Its a wrap!

Don't forget about the photo page:

http://www.sfcc.site.shutterfly.com/

Also, in the blog archive, all of the lessons, ideas, and links will remain active.  :)



~~BELANGER, OUT!

Thursday, July 24

Now its time to say good bye...  Today is Mr. B's last day teaching computer lab for this summer.  Thanks for a great time, I truly enjoyed our time together.  I am however curious about a few topics, so there is one last survey to take!

GROUP 1 - Click here for the survey.

GROUP 2 - Click here for the survey.


Group 1:  The first thing that we are going to do is clear off the desktops, there is a bunch of saved documents that need to be removed.  I will show you how the icons should be arranged. 

I'd like to hold a contest to see, who is Smarter than a 5th Grader!  Take your time; each is worth about 5.2%!  Show your score to Mr. Belanger and we'll make a wall of scores.  :)


You are then going to have free time for games, not youtube.

Wednesday, July 23

Good morning.
Thank you for much better behavior yesterday. The magazine covers were AWESOME! I hope that you took them home and shared them with family.

Today we are going to do something that we did at the very begining of camp, hopefully the Internet is on our side this time. We are going to create cartoons with http://www.toondoo.com/


username: summercamp
password: summercamp

Tuesday, July 22

Good morning.

I think that you will have fun making today's project. You are going to create a magazine cover, with YOU as the star! It will take patience as I take pictures of everyone; but we'll get 'er done. I started the template, so it should not be super difficult.

1. Open the template by clicking on "Summer Enrichment Camp" under My Computer
2. Add the picture that I take
3. Resize, then send it to the back
4. Name the magazine (your name?)
5. Add captions
6. Save

Here is a quick example:

Monday, July 21

Good Monday Morning!
I hope you had as much fun on Friday as I did! It was a great day of Athleticism and students showing teamwork and patience. THANK YOU!

Agenda!

You are going to create and ad. Advertising is a public promotion of some product or service. The ad that you are going to create is promote this summer camp! (If you are brand new, just create a poster that promotes "camp" in general.

1. Open Microsoft Publisher


2. Click on the Advertisement menu on the left hand side


3. Click on one of the pre-made selections as your template

Think about what aspect are you going "sell." This should be your focus, rather than having an ad that focuses on every aspect of the camp.

Photos are online at http://www.sfcc.site.shutterfly.com/ and you can copy/paste them into Publisher.

Thursday, July 17

Today is the day to complete your animal alliteration poetry project. Of course I would like to see it done; but get as much as you can. :) I'd like to show off some of the projects to the class.


Group 1 - 5/6
Your project should be done, or close to. Once you are done, you are going to export to JPGs so you can import into Photostory and add your narration, then export video.

Group 2 - 2/3/4
We will start with a BrainPop on computers. Afterwords, you will spend most of time finishing the project. I am not going to allow music or "free play" until I approve your project.


Hard to find Letters:

Y
Yorkshire Terrier
Ynambu (bird)
Yorkie
Yaffle (green woodpecker)
Yellowhammer (bird)
Yard Ant

X
Xenops (bird in South America)
Xenomys (Rat in Mexico)
Xerus (Ground squirrl)
Xenarthans (Anteater, sloth, Armadillo)

Animal Alliteration - 5th, 6th Student Products - Week of July 14-17, 2008

| View | Upload your own

| View | Upload your own

| View | Upload your own

| View | Upload your own

| View | Upload your own

| View | Upload your own

| View | Upload your own

Wednesday, July 16

Good Morning!
We are going to watch a short computer history BrainPop, afterwords take the group quiz, then take an individual quiz on SurveyMonkey.

Later, you will be given time time to complete your Alliteration poetry Powerpoint.


Links:
Original Directions
Crazy-huge list of animals
Short list of "X" animals from Mr. Rick

Tuesday, July 15

Good morning, everyone!
A great day of HARD work yesterday by almost everyone! I am always impressed by your commitment to the tasks. Way to go!

We will continue to work on the Animal Alliteration Poems that we started yesterday. Here are two links:

• Crazy-huge list of animals
• Short list of "X" animals from Mr. Rick

A few things that I noticed yesterday...

1. Alliteration is the repetition of the begining sound/letter of each word in the 1-line poem [Tilly the Toad tasted tacos on Thursday]
   
2. Think about adjectives to describe your noun (the animal)... I usually start by thinking about my animal and maybe the character that I name it, then start filling in words that describe an activity, then more words to describe that activity. Adjectives can be words that mean: size, color, or number. [Billy bent broken bar-bells by Brent the big Brown Bear]

Here is just one creative example:

Monday, July 14

Welcome back to Summer Enrichment Camp after a much needed weekend of rest!

This week you are going to use many of the skills that you have already learned this summer in camp. We will be starting out using Powerpoint, and later using Photostory.





ANIMAL ALLITERATION POEM


What is alliteration ? It is the repetition of the same consonant sound (letter) at the beginning of two or more words (ie, Waves want to be wheels…)\

Click here for a HUGE alpabetic list of animals!
List number 2
List number 3 (you'll have to click on the letter to get a list, no "X" on this list)

How about animals that begin with the letter X??
Ranger Rick discusses animals that begin with the letter X
This is list of two animals




Task:

1. Create a slide in Powerpoint for every letter of the alphabet (26)
2. Choose an animal for each letter, that will the the slide's "title"
3. Write a 1-line alliteration about that animal (ie: Awesome antelopes ate apples after art)
4. Insert a photo for the animal-- bonus: add other clip art to support your 1-line poem

Example:

Save:

1. Office Button
2. Save-As
3. My Computer
4. "Summer Enrichment Camp" Drive S:\"
5. Animal Aleteration
6. (Choose your grade's folder)
7. Type your name
8. Press Save

Update: Photos

Last week I took a plethora of photos--so here is where I will post them all, you can take them, have your parents order them, etc.

www.sfcc.site.shutterfly.com

B

Thursday, July 10

Good Morning!

You guys continue to rock my world! I am so impressed by your commitment to the project, and respectfulness to other people who were working longer than you may have been! :) Thanks.

Today is your presentations. You'll have 5-10 minutes to "tweek" anything, and then we'll get started.

When we are done, I want to have you write a quick cinquain poem using MS-Word.





Directions for a Digital Cinquain

** Ideas for a cinquain "theme" might be: technology, events, animals, math terms, etc....


1) Compose a Cinquain poem. Use the following reminders to create your poem:

The best-known form of cinquain poetry was created in the early 1900s by a poet named Adelaide Crapsey. These cinquains are similar to haiku in that the rules for writing them are based on syllables.

Cinquain poems have the following pattern:

• Line 1 - 2 syllables


• Line 2 - 4 syllables


• Line 3 - 6 syllables


• Line 4 - 8 syllables


• Line 5 - 2 syllables

An alternate version of the cinquain poem, often called a “word cinquain” is based on words, instead of syllables. “Word cinquains” have the following pattern:

• Line 1 - 1 word


• Line 2 - 2 words


• Line 3 - 3 words


• Line 4 - 4 words


• Line 5 - 1 word

There are no specific rules about writing a cinquain other than that it must have five lines and the correct syllable count (or, if writing a word cinquain, the correct word count).

Part 2:
Step-by-step directions for making a Word document using word art after simply typing the poem.

1. After you have typed your poem, use WordArt to make the first and last lines stand out. Look at the top of the screen, click on the INSERT tab. In the ribbon, you will see the WordArt button.
2. Highlight the first word of your poem. You can easily highlight a word by double clicking on that word.
3. After the word is highlighted, select the crooked A in the ribbon, for WordArt.
4. When you click on the crooked letter A, a dialog box will open. Select the one you wish your word to look like, and then click OK.
5. Your word will be in the box. Click OK at the bottom of that box.
6. The word will appear on the page in WordArt. The word has changed into a picture. Use the Enter key to move the other words down further on the page to get back your alignment.
7. Repeat the task for the last word of your poem.
8. After completing your Cinquain, you will save it to the server for me to print and you to take home!

Example:

Wednesday, July 9

Good Morning!
We are doing some really neat research and project work. I am proud of you for the work that you are accomplishing. I think that today you should be able to finish your powerpoint and research; so that tommorrow we can have a carrer fair, of sorts. :)

Group 1 - 5/6
Here are some really cool resources that you could use in researching:

http://www.bls.gov/k12/ - There is detailed career information, listed by topics!
http://www.nycareerzone.org/ - Career exploration site for jobs in NY (but other states, too)
http://www.homefair.com/real-estate/salary-calculator.asp?type=to&cc=1 - Pretty good, little confusing



Group 2 - 2/3/4
Most of you are wrapping up. Please remember the details that I expect; and that photos about your career is just not enough.

Tuesday, July 8

Good morning everyone!
Thank you for a great day yesterday. Everyone seemed to do well with the tasks that were presented. We are continuing on the career track today. You are going to begin research on a specfic career that you have interest in. To begin with, I am going to have you take an interest survey, click here. You dod not need to put ANY personal information to recieve your results. It does ask for a name and email, but I put in Roger Rabbit; roger@rabbit.com.

Next, you are going to start a Powerpoint that will 1st describe your results, and then a mini-research project on a career of your choice. Include:

• Name of career
• Career Matches (from today)
• Income potential
• Career advancement possiblites
• Photos?
• Description of job
• Anyone famous hold this career?
• Where is this career located?

** You can find answers to your questions, here at http://wiki.answers.com/

** You can research using www.google.com or www.wikipedia.com

Monday, July 07

Hello everyone!!!! Mr. B is back! I hope that everyone had a great 4th of July holiday, and spent time with family and friends as we remember and celebrate the beginning of our country.

This week, the camp will have a theme to all of its lessons/projects. The theme this week is careers. A career is the particular occupation for which you are trained, so Mr. Belanger's career is teaching.

Did you know it is not too early to think about college even as early as 3rd, 4th grade? I always tell my students, you need to be thinking ahead. Also, the decisions you make now, and the study habits that you form now will certainly help you succeed in the future! Mr. Belanger attended Western Michigan University, in Kalamazoo, Michigan!

There is no doubt that some of the jobs that exist today will not be there when you graduate from college, and on the other side of the coin, there is no doubt that some jobs do not even exist yet that you may go to college for. Click here for more. With little or no technology training you will not be able to compete in a global society.

DID YOU KNOW...Just to give you an idea how things are changing... Right now if you goto McDonalds and order a Diet Coke, you are pulling upto a drive thru and talking to someone that is working at the 1st window. However, more recently you may actually be talking to someone in a call center, who is 1000+ miles away, and send your order (more accurately) to the McDonalds that you are at! Read more here. Did you know this is a "high-tech" career????

A few weeks ago we discussed recycling. To be honest, the gues speaker really inspired me to go home and realize how little I was really doing for the environment. Since then, I have been on a recycling rampage. Last week, we had only two bags of trash, and I visited the recycling drop off twice! :) Thats change my friends! But have you ever concidered a career in Environmental Technology?? This field is growing astronomically! Environmental technology enables us to understand things like climate change, air quality, and the sustainability of natural resources. It's used to study, monitor, and curb the effects of human activity on the environment, and to harness renewable sources of energy. Can you see the importance of a career like this in a society like ours? Was this career around 25 years ago? Probally not.


Agenda


This week we will be reviewing: navigation in Office 2007. If you attend public schools, they are upgrading to this newer version this summer.





There are a few things that you want to remember: TABS and THE RIBBON.

• Tabs are like the main menus, they run accross the top. You click on then to change the ribbon. The tabs change groups of tasks.

• The Ribbon has specfic tasks, like changing the font, color or borders.

Today's practice PowerPoint

• Open PP by clicking: Start -> All Programs -> Microsoft Office - Microsoft Office Powerpoint 2007
• The default slide comes up, it is called a Title Slide -- Title yours Zoo Animals
• The small box under it, its called a sub-title -- Write your name here
• You need to create a new slide: Home -> New Slide
• Click on the layout button (next to the new slide button) and see the many options, choose Content with Caption
• Where it says Click to add Title, write Giraffes
• Open Internet Explorer. Visit http://www.wikipedia.com/ - search for GIRRAFE
• Highlight the 1st three paragraphs, then copy it to the clip board
• Paste the cliboard to the area under the title
• On the right BIG box, click on the icon that looks like the four boxes, CLIP ART
• Search for a giraffe, add the photo

You are going to repeat this for at least 3-5 animals--here are few ideas:

• African Elephant
• African Lion
• Agama Lizard
• AlligatorA
• nemone Fish
• Aquatic Beetle
• Arctic Wolf
• Atlantic Oval Squid
• Bactrian Camel
• Badger
• Barn Owl
• Bearded Dragon
• Bengal Tiger
• Bighorn Sheep
• Bison
• Black Lechwe
• Black Swallowtail
• Caterpillar
• Blue Jay
• Blue-billed
• Firefinch
• Brown Pelican
• Candy Darter
• Capybara
• Caracal
• Cardinal
• Caribou
• Cat
• etc...

Out.

Have fun while Mr. B is on vacation, and getting married!



BELANGER OUT!

Thursday, June 19

Good Morning! Today is Thursday, so that means it it the last day in the lab this week. Almost everyone yesterday had the opportunity to place their photos into Photo Story and write text on the slides. I have two microphones today, so we can actually record some narration. Afterwards, you'll export your file to a WMV (Windows Media Video).


Group 5/6 - You'll post as a downloadable file on your Weebly.com Web page.

Group 2-3-4 - You'll record to a CD-rom to take home.


As you can see, lots to do, but I also expect that people will be at different points today, so patience is needed!!


Done?
Click here for acceptable games (only when you are done!)

Wednesday, June 18

Good Morning!
Yesterday was alot of fun outside with you guys. You were well behaved & took great photos! Today you will be using the skills that you learned on Monday to create a photo slide show using PhotoStory with the photos that you took, yesterday.



Accessing your photos:
All of your photos are saved on the "polaris" file server. Simply, this means that you access the files from any computer in this room. Pretty neat. Follow these steps to open the folder:

• * Click on the start menu
• * Click on my computer
• * Click on the s:\ drive, its on the bottom
• * Click on the folder that describes your group; 5-6 or 2-3-4

Required
Your slideshow should have:

* Titles (description of what it was)
* Good transitions
* Custom Music

Here is a Web site that has "color blocks." These are good to make a background if you want to have just text on top of it, like the video below.

This is a brief video, from Mr. Belanger's point of view, of the students capturing images on Tuesday.

Tuesday, June 17

Thank you for another great day, and a day of intensive instruction! I hope today we have alot of fun!

Today is the Mr. Belanger's famous photo scavenger hunt activity. First, a bit about photography!

* Cameras take pictures of light. All objects reflect light differently, this is why we see color. This is important to think about, so you don't shoot directly into the sun, for example.
* Flash is good--especially when you are taking pictures of people; when it is overcast, or you are in the shade.
* Handle equipment with care--you've done a great job with this so far!


The task:

You will be working in teams of 2-4 people to create funny photos that you can then use in PhotoStory, tomorrow. The key to the hunt is creativity, and the result is new friends, new memories and some really great pictures.

• Scene from a Disney movie (explaining it afterwards is half the fun!)
• Catalog pose or pretend to be a model
• Do exactly what the sign says (any sign can work)
• Most creative use of ‘leap-frog'
• "I can't believe we all fit in here!"
• Picture with an animal (the more unusual the better)
• Take your picture with someone in uniform
• Create a public work of art
• Capture your reflection in an unexpected place
• Spell something using people letters – family name, hello, SOS . . . teamwork here...
• Mimic a statue -- fountains also work well
• At least one geometric shape that is found in an unusual place
• An unsual perspective -- could be everyone's shoes, or the just top of their heads. .
• Make yourselves appear really small
• Can you find us?

Where: We will work in the circle-drive area by the theatre. Lets try our best to work here; and not spread out too far.

Rules: The only rule is that EVERYONE (except the person behind the camera) has to be in each picture, somewhere. Rotate photographers so everyone can participate. Have Fun!

When we come back in, we will work to download photos.

UPDATE: This is a really cool site, The New York Times, that did a reader photo hunt... sort of neat! http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/03/04/travel/04weekend.1.html

Monday, June 16

Good morning fellow campers! Welcome to week 2 of technology lab--if you are new, welcome, if you are a returning camper, welcome back! This week we will be working with digital story telling.

The process of digital storytelling enables students to tell their stories with a compelling and competitive voice.

Tutorials/Screen Casts
Tutorial 1 Beginning the digital storytelling process, corresponds to pages 1-2 of the tutorial handout.
Tutorial 2 Removing black borders from images, corresponds to page 3 of the tutorial handout.
Tutorial 3 Adding text to a title slide or image, corresponds to page 4 of the tutorial handout.
Tutorial 4 Adding your voice narration.
Tutorial 5 Customizing motion with Pans
Tutorial 6 Customizing motion with Zooms
Tutorial 7 Fine tuning motion in your digital story
Tutorial 8 Adding transitions
Tutorial 9 Adding background music-mp3's
Tutorial 10 Adding background music-onboard music
Tutorial 11 Finishing Your Digital Story

Group 5/6

* Start by logging into http://www.weebly.com/ -- navigate to your blog page, and create a new entry. Today's entry is: Why is it important for schools, librays, etc to block (filter) some Web sites. Be creative, and think outside of the box here.

* Instruction: Screencast introduction of PhotoStory 3

* Lab: Practice DST by creating a very small show. Lab limitation: we do not have headphones or microphones, yet. Focus on inserting photos, titles, and telling the story.

* You will need to createa folder on your desktop called DST Practice (right click on desktop New Folder Type the name)

* Save these images to that folder on the desktop (right-click, "Save Picture as"):

1. Image 1
2. Image 2
3. Image 3
4. Image 4
5. Image 5
6. Image 6
7. Image 7
8. Image 8

* Click on PhotoStory from the desktop, insert the saved photos, and add a "tag line for each story" -- When you are done, you may export it, and then I'd like you try t upload it to your http://www.weebly.com/ as a second blog entry, and add it as an attachment (under multimedia!)

This is my example, silly, but it worked!

Thursday, June 12

Today is the last day in the lab this week. You have made this a great 1st week of camp, and a sign of many great things to come!


GROUP 5/6
Blog topic of the day: Current Technology News... Two teenagers who posted a malicious "fire in the hole" prank on YouTube are now dealing with the real-life concequences from their actions. After reading this short article, write a response about this apparent misuse of the internet.

Do you think that their court-ordered sentence of "to write, film, and post their video apology on YouTube, as well as pay $30 to clean the restaurant and serve 100 hours of community service" is enough, or too much?

YOU BE THE JUDGE!


Today's Agenda:

1. Post daily blog topic
2. Finish All About Me page on Weebly
3. Add a photo (if we can get a camera) to your Home Page
4. Possible free time?

Group 2/3/4

Today's Agenda:
You will be able to play online games today. Here are some of the options:

• Lego.com
• Hidden Pictures (Highlights)
• Goosebumps Slime Shooter
• I Spy (Older students only)
• Cartoon Network (Mostly older students)
• Scholastic Books (Games about books)

Wednesday, June 11

Good Morning Panther Campers!

Another great and productive day yesterday. It sure makes my job much easier when you are on task, and ready to learn the skill-set that I have for you that day. Thanks!


GROUP 5/6

You will continue to work on your Weebly.com project. Notice that I have put hyperlinks to the right of ALL of your projects!


TODAY'S TIPS:
* Don't forget to use the "publish" after each time you make an edit-->




* Don't forget to "publish live" after you write a blog -->








Today's blog: Write about the last item or thing(s) that you had to save up money to purchase.





Today's lesson/Activities:

* Mr. B to teach LINKS, PHOTOS & GOOGLE MAPS

* Do you have a page called "All about me?" If not, create one.
* Create your page as if you are trying to sell yourself



* Include:

* Your name (Obviously)
* Photo of yourself, family, friends?
* Where were you born? Links???
* What school did you goto last year? (Add a link, picture, etc)
* What do you do in your spare time? (Photos, links, etc)
* Your favorite vacation spot? (Links, photos, etc)
* What are you looking forward to in camp this summer? Next school year?

Group 2/3/4

Today we will be working on basic powerpoint skills today, and creating a mock powerpoint.

Tuesday, June 10

Good morning, and welcome to the 2nd day of SFCC Summer Youth Enrichment Camp. Yesterday was a great start to the program. We worked through a little bit of technical difficulty--and I appreciate your flexibility and patience. I hope that we don't have to have many of "those days."

This both classes will have similar topics, but will publish them using different medias.

For the next three days we will be looking at getting to know one another. If you were here last year, you may recall the "get to know you PowerPoint." Each group will be using different software or Web applications, but will have some of the same criteria.

Do not forget the rules of the Web:

• Only write your first name & last initial -- NO EXCEPTIONS
• Never write your address, phone number or other personal information
• Never chat with someone that you do not already know

GRADES 2/3/4

• You will be creating a short presentation using PowerPoint
  (Start All Programs Microsoft Office Microsoft PowerPoint 2007)
  
  

GRADES 5/6

• Today will begin the process of quite a large portfolio. We are going to use a Web application called http://www.weebly.com/

The how-to:

• Visit http://www.weebly.com/
• Create an account (try to make your username either unique or your firstname, last initial) -- if you do not have an email address, use: sfcc@ianbelanger.com
• Click on the new page button, add a BLOG page, name it Blog
• Write a new entry, topic: You just watched a video called "Did you know 2.0?" - Write about at least one thing that REALLY surprised you in that video. How might this class help better prepare you?
• Create a new page, title it "All about me!" - This is the page where all your information will go.

The BIG checklist (a.k.a. what to include!)

• Your name (Obviously)
• Photo of yourself, family, friends?
• Where were you born?
• What school did you goto last year?
• What do you do in your spare time?
• Your favorite vacation spot?
• What are you looking forward to in camp this summer? Next school year?

Monday - June 9

Today's agenda:

I want to get to know you, so let's take a quick survey.


Summer Camp Surveys:

• If you are in the 1st class: CLICK HERE
• If you are in the 2nd class: CLICK HERE

Agenda:

1) Discuss lab rules & Internet safety

• This is a classroom - No foolishness (running, etc)
• No food/Drinks
• Internet is a privledge, not a right
• We will be "publishing" work online -- we will only use first names & last inital

2) Today we will be working with a Web site that allows you to make comic strips, its called www.TOONDOO.com

• Username: sfcc
• Password: summercamp

Directions: You will be creating a comic strip! It can be a real situation, like a conversation with a friend, or imaginative.