Thursday, July 24, 2008
Its a wrap!
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
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, 2008
Wednesday, July 23
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, 2008
Tuesday, July 22
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.
- Open the template by clicking on "Summer Enrichment Camp" under My Computer
- Add the picture that I take
- Resize, then send it to the back
- Name the magazine (your name?)
- Add captions
- Save
Here is a quick example:

Monday, July 21, 2008
Monday, July 21
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!
- Open Microsoft Publisher
- Click on the Advertisement menu on the left hand side
- 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, 2008
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)
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Wednesday, July 16
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, 2008
Tuesday, July 15
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:
- Alliteration is the repetition of the begining sound/letter of each word in the 1-line poem [Tilly the Toad tasted tacos on Thursday]
- 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]
Monday, July 14, 2008
Monday, July 14
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:
- Create a slide in Powerpoint for every letter of the alphabet (26)
- Choose an animal for each letter, that will the the slide's "title"
- Write a 1-line alliteration about that animal (ie: Awesome antelopes ate apples after art)
- Insert a photo for the animal-- bonus: add other clip art to support your 1-line poem
Example:

Save:
- Office Button
- Save-As
- My Computer
- "Summer Enrichment Camp" Drive S:\"
- Animal Aleteration
- (Choose your grade's folder)
- Type your name
- Press Save
Update: Photos
www.sfcc.site.shutterfly.com
B
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Thursday, July 10
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.
- 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.
- Highlight the first word of your poem. You can easily highlight a word by double clicking on that word.
- After the word is highlighted, select the crooked A in the ribbon, for WordArt.
- 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.
- Your word will be in the box. Click OK at the bottom of that box.
- 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.
- Repeat the task for the last word of your poem.
- After completing your Cinquain, you will save it to the server for me to print and you to take home!
Example:

Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Wednesday, July 9
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
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
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Monday, July 07
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...


