Mar 302022
 

http://code-it.co.uk/netintsearch

Lesson 1 – How search works (Planning)

  1. Watch the video about what happens when (and even before) you search
  2. Web spider activity
    1. Pick a common household item, for example: pen
    2. Do a search and make a list including these things (you could use a sheet like this to help you Search sheets):
      1. exactly where you find each item
      2. how many were there (1-5   1= one ….5= lots)
      3. how easy to find (1-5  1= well hidden….5= obvious)
      4. how good quality (1-5  1= not good….5= excellent)
    3. Add up the scores to give each place a total
    4. Put the places in order of their score.
    5. This is now your search index for that item
    6. Who is best at finding things in your house?  Ask them where the best place to find a pen is – do they come up with the same place as your top place on your search index? Why? Why not?  Are there other factors that make a good place to find this item?

Lesson 2 – What is a network? (Planning)

  1. Watch one or both of the videos
  2. A network is a group or system of interconnected prople of things.
  3. What different networks are you part of as a person?
  4. What different networks of things can you think of? (transport, utilities, buildings. body…think of what you could draw a map of)
  5. Choice of activity
    1. In j2e5, create a poster about different types of networks with pictures, text and information – you could draw diagram, insert audio explanations…
    2. Choose two examples of networks and complete a double-bubble map exploring their similarities and differences.  Double bubble map template
    3. Pick three examples of networks and complete an odd one out diagram exploring thier similarities and differences.  Odd one out template
    4. Pick two examples of networks.  Use bridge maps to compare aspects of the networks.

  • What are the things that are connected?
  • Are there different types of things?
  • How are they connected?
  • Are there different types of connections?
  • Who is responsible for the network?
  • Are there rules for the network?
  • Is it free?
  • What can go wrong with the network?
  • What are the consequences?
  • Has the network changed over time?

Lesson 3 – Mapping the school network  (Planning)

Lesson 4 – Connecting the Internet (Planning)

Lesson 5 – Packet game (Planning)

Thanks to Phil Bagge for these great resources!
www.code-it.co.uk

Mar 182022
 
  • Visit this blog post: Scratch game toolkit
  • Try out any blocks that you might use in your game
  • Can you adapt them to change timings, actions, triggers?
  • Are there any other actions that you need to code?
    • Can you work it out?
    • Do you need some help?
      • Other people in your class?
      • Help sheets?
      • Example code (in j2e, shared files, your class)
      • Scratch tutorials? Scratch forums?
      • Mr W?

Success: I have –

  • Made 3 different blocks of code (each person)
  • Made all sprites and backgrounds (may be sketches/blank) as a group
  • Decided as a group on what happens in the game

Mar 112022
 

Year 3 LF Animate a word in JIT5

Year 5 LF Create animation effects in JIT5

Watch I see a song together

  1. Animation effects
  2. Sports animation

Year 4 LF Animate running and jumping in JIT5

  1. j2launch – JIT5
  2. Animate – choose blank background
  3. Draw a simple stick figure, copying the first picture on the sheet
  4. Click on the GREEN plug sign to move to the next frame
  5. Draw the next picture – repeat
  6. ** For the running animation, draw in the ground dashed – move it towards the runner each frame to make it look as if they are moving.
  7. See examples here

Year 6 LF Animate a monster in JIT5

Tutorial Video – Screencastify

Tutorial Video – Google

  1. JIT5
    1. j2launch – JIT5
    2. Animate – choose blank or simple background
  2. Title
    1. Click on “Animals” and then select “abc”
    2. Click on one of the 3 a’s then type eg “Ben’s monster” to make a text stamp
    3. Customise – make it bigger, coloured
    4. Stamp it in one corner of the page
  3. Monster body
    1. Draw your monster body and white eye – don’t put the pupil in because you might want to move this
    2. Click the RED plus button lots of times to make lots of copies of this frame
  4. Monster moves
    1. Draw in arms and legs on the first frame
    2. On each next frame – draw armsl legs and pupils slightly differently to make your monster move, walk (on the spot), dance, smile, roar….
  5. Extras
    1. Walking – if your monster is walking, draw in the ground, maybe dashed then move it a bit each time so it looks as if your monster is moving. You could also animate trees, objects, clouds that make it look as if it is moving.
    2. Another monster – once you have done one monster, add another, frame by frame
    3. Other objects – eg ball.
  6. Saving
    1. Give your file a name (above the animation) and save it
    2. Also, “Save as GIF”
    3. What is the best way to share these in the end of week celebration? QR codes, all on one j2e5 page, website,….?
    4. What other tools could you do this with?
Mar 032022
 

LF1 Add a sprite and make it walk

  1. Go to Scratch
  2. Choose backdrop “Savannah”
  3. Add a sprite: Zebra
  4. Click on the zebra sprite and drag out these blocks.
  5. What do you think will happen if you add these blocks inside the forever block
    1. Add them and see

LF2 Add more sprites and code

  1. Add more animal sprites:
    1. Lion
    2. Giraffe
    3. Grasshopper
    4. Snake
  2. Delete the cat sprite
  3. Change the size of your animals to add perspective
    1. Near the front = big
    2. In the distance = small
    3. Change the number to change the size
  4. Copy the code to the other animals by dragging it

LF3 Tinker

  1. Tinker with the code making animals move at different speeds
  2. Add more animals:
    1. Right-hand click on an animal sprite and click “duplicate” to make another one with the same code.
    2. Can you make a herd of zebra moving across the screen?
  3. Can you make the lion move slower?
  4. Safari truck
    1. Download this sprite file
    2. In scratch upload a new sprite from you downloads/Google Drive folder
  5. Extra tip
    1. Use this block to move sprites up and downa level so animals at the back are behind animals at the front:
      1. You don’t need to attach these blocks, just click on them to make them work

Challenges

C1 Add  African safari music that plays when you click on the green flag

  1. I have put some music in “shared with me” in j2e, your class – go to j2e – my files – shared files – your class
  2. Click play button to listen.  Click on the “i” and then “download”
  3. In Scratch – Click on “background” bottom right, next to the sprites
  4. Click the “sound” tab, top left
  5. Find the music you just downloaded.
  6. Add this code:

C2 When you click on an animal, it tells you some information about that animal or about safaris

  1. This could be using “say” blocks in Looks
  2. Or you could use the text to speech add on
  3. Can you mute the music when it speaks, then start the music when it has finished?
      • Background code
      • Animal code

Safari facts: https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/pages/topic/safari

Scratch self assessment

Mar 022022
 

LF1:  Decomposing the game

  • Have a go playing this game.
  • Then have a think from a coding point of view.   How many different elements can you list – characters, moving parts, actions, consequences, backgrounds…?
  • By answering the questions above, you have decomposed  the game = broken it up into simpler parts.  This is a great way of thinking about how to code something as you can code each simple part one at at a time.

LF2 Characters, actions and consequences

This whole unit will be thinking about those elements and how we can translate them into Scrach.

  • Characters and moving parts will be sprites
  • Actions will be blocks – may be movement blocks and control blocks
  • Consequences might be if…then blocks

https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/502331640

Please let me know by commenting on this post if you get stuck or need another video later on…

Jungle Rush Sketch videos:

  1. Video 1  – Home screen – gliding on title, sprite and play button
  2. Video 2 – Move to play mode – title, play disappear, sprite to correct position
  3. Video 3 – Moving background – trees
  4. Video 4 – Sprite jumping
  5. Video 5 – More background – clouds
  6. Stage 6 – Enemy sprites
    1. Make a new sprite
    2. When it receives play message, show, go to the right hand side of screen, glide to left hand side of screen – keep doing this (forever).
    3. When green flag clicked, hide
    4. Electrify enemies
      1. instead of hide – what do you want to happen?
  7. Stage 7 – Back to home screen when dead; Two states home/play
    1. Enemy sprite code – when it hits the cat (forever, if, touching cat sprite), broadcast – new message “home”
    2. Replace all green flag code starters with “When I receive home” blocks
    3. Make one block with: when green flag clicked, broadcast home
  8. Stage 8 – Timer/score
    1. Variables: Make a new variable “Score”
    2. Two blocks:
      1. When I receive home, stop counting
      2. When I receive play, set to 0, start counting
  9. Can you announce the score before going back to the home screen?
    1. Change background? Sprite says score? Wait for a few seconds then go to home screen
    2. You could have a message called “score” for this?

Continue reading »

Mar 012022
 

Interland – if you have time, play this online safety game!

Feb 272022
 

Young coders competition

This year’s theme is ‘My World, Our Planet’. We are looking for participants to create a reactive game which encourages children to take care of natural resources and improve the environment. The opportunities are endless and you are in charge of creativity!
Think about the content of your game, we are looking for something engaging, fun, interactive and reactive!

Project pack
  • You can enter individually or as a team of 2-6. 
  • You must design a reactive computer game using Scratch based on the theme My World our Planet
  • The game needs to comply to the PEGI 7 rating. More details on the PEGI rating system can be found via the PEGI website below: What do the labels mean?
  • After you have finished making your game, you must submit it to your teacher. Make sure instructions for the game, notes and credits are included. 
  • To submit your game you need your teacher to submit it here with your name, team name and a link to your Scratch game.

The judging criteria are as follows:

Functionality and innovation (50%)Marketing (25%)Community responsibility (25%)
Does the game work as intended?Is the game easy to use?Is the game imaginative?Is the game reactive?Does the game include original and well written code?Aesthetics of the game – Does the game display correctly and look nice?Creativity and design of your game’s namePresentation of your game Is your game accessible for its target audience? I.e., is it suitable for the age range you built it for?How does your game address the theme of Keeping yourself and others safe?

Idea generation

  1. Look at different types of games that can be made with Scratch – scroller, platform, maze, choice – can you find or think of any other types?
  2. Come up with some ideas of games to fit the theme – the more ideas, the better
  3. Share ideas with others, form teams or decide to work on your own.

Next steps…

  • Create game brief/plan
  • Decompose elements
  • Decompose code

LF Decompose your game idea

  1. Fill out this form: Y6 Scratch game
  2. If time, start to create characters and backgrounds in Scratch
    1. If you are working in a team, how can we transfer sprites from team members to the project?
    2. Do shared class accounts work?

Feb 132022
 

Reflect on what makes you you and how brilliantly different we all are.

The BIG picture

  • We are going to make a whole school display “We are ST MARK’S” showing how amazingly different we are and yet we are all together and make up the St Mark’s community.
  • Everyone will produce a small square with:
    • A photo of them
    • 1 or 2 pictures of things that are important to them
    • A value or belief that is important in them

Each letter will be made up of squares:

Each square will be a bit like this:

Instructions

  1. Outline – In j2e5, draw a square as big as you can to fit on your page
  2. Pictures – Find 2 or 3 pictures of things that are important to you
  3. Word – Type a value or belief that is impoartant for you
  4. Photo – in j2launch click on the camera
    1. Take a photo, click upload
    2. In j2e5 click pictures and drag your photo onto the page
  5. Save your page

Hand in your picture

Press: draw a box around your shape then press “capture”

I need your help please

  • How can we include absolutely everyone in our school community in our display?
    • Who are they?
    • How can we get them to complete their square?
    • Can you take responsibility for a member of the community, talk to them and help them complete their square?
Jan 262022
 

1 Making a page border with your own drawing

  • Use this video to help you make a page border with your own drawing.

Success steps

  1. Log into j2e
  2. Start a new j2e5 page
  3. Use the drawing tools to draw a SIMPLE picture
  4. Untick outline
  5. Change colours
  6. Drag select (draw a box round objects with the select tool)
  7. Use group button
  8. Move items with the mouse
  9. Use duplicate tool to copy shapes
  10. Select more than one item
  11. Be resilient – take care when lining up shapes
  12. Save with a useful name

2 Now try a more complicated toy – a car, train, dolls house…something to do with your “Days gone by” topic

  • Make it big to start with, then shrink it

3 Add a BIG title to your page “Days Gone By”, pictures and topic words to make a full topic page

Jan 262022
 

Learning starter

  1. 5 minutes of touch typing
  2. South America map quiz
    • Countries
    • Capital cities
    • Landmarks
    • Physical features
  3. Canama Panal puzzle
  4. This term’s project

1 Introduction

2 LF Information, information, information

  • Go to Google Classroom
  • Open “South America Leaflet information”
  • Under the different headings, copy information and pictures for your leaflet
    • Drag pictures and text
    • Use ctrl c (copy) and ctrl v (paste)
    • Copy things you have read and understand
  • Searching tips
    • Find a good website 
    • Use 3 or 4 key words for specific information
    • Get images from websites rather than from Google Images
    • References – keep a list of websites you used
      • useful for others to read more
      • useful for you to return to
      • polite and right to say where you got your information from

3 Leaflet design

  • Text and pictures
  • Clear layout – lined up, titles
  • Keep it simple – 2 or 3 colours, easy to read fonts
  • Lots of information
  • Mini booklet – do all the right way up first – then turn upside down when finished
  • References box – list of where you got information from
  • Good leaflet design