Scratch Jr Animations & Quizzes

Our Junior Learning Community students have been busy designing and creating animations and quizzes in the Scratch Jr visual coding iPad app.

 

Year 2 Animations

Year 2 students were given a 20 x 15 grid on which to draw a background and character(s) for their animation.  They then designed an algorithm which listed the sequence of instructions needed to move one of the characters through a set path on the screen.

Students then coded their animation by dragging the Scratch coding blocks from the blocks palette to the programming area at the bottom of the screen.

Here is a video of Phoebe’s Racing Girl animation.

 

Year 3 Times Table Quizzes

Year 3 students had a more complex task, which involved branching and user input.  They designed and coded a times table quiz, where each question had 1 correct answer and 2 incorrect answers.  The characters on their screen would perform different actions depending on the answer chosen.  Students began the process by designing their screen and algorithm on paper.

They then coded their quiz using Scratch Jr coding blocks.

Here is a video of Marley’s Times Tables Quiz.

 

Australian Curriculum Links

Foundation to Year 2

ACTDIK001 – Recognise and explore digital systems (hardware and software components) for a purpose

ACTDIP004 – Follow, describe and represent a sequence of steps and decisions (algorithms) needed to solve simple problems

Year 3 – 4

ACTDIP010 – Define simple problems, and describe and follow a sequence of steps and decisions (algorithms) needed to solve them

ACTDIP011 – Implement simple digital solutions as visual programs with algorithms involving branching (decisions) and user input

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Coding with Scratch the Cat

For the last two weeks, Year 2 & 3 students in our Junior Learning Community have been learning how to design & code their own interactive stories and games in the Scratch Jr Coding app.

The students learnt how to select or draw scenes and characters and then used visual coding blocks to write instructions for the characters.  These instructions enabled the characters to move left, right, up and down; to turn around, hop, grow, shrink, disappear, appear and speak.  By dragging and connecting the coding blocks in the correct sequence, students were able to construct a series of actions for each character and were able to send messages between characters to control the order in which the characters performed their actions.

Coding enables students to acquire knowledge & understanding of digital systems and to practice and learn processes and production skills which are part of the Australian Digital Technologies Curriculum.

Here are some photos of our coders in action and a video of some of the projects.

 

Video : JLC Scratch Jr Projects

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Rap IT

GarageBandDuring Creative Arts last term our year 3 and 5 students looked at the basic structure of lyric writing and music composition using digital technology.  Their summative task was to write their own lyrics for a rap song on a chosen topic and then use the Garageband app to create their backing music and record their lyrics.

Students learnt about the structure of a rap song and music recording concepts such as time signature, tempo, bars and count-in.

The students selected ‘Apple Loops’ from the Garageband app as their backing music tracks and were encouraged to gradually build up the tracks at the beginning of the song and gradually fade them out at the end. Here are some examples. The picture is a screenshot from the Garageband project, showing the individual tracks and the build up and fade out of each. If you click on the picture, you can listen to the rap.

Sweets – by Isabella and Tegan

Footy – by Oliver and Sam

Chocolate – by Chloe and Eliza

Maths – by David and Macca

More information

The instructions the students followed to create their rap song in Garageband can are available in this document – GarageBand – Making a Rap Song.

 

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Maths, Literacy and iBooks

During a mathematics unit on Volume and Capacity, Mrs Kruger’s year 3 students were asked to create an informative iBook.  The students were given several plastic containers and then asked to estimate and subsequently measure which would hold the most water and pasta.  Each group was given an iPad so that they could take photographs of each step and then produce an iBook containing

  • The learning intention
  • Definitions of the mathematical terms
  • Photos and text explanations of each step
  • Results and reflections
  • Voice narration

The students used the popular Book Creator app to create their iBooks.  Here are some examples

Harry and Josh – (Open in iBooks)
Harry and Josh – (pdf format, no audio)

Aisha and Chantelle – (Open in iBooks)
Aisha and Chantelle – (pdf format, no audio)

Emma, Jade and Chloe – (Open in iBooks)
Emma, Jade and Chloe – (pdf format, no audio)

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Year 3 Force Videos

This year, the year 3 classes again created short videos to illustrate their understanding of force.  The central idea for their Unit of Inquiry was

People apply their understanding of force to simple machines to work more efficiently

Here are some images from some of the video clips which shows the variety of topics that were chosen.

The students were videoed performing these activities and they then edited their videos using Windows Live Movie Maker.  To see the steps that the students followed to make their video click here.

Here are some of the student’s force videos (reduced in size for quicker viewing).

Ben’s Video Ben demonstrates force using some simple stationery in the office.
Charlotte’s Video Charlotte uses force to push a ball towards a goal and illustrates how gravity takes over to return the ball to the ground.
Josh’s Video Josh uses the scooter as the simple machine to demonstrate forward movement and friction.
Laura’s Video Laura has fun with a hula hoop to demonsrate friction and gravity.

 

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Year 3 Force Videos

As part of their unit of enquiry on force, Mrs Kruger’s and Mr Eckerman’s year 3 classes have been making short video clips.  The video clips demonstrate force in action in a variety of everyday activities.  The children chose activities such as

  1. Throwing, kicking and hitting balls.
  2. Swinging, spinning and sliding on playground equipment.
  3. Spinning and throwing hula hoops.
  4. Raising the flag on the flag pole.
  5. Indoor activities such as gluing, opening and closing the curtains and using a zipper.

The students were videoed performing these activities and they then edited their videos using Windows Live Movie Maker.  To see the steps that the students followed to make their video click here.

Here are some of the student’s force videos (reduced in size for quicker viewing).

Aden’s Force Movie                     Bianca’s Force Movie

Bradley’s Force Movie                Declan’s Force Movie

Emily’s Force Movie                    Kiefer’s Force Movie

Lauren’s Force Movie                 Mackenzie’s Force Movie

Molly’s Force Movie                    Sarah’s Force Movie

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