What's Going On? May 1st through May 5th

 Thought for the Week

Countdown to Summer!

The countdown to summer officially begins on Monday! Here are the dress-up days for May 1- 5.

AP Computer Science Principles

URGENT: THE CREATE PERFORMANCE TASK MUST BE UPLOADED TO THE DIGITAL
PORTFOLIO SITE BY MONDAY, MAY 1ST AT 10:59PM.  LATE WORK WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.  THIS IS WORTH 30% OF THE OVERALL AP SCORE.  BE SURE TO COMPLETE THIS AND DO NOT WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE!!!!

PLEASE NOTE: THERE IS A LIKELY CHANCE THAT THE AP DIGITAL PORTFOLIO SITE MAY BE SLOW DUE TO MANY PEOPLE OVER THE COUNTRY SUBMITTING THEIR AP CREATE TASK AT THE LAST MINUTE.  PLEASE UPLOAD YOUR WORK AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!

During Monday's class, we will spend time reviewing "Big Idea #4". This idea relates to how information is transmitted over the internet.  The rest of the week will be used for completing a practice AP exam and going through additional AP practice questions.

App Development 1

The first part of the week will be used for students to wrap up their summative end-of-unit app challenge called "Tip Calculator".  During class on Wednesday, students will read about how to navigate between different screens within an app.  During class on Friday, we will start a sample app called "Intergalactic Travel" that will allow us to travel between two screens and pass information between them.

App Development 2

This week, students will be working on their "Brick Breaker" summative app.  Students will also have some time to brainstorm their ideas for their final "Build Your Own App" project.

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

 Thought for the Week

AP Computer Science Principles

We are nearing our time for the AP Exam and our final deadline to submit the APCSP Create Performance Task.  All projects must be submitted by May 1st at 11:59pm EST.  No late work will be accepted.  

During this week, we will continue our review process for the exam.  Students will be assessed on their knowledge of five major topics.  Based on a diagnostic test that students took a few weeks ago, we will look at common misconceptions for each of the "big ideas", talk about test-taking strategies, and continue to practice answering questions.

App Development 1

This week, students will work on our summative end-of-unit app challenge called "Tip Calculator". This app will be designed to be used when someone goes out to eat at a restaurant and would like to figure out how much of a tip to leave the server.  An additional feature can be added to calculate how a bill can be split equally amongst several people.

App Development 2

This week, we will begin our last official teacher-driven unit of the year before the "Build Your Own App"
contest.  In this unit, students will experiment with animation and physics.  In our pre-unit hackwich, students will make a "Pong-ish" game where we can create a ball and a paddle and have things bounce around.  Students will be exposed to the "GameKit" mode of an app, rather than working in a single view application.  In this new-to-us mode, we will get a new set of files and a slightly new way to create our apps.  We will learn how to create an object, add properties to it, and define what happens during a collision.  

What's Going On? April 17th through April 21st

Thought for the Week

AP Computer Science Principles

This week, we will spend time reviewing our first AP practice exam and talking about test-taking strategies.  We will also begin our intensive review period leading up to the exam.

App Development 1

This week, our primary focus will be on "Conditionals".  We will spend Monday's class reading about conditionals, recording some notes, and trying out a demo together as a class.  We will spend Tuesday's class period working on a code challenge.  On Thursday we will investigate some gesture recognizers (tap, pan, and swipe).  We will wrap up the week by summarizing what we have learned about conditionals with a technical blog post.

App Development 2

This week, students will work on their summative end-of-unit app challenge called "Za Hunter".  In this challenge, students will use a map to show the user's location and be able to zoom in on that location in the world.  Students will also be able to search the surrounding area for pizza places, which will be identified by a map pin.  When the map pin is tapped, more information about the restaurant can be seen, such as the restaurant's address and phone number.

 

What's Going On? April 11th through April 14th

Thought for the Week

Prom Spirit Days

Prom is coming up on April 15th.  Join in the fun by participating in the scheduled dress-up days for the week.

AP Computer Science Principles

We will start off this shortened week by exploring linear search versus a binary search.  We will practice looking at data through this lens as well as practicing some AP-style questions.  We will spend our classes on Wednesday and Thursday completing a practice AP test from our 5 Steps to a 5 Book, so be sure to bring your book to class!

App Development 1

This week, we will take a more in-depth look at functions.  This week, students will spend some time completing the "Functions Code Challenge" and we will also take a look at the "Scope" of a variable.

App Development 2

This week, students will explore "Modal Segues", or screens that appear on top of our existing screens.  We will also spend some time with a code challenge and taking a more in-depth look at locations and maps.