Constructing a Timeline As a Class

In order to be successful in our Hummingbird robotics project, we immediately recognized the importance of creating a timeline in order to achieve our goals.  Here's what we came up with:
Day One

• 15 minutes: Gather Materials and Commit to a Design
• 25 minutes: Decide what the robot will do and sketch/plan it out
• 15 minutes: Begin building

Day Two

• 50 minutes: Finish building

Day Three

• 50 minutes: Begin Connections

Day Four

• 50 minutes: Program

Day Five

• 50 minutes: Finish programming and do a test run

Day Six

• 50 minutes: Tweak and Share

= 5 Hours

We are looking forward to staying on task!

Robotics Time! by Mrs. Brown

We are off to a great start in 4th Grade Technology!  Yesterday, we did an #appsmashing biographical activity to build our app fluency while learning a little bit about ourselves.  Today, we began learning about our iHelp jobs that we will each be responsible for throughout the quarter.  Fortunately, we were also able to get a taste of what lies ahead.  We were introduced to our first Robotics kit, the Hummingbird.

The Hummingbird Robotics Kit is pretty special.  It will allow us to design, build and program our own robots using LED lights, Servos, and temperature, heat and distance sensors.  One robot actually welcomed us to class today (see below)!  Also, we watched some other robots that other students created to discover the possibilities.  We are so excited for a great quarter ahead!

Welcome Back! by Mrs. Brown

Welcome back from what I hope was a fantastic summer!  We have an exciting new format for Technology this year.  We will be choosing our own adventures.  Before class starts, however, I wanted to let you all know that we will be so busy in class this year that we will no longer have any in-class typing time.  Never fear though!  You are still able to practice your typing at your leisure from home.  Here are the directions for longing into Type to Learn 4 from a home computer:

• Simply download it from the following link: http://ttl4.sunburst.com/downloads/
• The students use their last name and first two initials for their username the password is davis.
• Once the program has been downloaded onto your home computer, the account code to log in is 135321.

http://werelyokoman.deviantart.com/art/Jeremie-Typing-No-1-88647379

We did it!

All of our videos have been completed.  We worked tirelessly to get them done but they are fabulous if we may say so ourselves.  They aren't perfect but they are fabulous.  For those that still need some tweaking, we learned about how to improve our technical skills with iMovie, especially when it comes to editing.  We also learned how important it is to hold the camera still and to be sure that we are able to view our subjects through the lens in the way that we want it projected on the screen.  We came up with some very inventive topics to research and share.  We hope you enjoy!

How Texting with a Cellphone Works by Amalia, Olivia, and Grayce
How a Fire Alarm Works by Ashley, Annalise, and Jenny
Google Glass by Ezra, Josh, and Alec
How to Build an App with iBuildApp by Matthew, Kaden, and Alex

Informational Videos Inspired by @CommonCraft

Harrison, Eli, and Max have created an interesting video that will provide viewers with information about how to control and program a Sphero Ball.  What is a Sphero ball you ask?  Click here to learn more.

Eleanor, Sasha, and Hailey were tired of watching their parents get locked out of their smartphones.  They decided to take action.  Click here to learn what to do when you are unable to use your smartphone.

Filming & Editing

I have learned that making a movie is really hard.  If you mess up even a little bit in your script, it will make a huge difference. Next time, I will proof read the script over and over again for errors. I like the Common Craft style because it makes it easy to understand difficult topics and they are explained in an interesting video.

Collaborating to Create Common Craft Videos

Today in class we are working on our common craft videos. Right now we are cutting out our cutouts piece by piece to make them look good for our project. Each of our stories are about a problem with a different electronic device. Some teams' videos are about phones, others are about computer problems, and some are about phone communication problems. All of our groups have great common craft videos! Including my group's video, which is about how to reset your smartphone once you are locked out!