Lower School Creative Computing

The Lower School Gets Animated

Last June over 20 Lower School teachers gathered to explore the art of stop motion animation. We took a look at some wonderful animations made by children at other schools.

Quickly, the teachers plunged  iStopMotion for the iPad and began collaborating on their own short films. Tucker, Judy and Johanna told this touching tale.

Over the summer, faculty continued to explore. For example, librarian Kelly helped her family use  iStopmotion to tell stories.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJJRAXxpcuA&feature=em-share_video_user

Once fall arrived,  Friends Seminary Lower Schoolers got involved:

Kindergarteners in KMP made their puppets dance.

https://youtu.be/FXkNvNQ6RMo

In Shop with Isabel, second graders use Puppet Pals to help their wooden creations tell their  stories.

John’s students’ Lego,

and KJJ’s clay creatures came to life!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbxwkCtoTTU&feature=youtu.be

In many other homerooms and specials subjects, teachers used iStopMotion and Puppet Pals creatively.

Now that our students are on vacation and  homerooms start to fill with summer campers, Lower School teachers will continue build their animation craft. On June 17th, teaching artists from The Good School will join us to help us to help us work on storyboards, try out new materials, create stages, and explore camera angles. All this will help us deepen our understanding of how to make stop motion animations and how to incorporate animation into the Lower School curriculum next year.

In tech class last week, third and fourth Grade tech students went online to visit an exhibit at the Museum of Art and Design’s (MAD). Out of Hand: Materializing the Post Digital explores objects made with such digital fabrication methods  as 3D printing, computer controlled machining and digital knitting.

Their “hands-on” activity was to pick an image from the exhibit slideshow, create a google drive document, and then copy the image, the name of the designer, and the piece into that document. The third graders then wrote four or five visual observations. Fourth graders were also asked to include information they learned about the design they chose.  The museum site’s audio tours and relevant websites were used as resources.

As we explored the exciting furniture, jewelry, architecture, and other products of Out of Hand, these are some of the other websites students visited:

Article from Art and Aniques Magazine on Frank Stella and 3D printing

Bespoke Innovations, designers of 3D printed prosthetics

J Mayer H, architects of Metropol Parasol in Seville

http://design-milk.com/brain-wave-sofa-by-lucas-maassen-and-dries-verbruggen/

With some of my classes, I also shared a Youtube video that shows a 3D printer building up a bike from a series of very thin slices.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmxjLpu2BvY

The movie emphasizes how designing is a process of trial, error and revision.  That’s something that I hope my students absorb when they are working in K411!

I very much enjoyed seeing Out of Hand in person and wholeheartedly recommend the actual exhibit to both children and grownups. It’s on view at MAD until June 1.

Computer Science Education Week in the Lower School

December 9 – 16

This week, across the globe, students of all ages are spending an hour learning to write computer code.

At Friends, our third grade spent their first programming lesson teaching the Scratch cat to dance, talk and transform.  Scratch is a graphical language that was developed by Mitch Resnick at MIT.

Our fourth graders, who have been happily programming in Scratch for a while, continued to build their own interactive games. This week they focused on designing mazes and backgrounds. These young programmers need to reason, solve problems and revise.

Both third and fourth graders won’t stop after coding for just an hour. Eventually, third graders will create Scratch animations linked to their studies of the ocean and the Iditarod, and they will construct Lego creatures that are controlled by Scratch. Fourth graders will build increasingly complex games with original music and graphics.

Students can also look forward to Middle and Upper School Computer Science classes, where our technology specialists teach more advanced Scratch, NXT and Processing.

Those parents who want to install Scratch at home can go to the Scratch website.  Our third and fourth graders use Scratch version 1.4, which can be downloaded from the site.  At home, students may also may want to use the web version, Scratch 2.0, also available there. In order to download Scratch 1.4 or use the online version, elementary school children do not need to join the online Scratch community.

Several creative apps also encourage computational thinking.  Hopscotch and Cargot Bot are appropriate for elementary school children.

If you have any questions about coding in the Lower School at Friends, don’t hesitate to contact Judith Seidel, the Lower School Technology Integrator.

During Tech class, Third Grade and Fourth Grade students wrote letters to their Kindergarten and First Grade buddies. Using Google Drive, they shared these letters with their buddies’ class accounts and during buddy time, they read them to their younger friends.  For their letters, students were asked to include something about themselves, a question for their buddy, something they remembered about kindergarten or first grade and something they hoped to do with their buddy this year.  Those children who didn’t have a chance to share their letters this past week will do so soon.

photos by Meira Gottleib

For three days in July, a group of Lower School teachers, administrators and specialists met to discuss how we can help children in the lower grades become responsible citizens of our digital world.  This task force explored relevant resources, enjoyed lively discussions, and developed goals. Then the new Friends Seminary Lower School Digital Citizenship Guidelines and Agreement were born. This booklet places principles of Digital Citizenship in the context of  the Quaker testimonies: – Simplicity, peace, integrity, community, equality, and stewardship. The guide is written in language that that Lower School students can grasp.

Students in Grades Two through Four sign a copy of the agreement and bring it back to school.  Students in Grades K and 1 review the guidelines with their parents and teachers but do not need to sign an agreement. We encourage all our parents to explore the ideas in the booklet with their children.

The work of the task force is not complete.  We now join Lower School teachers and parents as we follow the guidelines and continue to discuss them. The group is also planning a Digital Citizenship Assembly. Stay tuned!

Those who would like to read the booklet online or print out an additional copy can find the pdf here.

LS Digital Citizenship Booklet

When students used to sit at tables the middle of K411, the Lower and Middle School Technology Lab, it was hard for everyone to see the interactive display. Thanks to the Friends summer construction team, the iMacs are around the periphery of the room, rather than at the center tables and along the walls.  Now we will the center tables for discussions and for art, animations and engineering projects that support and enhance our computer work. Another benefit of the renovation is that Judith can see all the beautiful faces of all her Third and Fourth Grade students when she and students demonstrate new skills at the beginning of class.

When  sounds wafted down from the music room, it could be hard to concentrate. The sound proofing that the school installed  helps the both Tech Department and Music Departments.

We still enjoy the beautiful parquet floor and the wonderful ivy-covered windows that look out at the historic church across the street.

Finally, you’ll find a new face in K411.  Ariel Kitch is our talented Middle School Technology Coordinator.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyXlvj8XtqU&feature=plcp