What's Going On? January 25th through January 28th

 Thought for the Week

Welcome to the second semester!

Welcome to the Second Semester!

Hello Computer Science Students!  My name is Mrs. Kamenar and I will be working with you during your computer science class this year. This is 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 had a great first semester and that we are ready to learn about computer science! 

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.

AP Computer Science Principles

As we begin the second semester, we will continue with our lesson 2.2 activities.  This week, we will focus on Activity 2.2.3: Demystifying Data Transmission. In this activity, we will learn about how data is shared across the internet, explore how information is retrieved, and learn about how data can be compressed.

App Development

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 create our first app: a flashlight!

Programming the 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. 

What's Going On? January 18th through January 21st

 Thought for the Week

Exam Week!

This week is exam week!  Students will not have school on Monday.  Tuesday will be a "Monday-style" schedule where students meet with all of their classes.  For the rest of the week, we will be following the following exam schedule:

AP Computer Science Principles

During class on Tuesday, we will spend our class period reviewing for our first-semester exam.  Our exam will take place from 8:00-9:00am on Wednesday, January 19th.  Students who are late may not be admitted into the exam so PLEASE BE ON TIME!!!!  During our exam period, students will complete a 45-question multiple-choice exam that is in a similar style to the AP exam we will complete in May.  Students who would like additional work time or to ask questions are invited to come in during our "review/conferencing" time.

App Development

During class on Tuesday, students will continue to work on their final projects.  Our exam period will take place from 9:10-10:10am on Wednesday, January 19th.  Students who are late may not be admitted into the exam so PLEASE BE ON TIME!!!!  For our final project, students will learn about something new related to the Swift programming language.  Students will then create a video, no longer than 7-minutes, explaining how to use the new feature.  In addition to submitting this project for our final grade, students also have the option to submit this screencast for the "Mobile Makers Winter Contest" in order to be eligible to win prizes, including meeting with a programming mentor, an Amazon gift card, or a Mobile Makers t-shirt.  Students who would like additional work time or to ask questions are invited to come in during our "review/conferencing" time.

Web 1

During class on Tuesday, students will continue to work on their final projects.  Our exam period will take place from 10:20-11:20am on Wednesday, January 19th.  Students who are late may not be admitted into the exam so PLEASE BE ON TIME!!!!  We will complete a 20-question multiple-choice test at the beginning of the exam period Students will have the exam period to finish up their final project: a website about their topic of choice.  The site must contain at least four web pages and demonstrate what we have learned about HTML and CSS throughout the course of the semester.  Students who would like additional work time or to ask questions are invited to come in during our "review/conferencing" time.

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

Thought for the Week

Upcoming Exam Schedule

On January 19th through January 21st, students will participate in our first semester exams.  Please note the time scheduled for each exam in the schedule below.  Students are welcome to come in to get extra help or have a quiet place to study during our review/conferencing time.  Students have one hour to complete their semester exam and must be in class, ready to work, at the beginning of the exam period.  

AP Computer Science Principles

This week, students will wrap up their "pHishy Fish Tank" security activity and dive into data representation.  We will focus on how different data can be represented using the binary number system.  We will wrap up the week by reviewing for our semester exam.  

App Development 1

This week, students will spend our first three class days developing the "Word Play" app.  This is a "Mad-Lib"-style app that will prompt our app user to enter in a few words onto one screen and then insert them into a story on a later screen.  At the end of the week, students will transition over to our final project.  For this final project, students will research and learn about a new programming technique, learn how to implement it, and create a 5 minute video explaining how to create it.  This final project can also be submitted to the Mobile Makers Winter Screencast contest.  You can read about more details of the contest here.

Programming the Web 1

This week, students will spend the first two days wrapping up our Clear Reflections website.  At the end of class on Tuesday, students will host these sites live online via 000webhost.com.  The rest of the semester will be work time for students to create and develop a website of their own choice.  As a reminder, this course is offered in partnership with WCTC.  Students who end the semester with a "C" or higher according to the WCTC grading scale will earn free transcripted credit from WCTC.

What's going on? January 3rd through January 7th

 Happy New Year!

Welcome back and Happy New Year! I hope that everyone found some time to rest, relax, and recharge,  Now that we're back, let's focus on making the most of what's left of our first semester!

AP Computer Science Principles

As we return from break, we will first focus on how to secure sloppy code.  We will analyze how to write and fix code to make it more efficient and less susceptible to hackers.  We will learn how to write efficient conditionals that join multiple boolean expressions.  At the end of the week, we will turn our attention to Activity 2.1.6: A pHishy Fish Tank where we will analyze a security threat to a business.

 

App Development

This week, we will continue our study of how to create multiple screens in an app and pass data between them.  We will talk more about segues, navigation controllers, and how to create an alert pop-up.

Programming the Web 1

On Monday, we will work on wrapping up our Clear Reflections Photography homepage.  Later in the week, we will talk about how to host our site live online.  We will also work on creating the subpages that go along with the Clear Reflections Photography homepage.

What's Going On? December 20th through December 22nd

  Happy Holidays!

Wishing you a restful and relaxing winter break!

Schedule for the Week

AP Computer Science Principles

This week, we will continue to take a look at how to use Tkinter to create a graphical user interface (GUI) for our program.  We will also look at how we can make our code more efficient and less error-prone.  Students should complete Activity 2.1.5 (Securing Sloppy Code) prior to leaving for winter break.

App Development 1

This week, students will complete our pre-unit hackwich called "Intergalactic Traveler".  In this app, students will learn how to create multiple screens for our app and pass information between the screens.

Programming the Web 1

This week, students will focus on wrapping up our work for lesson 13.  Students should turn in their lesson 13 reading guides on Monday and we will complete our lesson 13 multiple-choice questions on Tuesday. Students should submit their "Clear Reflections" home page by the end of class on Wednesday.

What's Going On? December 13th through December 17th

Thought for the Week

AP Computer Science Principles

This week, we will focus on creating programs with a graphical user interface (GUI) with Tkinter.  Students will work on using multiple screens and learning how to design and place elements into a frame for presentation.

App Development

This week, students will be working on the "Tip Calculator" summative end-of-unit app challenge.  In this app, the user can enter the amount that needs to be paid for a bill at a restaurant.  With the tap of a button, the tip amount will be calculated.  

Programming the Web 1

The first part of this week will be devoted to our lesson 12 project. In this textbook tutorial, students will demonstrate their ability to make a website responsive with media queries.  This means that we can design different looks for a webpage for when it appears on a desktop and when it appears on a phone screen.  Students will turn in their lesson 12 reading guide on Monday and complete their lesson 12 review questions during class on Tuesday.  On Wednesday, we will shift our focus to lesson 13 where we will learn how to get images ready to display online with Photoshop.

What's Going On? December 6th through December 10th

 Thought for the Week

Hour of Code Opportunity

The Hour of Code is a global movement reaching tens of millions of students in 180+ countries.  Join us to learn a little bit about the growing field of computer science on Wednesday, December 8th in room 300.  See Mrs. Kamenar if you have any questions!

AP Computer Science Principles

This week we will continue our study of Cybersecurity.  Students will complete an activity where we talk about encryption and how we can safely send information through the internet.  We will end the week by reading about how how to increase password strength and multi-factor authentication.

App Development 1

This week, our primary focus will be on Gesture Recognizers.  We will learn how to respond to a tap, double tap, and some of the other gestures we might use on the screen of our phone.  Students will also have a technical blog post to summarize their learning of conditionals.

Programming the Web 1

The majority of this week will be focused on lesson 11, where we learn some more layout techniques using CSS.  For this week, students will be responsible for completing our lesson 11 Mt. Olympus web page.