June 4, 2024: Today we had a class session because our professor wanted to check in with each group and answer any questions that we had. As we were waiting for our professor to come to our table we looked over our website for any spelling or formatting errors. We also added images to certain sections of our website. For example, we added an image to our mission statement section in the website to make it more appealing to the eye. We then talked to our professor about our website and he said that everything looked good but suggested that we add closed captions to our team video. We plan to do this by adding our video to YouTube because this will add closed captions. Then we will link that video back to our website. We then talked about what we wanted to wear and how we wanted to present our project for Thursday. We decided that we will dress nicer (wearing a skirt or a dress) and that we will print out all of our worksheets and put them into a binder so it’s easier to look through. We also thought that it would be a good idea to meet up before 2 so we have time to set up everything. Overall, we are all very pleased with how our website and lesson plans turned out and we are excited to share our project with others

May 30, 2024: Today we spent an hour getting all of the lesson plans onto our website and making sure that all of the formatting was the same. A couple members of the group were struggling to get their pdfs uploaded so someone else walked them through how to do it. We also decided that for the last two lesson plans it would be a fun idea to screen record the program running on the Scratch website and use that as an Individual artifact. We ran into an issue when uploading the shape images that teachers can use for the background in scratch. If the teacher wishes to follow the code that we provided in the teacher guide then they need the same exact picture. So, to fix this we decided to link the shape images instead of putting them in a pdf. After getting the lesson plans all sorted out we went outside to film our video. We first split up the talking points in our script so that everyone had some screen time. Then we found different spots and filmed what we needed. Remembering what to say was very challenging and it was also a very windy day so trying to get good audio became challenging. We plan to edit our footage together over the weekend and get our video uploaded to our website before Tuesday’s class. 

May 28, 2024: Today we added two of our four lesson plans to our website. This took longer than we anticipated because we had to re-format everything. We copy and pasted the teacher guide for the lessons on the website and then we saved all of the worksheets as pdfs and added them to the bottom of the lessons. At first we just had the worksheet document linked in the teacher guide but we realized that it would be difficult to access/print so we changed this formatting. After getting the lesson plans on the website we turned our attention to the video section of our project. We wrote out a script that explains why there is a need for our lesson plans, what our lesson plans are about, and where to access our website. We also discussed where and when we want to film our video. We decided that we are going to film our video around the education campus this Thursday. We also talked about how we were going to edit our video and decided that we will first try to edit with iMovie and if that doesn’t work then we will find another platform to use. Overall, the project is coming together nicely and we are excited to see the final product in two weeks. 

May 23, 2024: Today instead of meeting outside of class in the HEDCO building like we have been, we actually had to go to class today because our professor wanted to meet with us in person and explain the video portion of the project. For the video it needs to be exactly 60 seconds and it needs to explain our instructional unit (lesson plans). We can’t really start the video until we get our lesson plans finished, so our goal over the weekend is for everyone to finish their lesson plans. As of right now we have a solid plan of what all four lessons will look like. We just need to finish them up and make finishing touches, then get them uploaded on our website. In class we discussed how we wanted the lessons to be formatted on the website. We decided that we should have the written lesson plans on the website but will also include a pdf file of the lesson plan and the worksheets that go with each lesson. After class we walked around the education buildings to find a spot to take our group photo. We found someone to take our picture and then we went through the pictures we took and chose the best one to upload to our website. For Tuesday’s meeting we plan to plan out what we want to do for our video and maybe start filming if we have time.

May 21, 2024: Today was a very productive day. We finalized our mission statement and posted it on our website and we wrote out our group ‘about us’ section and posted that on our website as well. We originally planned to take our group picture today, but it was raining outside so now we plan to do that after class on Thursday. We are hoping that we can ask one of our classmates to take the picture for us. We also found a better banner for our website. However, we are struggling to make our website look good because the website doesn’t let us customize many features. We can only change the banner picture and the color of the font, which is becoming annoying. After working on our website for an hour we turned our attention to our ‘elevator pitch’ assignment that is due at the end of class this Thursday. We needed to upload our website’s URL and write a ~280 pitch about our project. We first made a bullet point list of what information we wanted to include in our pitch and then one of us expanded the bullet point list into a small paragraph. The last thing that we did during this meeting was start working on our lesson plans since this is and the video are the last things we need to do for our project. We all created separate documents for our lessons and then linked them in our main project document. This is so we can see what everyone is doing and see what progress is being made.

May 16, 2024: Today our main focus was taking our pictures for the about us section. The first thing we did was walk around the education campus to look for potential spots to take pictures. At first we planned to take pictures in the same spot, but then we changed our minds and each found a different spot that we liked. We also thought it would be a good idea to take a group picture and put it at the very top of the “About US” section along with a caption that describes us as a group. After finding spots to take pictures we checked the watercooler and saw that one of our classmates replied to our question. We then each wrote a few sentences about ourselves for the “About Us” section. We included our name, what grade/subject we want to teach, where we were from, and what we are passionate about. Next, we turned our attention to the mission statement. We wrote a list of information that we need to include in our mission statement and then made a bullet point list of what we want to talk about for each point. For example, one aspect that we need to include in our mission statement is who our resource is for. We said that our resource is for 5th grade students, 5th grade educators, and any educators who are interested in incorporating computer science into their curriculum and incorporating. After planning our mission statement we decided to be done for the day and were happy with the progress that we have made so far. Now the main thing we need to work on is our video and actually creating the lesson plans.

May 14, 2024: Today we created our website. We came up with our title name which was Scratch-A-Shape: Learn To Code Shapes With Scratch! After we started working on details on our website such as the “Contact Us” information. We created an email where people would be able to contact us about any questions they may have about our website. We also worked on adding sections to our website such as the lessons we plan on creating for teachers to use, developmental updates, and about us. Everyone worked on one specific section and continued to elaborate ideas to make our website better. We made sure we were all satisfied with the outcome. We did have a question about the “About Us” section. We were unsure about what information to include so we went ahead and posted a question in the watercooler discussion hoping our peers could help us. The last thing we did for the day was split up the lesson plans. Laura is planning to do lesson plan number 1 which is (K-2.AP.03), LaReina is planning to do lesson plan number 2 which is (3-5.CS.02), Kianna is planning to do lesson plan number 3 which is (K-2.AP.03). Crisel is planning to do lesson plan number 4 which is (3-5.AP.01).

May 9, 2024: Today we introduced our project proposal to our professor and it went very well! He said that our project proposal sounded great and that he had no major suggestions for us. He broke down the project rubric for us and pointed out important sections that we should take note of. For example, we need to include an individual artifact on our website which is where we follow the lesson as if we were a student to show teachers that come to our website what to expect. Our professors also suggested that we should find a way to make our lessons fun since our additional subject is math, which can be overwhelming for some students. After the proposal we brainstormed some ways to make our lessons more engaging and we decided that we will come up with some games for students to play that involve the students to either go outside or stand up and move around. Lastly, a member in our group made a Trello account which is a website that helps you manage group projects by making to-do lists and assigning group members tasks. Once we got the Trello account set up and everyone got added to the project board we went through and made a to-do list for the next couple weeks. Our main focus for next week is getting our website setup but we plan to get that all sorted out on Tuesday (May 14th).

May 7, 2024: Today, we focused on creating our pitch to present it to our professor.
Our pitch:
We want to create 4 lessons that are targeted at the 5th grade level. These lessons will align with Idaho state standards 3-5.CS.01, 3-5.CS.02, K-2.AP.03, and 3-5.AP.01. Our lessons will be teaching students communication and computing. We will be using Scratch, and we will be including Math as an additional subject. We’re thinking of having students create shapes through Scratch but it will progressively get more challenging through each lesson.
We also spent time creating rough drafts for our lessons. Lesson one will introduce all of the vocabulary needed to understand the math concepts for the other lessons and the scratch website. We thought that we would make this lesson a matching game where students match the terms to the definitions. For lesson two we will have students draw shapes on graph paper (ex: square), have them decide on a starting point, and then provide the directions on how to trace the shape and reach the ending/starting point. For lesson three the students will be introduced to the Scratch website. Students will create an assigned background and have to code a sprite to follow the lines. This is where we will incorporate math, they will have to consider coordinates, angles, and the properties of the given shape. The last lesson will Introduce how to work and problem solve together as a team as well as applying their skills to work on Scratch. Students will be able to work as a team to upload their shape and trace the shape using their skills and knowledge that they have already learned.