High School Computer Science/IT

We have successfully completed Week 4 of online learning. By now students are getting the hang of learning online and more comfortable with completing programming tasks and asking for help as needed. Last week, AP Computer Science Principles class worked on a research project on Artificial Intelligence & how it’s applied in COVID-19.

This week,  we returned to programming and continue to practice working with arrays and learning to use a new user interface element on code.org, the canvas. Students worked on a week-long project where they will use a combination of list data structures, like the JavaScript array, and loops that allows for large amounts of information to be generated, maintained, and then transformed in useful and interesting ways.

Grade 9 computer game design class and grade 10 introduction to coding class continued their learning by digging deeper into lists in python. 

As a reminder, here are some general guidelines from the first week of online learning.

All students are expected to participate in online learning. Any learning activities not completed will need to be made up.

You are not expected to sit at the computer all day long, but rather to check your email/Google Classroom and follow the instructions set by me to complete the work assigned to you. I’m here to support you however I can. Take care of yourself and your family first. Your health and well-being should be your priority. Everything about our class and online learning is flexible. Whatever happens, we will work it out.

Middle School Social Studies

These past few weeks in social studies the Middle school students have been engaged in a virtual classroom from their homes. In 6th and 7th grade the students began getting used to their new learning environment by participating in a couple of Flipgrid activities where they shared details and information about their pets. If they did not have a pet they spoke about what type of pet they would want. The second Flipgrid was a short response on whether they were traveling during these trying times or “hunkering” down. Then we started to get more into the content.

The students were given a set of slides with questions about the physical geography, history, and life in their assigned region. Interspersed in their reading and writing responses the students have been given online quizzes, videos, and audio recordings about various topics related to their topic of study.

Students have also been given warm-up activities which usually involve responses to a video on the topic. The unit of study will culminate in a STEM project where students will get away from their computers, think outside the box and create something based on a choice of options. For example, in 7th Grade, students may either work on a visual representation of Copernicus’s heliocentric theory or design a working barometer. So far things have been going well and I think I speak for the middle schoolers when I say that we are headed to a very positive conclusion for the school year!