to help protect your child is through having discussions with them, the more educate they receive about internet safety the less likely they will become a victim.

Computer Class Grade 6-8:

Remember final exams two weeks away, please make sure you have your study guide and let me know if you have any questions about the test.

Grade 6th: Final - Jan. 21st.

Grade 7th: Final - Jan 19th.

Grade 8th: Final - Jan 21st.

Web Design Class

In this class you will learn about how to create your own web page and what makes a good web page.  We will be comparing different website and seeing what works and what doesn't work in the site.  We will be using the Microsoft Expression Web software to create your website.  Every time you are in class you will learn how to use a different tool in the software to make your website better.

Digital Photography

In this class you will learn about taking better photos, how photos were taken before digital cameras, how to change and improve photos in Adobe Photoshop and black and white photography.  You will be assigned homework each week to be due the following week.  You will be putting together a portfolio for your final project to display your favorite photographs.  You will be turning in your photos on a flash drive.

Homework #1: Take 5 pictures of your favorite items Due: Thursday Sept. 17^th.

Homework #2: Take 5 pictures of sunrises or sunsets. Due: Thursday Oct. 1 for 7th & 8th Grade and Oct. 8th for 6th Grade.

Homework #3: Take 5 pictures of water in any form.  Due: Thursday Oct. 8th

Rules for the class:

1. Photographs must be taken by you.
2. You can only turn in photos that have been taken in this trimester.
3. Have fun and be creative.

Late Policy:

Your assignments are due at the beginning of class; you will need to bring your photos already loaded onto your flash drive before coming to class.  You have class on Thursday’s and as long as you turn in your assignment by the end of the school day on Thursday it will be not considered late.  If you turned your assignment the next day it will be considered late and 10% of the points will be taken off your grade.  If you turn your assignment in on Monday you will have 30% of the points taken off your grade.  If you turn your assignment in on Thursday it will have 50% of the points taken off your grade. 

Remember we have many digital camera that are available to be checked out during breaks and lunch recess and if you want to you can use a regular camera but make sure you get the film developed before coming to class.