ms office tips

sometimes you have created word doc. as you like.but it is not in perfect order means,then
just select the doc. and pres control+shift+n.
then it wil give pakka format.


if you press control+shift+c then it will copy the particular formatting style,then paste it using control+shift+v


if you want to see many doc. at a time in a window.just click "arrange all" that present in windows option in th menu bar.

select a word or para in word doc. and press shift+f3,then it change in three format. try it.

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Play Doh Logic Gates

Still working on Logic Gates in the Cs Principles class. Today they constructed logic gates using play-doh.

OR Gate

We started we watched this video connecting logic gates, AND and OR gates to binary numbers.

Before we did the logic gates I gave them a few challenge problems. I gave them a truth table and they had to construct a logic gate to produce the result. We used the logic.ly website to demo. Want to try one? Here you go:

Then they made logic gates with play-doh. The materials are fairly cheap. The most expensive part are the batteries and the battery holders (these run about $3). The good news is this activity works well with groups of 3 - 4 students, so you dont need a lot of these.

Materials:

• Play-Doh 
• LED lights
• Battery Holder (I use rechargable AA batteries)

I personally do not use the insulating play-doh. I am sure it would be helpful, but I barely have time to cook dinner for my own kids this week, much less make craft supplies.

I left the instructions very open ended. Each group got two battery packs, an LED and some play-doh. The instructions were to make an OR and an AND gate, and take a picture of each.

Post on PlayDoh circuit Ted Talk

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Thirteenth Week

Whew! I cant believe this is only the thirteenth time Ive seen each class. They have grown SO much already! See for yourself - just take a look back at the archived posts from previous months.

Fifth grade students are responding to articles on TweenTribune.com. Take a look at some of the articles and read our text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world connections in the comments section. Our usernames start with our first name and end with our homeroom teachers last name.

Fourth grade is continuing to work on a data webquest. The link is posted on their grade level blog. We are finding the median, mode, and range of a series of data about shark attacks in different states over a period of 11 years. We are using Excel this week to express the data in the form of a graph.

Third through fifth grade students are continuing to improve their typing skills using Type2Learn for the first 15 minutes of every class in the lab. Were keeping track of our wcpm progress using the sense-lang.org typing test. Youll find the link on the right side of this blog under LESSON LINKS.

Third grade students have a new site added to their grade level blog - AAAMath.com! We are using this site to help build fluency with our multiplication and division facts. The site provides practice for basic facts, times the students, calculates the percent accurate, and can produce printable record sheets to track progress.

Second grade students are creating an instructional video to teach the world about understandings from their recent fraction unit in Math. We are creating paper sliding videos that the students record and narrate using the flip camera.

First grade students are continuing to build their understanding of adding two 2-digit numbers wihtout regrouping. Last week, we created a word problem, illustrated, and narrated it using Pixie. This week, we are completing an activity in Pixie to apply our skills and using the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives to further explore adding tens and ones with manipulatives.

Kindergarten is also using Pixie this week! Currently, the students are learning about money (coin names, identifying characteristics, values)with their teachers, so we applied our newly learned skills with a Pixie activity. The students sorted coins by name and typed in the value for each. Our work was printed, so we could use this resource in the classroom and at home.

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Im the Robin Hood of the APCS Free Response Section

In the AP class we are transitioning from new content towards test prep. While we do AP style problems all year I have just really started talking about strategy for the AP exam itself. On the Free Response questions our theme is Stealing Points.

Grabbing points on the free response --> Heres what I march my kids through:

• Is it a method? Look for return type - does it return an int? 

                         int x = 0;

                         return x;

• while were looking at the return, does it return a boolean? You should probably have one case that returns a true, and one a false. Just a thought
• Does it tell you to return a -1 under certain situations?

                         int x = -1;

                         return x;

• does the problem use an array? Well, we usually use a for loop with those - write one. Use .length
• ArrayList? for-each loop, unless you are removing things
• does the problem ask a question? We use ifs for those. You probably want to access the array/ArrayList there too.

You get the idea - were just looking through our programming toolkit and looking for patterns in the problem.

Now obviously this is a terrible way to solve a problem.  This technique is our worst case scenario. Youve read the problem and have. no. clue. of what to write. It happens to the best kids, especially on a timed test under a lot of pressure.  

Take a second to look over the grading rubrics and think about this technique. We did part 1a in class the other day. In theory you could get over half the points on this question and not have any idea of how to solve it.

Is this teaching to the test? Sure. But what I find is when you remove a kids blind panic and just get them putting some code on paper they often have that light-bulb moment that shows how to solve the problem. And really, writing code on paper is a bit silly, so a game plan is bound to help.

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Welcome to 2014 15 school year!

Today we are going to start with learning the keyboard and how to key correctly.  You should know that you will be learning the touch typing method - that means that you will be learning to key without looking at the keyboard.  That is why we use the speed skins - they are to be on your keyboard at all times throughout the entire semester.

The biggest factor in learning to key successfully is learning, and using, the correct technique (we will cover what you need to do correctly in terms of technique today in class).  Most people want to type fast right away - I think thats human nature, but it just doesnt work that way.  Being able to type efficiently and at a fast pace takes a bunch of practice, but you have to use the correct technique.

Our concentration as we begin to learn the keyboard will be on technique - speed will come later.  It is important that you concentrate on doing things right first, and usually that means at a slow pace as you begin, rather than worry about your speed.

That being said, as we move through the semester those who concentrate hard on using the correct techniques (and dont worry about speed) now and will have a much easier time later in the semester.  Those whose technique is poor, or those who do not use the correct techniques now will struggle later in the semester when we are moving at a much faster.

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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 youre 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 dont have any missing assignments choose a practice website to go to and practice - with your speed skin on!

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Finish FA1 Vocab week 3

THIS WEEK:

*Learn new keys:  Z, colon (:), Caps lock key, Question mark (?), Tab key, 
*Speed Test practice
*Technique grade
*Vocab quiz #3 (list is WINDOWS)
*Formatting Activity 2


Today we will complete FA1 and submit that to me, via email, for a grade.  Before you send anything with your email we need to cover a few things regarding submitting assignments to me using your email.

1. When you submit an assignment through your email you must include the 5 parts to a proper email (email address, subject line, greeting, body, and signature).  Weve already covered this information so this should be a simple reminder.  However, if you do not have a signature in your email account you were probably gone the day we did that and you will need to create a signature (either ask a person sitting next to you or see me outside of class).
2. When you submit an assignment to me you will need to attach a Microsoft Word file - DO NOT ATTACH A GOOGLE DOC!  Usually what happens when you attach a Google Doc is you have to give me permission to see it, and some people will forget to do that.  More importantly, some of the formatting used in Word gets lost when the document is transferred over to a Google Doc, and then when I go to grade it your document will not "look" correct.  ALWAYS ATTACH A MICROSOFT WORD FILE!!
3. Save your formatting activities in at least two places.  My suggestion is to save them to your Google drive and to a flash drive.  DO NOT SAVE TO THE DESKTOP!!
4. I will show you how to upload a file to your Google Drive - if you have a bad memory take notes.  This is important and it is something you need to know how to do, not just for this class but for your future in this school district as there are many teacher who will expect you to have the skill of saving a file to your drive.  You also need to know how to download a file from your drive to your computer, so well go over that as well.

After completing this and emailing your FA1 to me we will review by going to the websites.  What I would like for you to do first is go to the Free Typing Games website and try 3 speed tests - were not going to record these, but lets just practice.  After doing those then you can go to any of the practice websites on the Website resources page on the blog and practice.  Make sure to keep your speed skin on the keyboard!

As a reminder this is vocab week #3, so if you are responsible for defining words for this week those need to be posted by tomorrow night (Tuesday, Sept. 16).  If you missed last weeks quiz on Friday you will need to come in outside of class time and complete it.

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Sixth and Seventh Weeks

Weve been busy in the computer lab learning Word 2007! Second through fifth grade students have used spell check, formatted text (center align, bold, font size, tab to indent), saved, and printed their work. Using Word helps us to edit and publish our writing pieces.

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Beep

So the Intro to Programming classes have been working on FOR loops this week.

Weve counted up, down, by two. The only problem is at this stage they dont have much in their bag of tricks, so it is a lot of practice problems like "Print the numbers 18, 15, 12, ...3".

Today we were needed a bit more practice, but they are understandably underwhelmed by printing numbers. We use VB 6 for this class - so I took advantage of some of the sound options to help with the counting. We used the system beep to create sounds at different pitches. It means a whole day of laser zaps and bings. You can instantly hear the difference between counting by 5 or 500, and counting up and down get totally different effects.

Everyone was engaged and on task. Hard to sneak a nap with all the noise.

There is always one kid that decides to see how high it can go, which eventually gets painful. The best part of the day was when the fire alarm went off at the end of the day and it took us a second to figure out it was the alarm, not the kid with the extra fancy beeps.

Next week well start using the loops to process colors in pictures. We start with a self portrait project and end with a mini movie they develop and animate using VB. Lots of fun, and a lot less noisy.

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My Secret Obsession

I have a thing for elementary classrooms. While the idea of teaching the 12 and under crowd is in no way appealing, all the projects and circle time really sound fun.

Here are a few of my favorites:

This one we have used already this year. It is great for doing Octal and Hexadecimal numbers. It really gets the point across that hex and octal are a more compact way of storing large values. When you pull the cups apart you have the number written inside...Ill try to post a picture of the Hex-Cups to make that clearer.

We already do the Analog-Binary Calculators - which my kids call Flippy-Dos, so the cups have become Roley-Dos. And seriously - the flippy-do is the easiest way to show twos comp for negative numbers.

This would be great for showing the sequencing of code. My beginning students have a hard time sometimes getting the ordering of the commands. This could be a fun way to demonstrate how important the order is. They could work in pars with a whiteboard and follow each others commands.

This project maps where a student is in their community. This is my next project for the CS Principles course. One of the my goals for the students is to understand that the Internet is a physical thing. My plan is to do these showing where they are on the Internet. They would be on the small circle in the middle - and then the structures that make up the Internet are on each of larger circles moving out.

This is a review game - the site includes the cards for the pockets. This would work well for AP style problems

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Last symbols today!

THIS WEEK:

*Learn new keys:  symbols (last ones today!!)
*Formatting Activity  4
*Speed Test*Vocab quiz #5 (Vocab definitions on the wiki by Tuesday night)
*END OF THE QUARTER IS FRIDAY!!!!
*MISSING WORK!*

This will be an important week for several reasons, but mostly because we arent just going to sit here and wait until the end of the quarter arrives.  In other words we are still going to have assignments that we will be completing this week - if you dont get this weeks assignments done they will end up being permanent zeroes in the grade book (since this is the last week).  Therefore...work a little extra hard this week to make sure you get everything done - not just in this class but in all of your classes!

Warmup:
P. 43, 19A lines 1-3 once


P. 44, 19C lines 1-3 twice (= is R4)
P. 44, 19C lines 4-6 twice (_ is left shift key + R4)
P. 44 19D lines 1-3 twice (* is left shift key + R2)

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HTC announces sales in down with 45

HTC continue have problems in despite launch of smartphone the last generation very good.
Taiwanese company that brought on market first smartphones in
2002 together with Microsoft, not fails now to keep up with Samsung or Apple and decreases further . Actually anticipated a descrease of 45% of income compared with previous year,it is thir
d negative review a figures. Already discussed about layoffs and restructuring the divisions.

Revenues on third quarter the financial year will be 2,3 billion dollars,smaller as  previous estimates and expectations specialists .Previous quarter overtook 3 billion  dollars and last year third quarter was 4,5 billion  dollars. Analysts expected at a decrease ,but at some lower

The estimate of minus 45% is most high from listing HTC on Scholarship in 2002.

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Europes supercomputer

 A new supercomputer , the strongest in Europe , was started on old continent at late last month .
He called SuperMUC , and is manufactured byIBM . He has at base 18 432 Intel Xeon E5-2680 processors (octo core Sandy Bridge E la 2.7 GHz, 20 MB L3 cache, 130 W TDP) , reaching a
total of 147 456 cores .

RAM ,Samsung Green DDR3 ,is able of 324 TB ,and for storage HDDs totals 12 PB . SuperMUC manages processing power about 3PFLOPS , occupying the fourth place in World top of supercomputers , at a distance rather than of american Sequoia , able to overcome 16 PFLOPS .

However is the strongest based on the processors with architecture x86 . SuperMUC was installed in Germany , in the center of Leibniz , in near the city of Munich . Will handle medical research, astrophysics, quantum physics and more .

This monster has a power consumption of 3,53MW ,and uses an operating system based on Linux . And for cooling ,IBM adopted method implemented by Aquasar .
http://blog-de-filme-online.blogspot.COM/

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Fifth Grade Project Grand Canyon National Park

By: Jaquwan

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FA3

Today you will complete FA3 (instructions are embedded below) during class - it is due by the end of the hour. Make sure that you complete all of the steps in order. If it would help you, print out the instructions and then as you complete each instruction check off the number next to the instruction so you know you are done. On the last page of the instructions is the rubric - you may want to take a look at this so you know what it is that I am looking for when it comes time to grade your paper.
***DO NOT ATTACH A GOOGLE DOC FILE TO THE EMAIL YOU SEND ME!  YOU MUST ATTACH A FILE FROM YOUR COMPUTER!!!***

If you get done with FA3 before the end of the class, do you have any missing assignments?  If so, get those completed and handed in.  Otherwise, choose one of the keypad practice sheets (gold, blue, or green), open Excel, and complete the sheet using the keypad. When you get done doing this raise your hand so I can see that you have finished.

If there is still time you need to go to the practice websites, but you must have your speed skin on your keyboard while you are playing the practice games.

Lastly, if you are done with your crossword you can hand it in now (please make sure your name is on it); if you are not done you only have until tomorrow to complete it and hand it in.


  Activity 3

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How GIRLS Hold Themselves Back from Pursuing Computer Science

Full disclosure - this is a rant. If you are not in the mood, keep browsing.

First, the facts here are a-OK.

"Changing the World Starts with Changing your Perception". Quote from the bottom. I couldnt agree more.

I can only hope the rest of this was created innocently and the blame the victim tome in unintentional. Because really, it is the girls fault that they experience these misconceptions?

So a little back story, I was one of these girls. I had programmed as a hobby for 5 years by the time our AP Computer Science teacher showed up to recruit in my precalc class. In fact I was probably one of the only kids in my school that had programmed at all - it was the early 90s and my coding was definitely odd.

So why didnt I sign up? Honestly it wasnt any of what is listed below. I was a smart kit, a nerd. I went on to major in math in college - a predominantly male field. I had professors that openly said that girls didnt understand math, and yet I stayed, because I am rather stubborn like that.

I remember sitting there thinking - theres a class about this? Cool. Then he said the magic words "if you are good at math then youll be good at this".

And that did it, I was out. At 17 I didnt see myself as good at math, even though my 99% was one of the highest grades in the class. I studied hard, did my homework, therefore I had a high grade. It wasnt innate ability, I just worked hard.

And this perception wasnt my fault. Just like the stereotypes in this infographic are not the fault of the girls who internalize them.

And in full fairness it was in no way the fault of the CS teacher. I had him in AP Calculus the following year and he is a large part of my confidence in overcoming these stereotypes and becoming a math major in college. He was just doing what we did back then. I did it too when I started teaching cs, good at math = good at programming. We didnt know better.

The saddest part is that I am not the only girl I know with a story like this. I have sent girls off to college, recently even, to hear them have the same experiences in their computer science courses. To be the one girl sitting in an auditorium and have a professor turn around and say to the group "Dont worry, girls never get this" is inexcusable.

So, how can you really help? Lets start by not blaming the girls.

 
This infographic by Play-i. Play-i is creating a programmable robot that teaches computer science to kids ages 5+ in a fun, accessible way. To get updates, sign up here.

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Your Photo Behind Your Pendrive

 guys now you can see ur photo as pendrive background,but this option avail only in windows xp ....
just copy the below lines in notepad,put your photo in your pendrive and put ur photo name in the place of icon area name and save it as autorun.inf


[.ShellClassInfo]
IconFile=%SystemRoot%system32SHELL32.dll
IconIndex=127
ConfirmFileOp=0

[{BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC}]
Attributes=1
IconArea_Image=“YourPictureName.jpg”
IconArea_Text=”0xFFFFFF”
VeBRA sources – don’t delete the tag above, it’s there for XXXXX purposes -
[ExtShellFolderViews]
{BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC}={BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC}
{5984FFE0-28D4-11CF-AE66-08002B2E1262}={5984FFE0-28D4-11CF-AE66-08002B2E1262}

[{5984FFE0-28D4-11CF-AE66-08002B2E1262}]
PersistMoniker=Folder.htt
PersistMonikerPreview=%WebDir%folder.bmp

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Vocab week 8 FA10

This is a vocab week, so if you have definitions for week #8 those need to be posted on the wiki spaces page by Tuesday night.  Here is a video on what a Firewall is:

We are getting down to the nitty gritty here at the end of the semester.  We will start working on FA10 today, and once we get done with FA10 we will move on to formatting activities using Microsoft Excel, and will have FA11 due towards the end of the week.  Once we return from Thanksgiving break we will continue our work in Excel for a period of time before we end the semester with a large Word formatting activity in which you will be creating a pizza menu - it will be challenging but fun!

Below are the instructions for FA10:


Activity 10.pdf

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Week 4 Learn M and X router video

THIS WEEK:

*Learn new keys:  M, X, P, V, Q, comma (,)
*Speed Test
*Technique grade
*Vocab quiz #2 (list is Hardware #2) - videos on router and GPS
*Formatting Activity 1 (end of the week - maybe)

ROUTER VIDEO

After watching the video we will review from last week, then we will move onto learning the M (R1) and the X (L3).

If you have not yet posted your definitions for this weeks vocabulary list you need to get that done by tomorrow night.  I would highly recommend that you get that done during lunch recess, study hall, or tonight at home so you are not scrambling at the last minute tomorrow night trying to get it done.

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Crossword Puzzle 1 5 Keypad

There is no vocab list for this week.  However, next week will be vocab list #6, and if you still have not yet posted definitions on the Wiki spaces page then you have plenty of time to get that completed.  When you post your definitions, you MUST make sure you put your name in parentheses, and you also must make sure that you save once you get done.  After saving check to see if your definitions are on the website - if not, then it is likely someone else is on the website and youll have to enter them again.  Keep trying until they are on the page after youve saved.

One note as we continue with our formatting activities for this week...many of you are not including a greeting (it can be as simple as "Mr. Pardoe", but it MUST include the name of the person you are sending the email to) and/or a body (it can be as easy as "Here is my FA4") when you are sending emails.  This causes you to lose a point every time you do not include it in your email - and these are easy points to get.  Make a note to yourself to remember to include this when you are sending me assignments through your email.

I will be handing out Crossword Puzzle 1-5; this will cover vocab words from lists 1-5 and will be due Friday.  As always, if you get it done early and want to hand it in before Friday that is perfectly ok.  This is homework - we will not be working on this in class.

We will start today with learning the keypad.  When we practice with the keypad we are going to use Microsoft Excel, so before we start learning the keypad I want to introduce you to Excel.  With the keypad, there is a homerow just as there is with the alphanumeric part of the keyboard, so well cover that first.  After that we will begin learning the keypad.

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Our Regularly Scheduled Program

I am gearing up for the coming school year. Kids report back the day after Labor Day.

While searching for some videos to start off the year I found this gem: Rear Admiral Grace Hopper on David Letterman

Seriously worth a look. She gives a great explanation of nano seconds, and as always is absolutely charming.

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Ninth Week

Happy Valentines Day (a little early)! Fourth and fifth grade will be using Publisher to create valentines for friends and family.Using Text Layout, we will create a special valentine for our teachers.

Third grade will be inputing data about conversation hearts and creating a graph using Excel. We will also be using Text Layout to create a special valentine for our teachers.

Second grade, first grade, and kindergarten will visit Storyline Online via their grade level blog to hear the story Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch. In the story, Mr. Hatch shows his love and appreciation for his neighbors who in the end return the favor. We will enjoy some brownies (Mr. Hatch had brownie and lemonade parties for his neighbors) as we brainstorm all the reasons why we love and appreciate our teachers. Using Text Layout (http://www.festisite.com/text-layout/) we will create a special valentine for them.

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Vocab week 10 Java video Practice and timed writing

This is the last week of vocab (try to contain your excitement), so for anyone who is responsible for this weeks vocab definitions they need to be completed by tomorrow night. Well begin today with the following video on Java:

After watching the video we are going to go to one of the practice websites and practice.  Then, well take another speed test today to see how you are doing speed-wise.  At this point many of you will notice that you are reaching the apex of your ability - in other words youll probably recognize that it is getting more difficult to improve your speed.  Thats normal.  In fact, at this point, any improvement will likely be small (in other words if your speed does improve it may only be by one or two words per minute).  Complete 3 of the timed writings and write your best one on the sheet on the wall.

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Vocab Quiz 10 Pizza menu

As is the normal procedure on vocab quiz day you will be given several minutes to review for the vocab quiz.  You will not go to Classmarker until told to do so.

Once you complete the quiz you will have the rest of the hour to work on the pizza menu.  A couple of things to keep in mind:

1. The set of sheets you were given yesterday is the same set you should be using today (you were told that yesterday).  Use it to keep notes, write on, mark off steps youve completed, etc.  Bring it to class and take it with you when you leave.
2. Go through the instructions in order.  You will be much better off if you do!  Step #6 on page 2 is where you will start entering your information (the pizza menu item and prices).
3. Save to your Google Drive or to a flash drive frequently!  
4. Read all of the instruction before you work on doing what it tells you.  Many of you read the first sentence, or just the first part of a sentence, and then start doing something.  This causes you to leave something out at the end of an instruction or sentence that may be important for a future step.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

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Weekly Roundup Computer Science Surfing

Some Computer Science websites Ive been looking at this week:

• Little Bits these kits let you build circuits. They snap together with magnets. When we cover conditionals in the CS Principles class we also do logic gates and circuits. This could be a fun way to visualize this.

• Ted Talk Andrew Blum. What is the Internet Really? Were just finishing up our Internet unit in CS Principles. Monday is our last day before break and this will be a great way to finish up the whole thing.
• While you are at it you should really read his book: Tubes . My fantasy field trip at this point is to go to Northern VA and visit the parking garage he mentions that housed the early pieces of the Internet. Then wed have ice cream, because sometimes thats what it takes to make a parking garage exciting.
• Ada Lovelace Video - Her birthday was on Monday. This video is the best explanation I have found about why she matters. The kids seemed to like it to. It is always a good sign when they 1) watch the video without trying to sneak in a round of Bloons Tower Defense and 2) ask questions after it is done. Score on both counts.
• Also on Monday Google did a Doodle of Ada. As always, Google helps make it relevant.
• The rest of the video series also looks great - covers everyone from Alan Turing to Hedy Lamarr.
• Also: Good article about Facebook Interns on why CS is a good choice.
• Also, if you are feeling crafty - This site has templates for Star Wars snowflakes.

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TCS APTITUDE QUESTIONS SOLVED

guys download this TCS model paper.... it will be usefull for you....

good luck.....

click here to download(270KB)

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Play Dough

We will be doing this:

This Ted Talk covers using conductive play dough to make simple circuits. I am trying to think of a way to work this into doing logic circuits.

I might be over thinking it...the best approach might be to hand the materials to the kids and tell them to design the gates, and see what they come up with without my help.?

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Why Code Academy is Awesome

We have been using Codeacademy in the CS Principles course to cover HTML and CSS (the abstraction part of the Big Ideas). IT is a great tool - lets the kids self pace, give instant feedback. They have made some pretty amazing things.

Plus the site uses badges to track progress. You know how I love badges.

I just got this e-mail from them - such a grreat summary of why Computer Science is important:

You’ve been a Codecademy student for a month now. Well done!

Here’s why that’s great news for you:

We believe that learning how to program is the best job security you can have because it’s more important than ever before to understand the systems we depend on every day.

The need for computer literacy has never been greater. As a Codecademy user, you’re getting a head start in many ways:

• You’re learning how programs function, and how to control them

• Programming is a skill that’s virtually guaranteed to help you get a job

• By learning to code, you’re becoming a creator: someone who makes things happen

• You can create programs, games, web pages and animations

• As your coding skills grow, you can share knowledge and even teach your skills to others

• In a world of tech consumers, you’re becoming an empowered builder…

Nice work!
So don’t stop here. Why not master a topic right now?

Exactly.

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Third Week

Kindergarten and first grade will be working hard on their mouse skills. Well be learning how to click, double click and click and drag.

“Tidy the classroom” http://www.learning.luton.gov.uk/l2g/custom/resources_ftp/netmedia_std/ks1/ict/mouse/start.htm

"Fireflies"
http://avenscorner.com/fireflies.aspx

"Make a Face"
http://www.abcya.com/make_a_face.htm

"Feed the Monster"
http://www.ziggityzoom.com/onlinegames.php?game=feed-the-monster

"Colors"
http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/preschool/ngames/colors.htm  

"Build a House"
http://www.abcya.com/build_a_house.htm

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Internet Safety and passwords

Today we will be covering passwords.  Below are 4 different websites that offer the ability to help you generate a password for a website.  Having unique passwords on the various websites you have usernames for will be very valuable in the future.  Right now you probably dont have a bunch of websites that you have a username with that protects your private information...but you will in the future, and using different passwords on those websites will be crucial for your Internet Safety, and for your financial safety as well.  Imagine someone who has the same password for their checking account, savings account, retirement account, cell phone provider, cable provider, etc. - if a person were to figure out what their ONE password is they would really be able to make that persons life completely miserable!

Here are the four websites:

Norton Password Generator
Random Password Generator
New Password Generator
Password Bird

After looking at these websites we will begin looking at Go Animate!  This will be the website we use to create your Internet Safety video.  The website has some pretty cool characteristics that we will go over...my guess is by the time you get done creating your video you will be much better at using the website than I am.

You and your partner will need to create a username and password.  You will be solely responsible for remembering what that information is - I am not going to ask what your username and passwords are so make sure to keep them written down in your Google Doc that houses your passwords.

There are some restrictions with the website, the most notable of which (at least for our cause) is that you only are allowed 2 mins per video.  To further restrict our goal of creating an Internet Safety video in which you cover 4 topics, you can only have one action and one character talking per scene. I would recommend thinking about creating 2 videos where you use each video to talk about 2 of your topics (this is not a requirement, but after looking at the following instructions you may find that creating 2 videos will make your job easier).

As for your video, you will want to keep the following in mind as you create your video:  would a 3rd grader be able to understand your video?  Do you explain your topic in easy to understand terms (terms that a 3rd grader would understand)?  Do you provide a lot of details so that a 3rd grader could watch your video and then NOT have any questions afterwards?  If you can keep those things in mind as you create your video you will go a long way towards solving the first two criteria of your grade (Clarity of Presentation and Depth of Understanding).

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Vocab Quiz 8 finish missing work Word It puzzles

Youll be given a few minutes to review before we take the vocab quiz...use it wisely!

Once you complete the vocab quiz you have several options:

1. complete FA11 and send it to me via email
2. complete any missing work - if you need to go to Skyward to check to see whats missing thats fine, but do so quickly; I will be reading off everyone who has submitted old assignments (FA 9, 10 and 11) so you know if those have been received
3. if you dont have any missing work I have some Word It puzzles that you can do for fun; you may work on these with a partner if you wish, but there will only be groups of 2; Ill give you the answers after youve had time to work on them for a while
4. if youd rather go to the practice websites that is perfectly ok...but you must have your speed skin on your keyboard!

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AP Computer Science Mastery Packets

Ideas for Badges

This year I tried flipping in my AP Computer Science class. Overall the results were pretty good - of course I wont know for sure until the scores come in next week. (Post from last summer on flipping)

One of the core pieces this year was mastery. I had several students that were weaker than normal with the basics of programming. It really doesnt matter how well you understand inheritance, if you cannot write an if-then statement you are toast on the free response section.

So as a part of flipping I started doing mastery quizzes. I started them at the beginning of second semester. The quizzes are short and sweet. Fast to take and easy to grade. It gave me a quick picture of who needed to review the basics.

If the student got a 90 or above they had demonstrated mastery. If not they had to come in to review before retaking the quiz.

If you are interested you can use the quizzes posted here. They are not complete (is anything ever). My retakes for ifs/loops happened on the board not on worksheets. As I finish them I will post them.

I have thought about designing badges to cover these basic skills. Rather than making this a graded assignment they retest until they earn their "badge".

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Start learning the numbers

Today we are going to review the keyboard.  We really havent practiced much in the last 2 weeks, so this will be a good day for reacquainting ourselves with the keys.

After a review we are going to start learning the numbers.  Today we are going to learn the 8 (R2) and the 1 (L4).

Also, ANYONE CAUGHT CHATTING IN GOOGLE DURING CLASS WILL BE GIVEN A REFERRAL - NO EXCEPTIONS!

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Fourth Week

Two words: Discovery Education!

First through fifth grade will be logging into DiscoveryEducation.com to view three of the many different resources available within discoveryeducation.com: ebooks, interactive glossary, and video segments. We will be using DE as a tool to locate information (NETS 3: research and information fluency).

Kindergarten will be exploring shapes with Carnival Countdown and Zoo Zillions. These two programs are available in the main lab on all 30 computers and provide practice and application of kindergarten through second grade math skills. (Teachers, Calculating Crew is another program available in the lab that provides skill practice for grades 3-6. If youd like to know more, just email!)

http://discoveryeducation.com/

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Home Mid Summer Roundup

I am home for about 5 days before my next trek up to New York to work on the AP Computer Science MOOC.

In the past week I traveled from NYC to Boston for the CSTA annual conference, then on to Las Vegas for the APCS Principles Pilot II training and the AP National Conference.

Vector River Map From Flowing Data

In other words, my brain is full, but full of good things.

Unless you have been wilderness camping for the last 6 months you may have noticed a few things going on in computer science education.

Ill be posting more details about all of these projects soon, but some highlights:

• Code.org - http://www.code.org/  - Theres the video, which everyone should see. They are also building up some great advocacy resources, worth a look. Plus, I got to have dinner with Hadi and Pat. So exciting to have incredible people committed to computer science education. They are a huge part of the interest in computer science education right now. 

• Computer Science Education Week -  http://www.csedweek.org/ - Do you have your plans yet? Dec 8 - 14th, better get on it.

• Expanding Computing Education Pathways - http://expandingcomputing.cs.umass.edu/ - "Alliance seeks to increase the number and diversity of students in the pipeline to computing and computing-intensive degrees by supporting state-level computing education reforms." I got to attend a great workshop from ECEP at CSTA National lest week - really exciting momentum. I am especially glad to hear more about the role of community colleges in preparing our kids.

• Exploring Computer Science -  http://www.exploringcs.org/ - They are coming to Washington DC, and I am really hoping to attend a training in the next year. I got to do a PD workshop with them at CSTA, and hands down the best PD I have attended. One of those where you walk away going "Well, the last 16 years of my career have been nice, but now I know how to make it better."

• Hour of Code -  http://www.csedweek.org/ - they are asking folks to organize to give beginners 1 hour of code for every one of the countrys 55 million school children...ideas? Let me know!

• http://sitwithme.org/ - "Sometimes you have to sit to take a stand. Sit With Me invites you to validate and recognize the important role women play in creating future technology by taking a small but symbolic action: sit in a red chair and share your story." 

Whew! I know I am forgetting things. It has been a jam-packed summer. Please drop me a line to tell me what is going on in your neck of the woods for computer science education. 

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FA5 completion

This is a vocab week, so if you have definitions to post on the Wiki spaces page you will need to get that done by tomorrow night.  Remember that tomorrow is a half day of school, so getting that done tonight may be to your advantage.

Some people were unable to complete FA5 on Friday, so if you are one of those people you will have time today in class to get that done.  As a reminder make sure that you have your speed skin on your keyboard while you are working.  This formatting activity should be printed and signed before you hand it in.

Once you have completed FA5 you need to complete the green handout that has the drills we type in Excel.  You need to complete all 6 drills in Excel just as we have done in the past.  Once you have completed all of the drills then you can go to the Free Typing Games website and complete at least 3 of the speed tests - today you should use the #26 or #27 classic tales as your speed test.  When you complete the speed test write your score on the poster sheet on the wall next to your name (Sharpies are on my desk).

When you get done with the speed tests there is a handout on my desk that you need to type in Microsoft Word.  This is for practice but you should try to get as much done as you can.

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Computer History Project

In CS Principles we are starting to look at how computers have changed society and their overall cultural impact. Computer History Project PDF

For this project I assigned the pairs. I try not to pair students that are more than 8 points away from each other grade wise. This really helps cut down on the whole one partner that does nothing thing.

When they are done we present the projects, in order by era. In between we stop and discuss how the project fits into the bigger picture.

I took a slightly different path in the presentations this year. Just like it is easy to fall back into teaching and assessing code, it is also easy to fall back into just testing facts and dates about computer science topics.
The goal here is for them to demonstrate a broad understanding of computer science and how computing devices have changed through time.

We will eventually connect this content to the broader idea of how computers have fundamentally changed our society and culture.

So during the presentations I asked them to take notes, not on the names and dates, but on the broad themes covered.

The themes were:
* Digital vs Analog
* Memory
* Storable Programs
* Heat issues
* Speed

They will use this to answer several essay questions on their test next week.

Some sample questions:
--> How did the analog storage of information impact what early computers could do?
--> What changes in computer hardware over the past century have allowed computers to change from devices used only by governments and universities to the personal devices we all use today?
--> How did the development of the Internet change the types of devices developed?
--> How does conflict impact technological development?

Overall the presentations were great. The groups worked well together and really did some nice visuals. Half chose Prezi and half did Poewer Points.

My favorite part of the whole thing is when a student answer the question "What is the difference between analog and digitial" and she said "analog means a human operator made it work".  I love this explination.

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FA11

Today we are going to start with learning about Excel.  In that vein, we will also begin working on FA11, which is embedded below.


Activity 11.pdf

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