TEMECULA -- Sierra Seda is only 10 years old, but she's already serving as tech support.

The Joan F. Sparkman Elementary student is one of several fourth- and fifth-graders who are spending their Saturdays mastering computer programs to help their teachers and fellow classmates.

The classes are part of a federal grant the Temecula Valley Unified School District received last year, which also paid for teacher training, laptops and other gear, and software for 28 classrooms in seven district schools and two private schools.

Karen Vogt, the district's teacher on special assignment for technology, said one purpose behind the "student technology mentors" is to provide a resource for students using new programs or hardware. She said the student mentors can also set up equipment for a lesson while a teacher is helping other students.

Sierra said she frequently assists her classmates with questions. For instance, she said one girl was struggling to find information about Queen Isabella, so Sierra told her to add other search terms, such as the country.

"I told her to be descriptive in her search," Sierra said.

Other students said they help fellow students with PowerPoint and Photo Story, or hook up cameras and laptops for their teachers for lessons.

To gain their expertise, the students have spent several weekends in tutorials at the Temecula Public Library.

On Saturday, Nicolas Valley Elementary teacher Donna Lione taught students how to use thinkfinity.org, a site linking educational resources from organizations such as the Smithsonian Institution and National Geographic.

The student technology mentors played a math game where they had to identify factors, learned how to create comics, and used a Web-based program to compare planets of different sizes, prompting cries of "Look! The moon is bigger than Pluto!"

"How many of you like comparing planets?" Lione asked. "Would you like to build a planet now?"

"Yeah!" the students said as they cheered and clapped.

Wylan Shoemaker, 9, said the activities would be popular with his classmates at Abby Reinke Elementary. The fourth-grader enjoys learning about the programs himself and doesn't mind coming in on Saturdays.

"I like being here," he said. "It's fun."

Parents whose children are in the 28 designated classes will get a chance to learn the programs at seminars starting in January. Vogt said the classes will allow parents to help children with classwork, as well as teach them about software they may use in their personal lives.

Of course, many of those parents already have in-home tech support -- from the student technology mentors.

In class, Sparkman fifth-grader Kim Kelley said she mostly helps her fellow classmates with PowerPoint by advising them how to add clip art and use other features. But the 10-year-old said she also assists her father with similar tasks.

"My dad calls me the computer whiz," she said.

Contact staff writer Rani Gupta at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2625, or rgupta@californian.com.