International Scratch Day is May 16, 2009. Since this is a Saturday, we will hold our Scratch Day on Thursday, May 14 from 3:30–5:00.
Fifth and sixth grade students will be given a chance to showcase their projects (though some may very well be works in progress), and kids will have the opportunity to give their parents a lesson in Scratch.
If you live in Memphis and are interested in checking out our lab and seeing what the kids have done, please send me an email (hannasmithlaurae@mcsk12.net). For security reasons, Scratch Day is for students and parents of Downtown Elementary, but if you work it out in advance we can prepare for you to come.
Wow, super busy here, but I just wanted to update so you know that I haven’t forgotten about my blog!
Currently, kindergarten classes are working on autobiography projects involving Tux Paint and iMovie. I will import their artwork into iMovie and they will voice over explaining things about themselves (what they like to do, favorite thing about school, who’s in their family). This is on hold while we finish voice overs and editing for their inventor projects they worked on for the Student Exhibition next week.
First through fourth grade students are working on our Monster Project. They are designing monsters in Tux Paint. If things work out technically, they will then chat with a person somewhere else in the lab using a chat program (most likely Skype). The purpose of the chat will be for the students to describe their monsters to each other to see if they can draw by direction only. Monsters will then be compared and time-willing, each class will make a short documentary video about the project.
Fifth and sixth grade students are working on their Scratch projects. Oh boy! This is a doozie, but already I am seeing some very cool and creative games, animations, and stories getting in the works. Most are using online tutorials and remixing Scratch projects, though some are starting from…well…scratch!
I will also be doing school equipment inventory and documenting all the student projects for the Student Exhibition, so blog posts may be sparse between here and May. *wipes brow* Back to work!
Recently, two third grade teachers asked me for help. They have projects planned for students to work on and the topic is landforms; however, they needed me to guide the students into researching and taking notes. So, we used NetTrekker, KidsClick, and FactMonster to locate information about various landforms, using Word to save a bibliography and take notes. The students then put the notes in their own words, using speech bubbles and text boxes in Kerpoof’s “Make a Picture.” So many of the backgrounds available include landforms that third graders were studying: mountains, valleys, plateaus and mesas, river deltas, peninsulas, coasts, plains, etc.
So, the product was simple: Choose a background that represents your landform (or is a close stretch of the imagination), and add text boxes and/or characters with speech bubbles that discuss facts about the landforms. Of course, I allowed some additional “atmosphere” humor, such as dinosaurs shouting “Run for your life! The volcano is erupting!”
Here is a PDF with fairly simplified instructions:
Of course, additional directions would be needed for doing the research as well as using a word processor! I’ve only focused on getting to the finished product.
Grades 2-4 have been using this wonderful resource this week as we try to hit some skills that address areas of need for our upcoming standardized test.
These map games have proved across all grade levels to be engaging and educational. Some of the map skills these games require students to apply are:
- reading grids
- understanding symbols and reading map keys
- following directions
- plotting routes on a grid map
- reading a gradiometer map
- identifying countries, states, and capital cities on a map
- generally using maps for game specific information.
Games include Explore a Pyramid, Explore Mars, Find the Sunken Treasure, Adventure Island, and GIS in Action. The Family Adventure game allows students to choose trips that go by land or sea, and allow students to take a briefly informative trip around various parts of the world, such as the Caribbean, Washington, D.C., Marco Polo’s Route, and Arctic to Amazon, among other trips. Games include sound effects, excellent graphics, and even some very realistic CG videos. It’s definitely a great social studies/geography resource.
If you’re not, you should be!
LearnScratch.org is a site dedicated to students and teachers who want to learn Scratch and is maintained by academics from the LaSalle Schools and Universities. The site contains video courses, lesson plans, and other resources for students and teachers.
If you are a teacher planning on introducing your students to Scratch, LearnScratch.org is a good place to start. It allows you to get a good idea of what Scratch is all about, and provides the depth necessary to help you dig in to all aspects of the program.
In the classroom, the video tutorials are a lesson unto themselves. I have my students open Scratch and one of the tutorial videos and follow along, just to get the basics down before trying out their own scripts. One of my students, who I will mention has several learning disabilities, told me at the end of class today that Scratch is easy once you really pay attention and learn how to use it.
The resources provided on LearnScratch.org help make it possible for all sorts of learners to have a chance at initial success, which motivates students to keep challenging themselves with more difficult scripts. A great resource to teachers, LearnScratch.org can also place all of their lessons and videos onto a DVD for you and send it to your school–for FREE. I just cannot say enough good things about this free resource. If you’re using Scratch in your classroom or thinking about it, visit LearnScratch.org.
