Stop Motion Science

8Science students collaborated in the creation of a LEGO Stop Motion Video to demonstrate their understanding of substances and different types of Elements. They created a story line that included MONATOMIC ELEMENTS, DIATOMIC COMPOUND and TRIATOMIC COMPOUNDS!

New Blakers!

Welcome Dash and Dot! AfterSchool Coding Club members are test-driving the new robots which will soon be integrated into the Science curriculum.

Digital Learning Day 6th Discussion Panel

Medfield School District held its 3rd annual Digital Learning Day Conference filled with over 60 workshops for K-12 teachers in district and from schools out-of-district. Wellesley 6th Grade teachers joined Blake's 6th teachers and students for a discussion on their initial year of having 1:1 iPads in the classroom.

A Shout Out to Medfield HS/MS Student Volunteers

Our Digital Learning Day Conference wouldn't have been possible without the support of our wonderful Medfield HS Students and Blake MS students. This photo was taken at the beginning of the day, during a briefing with Neal Sonnenbergy (HS Tech Integration Specialist)

Look out for these future App Developers

This group of Blake MS girls are entered into the Global Competition, Technovation to design a mobile app that solves a community/social issue. Wish them Luck! The final pitch is on May 1st @ Microsoft NERD Center!

Took the Show on the Road

Blake MS Principal Nat Vaughn and 8Science Teacher Jason Heim presented about the Blake iPad Initiative at the LearnLaunch Conference, Harvard Business School.

Green Screen App Smashing

At our final EdTechTeacher Workshop, 6th/7th Grade Teachers explored their creative side by layering green screen videos over images for engaging instructional videos. It was total fun!

Convert Smells to Energy = Smellergy!

Nicolina is changing the world one nose at a time! Her entry was clearly on track with dreaming, designing, and delivering an energy-saving idea into the Blake Energy Invention Contest!

Sometimes the Ideas start here

Planning and drawing out a story board before the creation of an Explain Everything project is an essential step in the process!

11.30.2014

PTA: Back Up Your Work in Explain Everything & Notability



Attention all Students: 
I want to remind you about the importance of backing up your work particularly when using Explain Everything and Notability. Many students have stopped by my office after their iPad crashes! Even if you have iCloud setup, you must MUst MUST follow these steps to save your work in these two apps.

 Explain Everything only saves locally to your iPad. It does not save to iCloud. Therefore, you will need to EXPORT any work created in EE to Google Drive.

First, make sure Explain Everything is connected to your Google Account. Export your work as a PROJECT File. It's quicker and will allow students to continue editing their work.  

  For more info, click the link below.

Second, Make this the last step in  your workflow routine when using Explain Everything!
Everytime you create something, end the class with exporting it to EE!

* The end result: IF your iPAD ever crashes, you can open EE import your work AND not miss a beat!

Notability will backup your work automatically if the BACKUP settings for Google Drive is Turned ON! Open the App < Go to Settings Gear (bottom lefthand corner), Login to Google< That’s IT! Your work will be autosaved in a Notability folder in Google Drive.



Please let me know if you have questions - Hopefully, this will help you from losing anything!

11.02.2014

We'll Go Somewhere Where There's CLAYMATION!

Wallace and Gromit, The California Raisins, oh no and can't forget Mr. Bill... Claymation has a long history dating back to 1897!  Like anything, it has evolved over time especially with the insert of a mobile device, the iPad. Let's take a peek into Mrs. Delaney's 6th Grade Art Class to see how it's changed!

By the time I came into the Art room, the process was already in midstream. Students were grouped together to work as a production team. Most of the work began earlier with developing an idea or story line with characters, dialogue, props and scenes.


The next step was to storyboard those ideas into scenes including the mapping out the details of character movements and actions and any props needed. 


Third, the group had to create the characters from clay, find props and paint the background scene on cardboard.  They also had to figure out how to make the movements happen- what wires or tools were needed to make the changes in expression or how the character moved on camera. The iPad became a useful reference tool during this part of the process.

 Fourth, time to shoot and record the video! This required ultimate teamwork in communicating, assigning roles, and executing the plan!  All with fun too!


The students used a  Stop Motion App  (free version) to snap incremental photos of their story.
But, there was still production left on recording voice overs or adding music, 
or adding title and credit slides.
This is where iMovie comes in for a little appsmashing!


Once those Claymation projects are finalized, 
come back as I'll post them here with 
great anticipation!

My brief experience in the 6th grade Art class, left me
saying.. Wow, This class was full of engaged, creative, motivated learners!
Sign me up! I want to be in that class!