Let it Snow

Since my last post my students were busy making snowflakes and stop motion videos with Google Slides. Boy do I love this tool! They began with some research to learn a little about the science behind snowflakes before diving in to "make a point" for their snowflake. 

Most points were made with simple shapes like hexagons and lines. The main requirement was that any shapes or lines had to show symmetry. Once they made their first point as simple or complex as they desired, they grouped the pieces together before they duplicated it. Next they flipped the copy vertically before they aligned both points so that these segments mirrored each other, more symmetry. Once these opposing points were aligned and grouped together, they made two new copies. Then they used the align center and middle features to stack these three layers on top of each other. To complete the snowflake they rotated two of the three grouped segments to create six points for their snowflake. They rotated the top layer 60° and a second layer 120° to create the perfect six-pointed snowflake. 

Finally their snowflakes were downloaded as png files with transparent backgrounds, something they learned about with their previously made avatars. If submitted on time, these snowflakes were used for the snowy day stop motion video.

Using the publish to the web feature and a URL hack they learned how to advance each slide two-tenths of a second. Take a look at the final products from my day 2 classes to see how some students enjoy snowy days. 

Check out my Google Slide how to to make a snowflake of your own. 

Screencasts, CS Ed Week and Micro:bits

We have been busy as usual in the Innovation Lab. The fifth graders wrapped up their how to videos and are currently finalizing CS Heroine and CS Hero posters to celebrate CS Ed Week. In sixth grade we are talking, exploring, and writing simple programs with the MakeCode.microbit.org coding platform and Micro:bit. They will use the radio feature to communicate and identify a CS Hero or Heroine as well.

Grade 5

For the video production project students selected a simple Google Slides task to demonstrate. They captured this demonstration on the school issued Chromebook. Recording and editing were done using the screen recording application Screencastify. Earlier in our course, they learned how to edit an imported video. For this project they created everything from scratch, even the prepared slides.  Click a link below to sample an example. They are FANTASTIC!

Grade 6

We have just begun working with Micro:bit. So far, they have made a simplified version of "Magic 8-Ball" but with 3 inputs and outputs to represent yes, no, and maybe. Students who finished early were encouraged to try showing all 20 outputs as character strings. Now we are exploring the radio feature learning about transmitters, receivers, conditionals, loops, and a variety of inputs to communicate secret messages. 

Micro:bit Starter Projects

Magic 3 Ball Click to try.	Marco Polo Click to try

CS Ed Week

CS Ed Week always falls on the week of Grace Hopper's birthday, December 9. This year it kicked off on Sunday, December 5. To celebrate both fifth and sixth grade students are making posters about a CS Heroine or CS Hero. That said, they are approaching this task differently. In fifth grade they are reinforcing Google Slides skills used to make their avatars by learning how to trace images. They reviewed a list of influential people in CS to help identify a person of interest. Some students picked family members they looked up to and in some cases they selected me as their CS Heroine.

In grade six instead of picking their person, they were assigned a part of their persons name. Now they are writing programs using MakeCode and the Micro:bit to communicate with a mystery partner so they can complete the name and begin their research. Stay tuned and look for your CS posters below. 

Future Coders & YouTubers

These past few weeks my students have been engaged in some fun & relevant tech projects. I haven't found one kid who wasn't excited about learning how to edit videos, some with aspirations for becoming the next big YouTuber... and then there are the robots.

Grade 5

In fifth grade students installed a school approved Chrome extension called Screencastify. They will use this extension to edit and record video. Their first job was to edit and export a pre-made, 1+ minute,  how to video, into a cleaned up version lasting in the ballpark of 45-50 seconds. While installing this extension we discussed learning some basic computer care and responsibility. Later we did some simple Chromebook housekeeping to keep them running efficiently.
The how-to video I created on making a New Folder in Google Drive involved navigating some intentional errors, even a sneeze mid-clip. One of my go to rules for video recording: tape it once, trim out the excess when you are ready to edit. The tools and vocabulary we practiced included crop, zoom, trim (cut), titles, credits, exporting, rendering, saving locally, storing work in the cloud, routers, and our own version of closed captions. Using text boxes with the 5 key points they made their tutorial accessible to a larger audience.
There was discussion about flattening files, connecting some skills we used with Google Slides to Video Editing with Screencastify. For example, when they downloaded their Google Slide file as a .png all of the layers in the slide were "flattened" into one png file. png files have transparent backgrounds and can be cropped to make your character look like they are sitting in a car or looking out a window. Similarly, after exporting their editable Screencastify video into a more universal mp4 file, this new video includes the edits but you don't see them as editable parts like you do with Screencastify. We again talked about downloading the file locally and the need for adding it to Google Classroom or Drive for access at home or from a different device. Here is a screenshot of an editable video in Screencastify. Notice the green zoom segments and the salmon title segment. These will not appear once you export your file as an mp4 in this case. The video is rendered into one clip.

Original	Student Example

Grade 6

Sixth grade students continued using the RootBots, writing code to draw a variety of polygons. When they used the simulator to break codes and make music, they worked independently. This time around they practiced pair programming. With pair programming one student is the driver but both students contribute to the logic, design and debugging of the code. On a given day, one partner is the "driver" and the other our "materials handler." The driver is responsible for typing the code and completing shared documentation. The materials handler makes sure the robots are off and returned to the parking lot, the station is clean, and any borrowed materials are returned to their location for the next class.

Parking Spaces	Polygon Requirements

Take a look at some of the polygons they coded in class this week. Can you count the number of inputs they used? What types of polygons do you see?