Learning with @CommonCraft

Fourth grade is making a movie!!  Right now we are writing our scripts using Google Docs on the computer.  Each team is sharing the writing and editing of their script.  Google docs works well for this because it is easy to know what each person in the group is typing and it helps us avoid mistakes.  We are having so much fun. There are so many different things to learn from the common craft videos that we are creating.  You can learn things like how to be a good digital citizen, the benefits of learning to code, and the different uses of iPads. Wait until you see them: )

Creative Commons

Comic Writing

Yesterday we made comics of made up super heros.  The point of it was to learn how to be safe, responsible, and respectful online.  It was fun because we made a comic of it.  It gave us a lot of options of what to do such as flip the character, change its size, etc.  Then, we shared them with another school, Mount Vernon Presbyterian, via Twitter and they shared theirs with us.  Overall, it was pretty fun.

Time to Program

Today we got to program our alligator (Lego).  It was a lot of fun.  It was also challenging to put all of the icons in the correct order for the alligator to work.  We also had to mess around with the numbers under the icons that represent the sounds to find one that we liked and wanted.  But although programming it was very fun, making the alligator was better in my opinion.  I hope we get to build and program more robots in the future.

Lego alligator project

                     Today we are making mechanical Lego alligators. Then we get to program them! It is lots of fun! We are learning how to program things and about belts, motion sensors and pulleys.

Type to Learn 4

My class is just starting to use the software Type to Learn 4. In my opinion, for me I really like it. In the software it helps you improve your typing. Each lesson does some different keys.

Piece of Cake

We proved to be a class that works well together in small groups.  Aside from the occasional mishap, we worked so well together that we were kicking back and filing our nails on the last day of class.  Okay, that's not true but we did work efficiently and effectively together and Mrs. Brown was super proud of us.  Tomorrow, we will be watching all of our videos in class and reflecting on the following questions:
1) What was most challenging about this project?
2) What was it like to work on a team and to rely upon each other?
3) What would we do differently next time?
4) What aspect of this project was most challenging?
5) What did we learn about technology?
6) What did we learn about "the art of explanation"?
7) What was most fun in completing this project?
8) What surprised us most about our chosen topic?
As we view each others videos in class tomorrow and demonstrate how to be respectful audience members, we look forward to celebrating our accomplishments.

One thing happened, however, that we did not anticipate.  Some of us did include our first and last names in the credits.  As a result, we realize that we cannot share all of them with the world for our safety.  However, check us out on Twitter @4thtech as we tweet out those that are "safe" for us to share.

http://tinyurl.com/l9qtvk4

Crossing the Finish Line

Because the class has been working harder and smarter to complete their Common Craft videos, I am guest blogging on their behalf to share what we have accomplished this week.  Time is of the essence!  We had some wacky weather this week and as a result, we lost a day of learning.  Never fear, however, because we have such dedicated kids that they have been coming in during the wee hours to complete their videos!  They know what it means to have a deadline.  So, with that in mind, they have not only wrapped up their filming, but they have imported their videos onto our lovely MacBook Pros to begin the editing process. 

Since the Common Craft meme is  a simple one, we have not had to do extensive editing.  With our new iMovie updates though, it has thrown us for a loop and we are having to relearn how to do some of the more basic functions, such as crop, delete, and add backgrounds and titles.  Luckily, we are naturals at technology and it has not been too trying.  Plus, we've showed great team work and have really helped each other out (even when it has meant helping another group).  We are on the road to learning how to produce Steven Spielberg quality videos and in the meantime, are very proud of our accomplishments.  Everyone is looking forward to sharing!