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Fiona Banjer's blog

Tuesday Dec 30, 2008

Scratch, it's a New Year!

Here I go again!  This is the end of an old year, 2008, and the beginning of a new one 2009! 

This year's resolution: I fully intend to maintain my blog this time, I promise that I will do my best to keep it current and to add my reflections through IT learning adventures I set myself.  So without further ado, I will Scratch the inconsistent past efforts I have made (although they will remain because there was some effort put into setting them up) and begin afresh.

What better program to set my sights on than Scratch.  I have tinkered with it a couple times but not applied the time needed to master it, this holiday I am. 

What I have done so far:-

Joined the Learning Place VCR (SCRATCH (C5645SAA001)) led by Larry Taylor and followed the instructions for creating animations.  He has included an abundant supply of resources to assist in acquiring the skills needed to program with Scratch.

cat and dog

This is a very simple animation where the Scratch cat jumps onto the bed and says something in a speech bubble, the dog runs across the page continuously, I have also added the Christmas tree to the dressing table mirror.  I have uploaded it to my web site.  Not much but it took a whole morning.  For me that starts at 5 am when Ian leaves for work and finishes about lunch time when Joanna gets up and seeks excitement and adventure outside! 

The Scratch web site has a list of resources to download; I have all the .pdf cards for each function saved so I can share them at school or give to the computer club kids to work through.  Hopefully they will see the potential and be creative.

I promised a group of Year 6-7 girls that I would spend some time with them, hopefully they will attend more regularly than the boys did in 2008.  I digress!

I am also attempting to master Flash as an animation tool as well.  However, there is very little chance that I will be able to use this program at school it is more likely that I will create content to add to my personal web site with this knowledge.  Scratch is free, just complete the registration form for MIT and download.  It is accessible at school!

 

 

 

Comments:

Hi Fiona - looks like you've started the New Year with a bang! I'm looking forward to reading your updates here.

Posted by Simon Brown on January 04, 2009 at 09:00 AM EST #

Hello Fiona Great to hear about your new years blogging resolution! You may find some extra support in this years Blogging Corner group http://www.groups.edna.edu.au/course/view.php?id=1862 Kerrie Smith and I both hope that the activities will help educators blog more regularly and reflect of their learning. Feel free to join in if you have time. Scratch certainly is a very useful tool. Thanks for pointing out the resource wiki. Regards Alison

Posted by Alison Hall on January 16, 2009 at 12:45 PM EST #

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