Coming Up!: Middle School Film Festival

This semester, middle school students have been using Technology time to create their own short films.  Students have been working hard, and have made some really wonderful, creative works.  Because films are made to be shared, we are going to have an in-school Film Festival for students on Friday, March 15 from 9-10 AM.  The films will be shared on the big screen in the computer lab (which will be transformed into a theater for the event).  Students are encouraged to really enjoy the event - if there is student interest, we may have a "red carpet", some light, breakfast-type refreshments, and plenty of opportunity to communicate our appreciation to our fellow film makers!  It looks like we will have about 11 short films to view, ranging in length from the very short (30 seconds) to the somewhat longer (10 minutes) - most films appear to run about 3-4 minutes.

Seminar Creative Projects

Seminar students are enjoying some time to work on creative projects while their classmates are away visiting Bolivia.  This week they turned in their own "rubric", or goal sheet, by which they will measure their success at the end of the project.  

FT is sharing his knowledge of Source SDK by Valve, a video game creation tool, with RB and LK.  They are learning how to create buildings, weather, landscapes, characters, and lighting effects.  They have the goal of creating a playable video game level!

GM, CW, and FJ are making Minecraft creations.  GM is creating her own "fun house", a thing of beauty and delight!  CW is making a "trap house", fraught with obstacles and trickery.  FJ is creating an exciting and engaging adventure map.

It is exciting to watch the projects unfold, and I look forward to enjoying the finished products.

Seminar Hero Story Presentations

On February 7, Seminar students shared their Hero Story presentations.  Here's a review of their awesome work!

• LK made a wonderful hero story based on his own experiences. 
• JH created an Adventure Map including many tricky, fun elements.  
• EK & GM told us the riveting story of Peyton's Revenge. The film was well written and very entertaining.
• FT created two video game levels. His lighthouse, complete with light, door, and the beginning of a winding staircase, was great! 
• DJ wrote a moving story featuring an inspirational Olympic swimmer.  
• GW created a Minecraft inspired animated short. 
• CW shared a story featuring a heroic bird and villainous zombie.
• FJ penned a very funny script for a humorous adventure movie featuring all his friends, and told us a bit about how to make a movie.

Tools used included:  MS Power Point, Minecraft (creative mode), iMovie, Source SDK by Valve, Scratch, and MS Word.  Students also reviewed skills including: online searches, proper use of flash-drives, sharing files and information via online communications tools (email, messaging), and saving pictures from devices to computers.

Technology Update: Lower Elementary

Lower Elementary students have almost completed their lessons on computer and online safety. We've spent about 5 weeks on the unit so far, and have one week left.  

We learned:

• It's important to know who we can trust (online and offline). 
• Always keep your personal information safe (like name, address, phone number, school name, and picture). It should only be shared with people you can trust. 
• It is best to use a nickname, or username, for online games and activities, and that nicknames shouldn't reveal anything personal.  Students came up with some great nickname ideas, like Pink Princess, Mikey (Mike is not in the student's name), Sit Dog, Banana, and Spiderman.  
• We heard some new computer vocabulary, including: privacy policy, terms and conditions, register, virus (including various sub-categories of viruses and other computer related problems, such as worms, malware, trojans, keyloggers and phishing), antivirus, password, and login. 
• If someone offers you something that sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Always ask an adult you trust! 
• A pop up is a window that opens on our screen that we didn't want or ask for.  Sometimes they can cause computer problems if you click them!  Students learned they can make them go away by clicking the red X, or call a trusted adult for help. 
• We should seek help right away if we think we see or click something dangerous online.  

Next week we will have our last online safety lesson.  We will be discussing cyber-bullying, and how we can make the Internet a nicer place to learn and play.