Common Craft Creations

Today we are finishing up our Common Craft scripts by using a K-W-H-L-A-Q chart that asks us questions to make sure our script is perfect. The K is for what do I know?, the W is for what do I want to know?, The H is for how do I find out?, the L is for what have I learned?, the A is for what action will I take? and the Q is for what new questions do I have. This chart helps students learn to go back over their work and make sure it is as best it can possibly be. This lesson is very important to learn and is good to learn at a young age like this.

Script Writing for Common Craft

We are using Google Docs to write a script about how to better explain different aspects of Technology. Some examples of our scripts are "Why do people like to play video games so much?" and "What makes Technology so appealing to people?".   The narrator will read the script when the videographer films.   Script-writing is a group project.

Common Craft Project

Our class is just beginning a project where we make a video about the Internet that is in the style of a Common Craft video.  We are to come up with a driving question that relates to technology and our goal is to answer that question through a Common Craft video.  As a class, we brainstormed examples of driving questions.  They should be open-ended and engaging.  We will work together in teams of three.  One person will be the narrator, the second person will be the videographer, and the third person will be the propmaster.  We are using Google Docs to write our script so that we can collaborate as a group.  Plus, Mrs. Brown can comment on our script as we move forward.  Our school has a subscription to Common Craft's video cut out library so that is what we will use for our props.  Four groups have decided on their driving question and two are still brainstorming the perfect one.  Stay tuned...

Scratch

Today we are learning to do Scratch. We have to learn to make the sprite move around and we get to pick the background.  You can also pick your sprite or draw your own.  It is going to be hard because programming is new to us so we will have to play around with it to figure it out. It is good to have programmed the Lego alligator because it could help us program with Scratch.  We learned that the characters in Scratch are called sprites.  We are learning how to program with Scratch because there is a demand for this skill. 

Challenges, Advantages and What We Would Do Different

Yesterday we finished our programming challenge.  Today at the beginning of class we talked about the challenges we faced, the advantages we discovered, and what we would do differently.  Some challenges we faced were how to program the motion sensor, how to program things in the right order, translating how to make our alligator do the splash in the programming challenge  and sometimes it was hard logging into the computer to get set up.  Some advantages were having a partner that was a strong programmer, getting a partner that has experience using a MacBook (since that is what we are using), and programming the sound effects turned out to be easy.  The best part was seeing the final results of our work.  In discussing what we would do differently, we decided it would be interesting to make another animal, do a different challenge, or program our alligator differently to make it better. 

Programing Challange

It  will be very hard programing our Lego alligators. We have to try new things to make the Lego alligators do new things. We have to make the alligator splash into the water and make it when the man is approaching the jaw opens and closes 10 times! Working with a partner can help. One person can program it while the other person tells them what to do.  Last time we learned and played around with it.  It was hard because everybody wanted to do everything but in the programming challenge we have to have to work together to do it.  Finally, we get to make are own programming challenge!!

These are the questions I thought about while writing this blog post:

chomp chomp

We are learning how to motion activate Lego alligators. You need a special kit. In that kit there are special chords like the USB and a motion sensor to sense the Lego person that comes near the alligator. It is very fun and everyone likes it in the class.

alligator

We are making a robotic alligator.  It is very fun and also sort of scary at the same time.  The alligator chomps at you.  It's so cool.  We are working in partners.  We can't wait to start building our models!

Internet Safety

We are learning about how to be safe on the Internet.  When something inappropriate comes up don't click on it. It could be very inappropriate.  That is what we are learning about today!!!

Tagxedo Word Art & Digital Citizenship

We are working on tagxedo word art about digital citizenship. We are putting in words like password, ask, parents, safety and proofreading. We are having fun in technology.  We played a game where we passed around pieces of toilet paper and for every piece, we had to mention one way to practice digital citizenship.  The tricky part was not repeating what someone else had already said. 

todays meet talk

Today we are on Todaysmeet.com.  Mrs. Brown has given us a question and our class is going to see if they know the answer. Everyone may have different answers so we will see if they get the same one. The question is "What are some ways to practice digital citizenship?".

Employment Opportunities

We are learning about all of our technology-related jobs.  We will have a blogger, a proofreader, a digital photographer, a help desk, and more.  Each week we will rotate among a total of nine jobs so that we each get a turn experiencing these very important roles.  We can't wait to begin our jobs. 

Music and more

We are at the part in the editing process where we are finding the right tune for our video . We go into iMovie and push the music note to change the tune. You know the tune is right if the tune matches with your video.

Lights, Camera, Action

Last week in Technology, our class videotaped our groups' Common Craft videos. We learned that it is harder than you would think because you have to speak louder and restart if there are little noises. 
We also had to edit the sound and background music on the Macbooks with iMovie.

 

Remaking Common Craft Videos

"The fun thing about it is that you are in a group with your friends and you are making a video that you want to make."-Alon

We are still working on remaking Common Craft videos about technology. We have a few groups that are doing how to use iMovie and my group is doing how to get an app on an iphone. Each group is having fun with their video.

Making Connections

One of our groups in Technology tweeted about their question, which is "How Does Apple Make Life Easier?". Another fourth grade class in South Carolina saw our tweet and replied. They gave us their opinions about how Apple makes life easier. Their answers were very helpful and allowed us to add another paragraph into our presentation. Making that connection was special because it helped us reach farther.

The Planning Process

Today in technology we are still making our videos about technology based on the Common Craft meme. In the groups, we are writing a script with google docs about a subject on technology. Once we finish writing our script, we will make a video with the cutouts from the Common Craft

paper props. We all have jobs, such as the videographer, the prop master, and the narrator. Once we are done, we will post our videos on our class blog.

Brainstorming our Topics in Tech

Today in Technology we started creating our topics. We had to come up with a question for our video to be about. We also got a flip camera and jobs such as videographer, narrator and prop master.

Memes in Tech

Today in Technology, we learned that soon we will be creating videos based on the Common Craft meme. We will be doing it in groups of three using Google docs and iMovie. Also, our topics are about Technology.

I Movie

Today in class we made iMovies about Technology. To make the movies we used Creative Commons to search for the images so that we do not violate copyright. The assignment included us having to include two transitions, one sound effect, a title page, and scrolling credits.

Programming our alligators!

This week we have been learning how to program Lego alligators and get them to do what we want! We have already learned how to make the mouths go up and down like it's chewing. Today we have a programming challenge. We have to try to make our alligators move their jaw when we click the letter "s", the alligator will splash into the water while detecting a man in front of it's jaw opening and closing ten times.

The marshmallow challenge

In tech we made a tower out of 20 spaghetti straws and had to put a marshmallow on the top. We also built Lego alligators and learned how to program them. We are now playing with recipes for programing the alligator. That's what we have done this week in technology.

The Marshmallow Challenge from Stacy Brown on Vimeo.

Our first week in technology

We have learned so much.  We practiced ways to stay safe online, about digital footprints, how to use Type to Learn 4, a website called Todaysmeet.com for our exit tickets, and how to log into the computer with our own unique username and password.  We have a lot to look forward to in the coming weeks!