Week4 Jan 30th–Feb 3rd

Highlights for the week:

• View the BMS Public Calendar for this weeks events!
• Tip: Use ctrl+f and enter the date as a number to jump quickly to the Blog entry for today!

Monday 30th:

- Part 1) Review

1. Please check your laptop for damages and report problems to me!
2. Daily Warmup Activity (2min timer if necessary – no talking while you complete your warmup please!)
   • Click on the link to the BMS Public Calendar at the top of this page
   • Find an entry on the calendar which says Message for Mr. Mercer’s students and click on it
   • Look for the message in the Description section of the pop-up calendar event
   • Here’s a sentence starter (or you can choose your own): The message says…
3. Use the Daily Warm-up Form to record your answer

- Part 2) New

1. Browse Google News for today’s top stories
2. Introduce Wolfram Alpha (2 video clips)
3. Introduce Titanpad (view this time slider)
   • View demo screencast

- Part 3) Do - Today students will…

1. Complete the Wolfram Alpha fact finding form 
   • Read the instructions under each question to help you find the answer!
   • Click here to go to the form
   • Click here to go to Wolfram Alpha 
2. Experiment with the Titanpad collaborative notepad (caution: do not type anything inappropriate or abusive to anyone or this application will be blocked! Everything in this application is recorded and can be reviewed!) 
   • Go to Titanpad.com and choose ‘Create public pad’
   • 
   • Click on the Time Slider Play Button to replay any pad

- Part 4) Through?

1. Try experimenting with Flockdraw again (a collaborative whiteboard)
   • Create and practice with your own at this Flockdraw link, then
   • …try collaborative drawing with these links - click on your card suit
   • 
     • Hearts
     • Spades
     • Diamonds
     • Clubs

Tuesday 31st:

- Part 1) Review

1. Please check your laptop for damages and report problems to me!
2. Logon to your Gmail and open your Documents (so a link below will work properly)
3. Daily Warmup Activity (2min timer if necessary – no talking while you complete your warmup please!)
   • Use Wolfram Alpha to find out how many calories there are in a McZDonald’s Big Mac
   • Click on this link to go to Wolfram Alpha
   • Enter this into the search window McDonald’s Big Mac
   • Look for ‘total calories’ and enter the number in the warmup form
   • Here’s a sentence starter (or you can choose your own): A McDonald’s…
4. Use the Daily Warm-up Form to record your answer
5. Explore the Wolfram Alpha Food and Nutrition examples to find other interesting food facts or this Wolfram Alpha Patriots versus Giants Super Bowl facts page

- Part 2) New

1. Add a background image to a pivot animation

- Part 3) Do - Today students will…

1. Create a 20 frame (or more) Pivot animation with a background image by following these steps:
   • Open Pivot and load a background image
   • 
   • Find an image from the Clipart collection in your S-drive (or my J-drive) and load it into your Pivot program (be sure to choose jpeg in the dropdown window so you will see the images to choose from). If you know how, you may use an image from the web instead! 
   • Create a Pivot animation of at least 20 frames (with a background image like this example)
   • 
   • Once you’ve completed your animation, save it as a Gif file to your S-drive with the name Pivot2.
   • Upload your Pivot2.gif to your Google Docs 103 Student Folder
   • 
   • You can view an example in the Gdocs 103 Student Demo folder or view it directly by clicking here

- Part 4) Through?

1. View these amazing Ice Festival images (you might find a good one to use with your Pivot animation!)
   • 
   • 

Wednesday Feb 1st:

- Part 1) Review

1. Please check your laptop for damages and report problems to me!
2. Daily Warmup Activity (2min timer if necessary – no talking while you complete your warmup please!)
   • View these amazing Ice Festival images
   • Choose the slide which you liked best and enter the slide number and a brief description of what you liked about it in the warmup form (the slide numbers are at the top)
   • 
   • Here’s a sentence starter (or you can choose your own): My favorite slide is ___ because ___
3. Use the Daily Warm-up Form to record your answer
4. Purple highlights are ‘plusses’… extra (hopefully fun) information to explore!
5. Read about the Ice Festival on Wikipedia at this link
6. If you thought a Big Mac had a lot of calories, try this link to see the total calories of a burger king double whopper with cheese

- Part 2) New

This is a great story and a great approach to life, especially when things are tough…

If you cannot fly then run,
If you cannot run then walk,
If you cannot walk then crawl,
But no matter what move forward.
~ MLK
Photo source and credit: http://www.teamcody.com/

Cody (1 photo)



1. Here are some cool student Gifs from yesterday
   • http://dl.dropbox.com/u/197021/pivit2.gif
   • http://dl.dropbox.com/u/197021/Pivit2%20%281%29.gif
2. Discuss questions about yesterday’s assignment
3. Review Google Maps and Streetview including how to use coordinates to find locations

- Part 3) Do - Today students will…

1. Go to Google Maps and use IW to capture ‘Streetviews’ of the following locations  
   • BHS
   • CCHS
   • Our new football stadium:  30.0956,-97.4654
   • The State Capitol Building in Austin
   • The UT Tower: 30.2848,-97.7395
   • +3 other locations that you’re curious about from this list of Austin Area Tourist Attractions (remember, you will need to find these in Google Maps Streetview… don’t capture images directly from the Tourist Site!)
   • There should be a total of 8 images with labels in your collection
2. Here’s a partial example of what your collection should look like 
   • 
3. Save your collection
   • Copy and cut your collection from IW, paste it into Paint, save it as a JPG file named Gmaps1 and upload it into your Gdocs 103 Student Folder
4. Please complete your animated Gif assignment from yesterday if you haven’t already done so!

- Part 4) Through?

1. Continue to explore this list of Austin Area Tourist Attractions
2. Learn about Bats here (from the tourist attraction list)
3. Explore UT or TAMU in Streetview (or Penn State via Google Trike)

Thursday 2nd:

- Part 1) Review

1. Please check your laptop for damages and report problems to me!
2. Daily Warmup Activity (2min timer if necessary – no talking while you complete your warmup please!)
   • View this Lego Creations Slideshow from the Robotics class
   • Add a comment about what you saw for your warmup today
   • Here’s a sentence starter (or you can choose your own): I watched the Legos Slideshow and…
3. Use the Daily Warm-up Form to record your answer
4. Checkout these Wolfram Alpha examples on Sports and Games
5. If you like animated Gifs, checkout this example of a different style of animated Gif or this one (both were created at http://www.gifpal.com/

- Part 2) New

1. View Natural Bridge Caverns images in streetview (you can use these as one of your Gmaps1 optional locations).  Here’s an example image:
   • 
2. Review how to save your IW file
   • Copy and cut your collection from IW, paste it into Paint, save it as a JPG file named Gmaps1 and upload it into your Gdocs 103 Student Folder
3. Review how to upload your work from your S-drive to your Gdocs 103 Student Folder 

- Part 3) Do - Today students will…

1. Complete your Google Maps Gmaps1 collection of these places (copy and paste the green coordinates)
   • BHS: 30.1184,-97.3103
   • CCHS:  30.1407,-97.4706
   • Our new football stadium: 30.0956,-97.4654
   • The State Capitol Building in Austin: 30.2727,-97.7411
   • The UT Tower: 30.2848,-97.7395
   • +3 other locations that you’re curious about from this list of Austin Area Tourist Attractions (remember, you will need to find these in Google Maps Streetview… don’t capture images directly from the Tourist Site!)
   • There should be a total of 8 images with labels in your collection
2. Complete your animated Gif Pivot creation and upload it into your Gdocs 103 Student folder
   • Here’s an example of a different style of animated Gif created at http://www.gifpal.com/

- Part 4) Through?

1. Checkout these cool images of caverns like this one:
   • 

Friday 3rd: Folder checks every Friday!

- Part 1) Review

1. Please check your laptop for damages and report problems to me!
2. Daily Warmup Activity (2min timer if necessary – no talking while you complete your warmup please!)
   • Click on this link to find locations to visit in Streetview
   • Copy the green block for any location you would like to visit
   • Paste the numbers in Google Maps
   • In the warm-up form, tell me briefly about a location you liked (or tell me about one you think I should add to the list)
   • Here’s a sentence starter (or you can choose your own): I liked ____ (location) because ___
3. Use the Daily Warm-up Form to record your answer
4. Checkout this massive helicopter! Here’s another article about it.  Of course, then there’s this

- Part 2) New

1. About hoaxes and snopes.com
2. Gdocs folder check
3. Review how (and why) to upload to Gdocs 103 student folder

- Part 3) Do - Today students will…

1. Complete the Week4 Reflection Form
2. Complete your Pivot2.gif animation and your Gmaps1.jpg Google Maps collection and upload them to your Gdocs 103 Student Folder
3. View the Friday Video Collection for this week

- Part 4) Through?

1. Explore the Grand Canyon Skywalk site and the Photo Gallery
• 

Week3 of Jan 23rd–Jan 27th

Highlights for the week:

• View the BMS Public Calendar for this weeks events!
• Tip: Use ctrl+f and enter the date as a number to jump quickly to the Blog entry for today!

Monday 23rd:

- Part 1) Review

1. This is the last week before the end of the 4th Progress Reporting Period
2. Please check your laptop for damages and report problems to me!
3. Need new RUP forms (parent authorization form available in class to have a Google Apps/Gmail account)
   • 2nd – Tristan
4. Daily Warmup Activity (2min timer if necessary – no talking while you complete your warmup please!)
   • Open the MS Office clipart site
   • Please send me the name of the following clipart image (it will start with MC900….).  Remember to use a complete sentence like: The name of this image… 
   • 
   • Here are some clues to help you find it
     • It’s an illustration, not a photo, animation or sound
     • Search for ‘footballs’
     • Click on the image to see the file name
5. Use the Daily Warm-up Form to record your answer

- Part 2) New

1. Copy the clipart collection from my J-drive folder to your S-drive folder
2. Introduce Photovisi (view screencast)
   • Use the following template
   •  
   • We’ll be making a practice collage like this partially completed example:
   • 
3. Create a Photovisi collage using clipart which you have copied from my J-drive
   • You can find more clipart using the MS Office clipart site
   • Tip: you might be able to right-click and copy the URL of your clipart selection and add it directly to your collage (I’ll demonstrate this)
4. To find background colors that go together well, use the Color Scheme Designer

- Part 3) Do - Today students will…

1. Create a Photovisi collage with at least 5 clipart images 
   • Try uploading a background which you have created
   • Use clipart or photos from your desktop, S-drive, Office website or photo collections from home
   • Save your collage as Photovisi and upload it to your Gdocs 103 student folder
2. Find 5 additional clipart images from the MS Office clipart site which you like and download them to your S-drive clipart collection to use in future projects
3. If we are unable to use the Photovisi site for some reason, we will try creating a screencast at Screencast-o-matic.com of how to draw something using Flamepaint
4. Robotics – View this ‘Make a name for yourself’ slideshow

- Part 4) Through?

1. Experiment with Flockdraw (a collaborative whiteboard)
   • Create and practice with your own at this Flockdraw link, then
   • …try collaborative drawing with these links - click on your card suit
   •  
     • Hearts
     • Spades
     • Diamonds
     • Clubs

Tuesday 24th:

- Part 1) Review

1. This is the last week before the end of the 4th Progress Reporting Period
2. Please check your laptop for damages and report problems to me!
3. Check the FAQs!
4. Daily Warmup Activity (2min timer if necessary – no talking while you complete your warmup please!)
   • Open the MS Office clipart site
   • Browse the clipart site for any image or illustration (no sounds or animations please) that you find interesting and you think should be added to my J-drive collection for all students to use
   • Copy the link to your choice (or choices… you can add several if you like) and paste it in the form for today with a complete sentence which starts with some like:
     • I really like this clipart and…
   • 
5. Use the Daily Warm-up Form to record your answer
6. Checkout this Solar Flare news post and photos for today!

- Part 2) New

1. Create a new Photovisi collage with your choice of background and at least 6 images (view examples below and discuss questions or problems)
2. Introduce Screencast-o-matic for recording a screencast (about 1/2 way through the period)

- Part 3) Do - Today students will…

1. Create a Photovisi collage with at least 5 clipart images and a different background than the one we used yesterday
   • Here are some examples:
   •  
   • 
   • Try uploading a background which you have created
   • 
   • Use clipart or photos from your desktop, S-drive, Office website or photo collections from home
   • Save your collage as Photovisi and upload it to your Gdocs 103 student folder
2. Record a 1min screencast of how you create something using flamepaint (or other escapemotions creation)   
   • If a dialog box appears, choose run
   • http://screencast-o-matic.com/
   • http://www.escapemotions.com/experiments/flame/#top
   • http://www.escapemotions.com/experiments.html 
3. Save your screencast in your S-drive as Practice 
   • Make sure you choose the Flash (FLV) video type!
   • 

- Part 4) Through?

1. Browse the MS Office clipart site for more cool images to add to your collection
2. Continue creating things with Flamepaint or Pivot! If you make something cool, show me in class!

Wednesday 25th: School cancelled due to bad weather! (Here are some photos of my neighborhood after the storm)

Thursday 26th:

- Part 1) Review

1. Checkout the storm photos which I posted yesterday
2. Check your Gmail for a link to a Gdocs folder called Resources which we will explore today
3. This is the last week before the end of the 4th Progress Reporting Period.  These files should be in your Gdocs 103 student folder:
   •  
4. Please check your laptop for damages and report problems to me!
5. Daily Warmup Activity (2min timer if necessary – no talking while you complete your warmup please!)
   • Create a Gzaas message (http://gzaas.com/)
   • Copy the share link
   • Add a sentence and your Gzaas link to the warmup form.  Here’s a sentence starter (or you can choose your own): I used Gzaas to… 
6. Use the Daily Warm-up Form to record your answer

- Part 2) New

1. Introduce the Resources Folder and the Help Folder in your Google Documents
2. Review Gzaas (if necessary)
3. Review Screencast-o-matic – (view How2 screencast from SOM) - run a short test & discuss saving as an mp4 file if you have problems saving your video as an flv file
4. Introduce 3D Sketch and explore this list of demonstrations

- Part 3) Do - Today students will…

1. Record a screencast of you creating a Gzaas message (include finding the share link)
   • http://gzaas.com/
   • http://screencast-o-matic.com/ 
2. Explore these 3D Sketch Demonstrations 
   • https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1rYIPg_bAyCoAVVHAhf2R9qdpNyY45WGLs6D-9qtU80A
3. Create your own 3D sketch at this link 
   • http://hakim.se/experiments/html5/sketch/
4. Create a short screencast of how to create a 3D sketch and save it in your S-drive as 3D Sketch.flv
5. Robotics
   • View the updated ‘Make a name for yourself’ slideshow (checkout the video – slide2)
   • Explore this site for ideas: http://blog.makezine.com/category/lego/
   • Breakdown your first project (photos necessary for grade, so let me take a picture of what you have so far before you break it down!)
   • Quick-build - Create a Lego Critter like these examples (view Prezi here)
   • 

- Part 4) Through?

1. Work with Pivot, Flamepaint or 3D Sketch (or explore anything else on the right side panel of this Blog!)

Friday 27th: Folder checks every Friday!

- Part 1) Review

1. Please check your laptop for damages and report problems to me!
2. This is the last week before the end of the 4th Progress Reporting Period. These files should be in your Gdocs 103 student folder:
   •  
3. Daily Warmup Activity (2min timer if necessary – no talking while you complete your warmup please!)
   • Create a 3D Sketch of a tree of some sort (like this example)
   • You can find the center of rotation by looking at the black line in this image… it’s approximately below the letter ‘B’ in the Vibration Setting Block
   •  
   • Copy the Save & Share link
   • Add a sentence and your 3D Sketch link to the warmup form. Here’s a sentence starter (or you can choose your own): I used 3D Sketch to…
4. Use the Daily Warm-up Form to record your answer

- Part 2) New

1. Check for completed warmups for this week (you should have Jan-23, Jan-24, and Jan-26 in this list)
   • Please complete any missing warmups from earlier in the week!
2. Folder review by name (use the 103 Student Demo folder for examples of what you should have in yours)
   • During the video clips today, I’ll be walking around asking each student to show me the contents of your 103 Student Folder and to help you with any problems

- Part 3) Do - Today students will…

1. Complete the Weekly Reflection Form
2. Complete any missing work for Progress Reports
3. View the Friday Video Collection for this week 

- Part 4) Through?

1. Checkout this Physics Simulation Game from Kyle!

Week2 of Jan 16th–Jan 20th

Highlights for the week:

• View the BMS Public Calendar for this weeks events!
• Tip: Use ctrl+f and enter the date as a number to jump quickly to Blog entry for today!

Monday 16th: Holiday!

Tuesday 17th:

- Part 1) Review

1. Please check your laptop for damages and report problems to me!
2. Review Behavior for last week and discuss missing Behavior Contracts by class period (here’s a link to complete this form):
   • 1st – Alicia
   • 2nd – Pedro, Zach M
   • 3rd – All complete!
   • 5th – Jaeson
   • 7th - All complete!
3. Need new RUP forms (parent authorization form available in class to have a Google Apps/Gmail  account)
   • 2nd – Tristan
   • 5th – Efrain, Nathan
4. Daily Warmup Activity (2min timer if necessary – no talking while you complete your warmup please!)
   • Please look over our District Responsible Use Policy (also called the RUP), and tell me very briefly (and in a complete sentence/sentences) what you think the purpose of that document is. For example, what is it for, or what are you agreeing to when you sign it?
   • Use the Daily Warm-up Form to record your answer
5. Review Friday’s warmup (click on hotspot for full size view).  Click here for more weather records! 
   • 

- Part 2) New

1. Introduce Gradebook Logon (discuss ‘6’s)
2. Introduce Paint program to convert image file types from IW (GWB) to JPG (View screencast)
3. Review Thinkmap1 requirements (Due today!) 
   • My example map
   • Grading Rubric Map (shows how your map will be graded)
4. Introduce Flamepaint (if it doesn’t start automatically, click the play button to watch the slideshow)
5.  

- Part 3) Do - Today students will…

1. Complete your Thinkmap1 assignment which is due today! 
   1. Capture your map (use ctrl+C or ctrl+X key combinations to copy or cut from IW)
   2. Paste it into paint (use ctrl+V to paste into Paint)
   3. Save it to your S-drive as a JPG file named Thinkmap1 
2. Experiment with the Flamepaint application 
   • Adjust the control sliders one-at-a-time to see what effect they have on your brush
3. Robotics students:
   • Start the ‘Make a name for yourself’ project
   • View the Demo clip on building letters into a wall
   • View the information and additional links in this document

- Part 4) Through?

1. Explore these Legoland locations in streetview (drag pegman onto the map – red arrows below)
   • 
   • Legoland California
   • 
   • 
   • Legoland Florida (under construction)
   • Legoland Germany
   • Legoland Denmark (the home of Legos)
   • 

Wednesday 18th:

- Part 1) Review

1. Please check your laptop for damages and report problems to me!
2. Need new RUP forms (parent authorization form available in class to have a Google Apps/Gmail account)
   • 2nd – Tristan
   • 5th – Efrain, Nathan
3. Daily Warmup Activity (2min timer if necessary – no talking while you complete your warmup please!)
   • Please find the definition of the word Invigorate (verb form of the word) and enter it in the daily warmup form below (you will have to look this word up – copy the word by double-clicking on it to highlight it and then using ‘ctrl+c’ to copy it and then click here for help finding the definition!)
   • Use the Daily Warm-up Form to record your answer

- Part 2) New

1. If you complete an assignment after the due date, please send me an email to let me know what you have completed (include the name of the assignment so that I will know where to look) and I will update your grade!
2. Discuss your Google Documents folder (view screencast)
   • Upload your Thinkmap1.jpg file to your Gdocs 103 student folder (where you can access it from any internet connection or smartphone)
3. Introduce StudyStacks using this stack on ‘ Ctrl+__ Keyboard Shortcuts ’ 
   • Click here for other flashcard creation sites
   • Use this tool to find similar sites (there’s a link to this on the right side panel in the ‘Tools’ section)
   • Here’s another keyboard shortcuts deck from Flashcard Machine (registration required to practice this set)
4. Review Flamepaint controls which will allow you to write (Here are some examples with slight variations)

- Part 3) Do - Today students will…

1. Upload your completed Thinkmap1 JPG file to your Google Docs 103 Student  Folder. (Robotics students must upload their file before starting the ‘Make a name for yourself’ Legos project!) 
   •  
2. Practice this StudyStack on ‘ Ctrl+__ Keyboard Shortcuts ’ 
   • Try all of the different review options to see what they do
   •  
3. Use Flamepaint to practice writing your name 
   • Experiment with one adjustment bar at a time to see what they do!
   • Here are some examples with slight variations

- Part 4) Through?

1. Complete your Thinkmap1 file if you haven’t done so already.  Be sure to upload it to your Gdocs 103 student folder so I can grade it!
2. Continue exploring these Legoland locations in streetview
   • Legoland California
   • Legoland Florida (under construction)
   • Legoland Germany
   • Legoland Denmark (the home of Legos)

Thursday 19th:

- Part 1) Review

1. Please check your laptop for damages and report problems to me!
2. Need new RUP forms (parent authorization form available in class to have a Google Apps/Gmail account)
   • 2nd – Tristan
   • 5th – Efrain, Nathan
3. Daily Warmup Activity (2min timer if necessary – no talking while you complete your warmup please!)
   • Please translate the definition for invigorate from English to Spanish and copy/paste the Spanish translation into the warmup form for today.  Here are the links which you will need to do this
     • Click here for the definition (use definition1)
     • Google translate
   • Here’s what Google Translate for this warmup looks like
   • 
   • Use the Daily Warm-up Form to record your answer

- Part 2) New

1. Here’s a link to an article about yesterday’s SOPA blackout which also explains a little about both sides of the argument

- Part 3) Do - Today students will…

1. Use Flamepaint to practice writing your name or creating cool backgrounds 
   • Experiment with one adjustment bar at a time to see what they do!
   • Here are some examples with slight variations
2. Practice the IW to Paint to JPG to Gdocs folder process 
   • Capture some of your Flamepaint creations (at least 3) with IW
   • Use the camera tool to copy/paste your creations into Paint
   • Save your Paint file as a JPG file type named Flamepaint
   • Upload your file into your Gdoc folder
3. Complete your Thinkmap1 file if you haven’t done so already. Be sure to upload it to your Gdocs 103 student folder so I can grade it!
   • Ask other students (next to you) for help with this or anything else if you need it!

- Part 4) Through?

1. Try some of these other Escapemotion experiments from the creator of Flamepaint

Friday 20th: Tomorrow - UIL competition at Elgin Middle School tomorrow.  Good Luck to all participants!

- Part 1) Review

1. Please check your laptop for damages and report problems to me!
2. Need new RUP forms (parent authorization form available in class to have a Google Apps/Gmail account)
   • 2nd – Tristan
   • 5th – Efrain, Nathan
3. Daily Warmup Activity (2min timer if necessary – no talking while you complete your warmup please!)
   • Open this Google A-Z Webpage View
     • Scan through it for things you might like to learn about or try for yourself
     • Copy and paste the 3 that you are most interested into the Daily Warmups Form (like you see in this screenshot with hotspots):
   • 
   •  Use the Daily Warm-up Form to record your answer

- Part 2) New

1. Please do not eat or drink in this classroom!
2. Review folders for Thinkmap1.jpg and Flamepaint.jpg uploads
3. Daily Warmup Grade (2 pts per day/total of 10pts per week/complete sentences to get full credit!).  Yellow highlights means I had to edit your data… please be careful when you complete the form! View completed warmups list (look for 3 dates since there was no school Monday– Jan 17,18,19; we will be adding the 4th date today)

- Part 3) Do - Today students will…

1. Complete the Weekly Reflections Form
2. Complete any missing daily warmups (use our Daily Warm-up Form)
3. Complete and upload your Thinkmap1.jpg and Flamepaint.jpg (which are due today!)
4. Robotics – Complete and photograph ‘Make a name for yourself’ creations
5. View Friday Video Clips selection

- Part 4) Through?

1. Try some of these other Escapemotion experiments from the creator of Flamepaint
2. Explore Google A-Z Webpage View and try some of the links