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!