Teacher Introduction

For those of you who I haven't met yet, my name is Katelyn (Katie) Gerardi. This is my third year teaching, first year at Bethlehem! I have taught Middle School ELA/Reading and Writing and all subjects in 5th grade (Social Studies, Science, Math, ELA). I love teaching, but am especially blessed to be working with such an amazing group of students. Your children have been lights in my life, and have helped me in my ever growing journey in Christ.

I graduated from Central Michigan University with my Bachelor's degree in Elementary Education with a concentrated minor in Language Arts.  I am currently in graduate school, also at Central Michigan University, working toward obtaining my Master's Degree in Educational Technology.

I was born in South Bend, Indiana (GO IRISH!) and was raised in San Diego, California. I moved to Michigan in the Fall of 2008 to pursue my teaching degree.

I have a handsome, loving, caring 5 year old son who recently transitioned to the Kindergarten class at Bethlehem. I can honestly say, that was the best decision as a parent I have probably ever made for him! We are enjoying growing and learning with our new family at Bethlehem!

Welcome back!!!

Hi Bethlehem friends and family!!!

I am so excited to be back for my third year teaching here as the Technology Teacher!! It is going to be a great year discovering innovative uses of technology and exploring hands on projects. Please look for newsletters that will be sent home on Thursday this week! I will post the grade level newsletters and updated information on my blog once every month. Since I only see your kiddos twice a week, our units will take roughly one month to complete.

Grades 6-8 will be using an electronic portfolio using a wiki space. This information will become available upon completion of our wiki space. We will have these created by the end of quarter 1. They will also be using Google Platform as a way of collaboration in our flipped classroom model.

All students must have a signed Google Apps For Education (GAFE) release form signed before they can use the internet/computers/chromebooks/iPads here at Bethlehem. This is important for security and privacy purposes.


If you should have any questions, comments or concerns, you can contact me at any time. My email address and phone number are listed below! Looking forward to another great year here at BLS!!! GO CHARGERS!!!

Teacher: Ms. Gerardi
Email: Gkatelyn@gocavs.net
Phone Number: 619-204-5691

Finishing up Quarter 3

Wow, quarter 3 sure went fast! As we are nearing the end of quarter 3 students have continued to work through their coding unit. Paper newsletters have been going home bi-weekly, as well as sent out through Jupiter Ed. If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please email me or reach out via text or phone as soon as an issue arises.

Coding club for grades 6-8 (and 5th grade by invitation, on a trial basis) will begin next Tuesday, March 7th. Club times will run right after school from 3:15 and ending at 4pm. Students must have a permission slip to participate, and they will be participating in either Social Media coding or Video Game creation coding. This will move at a fast pace, so students should be prepared to problem solve and run through a fun series of activities!

Kindergarten continues to work on mouse usage and keyboarding basics, as we are still having some trouble with both.

First grade has been working on powerpoints and doing an animal research project. This has gone very well, and I am impressed with their ability to both type and locate information on the computer!

Second and third grade have begun the first course in the beginner curriculum off www.code.org, and 4-6th grade is continuing to work on the first course in the intermediate curriculum off www.code.org.

7th and 8th grade are working on advanced coding using www.codeacademy.com and are using problem solving skills to learn basic java script and HTML.


I am looking forward to continuing our coding unit through the rest of 3rd quarter and into 4th quarter before we begin our Spring MAP testing in May!!!

Winter MAP testing

All grades have finished our winter round of MAP testing! I encourage you to reach out to your child's teacher to see where they are at academically and what goals they will be working on between now and the end of the year for each subject. All grades have moved into our coding units. They are differentiated for each grade level and move at separate paces. Look for newsletters coming home as we progress in this unit! This week in coding our classes worked on the following: 

Kindergarten/1st Graders have begun coding this week! Student's practiced how to follow a list of steps/instructions that help them finish a task. They completed a few activities that helped them learn how to properly use the arrows on the keyboard, and how they can translate those arrows into a code in order to follow instructions on their "Flurb" Assignment. I encourage you to look in their take home folder for these activities, and ask them about it! 

2nd/3rd Grade has also begun coding this week. We learned what an algorithm is and I encourage you to ask them to show you what an algorithm is by asking you to give them a set of instructions that will help them draw a smiley face! Students worked on creating codes to navigate through a maze. Instead of using arrows on the keyboard, they created codes to help finish the maze. They can show you this at home by going to www.code.org and signing into their student accounts. The assignment is under Elementary School, Unit 1, lesson 3 and 4. 

4th Grade technology is working directly with Mrs. Brandt to incorporate technology into the curriculum they are working on in the classroom. They are learning about wild weather with Mrs. Brandt and in technology we are finding three credible websites and listing three facts from each website. 4th grade is also continuing to work on their daily google search logs! Ask them about it :)

5th/6th Grade learned in depth about algorithms, and how following a list of steps can help them finish a task. They learned how computers re program lists of information into a code that helps the computer run a specific program. They began by using graph paper to convert algorithms into a code. Students will continue working through our coding unit for the remainder of quarter 3! Look for the Graph Paper Algorithm coding sheets we did this week in Tech! 

7th/8th Grade has started their coding unit by problem solving. Often times in technology, we have a problem arise and students are unsure of how to find a solution. We began problem solving in a series of activities including: Creating a seating chart for a birthday party where certain people can sit with each other and certain people can not sit next to each other. They also worked on planning a road trip. Students worked independently, and then in groups to complete these activities. As we completed these problem solving activities, students reflected on problems they encountered and the problem solving process they used to arrive at a solution. Look for these, as they have taken them home today :)

ALL Grades will continue working through their individualized Coding Unit for the remainder of 3 quarter. If you have any questions, suggestions, or comments, please feel free to contact me at: 

gkatelyn@Carrollton.k12.mi.us 

or cell phone (call or text available) (619) 204-5691 

Thank you for your continued support! 

Katelyn Gerardi