What Did You Learn?

Whenever I can find the time at the end of a day, unit, class, etc. I like to ask my students a few questions about the class. I do this for a number of reasons. First of all, I like to know what students enjoyed the most about the class. I also want to know what they enjoyed the least. This is not to say that I will get rid of what they enjoyed the least and keep what they enjoyed the most. It is just my way of getting student input and it helps me plan for the future. I also like to ask students what they learned from taking this class. If they can't tell me anything they learned, then what was the purpose of taking the class?

The last day of summer school, I only had the first hour class, which was my Fun with Technology class. We had a few minutes at the end of the class, so I asked them these questions about their experiences in the class. I was pleasantly surprised with the results.

The first question was what they enjoyed most about this class.
Here were some of the answers:

• Creating pictures for the Goldilocks project
• Having time to play different puzzle games online
• Using powerpoint for the first time
• Adding animations to their presentations
• Presenting their animations

The second question was what did they enjoy the least about the class. The majority answer for this was of course the typing practice. This was not surprising to me and I told my students that typing practice was one of my least favorite activities in computer class, too. However, it is important and helps you type faster and faster over time.

The final question: What did you learn?
Here are their answers:

• Homerow for typing
• How to animate on PowerPoint
• How to add pictures to a PowerPoint
• How to add additional slides in PowerPoint
• How to add and delete transitions on a PowerPoint
• How to export images in Pixie
• How to add stamps, pictures, and cool effects in Pixie

It is so exciting to hear about all the great things they learned in class. It makes teaching the class a success!

If I were to teach this class again, I would definitely keep the format of the class the same. I liked that the students had time to practice typing, play games, and work on a project every day of class. I feel like it was the right balance of work and play for the students.

I really liked the project, but would probably change it for next year so that the same students could take the class again if they liked. I would want to continue to include PowerPoint and Pixie in the project as these seemed to be big hits with the kids. Maybe even a project that really focused on all the cool things that PowerPoint can do. I think the kids would really like that.

That is all for now!
Thanks for reading,
~Brittany De Laruelle

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

The second half of my Fun with Technology consists of a project they started the first day and are just finally finishing this week. This project is based on the popular story Goldilocks and the Three Bears. I am assuming most of you are familiar with it, but for those that aren't here is just an overview of the story.

Goldilocks is a little girl who loves to walk in the woods and pick wild flowers. One day she wanders too far and gets lost. She happens upon a cottage that belongs to the three bears, however she does not know that. She knocks on the door and when she finds the door open she wanders inside. Once inside she eats porridge from three bowls. The first is too hot, the second is too cold, and the third belonging to the baby bear is just right so she eats all of it. Next she goes into the living room and finds three chairs. One is too big, one is too wide, and one is just right but breaks. Finally, she wanders into the bedroom. She lays in each bed, but only the third is just right and she falls asleep. While sleeping the bears come home and find their porridge eaten, chairs sat in, and find Goldilocks in baby bear's bed. At this point Goldilocks awakes screams and runs out of the cottage never to return.

The first step of this project was for students to illustrate the story. Students used Pixie which is a fun illustration program much like paint, but a lot fancier. I taught students how to add stamps and use some of the different tools. Each day they had another part of the story to illustrate. This part of the project took much longer than I expected. This is partially due to the fact that many students do not come to school every day. So, they get behind and need a day or two to catch up. The illustrations were finally done by Wednesday last week and we started on the PowerPoint presentation on Thursday and Friday.

In order to put the images onto PowerPoint I learned that you must export the images. In most image editors you can just save the image as a JPEG or PNG so that is can be uploaded on PowerPoint. However, in Pixie it automatically saves the image as a Pixie image. There are no other options. However, if you are looking to save something as a JPEG in Pixie, here is how!

1) Open the image you want to save in Pixie

2) Click option that says EXPORT:


3) Choose the type of file you want to save the picture as and then click export:


4) Save your file: (I had my students save it as the exact same thing they saved their other image as. It will not save over your original since it is a new format)


Once it is saved as a JPEG you will be able to upload it into PowerPoint and here is how:
1) Open a new PowerPoint presentation:


2) Click the insert tab (this may not be an actual tab if you are using an older version of PowerPoint this image is from PowerPoint 2010)
Click the picture icon:


3) Browse for the image you want:


4) Click insert and it is now in your powerpoint:


5) You can use the small squares to make the image bigger or smaller:


My students inserted all 8 pictures of the story into their powerpoint before beginning the editing process.

The 8 pictures for this project were:
Title Page
Goldilocks gets lost and finds a cottage in the woods
Goldilocks tries the porridge
Goldilocks sits in the bears chairs
Goldilocks tries the bears beds and falls asleep
The bears come home and find their porridge eaten
The bears find their chairs sat in
The bears find Goldilocks taking a nap in baby bear's bed

Remember, it is great to get students to really think about the environment of the story. When they are illustrating don't just let them illustrate the objects like all the bowls. Have them really imagine what the kitchen of a bear's cottage would look like. Does it have wood floors? Linoleum floors? What color is the walls? Do they have wallpaper or paint? Maybe they are also wood... Really let them use their imagination and put details into their story.

Miss De Laruelle