What's Going On? October 11th through October 15th

  Thought for the Week

AP Computer Science Principles

This week, students will have three class days to work on their first summative of the year.  For this project, students will demonstrate their understanding of Python variables, loops, arrays, and conditionals while creating some sort of art algorithm using the Turtle platform.  This is the first of several practice "Create" tasks that students will complete in preparation for the official "Create" task that students will need to complete for submission to the AP board as part of their AP exam score.  We will wrap up the week by starting lesson 1.2 on "Abstraction".  In the first activity for this lesson, students will focus on how to write and read functions in Python.

AP Exam Information:

At this point, all students should be enrolled in our class through the AP Classroom platform.  This platform is a great resource for instructional videos and practice exam questions that will prepare us for the AP exam in May.

The deadline for registering for the AP exam is November 8th.  After that, students may enroll in the AP exam but there will be a $40 late fee.  Please check out the following document for information on how to sign up for the exam:

 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YF-fAy1T99rqGxQk9UkqIcpEqeWwFQxUVza40a6j3k4/edit?usp=sharing

App Development

The majority of this week will be devoted to our study of operators.  In other words, how do we get an app to do mathematical calculations?  We will spend Monday and Tuesday's classes working on the "Operators Code Challenge".  On Thursday, we will summarize what we learned through a technical blog post.  We will end the week by diving into Textfields.

Programming the Web 1

Monday's class will be devoted to wrapping up our lesson 5 web assignments and catching up on any missing assignments.  After this, we will dive into our sixth unit of study.  In this unit, students will read chapters 11 and 12 and complete our accompanying reading guide.  Along with this week, students will also have ten multiple-choice questions to answer. We will also have three tutorial-based web assignments to complete from our textbook.

What's Going On? October 4th through October 8th

 Thought for the Week

AP Computer Science A

At the beginning of this week, we will focus on Activity 1.1.8: Turtles in Traffic.  In this activity, we will take a closer look at conditional statements. At the end of the week, we will turn our attention to our first summative activity.  For this summative, students will apply their knowledge of arrays, conditionals, loops, and the turtle environment to create a piece of art.

AP Exam Information:

At this point, all students should be enrolled in our class through the AP Classroom platform.  This platform is a great resource for instructional videos and practice exam questions that will prepare us for the AP exam in May.

The deadline for registering for the AP exam is November 8th.  After that, students may enroll in the AP exam but there will be a $40 late fee.  Please check out the following document for information on how to sign up for the exam:

 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YF-fAy1T99rqGxQk9UkqIcpEqeWwFQxUVza40a6j3k4/edit?usp=sharing

App Development

This week, we will move into our second unit of the year.  We will start off the week by working on our "Display a Number" hackwich.  In this intro app, we will learn how to work with textfields.  As the week moves on, we will talk about the design philosophy of Apple, talk about algorithmic thinking, as well as talk about how the Swift language handles operators.

Programming the Web 1

We will spend Monday's class wrapping up our fourth unit on links.  Next, we will move into our fifth unit on Image Maps and Images.  Starting with this unit, we will be working with the industry-standard program DreamWeaver.  Students will complete their reading guides by Wednesday and complete a ten-question multiple-choice test on Thursday.  Along with this week, students will complete two web assignments: the  Black Goose Gallery and the Allco Image Map.

What's Going On? September 27th through October 1st

 Thought for the Week

Freshmen MAP Testing This Week

This week, freshmen will participate in our first MAP test for the year.  On Tuesday morning, students will complete the English portion of the test.  On Wednesday afternoon (after lunch), students will complete the Math portion of the test.

AP Computer Science Principles

This week, we will be using the Python language to learn about 'for' loops and conditionals.  Along with
this week, students will work through activities 1.1.7 and 1.1.8 from the PLTW website.  Through these activities, we will learn about how to store and manage multiple pieces of data from a list.  We will also learn how to implement conditional statements (if...else) in order to make decisions in our code.  What we will learn this week will teach us how to alter the "flow of control" within a program.  In other words, we don't have to execute all lines of our code sequentially.

AP Exam Information:

At this point, all students should be enrolled in our class through the AP Classroom platform.  This platform is a great resource for instructional videos and practice exam questions that will prepare us for the AP exam in May.

The deadline for registering for the AP exam is November 8th.  After that, students may enroll in the AP exam but there will be a $40 late fee.  Please check out the following document for information on how to sign up for the exam:

 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YF-fAy1T99rqGxQk9UkqIcpEqeWwFQxUVza40a6j3k4/edit?usp=sharing

App Development 1

We will start off this week by working on our first summative end-of-unit app challenge called "Hello World".  In this app, students will demonstrate their ability to add labels, buttons, and other items to their project.  Students will have the opportunity to demonstrate this through the storyboard and through the code.  Once we have wrapped up this project, we will move into our second unit of the year.  We will start off the unit with a pre-unit hackwich called "Display a Number".  This activity will introduce students to wokring with textfields.

Programming the Web 1

This week, our attention will be focused on how to add different types of links to our website.  We will learn how to link to an external page (like Google), to another page that we have created, as well as how to link within our page (called "linking to a fragment").  Additionally, we will talk about how we might include an email link and the advantages and disadvantages of placing this link on a website.  

With this unit, students will read chapter 6 in our textbook and complete the accompanying reading guide.  We will also have two web assignments to complete. These assignments include 4a: "Jen's Kitchen" and 4b: "Linking to a Fragment".  We will end the week with our ten multiple choice questions.

It's Homecoming Week!

Check out the dress-up days and our schedule for Friday.

Need Extra Help?

I am available Monday-Thursday before school and during our lunchtime JIT.  Please see me in room 300. I would be happy to help!

Waukesha North Computer Science: What's Going On? September 20th through September 24th

Thought for the Week

AP Computer Science Principles

This week, our focus will be on wrapping up Activity 1.1.5, Run, Robot, Run.  In this activity, students will learn how to use commands and functions in order to get a "robot" to follow the path of a maze until it reaches its destination.  Once this is complete, we will turn our attention to completing Activity 1.1.6, Buggy Image.  In this activity, students will learn how to locate and fix errors in our code.  Students will also gain some practice assigning variables and working with arithmetic expressions.

App Development

This week, we will spend the majority of our time digging in deeper with variables, constants, and data types.  Students will complete a worksheet and work on a variables code challenge to become familiar with how to use variables.  Students will summarize their learning through our second technical blog post.  We will end the week by beginning our first summative end-of-unit app challenge, Hello World.  

Programming for the Web 1

This week, we will focus in on our third unit of the year.  Our focus is on additional HTML markup, including lists, address tags, and how to mark up specific sections of our page.  Along with this week, students should read chapter 5 in our textbook while completing the lesson 3 reading guide (due Tuesday).  Students will have two web assignments to complete: one that focuses on lists and another that focuses on how to mark up specific sections of our page.  We will wrap up the lesson by completing our ten multiple-choice questions.  

Waukesha North Computer Science: What's Going On? September 13th through September 17th

Thought for the Week

 

AP Computer Science Principles

This week, we will continue our study of Python using the Turtle environment.  Students will continue to work on looping and iterative structures, variables, and arithmetic expressions.  We will also begin our discussion and discovery of program "bugs".  By the end of this week, students are "on pace" for the class if we have completed Activities 1.1.4 and 1.1.5 and gotten a start on Activity 1.1.6.

App Development

We will start off this week by wrapping up our initial study of actions and outlets.  Students will finish their Actions and Outlets Code Challenge and summarizing their learning of this topic through a technical blog post.  Next, we will learn how to add images to our apps as well as begin our study of variables, constants, and data types.

Programming the Web 1

This week we will start on our first web page creation assignments for the semester.  Students will have two pages to complete.  The first is the "Black Goose Bistro" page.  In order to create this page, students will follow along with the tutorial included in chapter 4 of our textbook.  Students will read and follow the step-by-step instructions in order to complete this page.  Next, students will create their own personal web page.  Students will take the ideas learned in class and from the "Black Goose Bistro" page to create their own.  Along with this week, students should read chapter 4 in the textbook and complete the accompanying reading guide.  Students will also have ten multiple-choice questions to answer related to our week's lesson.

Waukesha North Computer Science: What's Going On September 7th through September 10th

Thought for the Week

 

AP Computer Science Principles

This week, students will continue our study of the Python programming language with the use of the
Turtle platform.  Through our lessons, will learn about Object-Oriented Programming languages and some other basics of what we can do with the Turtle platform in Python.

App Development

Last week, we were able to create our first app, a basic flashlight.  Now, we will backtrack and talk a little
bit more in detail about how some of the elements of the flashlight app work.  Our focus for this week will be "Actions and Outlets".  During class on Tuesday, students will do a short reading and learn about the details of these items.  For the rest of the week, we will put our learning into practice with a short "hackwich", or coding demo.  We will end the week with students testing out their new knowledge with our Actions and Outlets code challenge.

Programming the Web 1

We will begin this week by wrapping up our first unit of the year on HTML basics and layouts.  Students
will spend Tuesday's class completing our reading jigsaw activity.  We will spend Wednesday's class completing our summative multiple choice questions for the unit.  At the end of the week, students will start creating their first web pages using HTML syntax.  Also during this week, students will have the opportunity to enroll in this class to earn FREE transcripted credit through WCTC.  Students who complete the required work and earn a "C" or higher based on the WCTC grading scale can earn FREE credit in Web Design.  Please contact me if you have any questions about this wonderful opportunity.

Welcome to the 2021-2022 School Year, Computer Science Students!

 Hello Computer Science Students! Welcome to the 2021-2022 school year! My name is Mrs. Kamenar and I will be working with you during your computer science class this year. This year, I am starting my 17th year teaching math and computer science at Waukesha North. This year I will be teaching Honors Geometry, Math Readiness, App Development 1, AP Computer Science Principles, Programming the Web 1, and Yearbook. In addition to teaching, I am also the head women's cross country coach and yearbook advisor. I hope that everyone was able to find some time to relax this summer. Our summer included a few camping trips, lots of hiking, running, and playing with our dog Ranger.

My goal is to keep you up to date with what's going on in the classroom through this blog. Between the blog and our class schedule of events that will be posted on our BlackBoard class website, it is my hope that all students and parents will be informed about what's going on in the classroom whether we are learning virtually or face-to-face.

Where Can Students Find Everything?

One of the first things to keep in mind is that all of our class material will be found through our Blackboard class website.  This site will contain links to our content, assignments, and other resources.

School Schedule

Here is the schedule we will be following for the year.  Students who would like to get some extra help are invited to come in before school, during our lunch JIT time, or by appointment.

App Development 1

In this class, students will learn how to program for Apple devices using the Swift programming
language. This week, we will take a look at our programming environment and learn a little bit about creating "Actions" and "Outlets" in an app.


Web 1

In this class, students will learn the basics of web page design using HTML and CSS. This week, we will take a look at our coding environment and will talk about the different layout choices web designers can use when creating a website. This class is offered in partnership with WCTC, which means that students who enroll in this free program and complete the course successfully are eligible to earn WCTC college credit. 


AP Computer Science Principles

In this AP course, we will be using a curriculum developed by PLTW (Project Lead the Way).  In this course, students will code using the Python language, dabble with some web design, and learn a little bit about CyberSecurity.  This week, we will experiment with the Python programming language using an online programming platform where we will draw using a turtle.

I hope that everyone is excited to start a new school year.  I am here to help and I am very excited to work with you in Honors Geometry.  Please reach out if you have any questions.  You can email me at kkamenar@waukesha.k12.wi.us.  Let's have a great year!