Author Archives: jseidel

In Tech class, fourth graders explored data about all the third and fourth graders at Friends this year. They learned about browsing, searching, sorting, and graphing with information that was interesting. Favorite ice creams, colors, movies, tv shows, books, board games, … Continue reading →

Friends Lower School Teachers participated in a week of June Professional Development Workshops again this year. In Making and Tinkering, teachers explored KIBO robots, paper circuits, and Makey Makey, which turns ordinary objects into input devices for Scratch programming. On the Stop-Motion animation … Continue reading →

This was an exciting week in Linda’s class. From May 12th to May 13th, ten chicks hatched. At first we set the app iStopMotion to take a picture of the action every 99 seconds.  Once the chicks started coming out of … Continue reading →

At Friends, third graders study the layers of the ocean and the creatures that inhabit each one. In Tech, students learn about the different types of commands in MIT’s programming language Scratch. Using Scratch, they start creating backgrounds, sprites, and code … Continue reading →

What is animation? What type of animation does each of these pictures represent? Do you think that when we use new technology, it still takes a long time to create a stop motion animation? These are some of the questions … Continue reading →

Working with creative colleagues to try new interdisciplinary curriculum is a delight. This past month I’ve been excited to be involved with two innovations. In a second grade Science class, Ben Horner and I are piloting a unit that combines K’NEX, WeDo Sensors and the Scratch programming … Continue reading →

For Computer Science Education Week, all divisions of Friends Seminary organized special coding and programming activities.  During the December 11th Buddy Time, Third and Fourth graders explored the logic of programming with their Kindergarten and First Grade friends. The Third … Continue reading →

Third and Fourth Graders will be their buddies’ teachers. On Thursday, December 11th, the older Lower School students plan to introduce their kindergarten and first grade friends to BeeBot floor robots, and ScratchJr, a new programming language for young children. … Continue reading →

Third Grader: I can’t remember my password. Judith: I can look it up for you. Third Grader: I love my password! Judith: I’m so glad. I tried to come up with passwords that you would like. Third Grader: Can I … Continue reading →

Fuzzy memories of being lulled to sleep in dimly lit seminars rooms. Sophorific PowerPoints, KeyNotes and Prezis. Experts who haven’t set foot in the classroom in years distributing teaching tips. At one time or another, teachers and administrators have all … Continue reading →