What's Going On? December 15h through December 19th.

Flow of Control

This week we will be wrapping up our unit on the "Flow of Control".  Students have investigated different ways to alter the order in which coding statements are executed.  We have investigated if..else statements, while loops, and for loops.  Over the last two weeks we focused heavily on reading and writing while and for loops.

Students should be prepared to complete a summative assessment at the end of the week.  Two review assignments have been posted to the BlackBoard class website and will help students to prepare for the test.  Students will have some work time to complete the assigned programming projects and will participate in a class review.  Students who have questions can come see me before or after school for extra help.  I just ask that students let me know when to expect them so we can avoid any scheduling conflicts.

What's Going On? September 29th through October 3rd

Variables and Objects

Last week we finished up our unit on the basics of Java programming.  Students were introduced to some of the basic principles of Java programming.  We talked about the different types of errors we may encounter as we learn to program and we learned about the basic structure of a Java application.

So far we've only been able to write very simple programs that print out a couple of lines of text.  In this next unit we'll start to use different variables and objects in order to make our programs more interactive.  This week we'll start working with four different primitive data types:

• int: a variable to hold a whole number
• double: a variable to hold a decimal number
• char: a variable to hold a single character
• boolean: a variable to hold a true/false value

We will become familiar with some basic arithmetic operations and practice the order of operations that our Java applications will follow.  In addition to creating our own variables, we'll also be able to get input from our program's user by using the "Scanner" object.  

What's Going On? September 22nd through September 26th

Intro to Java


This week will will continue our introduction to the Java computer programming language.  Since we are still having technical issues with our JGrasp software, students will be using an online Java compiler.  We will continue looking at basic Java programming syntax and the basic structure for the main method of a Java application.  

This week, students will apply their knowledge learned so far to create some text output.  By the end of the week, students should complete Programming Projects 1.1 and 1.2 as well as Programming Projects 1.3, 1.4 and 1.5.  Students should keep up to date with their Google Site Portfolio page and have these programming assignments added to their portfolios by the end of the week.

Students are reminded that class will meet in lab 300 this week and next week due to MAP testing!

On Thursday students will complete their test review assignment and on Friday student will complete their first summative assessment on the "Basics of Java".  Students are reminded that summative assessments now make up 100% of their grade.

If students have questions, they can come see me for extra help.  I am currently available starting at 7am each morning until I go on maternity leave.  Once I am on maternity leave, students can make arrangements with our long-term substitute, Mrs. Rahn, for extra help.

What's Going On? September 15th-September 19th

Name Animation Tutorial


This week in Fundamentals of Programming students will start off the week by finishing up their Scratch Name Animation Tutorial.  Students will add a new page to their electronic portfolio in order to showcase the knowledge gained while completing the tutorial.

Hopefully our technological difficulties will be resolved this week and we will be able to start making our transition into the Java programming language.  The plan is to compare what we've learned with the block-based coding with the Java.  We'll start by creating a basic program that will print a message.  By the end of the week students should have an understanding of the basic structure of a Java application file as well as an understanding of how to make text appear on the screen.

What's Going On? September 7 - September 11

Intro to Computer Programming: Scratch
This week we'll continue our look at our first programming assignment using MIT's Scratch program.  Last week we set up our free Scratch accounts and started our first "dancing" tutorial.  This week we'll finish up our tutorial and add our program to our portfolio website.  We will also answer some reflection questions related to our program on our portfolio site.

Later this week we'll start connecting what we have learned so far with Scratch to the Java programming language.  We will explore the JGrasp programming environment and create our first basic Java program.

Welcome Back!

Welcome back to school!  My name is Mrs. Kamenar and I will be working with you this year in your Fundamentals of Programming class.  This year I will begin my tenth year at Waukesha North.  In my time here I have taught a variety of math and computer science classes.  In addition to being a teacher, I am also an assistant women's cross country coach and the school's yearbook advisor.  

I hope that everyone had a fun and relaxing summer vacation!  This summer seemed to go by too fast, but I guess it always seems that way.  I really enjoyed spending my summer with my three year old son, Jack.  We got to spend a lot of time together going to the zoo, swimming, camping in the back yard, reading, and doing other fun things.  My husband and I are expecting our second child at the end of September so I also spent a lot of time preparing for our new arrival.  This means that I intend to take a leave of absence starting at the end of September and I plan to return in mid-November.  Students will be working with another teacher while I am out of the building on maternity leave.  So, we will have about four weeks to get to know each other before I take a leave of absence.

Since I am already talking about taking a leave of absence, we better start learning!  This week we will begin our study of some basic computer programming principles.  One of the first things that we will do is to take a look at Google's Blockly.  This will give us a quick into to some of the basic functions that we will eventually incorporate into our own programs.  We will have an introduction into programming statements, decision making structures, and looping.  Later in the week we will take a look at MIT's free online "Scratch" program where we will learn how to create our own basic program.  Students will also create an online portfolio where we will display all of the work we create over the semester.

I am really excited to get to work with you this year.  I hope we are all able to learn a lot and have some fun along the way!  If you have any questions as we move through the year, please don't hesitate to contact me.

What's Going On? The week of May 27-May 30

I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend and is feeling refreshed!  We're down to our last three weeks of school and there's a lot going on!

Web 1
This week students will work on completing their last assignment before our final project.  Once our lesson 13 projects are complete, students will go through the process of hosting their web pages online using the free hosting accounts that we set up last week.  If students have not created their account yet, they need to visit 000webhost.com by Thursday's class.

Web 2
This week we will be working on our last two flash assignments before we tackle the final Flash
Animation project.  Students will use the drawing tools to create a picture of Donald Duck and they will be introduced to Action Script through the "Rocket" tutorial.

Fundamentals of Programming
This week we'll be working on our last two Java assignments before we start our final Java project.  Students will incorporate looping structures into Graphics in order to create a graphic design.

What's Going On? May 12th-May 16th

Web 1
This week we'll continue our look at Photoshop.  At the end of last week we saw a brief introduction about how Photoshop can be used to create web-ready images.  We will continue our study on web images and learn how we can best prepare photos for use on the internet.  This until will be especially helpful with the next two assignments and our final web site project.

Web 2
This week we'll continue our look at Flash Animation.  Although this program may not be the industry standard, we will still be learning about important concepts such as key frames and motion tweens.  By the end of this week we will create two simple animations.

Fundamentals of Programming
This week we'll continue our look at looping structures.  Students will start thinking about how looping structures and conditional statements can be used in larger programs.  This week we'll be laying the ground work to create a Rock, Paper, Scissors program where the user gets to play against the computer.

What's Going On? May 5th-May9th

Web 1
This week in Web 1 we will continue our work with lesson 11.  We have already talked about the tables portion of the unit and we will move on to talking about how we can create a responsive web page.  The notes and examples that we work through on Monday and Tuesday will be extremely helpful when students apply their knowledge on assignments 11A and 11B.  In these assignments we will be putting the finishing touches on the "Jenware" website.

Web 2
This week in Web 2 we will take a look and reflect on our JavaScript summative assessments.  We will also put together our JavaScript portfolio page for our website.  Once this is complete we will move on to our last unit for the year: Flash Animation.  We will start by playing with the program and then move into creating some basic animations such as making a ball bounce.




Fundamentals of Programming
This week we will continue our study of looping structures and talk about the function of the "while" loop.  We will compare and contract the "while" loop and the "for" loop.  By the end of the week, students will be able to determine which loop is best suited for each situation.

Once we have the basics of looping structures, students will put their knowledge to the test by creating some java applications.  By the end of the unit, students will be able to program a very simple "Rock, Paper, Scissors" game where a player plays against the computer.

What's Going On? April 22nd through April 25th

Welcome Back!
I hope everyone had a wonderful spring break!  Now that we've had some time to rest and relax hopefully we'll all have the energy to finish the year strong!

Web 1
This week we'll be finishing up our lesson 9 assignments where we learned how to float objects.  We'll also begin lesson 10 where we'll look at more ways that we can use DIV tags to control our formatting options.

Web 2
This week we'll be finishing up our JavaScript and forms assignment.  We will be winding down our JavaScript unit soon and we will have a summative during the week of April 28th.

Fundamentals of Programming
This week we'll be starting chapter 3 where we investigate the use of conditional statements and looping structures to make our code more powerful and more concise.

The year is quickly winding down for all students.  Please make sure that you are up to date with all assignments.  If you need any help getting caught up please see me ASAP!

What's Going On? February 24th through February 28th

Web 1

This week we'll be finishing up with lesson 4 and moving on to lesson 5.  Students will have the opportunity to finish up their web pages with links and adding a few finishing touches to their personal web page.  Once we have finished lesson 4, we'll move on to lesson 5: Adding Images.  As we start this lesson, students will be introduced to the powerful, industry-standard web design software: Dreamweaver.  Now that we have a handle on some of the basic coding structure we can allow Dreamweaver to help us with some of the coding.

In our lesson 4 projects we added links by hand (figuring out some pretty complicated file structures).  Now we'll see how easy it is with Dreamweaver!  We'll be able to add links, images and other items with a few clicks of a button.  I must warn students to be cautious about the code that Dreamweaver will create for us.  While much of it is extremely helpful, sometimes Dreamweaver adds a lot of "extras" that aren't really necessary.

Students will be considered "on pace" for the course if they are finished with all projects and lesson review questions through lesson 4 by the end of the day on Monday.


Web 2

This week we'll take another look at some CSS tips and tricks. We'll revisit some of the CSS animation that we created on Friday.  We'll also look to see how we can create an image gallery.  Once we have perfected this practice, students will be able to add an image gallery to their portfolios.

Students will be considered "on pace" for the course if they have completed the home page, the contact page, and the image gallery page for their personal portfolio.

What's Going On This Week? February 17th through February 21st

Programming the Web 1
This week we will be finishing up lesson 3 on marking up text with HTML and starting lesson 4 on
links.  Students are considered "on pace" if they have completed all projects and review questions though lesson 3 by Monday.

This week we will focus on file structure.  We'll learn how to create links to existing web pages, how to link to other pages that we'll create, and how to link within a document.  This will be the last week that we use the "Notepad" program to create web pages.  We will then move on to the industry-standard "Dreamweaver".

Programming the Web 2
This week we'll finish up our forms lesson.  We'll add a quick form to our portfolio page and learn how we can collect the results.  We'll also take a look at a few more CSS tips and tricks.



Fundamentals of Programming
This week we'll be working on our partner "SoundBoard" project.  Students will pair up to create a app that integrates sound, video and images.  This is a creative project, so students will have the freedom to choose their school-appropriate subject matter for the project.  Since we'll be looking for images, sound and video to incorporate into our app we'll need to talk about copyright.  We want to make sure that any apps we create are made with original or royalty-free images, text, and video.

What's Going On? February 10th through February 14th

Web 1
To be considered "on pace", Web 1 students should have all components from lesson 1 and lesson 2 complete by Monday.  The lesson 1 and lesson 2 review questions are available on BlackBoard.  All projects for lesson 2 should be uploaded to the student's shared folder on Google Drive.

This week we will take a look at chapter 5: Marking Up Text.  Students will be introduced to some basic HTML structure including creating lists, making up an address tag, and div and span tags.  This week students will need to read chapter 5, complete the lesson 3 review questions that are found on BlackBoard, and complete the three web page projects for the week.  I encourage any students to ask questions and work together if they get stuck.

Web 2

This week we will take a look at adding an interactive feature to our web pages.  We will look at ways for the user to add text and make selections with the use of form fields.  We will go through form field examples as a class, create a sample form web page, and add a form to our portfolio page.







Fundamentals of Programming
This week we will be wrapping up our Paint Pot app.  In this app, students create a canvas where the
app user can draw lines and dots in different colors.  While creating this app, students will be introduced to the concept of drawing figures (lines and circles), adding colors, and working with global variables.  These basic concepts will play a big role as we learn to create more complicated apps.