What's Going On? November 30th through December 4th

 Thought for the Week

Virtual Learning

We will spend some time focusing on how to be successful digital learners.  Now that we are switching back to the hybrid model, it is time to reflect on what is going well in terms of virtual learning and what would be going better.  We will talk about the skills necessary to be successful learners and some tips & tricks to help make the best of our hybrid learning situation.

AP Computer Science A

This week, we will begin our sixth unit on loops.  During class on Monday, students will view a couple of short videos put together by the people at AP Classroom and complete a short check-in assignment to act as our intro to the unit.  During class on Tuesday and Wednesday, we will spend time focusing more in-depth on 'while' loops.  During class on Thursday and Friday, we will focus on 'for' and 'do' loops as well as sentinel values.

App Development 1

We will spend the first part of the week continuing our work with conditionals.  During class on Monday, we will review conditionals and write a couple of coding examples.  Then, students will have several class periods to work within our Conditionals Code Challenge.  We will wrap up the week with a "Gesture Recognizer" demo.

Programming the Web 1

We will start off the week by working on Web Assignment 11A where students will practice some techniques related to web page layout.  In order to complete this assignment, students can choose between creating a layout using float, flexbox, or positioning.  At the end of the week, students will begin working on lesson 12 where we will investigate some different techniques associated with responsive web design.  Looking ahead, students will have their lesson 12 reading guide due on Tuesday, December 8th.

What's Going On? November 23rd and November 24th

 Shortened Week

Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, we will have school virtually on Monday and Tuesday this week.  For these two days, we will following the following schedule:

AP Computer Science A

During class on Monday, students will make their final preparations for our unit 5 summative on "decisions".  Our summative will take place during our scheduled class period on Tuesday.  Programming Project #5 will also be due on Tuesday.

App Development 1

This week we will focus on conditionals.  Students will spend Monday's class reading and working within our Conditionals Playgroundbook with our Swift Playground app.  There is also a brief 7-minute video on the topic.  Students will complete a "check-in" assignment at the conclusion of Monday's lesson.  During class on Tuesday, we will do a Conditionals "hackwich" together.

Programming the Web 1

This week, we will begin Unit 11.  We will spend Monday's class talking about different ways we can design our layouts using CSS.  On Tuesday we will wrap up our notes and get started on Web Assignment 11A.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!  

Enjoy your break from school!  We will resume our hybrid schedule from the beginning of the year during the week of 11/30, with face-to-face instruction resuming on 12/1 for students in cohort 1 and on 12/2 for students in cohort 2.

What's Going On: November 16th through November 20th

Thought for the Week

Set goals for yourself and work towards them.  Don't be afraid to ask for help when you need it!

 AP Computer Science A

This week, students will continue to work on their programming project #5 (due Thursday) and our review exercises (due Tuesday).  Additionally, students will participate in some AP Classroom multiple choice and free response questions in preparation for our summative that will take place during class on Thursday.  As always, please ask questions when you have them!  I am available to help whether you are learning face-to-face or virtually.  

App Development 1

For the majority of the week, students will continue with their study of functions.  On Monday, we will practice writing and interpreting functions as a group.  Then, students will complete the Functions Code Challenge to try it out on their own. We will wrap up our functions discussion by completing a "One-Pager" summary that will be included within our technical blog posts.  We will wrap up the week by talking about the "scope" of a variable.

Programming the Web 1

Monday's class will be devoted to wrapping up our web assignments 9A and 9B.  Students who are finished will previous our next lesson through the Flexbox Froggy website.  We will spend the rest of the week learning about a new way to position elements within our webpage through the use of Flexbox.  Our web assignment for the week will be created in class.

What's Going On? November 9th through November 13th

 AP Computer Science A

This week we will continue our study of conditional statements based on Boolean Conditions.  Monday's class will be devoted to recapping all we have learned so far this unit via a "One Pager" assignment.  On Tuesday, we will revisit input validation and testing.  The rest of the week will be devoted to our summative programming project #5 and our formative review exercises. 

App Development

Monday's class will be devoted to wrapping up our Summative Multiply App.  Students will be uploading their finished products to Google Classroom by the end of the class period.  On Tuesday, we will jump into our next unit.  We will start with our pre-unit hackwich, "Commission".  Once this is done, we will move on to "functions".  Students will practice decoding the function headers for existing functions and will learn how to write and call their own custom functions.  Along with our functions lessons, we will have a technical blog post as well as a formative assessment on Blackboard.

Programming the Web 1

This week we will move into our ninth unit of the year.  In this unit, we will focus on floating and positioning elements within a web site.  We will have live teams meetings during our virtual learning days on Monday and Tuesday to talk about some of the important concepts as well as complete some practice examples.  Along with this week, students will read chapter 15 in the textbook and complete the reading guide.  Students will also have Web Assignments 9A and 9B to complete.  These assignments are tutorial-style and step-by-step instructions can be found within our textbook.  We will finish the week by submitting our web assignments and completing our lesson 9 review questions.

What's Going On? November 2nd through November 6th

Conference Opportunity

On Wednesday, November 18th, Waukesha North will again hold virtual conferences.  If you are interested in meeting with me, please sign up for a time slot.  You can find me under the 'Math' department.  https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0f4daba628a1fe3-math

AP Computer Science A - AP REGISTRATION DUE BY FRIDAY!

In order to register for the AP Computer Science A Exam, students must complete both steps of the two-part process.

1. Students will need to log into their AP Classroom account and declare that they intend to take the AP Computer Science A exam.
2. Students must register and pay for the exam using the Total Registration link for Waukesha North High School.  www.TotalRegistration.net/AP/502389

After Friday, there will be a $40 late fee added for any student who still wants to register and take the AP Exam.  Please note, there is a new rule this year that will allow students to cancel their exam for a full refund.

AP Computer Science A - Unit 5 - Decisions

This week, students will begin our study of the fifth unit on decisions.  Within this unit, students will learn about boolean expressions, boolean conditions, and the different variations of if...else statements.  Along with this week, students will need to read chapter 5 in our textbook and complete the accompanying reading guide.  Students will also have some short practice exercise sets to complete throughout the week.  After all, in order to become proficient programmers, it is important to code a little bit each day!

App Development 1

This week, students will be working on our summative end-of-unit app challenge called "Multiply".  For this assignment, students will make a basic calculator that reads in numbers from the user and then performs some basic arithmetic ( Addition / Subtraction / Multiplication / Division).  Students can "stretch" their learning by adding images to the app and by incorporating a segmented controller.

Programming the Web 1

This week, students will be working on their midterm assignment.  Students will be given a screenshot of each of the four pages they are to include within their website.  Students will have the week to come up with a replica for the site.  Students who are face-to-face will check in their website progress each day in class.  Students who are working virtually must check-in each day, as well, via a daily Google form.  The midterm is due by the end of the day on Friday.