FA1/saving documents; reflection on blog

There are several things we need to cover today in class:

1. Your crossword puzzle is due right now - please hand it in and make sure your name is at the top of your paper.
2. Vocabulary for next week - everyone who is responsible for vocabulary for the week of Oct. 1 should have their words and should be either researching a definition or posting their definition(s) to the wikispaces page.  Your definitions should be posted no later than next Tuesday.
3. Saving documents - it is critically important that when you save your documents that you do NOT delete the extension to the document.  I will show you what this means in class today.  Also, I recommend saving everything to your flash drive.  This way you can take what you have done with you without having to worry about trying to access the school server.
4. After completing this, you need to complete your reflection for this week on your blog.  Enter your newest reflection at the top.  Enter the title in this method:  "Week of Sept. 24".  I will show you how to do this as well.
5. After completing your reflection I want you to practice keying on the keyboard.  If you go the website resources page on the blog you will find several different websites that you can use to practice with.  I don't care which website you choose (in fact, if you want you can move from one website to another during the hour), but you need to practice and we are going to use the games on these websites for practice.  One note about the websites - you MUST! stay on the websites that are listed on the website resources page.  

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

Finish FA1; Learn Z key and colon

**CROSSWORD PUZZLE DUE TOMORROW**  If you are done with it you can turn it in today.

After our discussion of the formatting toolbar yesterday, you should be able to complete FA1 (Formatting Activity 1) located on yesterday's blog post.  As I said yesterday in class - make sure that you follow the directions in order, and make sure that you do exactly as you are asked to do.  This will help to ensure that you end up with the best grade possible!  Do not skip steps, and do not do anything that you are not asked to do.  YOUR SPEEDSKINS SHOULD BE ON YOUR KEYBOARD THE ENTIRE TIME YOU ARE WORKING ON YOUR FORMATTING ACTIVITY!

As you finish your document, make sure that you save your document to either your flash drive or into your account.  Step 6 will tell you to save it into your Computer Applications folder - we haven't created one yet so you won't be able to do that.

To complete FA1 you will need to email me your document.  Here are the steps to attach a file to an email:

1.  When you are creating your email, click on "Attach a File" below the subject line. (see picture)

2.  Browse your computer for the file you saved (FA1); once you find the file double click on it so that it is attached to the email.
3.  After you attach the file, you will see a bar filling up - once it is full your email is ready to be sent.
4.  Don't forget all of the things we talked about when you send an email - you still need a subject line, the person's name you are sending it to, a message, and your name. 

After completing FA1 and sending me the email, open your book and turn to p. 16.  Using your L4 finger, type lines 1-3 on 7D once each.  After completing that, type lines 4-6 once each using the Left shift key and your R4 finger on the semicolon to type the colon.

When you complete those lines, type all of the lines on 7E and 7F once.  If you are able to complete all of these lines you may go to the Typing Games website.  Keep your speedskin on your keyboard!

Q and comma; Formatting tool bar - FA1

We will start with learning the Q (L4) and the comma (R2).  Warm up by typing all lines in Section 6F, p. 14 once.  After our warmup we will learn the Q and the comma.  After learning the Q, we will only have 1 more letter to learn - the Z!

In class today after learning these 2 new keys we will go over the Formatting Toolbar in Microsoft Word.  The Formatting Toolbar allows you to format your Word document in a variety of ways.  We will not cover everything on the toolbar, but what we do cover will be important for you to know as you continue to work on a computer and use Microsoft Word.

A quick thought on Microsoft Word - it is THE market leader in terms of Word processing software.  People in the business world use Word - they do not use Pages (or other word processing software).  If you learn to use Word you can figure out how to use Pages, but learning the ins and outs of Pages is not as advantageous to you because the chances of you using Pages frequently when you start a job is about 5%.

After learning the formatting toolbar you will have a Formatting Activity to complete.  The instructions are embedded on the blog below.  This will be due tomorrow (Thursday) by the end of the hour.  Before you submit this assignment I will need to show you how to attach a file to an email message so you can send me your assignment through email.  We will do that tomorrow.

Formatting Activity 1

New keys (P & V); crossword puzzle handout

Today we will review the keys we learned yesterday (M & X).

After reviewing these keys we will add two new keys to what we already know.  We will add the P (R4) and the V (L1).

In addition, today I will be handing out a crossword puzzle.  This will be due on Friday, so you may want to write the due date on your paper so you don't forget.

Lastly, if you are the leader for next week's vocabulary list you need to get your vocab words to your group members today so they have time to research their vocab words before they post them on the wikispaces page.

Blogging; new keys (M & X)

On Friday you created a new page on your blog.  Many of you, once you published your page, were unable to access your newly created page on your blog.  One of the settings of the blog is to "hide" the blog pages so they are not visible.  If you want to make your blog pages visible, follow these steps:

1. Click on "Design" in the top right corner
2. Click on "Pages"
3. In the middle it says "Show pages as:" - you will want to choose either "Top Tabs" or "Side Links" so that your pages are able to be seen from your home page.
4. Once you have changed this setting, click on "Save Arrangement" in the top right corner of the page

Towards the bottom left-hand side of this same page you can see several different choices that will help you to modify your blog so that you can make it look like you want.  For example, "Layout" allows you to add, remove, and edit gadgets on your blog so that your blog appeals to your audience.  Again, click on "Save Arrangement" when you have your blog as you want it.

Additionally, if you click on "Template" you can change how your blog looks.  I'm not going to spend a ton of time going through all the possibilities here because there are too many.  But, this is where you will want to go if you want to change the look of your blog.  Background image, color, theme, font size, font style and many other options are available here to personalize your blog.  I would highly recommend you stay away from the "Dynamic Views" templates - these are not as easy to edit, so the frustration level with using these is usually very high.

One note - this is not "Change your blog look" class, so you will not be spending every minute in this class working on doing something to your blog.  You have access to your blog at home, so if you need to make changes plan on making them there.

After we get done with our blogs, open up Microsoft Word.  We will be learning the M (R1) and the X (L3).  These are challenging letters - keeping your fingers curved and upright will greatly help in learning these two bottom-row keys.

Vocab quiz #3; Journaling on blog

We will take a few minutes to review...then we will take the vocab quiz.  DO NOT GO TO CLASSMARKER UNTIL YOU ARE TOLD TO DO SO!

When you complete the quiz, I want you to go to your blog and create a new PAGE on your blog.  To do that, follow these steps:

1. In the top right of the webpage, click on "Design"
2. On the next page, click on "Pages" on the left side (see image below)

3. Click on the "New Page" button towards the top of the next page, and then select "Blank page"
4. Give the page the title "Journal"
5. At the top of this new blog post, type in "Week of Sept. 17"; hit return twice

One you have entered all of this information, your objective is to write a paragraph about what you have learned in class this week (this is called a reflection post because you are reflecting back on everything we have done in class for the week).  You may include your thoughts about what you liked, what you didn't like, things you learned, etc.  If you have questions about where you think we are headed - include them as well.  Ultimately you should have a paragraph that you can go back to later (like the end of the semester) and read what you have written and remember what transpired this week.

After completing your reflection post on your Journal page, you may go to the following website and practice: 

 FREE ONLINE TYPING GAMES

FREE TYPING GAMES

You will need to practice with the speedskins on your keyboard...so if you want to play games you will  need to keep that in mind.

Blind Assignment - for a grade; school out at 11:40

With the shortened hours for all classes today, we will only have about 25 minutes in class.

Today we are going to do the blind assignment that we practiced yesterday again...only today it will be for a grade.

To begin with let's warm up on p. 12.  After you've been given a few minutes to warmup we will begin the blind assignment.

Practice blind assignment; new keys

4th hour - let's talk Vocab!

We are going to start with a little warm up - turn to page 11 and let's type all lines in 5C once.

After our warm up we are going to do what I call a blind assignment (today will just be for practice).  But, tomorrow we will do this for a grade.  You will not be able to look at your document or your screen while you are completing this.  I will read and spell a series of words - you will spell them.  The object is to spell each word correctly without looking at your keyboard or your document (this shows that you can correctly use your fingers on the correct keys).

After completing our practice blind assignment we will again turn to the book (p. 12) to learn two new keys - the B (L1) and the Y (R1).  These are long reaches for the index fingers on both hands.

New Keys - U, C, W, Right Shift Key

Today we are going to work hard to get several new keys learned.  We will start with a warmup and review of the keys we learned yesterday by keying lines 1-10 on page 11 (Lesson 4C).  Then...on to the new keys!

U - (R1)

C - (L2)

W - (L3)

Right Shift Key - (R4)

We will spend about 10 minutes learning and practicing each new key.

**REMEMBER TO POST YOUR DEFINITIONS OF THE VOCAB WORDS BY TONIGHT IF YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR DOING SO!**

10 Facts about me; New keys; Vocab list #3

Today we will start by finishing the 10 Facts About Me assignment.  I will show you how you can finish the email "draft" that you started on Friday and then send me the email.

Once we finish that part of the class we will be working on learning new keys.  However, I want you to first warm up by typing 3E, page 8, lines 1-10.

After completing that warmup, we will learn the Left Shift key and the period.  The Left Shift Key is used to type capital letters with the right hand.  The technique is to press down the shift key (with your left little finger - L4) and then hit the key on the right hand you want to capitalize; release both and continue.  You should not be pausing when you use the Shift key.

The other key is the period.  Use your right 3rd, or ring finger (R3) to type the period.  You should space twice after a period at the end of a sentence, and space once after a period used as part of an abbreviation (Dr. Smith, for example).

These leaders need to make sure their group members have their words and are getting them defined and posted to the Wikispaces page:

3rd - B. Gatter
4th - T. Mattan
6th - C. Mcintire
7th - G. Verbeck
8h - H. Craig

Vocab Quiz #2; Gmail

You'll have a few minutes at the beginning of the class to review for the vocab quiz.  Make use of the time given you!

After the quiz, log in to your Google account but DO NOT start searching in images...just be patient until everyone is done with the quiz.  

Gmail - we are going to set up a signature in Gmail today.  I think for some classes we have already done this, but I want to get everyone set up so when I receive an email from you I can tell who the email is from.  A signature is simply going to add your name to end of every email you send out without you having to do type your name in every time you send an email.  In other words, every time you send an email you won't have to type your name in BUT your name will be included.  

Then, you will have your first assignment with your email account.  You are going to send me 10 Facts About Yourself (that's the name of the assignment...and what you are going to do).  But, the catch is that you have to organize the assignment in a specific way.  You need to send me 10 facts about yourself, but each fact has to be related to the number you put it next to.  For example:

1 - I have 1 sister

2 - I have been to Walt Disney World twice

3 - I have 3 pets - a dog, a cat, and a parakeet

4 - I have been to the Ozarks 4 times

And so on.  When you are working to complete this assignment, you MAY NOT! tell me you have 10 fingers, or 5 toes on your left foot.  The facts you include must be facts I would not normally know about you.  

When sending an email you need to do 5 things:

1. Include a valid email address
2. Always! include a subject line so your reader knows what the email message is about
3. Write the name of the person you are sending the email to at the beginning of your message ("Dear Yoda:")
4. Write a message - and then reread it and spell check it before you send it.  Remember what you learned with Internet Safety - what you send and how it looks is a direct reflection on you!
5. Include your name at the end of the message (not a problem if you have a signature all set up!).

GPS; Embedding your movie on your blog; practice

Tomorrow is the second vocab quiz - this list (like the first) is also over  a series of words that are all related to HARDWARE.  There are several words that I would like to talk about - many of you may not know what they are.  First, to explain what GPS is we will watch the following video:

In addition to GPS, I want to quickly discuss SERVER and ROUTER.  To help understand SERVER, here is an image that may help you:

The following image shows a ROUTER; more than likely many of you have something very similar to this at home:

After discussing the vocabulary, we will sign the rubric sheets and hand them in.  Please make sure that everyone's name in your group is listed on your rubric sheet.

Next, we I will show you how to embed your Xtranormal video on your blog.   This process requires you to have your Blog open in one tab and your Xtranormal movie open in another tab, so make sure you have at least 2 tabs open.

Once you have embedded your movie on your blog, one of the members of your group needs to email me (from your Gmail account) a link to one person's blog so I can watch the movie from your blog.  I will grade your movie by watching from your blog.  For those who have issues with the Xtranormal points and who have not been able to publish your movie, you will need to send me your Username and Password for Xtranormal so I can login to your account and watch your movie to grade it.

When you finish embedding your movie and sending me a link, you need to learn the Left Shift Key and the period.
Left Shift Key - you use the left shift key to type capital letters with the right hand.  Therefore, you will hold down the left shift key with your left little finger (L4) as you type the letter with the right hand that you want to capitalize.
Period - use your right ring finger (R3).  Space twice after a period at the end of a sentence; space once after a period used at the end of an abbreviation (for example, Dr. Smith)

Type the following:
P. 9, 4B, lines 1-6 twice
P. 9, 4C, lines 1-10 once 

Finish Xtranormal movie; create your blog; practice

REMINDER - Friday is the vocab quiz over word list #2.

You will have the entire hour today to complete your movie in Xtranormal.  As I have mentioned several times...use the rubric on the Internet Safety page to guide you in completing the movie in a fashion that will help you earn the maximum points for this assignment.  Once you are done with your movie, and you are absolutely sure that you are done editing, you may publish your movie.  *Caution* - once you publish your movie you can no longer make any changes to it!!  You need to have your movie done and published before tomorrow's class period - we will be going over how to embed your movie on your blog.

Which leads me to the next item - you need to create your own blog.  Below is a video that will guide you in creating a blog on Blogger (which is where the class blog is "housed").  It really is not a difficult process, but it is something that everyone will need to do.  If you have a Google account (which all of you do), creating your own blog is pretty simple.

In addition, here are 2 links that may also help you get your blog up and running:
Blogger instructions
About.com instructions to create a blog

Once you have finished creating your blog (some of you completed this yesterday so you are starting at this point), you have practice to do in Word.  Here's what you need to do:

P. 6, 2E, all lines
P. 7, 3C, lines 3-8
P. 8, 3E, lines 7-10

If you get this done print it out and show me.  Then you can go to the following website to practice:
Free Typing Games.  While there you should ONLY! be working on Lessons of keys that we have learned so far.

Vocab posted to Wikispaces; Internet Safety

If you are responsible for posting vocab definitions to the Wikispaces webpage you must have that done by tonight!  I will be grading those tomorrow morning so make sure that you get this done if this applies to you.

If you are the vocabulary leader for Week 3 you should be passing out the vocabulary words to your group members sometime today.  This gives your group members an entire week to find a working definition for the word(s) that you give them.

Today you will be working on your Internet Safety movie.  These will need to be completed by the end of class tomorrow.  At this point just save your movie - DON'T PUBLISH YET!  Once we create a blog I will show you how you can post your movie on your blog.

Below is a video that will help you create your blog.  DO NOT DO THIS UNTIL YOU ARE DONE WITH YOUR XTRANORMAL MOVIE!!  Once that has been completed you need to create a blog - the video below will help you to get that objective done.  If you have questions, or have problems setting up your blog please let me know so I can help.

In addition, here are 2 links that may also help you get your blog up and running:
Blogger instructions
About.com instructions to create a blog

Internet Safety finish - Wednesday; Vocabulary posting on Wikispaces

How to choose a safe password - Explania

Here are a couple of websites that you could use to help you create a safe password:

Password Bird
Pass Plex

After watching today's video on Choosing a Safe Password, we will again be working in our groups to complete our Internet Safety videos.  Here are several helpful tips as you work to complete your Internet Safety movie:

• you cannot have enough details! 
• try to make your information easy to understand by assuming your audience will be a group of 3rd graders.
• cover 4 different areas.
• save your information often, but do not Publish yet!

If you complete your video, let me know.

IF IT IS YOUR WEEK TO DO VOCABULARY DEFINITIONS, GET YOUR DEFINITIONS POSTED TO THE WIKISPACES PAGE BY MIDNIGHT TOMORROW!  SEE ME IF YOU NEED HELP (BUT DON'T WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE).  THIS IS HOMEWORK.

Internet safety project; vocab reminder

Here is the latest of the Internet Safety videos that I want to share with you:





Today we will again be working in our groups to create our movie.  You will need to log in to Xtranormal today instead of signing in (that's what we did yesterday to create an account).  Your job (or assignment) is to meet the criteria I have set up for you in the rubric (found here).  Be creative while you meet the requirements for the assignment!  Using Xtranormal allows you to use your creativity to make a movie that should be fun and interesting to watch!  Remember that all the bells and whistles are neat - but they need to enhance your movie rather than be a distraction.


If you are responsible for defining words for next week's vocabulary, please make sure to get that done by Tuesday of next week (Sept. 11).  If you are having problems with a definition or with getting into your wikispaces page, please see me so we can get your problem solved!

Is Internet information reliable? Xtranormal

Let's take a look at Xtranormal - the website you are going to use to create your animated Internet Safety movie!

As you create your movie, don't forget to look at the rubric so you know what your requirements are.  I want you to be creative, but you must meet the criteria set out in the rubric in order to get all the points that are possible for this assignment.  One important aspect of this assignment is making sure that your movie is school appropriate - for example, one of the animations available is called "up-yours" and should not be included in what you create.

After learning how to use Xtranormal you and your partners can start working on creating your movie. However, I highly encourage you to "map out" your movie first (that was the reason for the storyboards) before you blindly go into creating your movie.

Correct fingers; Internet safety research

We will start today by warming up in Microsoft Word.  Let's use page 8, 3E lines 1-10 once and 3F lines 1-6 once.  After warming up we will complete the Correct Fingers assignment on Classmarker (don't go to the Classmarker  website until I have directed you to do so).

After we complete the Correct Fingers assignment you will have the rest of the time to do your research on Internet Safety.  At this point you should be very close to being done with your research, and therefore you need to start organizing that information and deciding on how you want to create your movie.  I would recommend that you use the storyboards in an effort to help organize your thoughts.

Tomorrow I will demonstrate how you can use Xtranormal to create your movie.  I think you'll find Xtranormal to be interesting and fun!

IF YOU ARE A GROUP LEADER FOR VOCABULARY WORDS...YOU NEED TO LET THE PEOPLE IN YOUR GROUP KNOW TODAY WHAT WORDS THEY NEED TO DEFINE!  IF YOU ARE TO DEFINE WORDS, THEY NEED TO BE ENTERED ON THE WIKISPACES PAGE BY THE END OF THE DAY NEXT TUESDAY, SEPT. 11.

General information; Internet Safety

There are several items I want to cover before we do anything else today.  These items are general pieces of information that will be important for you to remember as we continue through the semester:

1. Class exits - you are able to leave the class 4 times throughout the semester.  These may be used to go to the restroom or your locker.  Once you have used your 4 exits you will not be allowed to leave unless it is an obvious emergency.  The positive side of this is that if you do not use yours you will get an extra credit point for each one not used.  The process works like this:  when you need to leave the room grab a form to take with you; ask me to leave; once you return fill out the form, have me sign at the bottom (or a sub if there if I am gone) and put it in the gray tray on the corner of my desk.
2. When you arrive to class you are to be in only the software programs that I have given you permission to access.  In other words, visiting websites that you have not been asked to go to, chatting in Google (this should NEVER occur in here), searching for images on Google, playing in Logo (you'll learn about this later), etc., etc., etc., is not going to be tolerated.  You should be where you are asked to be...if you are not you are violating the computer lab policy as well as being insubordinate.  These offenses are worthy of a blue slip if I (or a substitute) decide that it is necessary.
3. Do not log someone else in to their computer.  Even though you know their username and login, everyone should login themselves.  
4. If you want to know what we are doing for the week, the objectives will be posted on the board. This should give you an idea of what we are going to be learning and what to expect from your time in Computer Apps class.  
5. On the west wall you will find the missing assignment lists for each hour.  I try to keep these updated about once a week.  You should look at them frequently to find out if you have any missing work.  If you do have missing work you need to complete it as soon as possible and get it turned in.  Any assignment turned in one day late will receive a 10% deduction; 2 days will receive a 20% deduction; anything after 2 days will receive a 50% deduction.  **NOTE** - turning in an assignment 2 weeks late is better than not turning it in all because 50% credit is better than a 0!

Today we are going to do a little bit of a review with the keyboard, then you will be given time to work on your Internet Safety project.  I am embedding the storyboards below for you to look at (and print at home if needed); I have printed these out and put copies next to the printer for you to use.

Storyboard 2X2