Welcome back!

Welcome back!  I hope you had a restful and enjoyable Thanksgiving break!

We have 3 weeks of school left before we are out for Christmas break, and it will go fast.  Be prepared to be busy - we still have several things to accomplish and will be working diligently to get those things done in the next 3 weeks.

This week is vocab list #9 - Multimedia/Graphics.  Today we are going to watch the video below on streaming video.  If you have vocab definitions for week 9 and have not yet posted them you have until tomorrow night to get that done.

After watching the video you are going to write in your blog what you did over Thanksgiving break.  The instructions are as follows:

1. You need to write 2 paragraphs of what you did over Thanksgiving break and post it on your blog.  This includes creating a blog post title (1 pt for the title - total of 4 pts).
2. Spelling counts, so if you need to spell check what you write click on the ABC/check icon to spell check before you post.  (1 pt)
   
3. Grammar also is part of your grade, so make sure you write in complete sentences.  It might be beneficial to think of what you've learned in Language Arts - to write a complete paragraph use 5 sentences.  If you followed this thought process you would have a introductory sentence, 3 sentences with supporting details, and then a summary sentence.  If you did that for both paragraphs your grammar should be fine. (2 pts)
4. Finally you need to insert an image that is related in some way to what you did at Thanksgiving.  As long as the image is school appropriate you have quite a bit of freedom in choosing what you want to include for your image (2 pts)
5. Email me a link to your blog.  This should not be a problem as you should have your blog link as part of your signature (if not you may want to do that now).  Make sure to include the 5 proper parts to an email (1 pt).

I highly recommend that you check your email to see if there is anything that I have sent you regarding a missing assignment.  Some of you submitted the wrong file or forgot to attach a file when you submitted one of the formatting activities and I sent you an email explaining such.  You'll need to submit whatever you didn't previously submit as soon as possible.

Also, you should check the missing assignments list on the wall - remember, we only have 3 weeks left, so it greatly helps you to turn in anything that is missing.  

Modifying your blog

Today I am going to show you how you can modify your blog.  There are a variety of ways that you can change your blog to personalize it - you shouldn't have any problem, after today, creating a blog that you feel is representative of what you like or representative of what your theme would be if this were something we were doing for a permanent situation.

As a reminder remember that the crossword puzzle is due Friday - if you are done you can hand it in early.

Spring Break reflection

Today you are going to create a blog post on your blog about your spring break.  However, we are going to do more than just write about what you did - you will also be writing about what you would like to do in the future.

The first paragraph will explain what you did over spring break.  The second paragraph will be an explanation of what you see yourself doing 25 years from now with your family.  In this second paragraph imagine that you are able to take your family of kids and a spouse somewhere within reason.  That means that you're not going somewhere and spending tens of thousands of dollars on a trip - as I said make it within reason.  Use details to explain where you plan on going, what you plan on doing, and why you want to go there.

Both paragraphs will use the same writing expectations that you have in Language Arts - an introductory sentence, three supporting sentences of details and explanations, and a closing sentence.  When you are done you will email to me your URL (copy and paste it into the body of your message).  Also remember to include the 5 parts of an email when you email me.  This is due by the end of the hour.

If you finish that during class you can work on any missing assignment you have.  If you don't have any missing assignments choose a practice website to go to and practice - with your speed skin on!

Vocab quiz #5; create a blog

Today we will be taking vocab quiz #5.

After taking the quiz everyone will be creating a blog at Blogger.  This is the same host site that I have used to create the class blog.  The sign up process will be simple because Blogger is a "sister" site to Google - you can use your Google account to log into your Blogger blog.

We will take some time today to create your blog - if we have time available we will be embedding your videos onto your blog.  At some point (either today or Monday) you will be sending me an email with a link to your blog so I can view your video(s) and grade them.

Welcome back!

Welcome back!  I hope everyone enjoyed a full week of Thanksgiving break…hopefully your batteries are fully recharged and you are ready for the homestretch!  We only have 3 weeks left until the end of the semester, but there is much to accomplish, starting with what you are going to be doing today.

Today we are going to enter a blogpost on your blog.  I want you to write at least 2 paragraphs about what your Thanksgiving consisted of, and what you are thankful for.  Spelling and grammar do count (this will be a graded assignment), so it might be useful for some of you to type your paragraphs in Word first (so you can do a spell and grammar check) and then copy and paste it into a new blogpost on your blog.  Once you have published your 2 paragraphs you will need to email me a link to your blog - remember when you are sending an email that you need to include the 5 parts to an email (email address, subject line, greeting, body, and signature).

When you complete this assignment in class today you will have the rest of the hour to either complete missing work, or if you have no missing work you may go to the practice websites and practice keying (since I'm sure that you haven't practiced in almost 10 days).

REMEMBER - SPEED SKINS ON YOUR KEYBOARD!

We do have a vocabulary quiz this week, so those of you with vocab words to define need to get that done no later than Wednesday night of this week.

Rainforest blogging

The first thing I would like everyone to do is check their email.  I have sent some people emails and this is a good time to make sure you haven't missed any messages from me.  Also, grades are due today, so if you have something you need to turn in it must get to me today, but you do not have time in class to work on makeup work.

Today you are going to have your first journal entry on your blog.  Your journal entry is going to be a reflection on the Rainforest unit you have been covering in your classes (according to Webster's dictionary, a reflection is the consideration of some subject matter, idea, or purpose).  Here are some thought-provoking questions that may help you to write your reflection:

• What did you learn about the Rainforest?
• What was interesting?
• What was unique about the animal you researched?
• Was there anything you already knew, and how did you already know it (had you learned it in another class, you read a book about it when you were in 4th grade, you saw something on tv, etc.)?
• What was enjoyable about going to the Brookfield Zoo?  What was not enjoyable?
• What did you like and/or dislike about the Rainforest rally with Niabi zoo, ice cream, and bingo?
• What would you change about the Rainforest unit we study in 7th grade?

This needs to be posted on your blog today, and then you need to email me a link to your blog so I can see that you have posted your reflection.  This will be graded so make sure you get this done.  Here is how I will grade what you post:




Lastly, next week we will have another set of vocab words and a vocab quiz, so those of you who have not yet posted your definitions to the wiki spaces page will need to get that done in the next week.  You obviously have plenty of time, but I know some of you have forgotten so this is just a friendly reminder.

Creating a blog

Today we are going to create your class blog.  There are several things that you need to keep in mind as we create your class blog:

1. There will be no games are on your blog, and you therefore will not be playing games on your blog during class (if you don't know how to put widgets on your blog that have games - good!  If you do know how to do it - don't!)
2. Class time is not time to make changes to your blog.  If Mr. Pardoe specifically gives you time to work on your blog you may do so...otherwise it is not a "toy" that you play with in here.  
3. Everything you put on your blog must be school appropriate!
4. Once the semester is over you can do with your blog what you want.  You are the owner/creator, so you have full power to use it as you wish (continue to use it for whatever purpose or completely delete the blog). 

Any violation of rules 1-3 above will result in you losing 10% of the next assignment that is due the first time, 20% the second time you are caught, and anytime thereafter you will lose 50% of the next assignment due.  That being said, let's go to www.blogger.com to get busy creating your blog!

Vocab Quiz; Finish FA5; email blog post; missing assignments; Alice

There are several different things that you may need to work on today.  First we will all review for the vocab quiz.  After being given several minutes to review we will all go to Classmarker to take the quiz.

Here are the other items that you need to get done:

1. Finish FA5 if you did not get it completed yesterday.  Remember that this must be printed out and that you must sign your name at the bottom between the complimentary close and where your name is typed.
2. Complete the blog post that was given to you on Monday.  Here is the writing prompt:  "In what ways do you see learning how to format documents in Microsoft Word useful, or important, for your future?" When you get done you need to send me an email with a link to your blog so I can read your response.
3. If you have missing assignments now is the time to get these done.  The missing assignment list on the wall has not been updated since Tuesday, but you should know which assignments since then you have not turned in.  Zeroes have a devastatingly bad effect on your grade - getting some credit (even if it is only 50%) will greatly improve your current grade.
4. If you have all of the above done, and you have no missing assignments, you may work in Alice and complete the Fish Fairy world. 

Firewall; FA4; Blog post for week of Apr. 15

Vocabulary definitions for this week (week #8 - TECHNICAL) need to be posted by Tuesday night.  Please post yours as soon as possible!

Here is a short video on what a Firewall is:

The Formatting Activity we are going to cover today helps explain how to use Tabs within a Word document.  We will cover some basic information as a class before we start working on the Formatting Activity.  

FA4


 The last thing I want to make you aware of is that you need to create a blog post by Friday for the following writing prompt:

"In what ways do you see learning how to format documents in Microsoft Word useful, or important, for your future?"

This needs to be posted on your blog by this Friday, Apr. 19th.  You will need to send me a link to your blog so that I can see that you have posted this assignment on your blog.  Here is the grading rubric:

Blogging assignment

Today you are going to work on finishing your blogging assignment.  Remember that you first need to write an essay about what you did over Spring Break, post your essay on your blog, and then you need to reply to 2 of your classmates.  Once all of that has been accomplished you can send me an email with  a link to your blog and a list of the classmates whose blogs you commented on.  You should have no problems finishing this in class today, but if you don't get it completed the due date is Friday, Apr. 5th.

If you complete this assignment and you have vocab words that need to be posted to the wiki spaces page you may do that in class today.

Once you complete the above work and you have no missing assignments (you might want to check the board on the wall) you will have the following to work on.  This is a program that is called Alice.  Alice's function is to teach you how to think like a computer programmer thinks in an interactive world.  Your job, as the "programmer", is to create world's in which characters interact with each other using commands that you give to the program.  Unlike many computer programming languages where you must learn the language first (much like you would have to learn a new speaking language), Alice is an Object-Oriented Program (sometimes these are referred to as OOPs) - meaning that instead of learning a language you are going to be dragging and dropping with your mouse to manipulate the objects in the world you create.

What I would like for you to do is to open Alice (go to the Finder menu and choose Applications - you'll find it listed amongst the other Applications on the computer), and then start the tutorial (see image below).  To start the tutorial just click on the "Start the Tutorial" button.

Blog posting

As a reminder to those who have not posted their definitions, you still have until Tuesday of next week to put them on your respective wiki spaces page.  Next week's vocab list is list #7 (all of the vocab words in list #7 are related to the Internet).

Today we are going to start with talking about your blog.  We are going to add your first blog post in which you are going to write something.  Your topic will be "My Spring Break", and the blog post instructions are listed below (we'll get to those in a little bit - don't start writing now!).

But first we are going to set up your blog so that we can make sure that other people can comment on your blog without putting information on your blog that you don't want.  In other words, we want to be able to review all of the comments before they are posted on our blog (this acts like a filter in that you get to read every comment before it is posted on your blog...thus you are able to make sure that anyone posting flaming comments doesn't get published).

The assignment is that you need to write an essay about what you did over spring break.  Using what you have learned in Language Arts, you need to have an introduction, at least 3 supporting details (they good be good things or bad things about spring break), and then a closing.  Once you have completed this you are to publish your spring break essay on your blog (this is called a blog post).  This part of the assignment will be worth 5 points.

Your next part of this assignment is to comment (or "post a comment" as it is sometimes called) on 2 different classmates' blogs (in other words you can't post twice to the same person's blog, nor can you comment to someone on your blog and count that as a comment). This part of the assignment will be worth 4 points total - each comment will be worth 2 points.

Let's look at the following website so we can see what can be done to create a quality comment on a blog:  comments on a blog

The last part of this blog posting assignment is to spell check your essay and your comments to your friends' blogs.  This part of the assignment will be worth 1 point.

Once you have posted your essay about "My Spring Break" on your blog and you have posted 2 comments on 2 different classmates' blogs you need to email me.  In your email you need to include a link to your blog AND you also need to include the two people whose blogs you posted to.  This will all be due on Friday, April 5th.