Monday, December 19

Time is limited!

At this point you have only 3 school days left to get any work completed that you have not yet finished and handed in.  However, each class period this week is shortened, so being a diligent worker (for those who have missing assignments) will be important in order to get any missing work completed and handed in.

FA12 - several of you have submitted FA12 to me by email.  This assignment (it is the "Project Estimate" assignment in Excel) is to be printed out and handed in.  You should have 3 pages when you are done - 1 page that shows only numbers, then when you change the document to show formulas (control/~) and print that out you will have 2 more pages.

Pay attention to the "Missing Assignment" board in the room - I will update it daily with missing assignments (just as I have been doing for the last 3 days).  If your name is on the wall in the room for an assignment get it done and handed in.  As we've talked about - 50% on an assignment is much better than receiving a 0.


Thursday, December 15

Alice Project #1 due today

I would encourage everyone to check their Gmail in case I have sent them a message.  Several people have sent me either the wrong link, the wrong assignment, etc. and you will need to resend something to me in order to get credit.  Don't confuse this type of email with an email that explains a grade you received on an assignment - these types of emails are just telling you what mistakes were made on each particular assignment so you know what you did to earn your score.

Your Alice Project #1 is due today by the end of the hour.  Once you complete that you can finish your crossword puzzle or you can complete your discussion entries into Edmodo (remember, you must create an original entry that answers the discussion prompt, then you must reply to at least 2 of your classmates' original entries).

Once you have completed all of this work you need to work on completing any assignment(s) that you have not yet completed.  Check the board in class to see an updated list of missing assignments.

If you are done with all the above, then I want you to begin work on creating a new Alice World.  With this Alice world, I want you to incorporate several things:

  1. One character must be "glued" to one prop, and you must be able to use the arrow keys to move the prop.
  2. You must use at least one "Do Together" command (located at the bottom of the Methods section). 
  3. Add at least 3 characters and 3 props to your world.
  4. You need to move body parts on each character at least 3 times (that will be a total of 9 movements, and one of those must be a character walking or running).  
  5. At least one character must spin completely around twice, but it must be at different times in the world.
  6. 2 characters must move to at least 2 new places within the world (that's a total of 4 moves).
  7. Include at least 2 sounds.
  8. You also must include 3 camera-angle changes.
This last Alice project will not be for a grade - but is given to you to enjoy as we complete the semester.  Be creative - I'd love to see what you can create by next Wednesday!

Tuesday, December 13

Finish work

Most of this week (and what little we will have next week) will be spent tying up any loose ends.

Today, work on finishing your Alice Project #1.  Let's say for now that this will be due tomorrow - I need to gauge in all of the classes how far everyone is in order to make a determination on when this should be due.

Once you are done with that Alice project you need to work on posting your discussion to Edmodo (remember you also need to reply to at least 2 of your classmates' postings), or finish your crossword puzzle (these are both due on Friday, but you are welcome to complete them/hand them in anytime before then).

If you complete these tasks then you need to work on any missing assignments.  The missing assignments on the board are updated through last week (I do not have FA11 or FA12 in Skyward yet) - please get done what you have missing!

Monday, December 12

Last full week!

Today you need to begin by finishing FA12.  We started this last week - the instructions can be found on the blog from last Thursday.

You have several other assignments that are due this week.  The Alice project #1 will be due this week, and you also will have another Alice project that you will be allowed to start tomorrow.  In addition, you have your last discussion on Edmodo (I'll explain that below), and you also have a crossword puzzle that you need to finish and hand in by Friday.

For Edmodo, you need to post a discussion on the following topic:
List at least one thing you have learned this semester from this class.  Additionally, explain why you think learning what you have learned is important (one way to explain its importance would be to explain it in terms of how it will help you in the future).  Post your original entry and your 2 responses to your classmates by this Friday, Dec. 16th.


The crossword puzzle takes the place of the vocab words.  The crossword puzzle you will be completing covers all of the vocab lists that we had this semester (in other words you'll need to look at all of the vocab lists to find the words for the crossword puzzle).

Lastly, remember that school ends a week from Wednesday.  If you have missing assignments you need to get them handed in to me as soon as you can so your grade reflects the work you have done.

Friday, December 9

Vocab quiz; FA12; Alice project

We have several things we will be working on today.  First, we will take the vocab quiz at the beginning of the hour like we normally do.  After finishing the vocab quiz you will be given class time to finish FA12 (Project Estimate in Excel).  I am going to show you a couple of other important things you need to know in Excel, then you will be allowed to work on the formatting activity.

When you get this formatting activity completed you will need to print it out, and you should have two copies that you print out.  One copy will have all numbers; the other copy will show the formulas (or functions) that you included in your spreadsheet.  Staple them together and hand them in.

If you complete FA12 in class today you still have Alice Project #1 to finish.  It will be due Tuesday.  The grading rubric for this Alice project can be found by clicking here.

I also want to remind you that we are nearing the end of the semester.  Any assignment that you do not hand in will be graded as a zero.  If you have missing assignments you may need to work on those to get those handed in so that you avoid having a zero put in the grade book.

Thursday, December 8

More Excel; Photoshop



Today we are going to go back to Excel and add to our knowledge base.  We will cover how to insert the date, insert new rows and columns, format numbers, learn about functions and how to insert and use them in a worksheet, write a formula using the keyboard, drag and copy, and learn what the formula bar is for.   This should not take the entire hour, therefore when we get done we will start working on FA12 (embedded below).

Don't forget tomorrow is the last vocab quiz of the semester.

The Alice project that was on the blog (from earlier this week) will probably be due towards the beginning of next week (Tuesday?).
Activity 12 -

Wednesday, December 7

Catch-up day

This is a video that should help you to understand what Java (a programming language) is:

This video explains Flash - an animation software.



After watching this video you should have a much better idea of what Flash animation software can do.



Reminder:  your podcast is due today!  

Please make sure to post it on your blog then send me an email with a link to your blog.  You may want to listen to the podcast first before you copy the HTML code and paste it into your blog to make sure that it sounds ok.

Also, if you are responsible for defining words on Wikispaces that has to be completed before you go to bed tonight.

For today, complete FA11 if you have not yet completed it and handed it in.

Otherwise, you will have time to work on the Alice project - the instructions are below.  Click here to get to the website that houses the rubric for this assignment.  Also, I think I originally said this project would be worth 24 points - that was incorrect; it will be worth 16 points.



Alice project #1 -

Tuesday, December 6

Finish FA11; Alice

Today you will need to finish FA11 - the instructions on how to finish it can be found on yesterday's blog post.  Once you have completed FA11 you will need to start on the following Alice assignment (this will be graded but will not be due right away, but I will let you know well in advance when it is due).

Alice project #1



Here are a couple of videos for today that will help you to understand the vocabulary for this week:

This first video will help you to understand bitmap images



This video will help to explain what pixels are


Don't forget to get your vocab words posted on Wikispaces if it is your responsibility to do that this week - this should be done by tomorrow.

Also, your podcast is due tomorrow!  Please remember that you need to embed this on your blog, then you need to email me with a link to your blog.


Monday, December 5

.jpg vs. .gif; Excel

Vocab for this week:

3rd hour:  ChaseB, JacobG, BrookeL, AlexisP, RyannT
4th hour:  SavannaA, MaddieA, AnthonyB, GracieM, KelseyO, AlexS
6th hour:  RossC, LindyC, KelseyM, CamarieM, AndrewP, ReneeT
7th hour:  KayseyB, SethN, TravisR, CassieT, JacobV
8th hour:  NikF, LucasH, DwightM, DestinyO, PaigeS


Don't forget, your podcast (using Vocaroo) is due Wednesday!

I can't stress enough the fact that many of you have missing assignments.  There are only 2 1/2 weeks of the semester left, and the last week is going to be crazy busy.  Please complete as much work as you can.  Turning in your work is the easiest way to help your grade; zeroes absolutely destroy your grade.  If you need help, please let me know so we can figure out a way to get your stuff done.



cropped with SnipSnip


After watching the video we are going to start working in Excel. Today we are going to learn some of the basic formatting capabilities of Excel.  In many ways what you have already learned in Word will apply to Excel, so that part should be easy.  However, there are some other capabilities that you have access to in Excel that are much different from Word.

Formatting Activity 11is embedded here:

FA11

Friday, December 2

Vocab Quiz #9 (Multimedia); FA10

As usual, today at the beginning of the hour you will have a couple of minutes to review for the vocab quiz.  We will then go to Classmarker to take Vocab Quiz #9 on Multimedia and Graphics.

Once you have completed the vocab quiz you will want to start working on FA10.  This formatting activity requires you to insert Clipart into a Word document and resize it.  You will only be working with Clipart, but remember actual images (those you could take with a screenshot or with a digital camera) can be formatted and manipulated in the same manner as the Clipart images.  Please remember from yesterday that in order to move your Clipart image freely throughout your document you must go through the following series of steps while formatting your picture:
  1. Click on the Layout tab
  2. Choose your Wrapping style (usually either Square or Tight)
  3. Click on the Advanced button at the bottom of the window
  4. In the Advanced Layout window deselect the box under Options next to "Move object with text"
  5. Click OK twice to exit
Formatting Activity 10 is due at the end of the hour today!!  This is a simple assignment and should not take you long to complete.



Activity 10 -
I am going to encourage each of you to check your Gmail - I have sent many of you emails regarding FA8, which was the Movie Plot Summary activity that you turned in on Monday of this week.  Many of you still have not yet handed this in, and several of you who did turn this in did not send me the correct information in your email.  You were supposed to send me a link to your blog AND the Word document you used to type in your movie summary.  

Next, check the Late Board in the classroom.  If you have missing work please get it handed in as soon as possible!  We only have 2.5 weeks left in the semester, and many of you have poor grades because you are not turning in assignments.  Having missing assignments is by far and away the biggest reason students do not do well in any class - if you turn your assignments in, even if they are late, your chances for good grades dramatically increases!

If you are done with everything, I'd like you to start working on this Alice tutorial:


This will be in preparation for next week's graded Alice assignment.

As a reminder, your podcast is due next Wednesday.  The website to use is Vocaroo.  You need to plan accordingly - if you don't have a microphone on your computer at home you need to figure out the best time to come in to one of the computer labs (my room, 7th Grade Computer lab, or Library) to complete this assignment.  Your speech must obviously be school appropriate.

When you complete the assignment state your name first, then state the speech that you are giving.  You do not have to read the entire speech!  Reading about 1 minute of the speech will work great.  Here are a couple of websites that you can use to find the text to a speech, but you can use any website that has the text to a speech (if you find a different website on your own that is fine).
http://www.famousquotes.me.uk/speeches/presidential-speeches/index.htmhttp://www.americanrhetoric.com/top100speechesall.htmlhttp://www.historyplace.com/speeches/previous.htmhttp://www.famous-speeches-and-speech-topics.info/famous-short-speeches/

Have a great weekend!!

Thursday, December 1

Creating a screenshot; Podcasting

For some reason we have too many people who are not doing their jobs when it comes to posting the definitions for the vocab words on the Wikispaces webpage.  This is an important part of the class, and when you don't do what you are asked to do it doesn't just affect you it affects everyone else in the class.  If you are responsible for defining 2-3 words you MUST get them done by Wednesday so everyone can use these to study.  This is what being part of a team is all about - you need to pull your weight and do your job so the team can be a success.  Screenshots -  this is the taking of a picture of what you have on your screen.  You can either take a screenshot (or what is sometimes also called a screen capture) of the entire screen (Command/Shift/3) or of what you select (Command/Shift/4). Inserting Clipart will be covered today in class - this is very similar to inserting objects so you should have no problems figuring this out.Today we are also going to cover how to create a podcast using Vocaroo.  Once you get to the website you are going to click on the button that says "Click to Record".  

Next, you're going to see a window that pops up and asks to have permission to your microphone - choose "Allow".  You will then immediately be able to record your podcast - when you are done, click on "Click to Stop".


Once you have clicked on that you will see some information that comes up below (shown here):
You need to copy the HTML code by first clicking in the bar where you see "<object width=...."so that it is highlighted.  Once you have it copied, you can now go to your blog to "embed" this html code into a new post.Next, open your blog and start a new post.  Click on "Edit HTML" in the top, right corner, as shown here:

Then paste your copied code into the message area of your new post.  Publish your post.  You should now have a Vocaroo icon on your blog that you can click on to start listening to your podcast!Once you have your podcast up and running, send me an email with a link to your blog so I can hear your podcast.  Here are a few websites you can use to help you decide on a speech that you can do for your podcast: http://www.famousquotes.me.uk/speeches/presidential-speeches/index.htmhttp://www.americanrhetoric.com/top100speechesall.htmlhttp://www.historyplace.com/speeches/previous.htm
Your podcast will be due by next Wednesday, December 7.  It can be sent after school on that day, but it is due that day.  If you need time to come in here at school to complete it then please make arrangements to do so!