MS Students,

During our next few sessions in  Advisory , the focus will be on Technology. 

One of the sessions will direct you to a great new student technology resources site.

Check out our Sturgeon’s Stinky Stew Project Smile page. We are officially registered on their site.

Catch a glimpse of some future movie directors and actors. The guidelines given were:

A person is about to open a door. The person hears a sound and becomes mildly concerned. The person finds the door locked and searches for his or her keys. The person hears the sound again and becomes visibly apprehensive.As the filmmaker,  your goal is to build tension and growing panic, using any visual element or device that you can think of.  The film closes with the person finally opening the door and getting to the other side safely. Communicate to the audience the character’s feeling of relief and safety.

A sample from Katya.

The best of the the best will be uploaded to the iLearn podcast on iTunes.

Student ePortfolios are now available to all students via Google Apps under Sites. Students can fill out class and personal information, embed teacher websites, and most importantly display and share some of their best pieces of school form throughout the school year.

A sample of Powtoon used on the Grade 5 website.

A sample of student work form Mrs. Vergel‘s Grade 6 Science class. Video produced online with WeVideo connected via Google Apps.

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One of the many apps that can connect to Google Drive is WeVideo.

Here is some advice from Mrs. Vergel:

WeVideo feedback notes, not necessarily in order of importance.

1. Initially, we had some issues with opening the app.

2. WeVideo files are saved on an individual’s drive (a folder is created for this by the app).  It is possible to share the work in progress with the teacher.  Teacher can edit the video when shared, so best to leave it alone if you are the teacher.

3. When the shared work in progress is uploaded and published, it is not automatically shared with the original people. It has to be shared with the original people.

4. Photos that have no permission to be uploaded from the web will not be there.  Make sure to use Creative Commons material or open/free material.

5. Sometimes the photos seem to get lost in cyberspace and all the work seems to be gone.  Waiting and refreshing usually works.

6. Setting the work to Timeline (Advanced) allows the user to add transitions, audio and music to the presentation, and allows user to fix the timing of the presentation.

7. Setting a time limit for the video is a good idea for presentations. (5 min max in our case)

8. Make sure the music is not louder than the speaker’s voice. This can be adjusted in the Advanced Timeline setting.

9. Students can work on WeVideo at home.

10. There were issues of recording audio(voice) which could not be resolved at home.

To learn more about Wevideo

The iLearn class continues to publish great educational website reviews to the world via the class blog and iTunes. Here is Ike’s review of a classic-Electocity.

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"Great song, Mr. Sturgeon."

A little jingle I made on the fly in iLearn classas  an introduction to Garageband.

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Explore cities in Asia, Australia, India, the Middle East, and Northern Africa
through these enticing Grade 6 Relocation Guides.  Important information on population, changes to the landscape, and
the impact of history is all included in these persuasive guides.  Students tech-finesse with PAGES software also adds to the engagement!  Enjoy!

The Relocation Guides are presently available via ISM Google Apps. When logged into your ISM Google account you can find any guide from any student in any class.

The guides have been made public to anyone at ISM who searches for them. They can be searched by name, homebase teacher, city, and /or by using the keywords guide, 2013

How to Find a Guide

1. Once in Google Drive, locate the search bar.

2. Input one or more of the searchable terms.

3. Click the triangle at the end the search bar.

4. Choose Search International School Manila.

Next week we hope to have them available  in iBooks form via the App Store.

Searchable

made on Wondersay – Animate text with style

When clearing out the Student Resources network folder, I came across a copy of Slender. Not knowing what it was, I opened it up and began to explore. I immediately had flashbacks to The Blairwitch Project, the horror movie from the late 1990’s.

Slender is a free download.

A little creepy but engaging. Jay, a Grade 8 student, says, “Trying  playing at night, alone, with the lights out. Watch out.”

Grade 6 students,

You are in the final stages of your United Nations proposal.

Whether you are using,
*Photobooth
*iMovie
*Keynote
*Garageband

or a combination of many applications

1. Please save your final presentation as:

Example: firstname firstnamepartner topic color homebaseteacher(s)

For real, it might look something like this: annie paolo coffee gold feren powell

2. Place the final video/audio/presentation in Google Drive shared relationship topic portfolio folder(same place as your storyboard).

 3. Change the sharing permissions on the video.  (This makes it easier for the world to view your videos.)
Click the Share then “Who can Access” Button. Change to People at ISM.

 iLearn students have some cool websites you can check out.  You can listen to their reviews here or subscribe to the iLearn podcast in the iTunes store. 

Grade Six is beginning the most exciting project of the year!  Students will create a convincing presentation to deliver to the United Nations. The presentations will have a tech component: a movie with iMovie, an audio recording using Garageband, an iSight recording using Photbooth, a Keynote presentation or a combination of them.

Here are the tech resources that will be updated as we progress.

Ever get stuck and not know how to get a task done on your computer? Well, thanks to the following students, you can get clear and concise directions for common tasks you may need to perform. Choose a topic of your choice and the student’s instructions will guide you to success.

How to Get to Google Drive-Maddy 

How to Change Desktop  Picture on a Mac-Camella–

How to Sign into the Chrome Browser-Lexi

How to Take a Screenshot-Ari

How to Sign into the Chrome App Store-Travis

How to Find a Mac Application-Reed

How to Use Instant Alpha in Pages-Pari

How to Get to Any Grade 5 Teacher or Class site

How to Rotate a Photo in Pages

How to Keep a Program in the Dock-Mac

How to Set Up Hot Corners on a Mac 

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Road Sign.egg on Aviary.

As iDesign students were finishing up their animations, some students investigated the soon to be released MS iPads. They disappeared into hallway and later returned with the following trailer they created on their own. A good way to end the week.

Which one is your favorite?

Ever get stuck and not know how to get a task done on your computer? Well, thanks to the following students, you can get clear and concise directions for common tasks you may need to perform. Choose a topic of your choice and the student’s instructions will guide you to success.

How to Get to Google Drive-Maddy 

How to Change Desktop  Picture on a Mac-Camella–

How to Sign into the Chrome Browser-Lexi

How to Take a Screenshot-Ari

How to Sign into the Chrome App Store-Travis

How to Find a Mac Application-Reed

How to Use Instant Alpha in Pages-Pari

How to Get to Any Grade 5 Teacher or Class site

How to Rotate a Photo in Pages

How to Keep a Program in the Dock

How to Set Up Hot Corners on a Mac 

pic source

Road Sign.egg on Aviary.

CNN has a series of reports on many aspect s of the Philippines. All videos are concise, thought-provoking, and informative.  Should the videos be required viewing for ISM students ? Topics covered include OFW’s call centers, corruption, child labour, boxing, food, religion, and much more.

Check out the main page here.

To start you off, here is a report on the lengths to which the most unfortunate may go to put food on the table.

A new profession perhaps? Made my own audio for the upcoming Hunger Games trailer. Pretty happy with it.

Check out the original below.

Listen to Mr. Sturgeon goofing around in iLearn (at bottom of post). He decided to make a sample of a website review for his students. The iLearn students will be making their own reviews very soon. Check out some previous website reviews by students.  You can listen here or can even download this review and many others by subscribing to the iLearn podcast in the iTunes store. You can have them on your iPod to listen to at any time!

Listen also to other audio recordings from Grade 5 by:
a) viewing them under Student Work>Podcasts in the menu bar above.
b) Subscribe to the podcast it the iTunes store

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Check them out here.

Explore cities in Asia, Australia, India, the Middle East, and Northern Africa
through these enticing Grade 6 Relocation Guides. Students have successfully
produced material to encourage multi-national corporations to move to “their”
city! Important information on population, changes to the landscape, and
the impact of history is all included in these persuasive guides. Students tech-
finesse with PAGES software also adds to the engagement! Enjoy!- M.parry

Most of the UN video proposals have been uploaded to YouTube for all to see. Be sure to have your friends, family, and interested persons watch your persuasive and professional presentations.

For those who recorded audio recordings(podcasts), we hope to have those uploeded soon.

All videos can be accessed by using the Student Work drop down choices in the menu bar above.

Here are some lighthearted videos produced by the Grade 5 iLearn students in Mr. Sturgeon’s class.

Many thanks to Marcus, Keshnen, Aadi, Aadihitya, Aarushi, Amal, Chatu, and Yasmin for a great semester.

Not a screensaver or desktop background!

It was unfortunate today that we suffered a grave loss. A laptop gave up its screen due to some manageable mistakes.

One student was carrying a laptop improperly in the hallway when another student came running around the corner and crashed into the laptop carrier.

The cost to replace the screen is 700 USD. A new machine costs 1000 USD.

IT will replace the machine as it is more cost effective.

Two major reminders:

• Do not tolerate running in the hallway.
• Students need to close the lid and hug the laptops close to the chest when in transport.

 Tired of jumping between documents to Copy and Paste various bits and pieces of information and text?

Microsoft’s Spike is the answer.   The Spike is a little known  clipboard feature of Microsoft Word.  You are able to selext two or move items (  text, words, paragraphs, graphics)  from various locations in a document or different documents, and then insert the items as a group in a new location or document. They are pasted in the order in which they were selected.

To move items to and from the” Spike”:

1. Select the text or graphic you want to move, and then press Ctrl-F3 (in Windows) or Command-F3 (on a Mac).
2. Repeat this step for each additional item you want to move to the Spike.
3. Click in the document where you want to insert the Spike’s contents.
4. To insert the Spike’s contents and empty the Spike, press Ctrl-Shift-F3 (in Windows) or Command-Shift-F3 (on a Mac).

The one drawback is that when you select the text it “cuts” rather than copy. Be careful not to save the original document with the missing text unless you intend to.

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The results are in. A vast majority of Grade Six students completed a Tech Survey recently. It covered topics as such as studnet abilities, cyber bullying, social networks like Facebook,  and parental involvement. If you haven’t taken it, you can find it here.

Some of the more interesting results can be found below. Is there anything that stands out to you?

If you are a parent, there is a survey for you as well. We often it interesting to compare student perceptions with that of parents.

The parent survey is here.

1. Use quotation marks to search for words a as a phrase. “smokey mountain” vs. smokey mountain

2. Exclude words: Philippine tourism -resorts

3. Search for file types: use Advanced Search and search for Powerpoint, etc.  OR use filetype:extension. Example: early humans filetype:ppt

4.  Limit website for particular search: site:cnn.com rice shortage

5. Google images: In advanced search, choose images labeled for reuse, sizes, and dates.

6. Results in timeline view: Gloria Arroyo view:timeline

Google Search Bar’s Magical Powers

1. Calculator: 22*5+12/4

2. Units of measure converter: 5 miles in kilometers, 5kgs in lbs,

3. Currency converter: 1000 Philippine pesos in USD

4. Dictionary:

define:sturgeon

5. Time: ex. time in Iceland

5. Loads more: package tracking, cooking conversions, stock quotes, fill-in-the-blank, see more here

Tips from Google on searching

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To complete the survey click here.

Please be as honest as possible.

Please complete only once.

Stay tuned next week for the results!

Tired of your password? Think that it too easy for somebody to log on to your account?
Perhaps it’s time to change your password!

If you want to change your password…….
1. Visit lab 1038A during tutorial and see Mr. Sturgeon.
2. Have a new passord ready. Here are the password guidelines:
      a. must be at least 7 characters in length
      b. at least one capital letter
      c. at least one number

Example passwords:
pRincess06
iATEmy2dogs
261derfulXX

Author- Yasmin N.
1. When you want to record your voice you should always write down what you want to saybefore recording it because it helps you be organized more better and not make mistakes when recording. Your recording would sound smoother and nicer. 

2.

If you make a mistake when you are recording, keep on going. DO NOT stop. You could always cut/split it and make it nicer later after you finished recording.

3. Always ask the person next to if you can record before recording because if you record at the same time you will hear the person next to you in your recording.

4. If you want to put sound effects inside your Podcast you should insert it in the ‘Jingles’ section.

5. Don’t put the mike too near your mouth or it would sound funny and weird.

6. If you want some music inside the background while you record, you should always make your voice LOUDER than the music.

7. Remember, the PLAY button is NOT for recording. The big red button at the bottom is the recording button. Sometimes you may forget and record NOTHING.

8. You can make a duplicate of your recording by pressing Ctrl while dragging the recording next to it.

9. You can adjust the volume of your recording. At the left you will see the volume picture and then you could make it louder or lower.

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How to Make Fun and Amazing Cool Podcasts on Garageband

• To have a great podcast, you have to be organized. So you could go to Microsoft word and write what you are going to say.
• When you are recording, everyone should be quiet, so you can hear you when you record. Also you have to have a clear voice. If you are quiet, then speak up a little. Don’t put the microphone too near. Or your voice would be too loud. Then push the red record button.
• If you recorded what you wanted, but then you make a mistake, don’t stop, just go on.
• Delete the parts you don’t want by splitting the track and deleting the part you do not need.
• If you want background music but it you can’t find it in Garageband, you could drag your files to the Media Brower and drop it. Then you can split the music too, just like you did with your voice.

-Chatu K.

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Treetop Trouble by Aadi

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Raindrops at Lumosity.com

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Some iDesign students created animations were played for the entire Middle School this past Wednesday. Based on the laughing. applause, and the audience’s desire for more, the student animators should be proud of their work.

If you are interested in animation, download the free Stykz program. It is available for both Windows and Mac. The website includes some great “getting started’ video tutorials. They also have great tips and a solid help section to learn as you go.

Mr. Sturgeon’s iLearn students given the challenge of completing a word processing skills test recently. The goal was to have all students complete the task as quickly as possible. Students were encouraged to talk to each other, explain how to complete tasks, and even point to the screen and walk students through more difficult questions. The one approach not permitted was taking over control of a fellow classmate’s mouse.

Here is photo of the students nearing the end of the task.

Here is the list of tasks that they had. Give it a try.

Basics Speed Trial

See how much you remember about the CWW trip.

What is going on with worms taking over the Grade 5 hallway?

“In science we are taking care of worms.We feed the worms every Monday and put the food in specific places in the wormery. We often take the worms out and study them, then we make some questions that we want to find out about the worms. After that, we choose one question to study. We then make a diagram that helps you find your answer. At the end you put your diagram into action and then list and observe what you saw the worms do.” -Aqilla

What do you know now about worms that you did not know before?

“Worms are sensitive to light. The first reaction is burrow itself in the ground. Some color lights the worms do like such as the dark colored lights. Why? My predictions that the worms are used to being in dark places so they really didn’t mind that much.” -Roi

“Blue is the best color of light if you had a pet worm.”-Robbie

Check out almost 100 photos from the past week!

Don’t have a lot of time to watch the pics? Can you spare one minute?  Try being “pummeled” by a   Pummelvison version of the pictures.

Check out some of the sample poems produced by Mrs. Cook’s class. To see more , visit her classroom.

The Grade 5 website has undergone some changes! Now virtually everything you need related to Grade 5 is located in the menu bar.
Some of the immediate changes include:

Teachers, students and parents are encouraged to use the Email Updates button. By subscribing, you will receive an email each time the site has a new article posted.

Please leave a comment if something not quite right 0n the site or you have a suggestion.

The Grade 6 website has undergone some radical changes! Now you will have an easier time navigating as virtually everything is located in the menu bar.

Some of the immediate changes include:

• Added home button
• Redesigned site with new theme
• Added Specialist teachers tab
• Added email request link

write your text here

For the second straight year, Grade Six students have produced stupendous work incorporating research from all core subjects. They produced incredible Pecha Kuchas* for the Q2 performance task. Their video presentations are between 10-20 slides, and the narration on each slide is between 10-20 seconds long. Their task was to research the impact of certain products on food chains and groups of people. Situation: The UN has raised the question of whether or not certain products should stay on the market due to their questionable effects on the environment and people. They have appealed to certain NGOs for their help in determining positive and negative impacts on the environment and people, so that they can make an informed decision.

I.T. Connections: Students learned about Creative Commons and how to search Flickr and Google Image Advanced Search for Creative Commons photos. Students were encouraged to use Compfight to find appropriate photos. To view the videos, click on the topic below:

Chocolate	Coffee	Plastic	Electronics

Grade 6 students is investigating the production life cycle of different products as part of the second quarter Relationships unit. on group is determining the of e-waste, that is the affect of computers and other electronic products have after they have outlived their usefulness.

Here is a short tour of ISM’s “e-waste” hallway. Check back here to hear how ISM is dealing with the reusing and recycling of the electronic waste it creates.

Check out what last year’s students had to say about the courses.

iDesign Final Survey results

Kamille, Michelle, and Iso  have some advice for students. Are you ready to try out their suggestions?

Jasmine promotes a very intriguing product!

Carlos send s you back in time!

Beware!

Which one is your favorite?

iLearn students have produced some great movies this year. Check out a sample below.

*Warning: For those with a weak heart, Parental Guidance is advised.

To view others  click  video in the tag box.

Cross posted with Grade5.

ELECTRO CITYnick

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Michelle and Kamille

MASH.IT.DOC.LEOW.JUDE

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Tyrone and Hunter

Electrocity

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noah. death in sakkara podcast

An award winning online Egypt game.

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Carlos gives a spooky review

carlos.podcast

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Junior’s Funky Review

Lee, Gyerye (Junior)

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Lara explains Electrocity

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Here are some of the best animations from the second semester iDesign class.

Jackie

James

Eunice

Check out some of our technology related cartoons from our iLearn students.

iLearn students designed some tutorials to hlep Grade 5 students perform required tasks on the

Grade 5 Sustainability Ning social network.

[slideshare id=2985518&doc=leow-michelle-tutorials-100125005011-phpapp01&type=d&w=600 ] [slideshare id=2985517&doc=pocarlosilearntutorial-100125005015-phpapp02&type=d&w=600] [slideshare id=2985516&doc=ramos-noah-howtochangeningbackground3-100125005019-phpapp02&type=d&w=600] [slideshare id=2985515&doc=fernandez-lara-tutorial-100125005008-phpapp02&type=d&w=600]

What do you think of this new product?

To help you understand what a blog is……

A blog is essentially a website that have some special characteristics:

• A main content area with articles listed chronologically, newest on top. Often, the articles are organized into categories.
• An archive of older articles.
• A way for people to leave comments about the articles.
• A list of links to other related sites, sometimes called a “blogroll”.
• One or more “feeds” like RSS, Atom or RDF files.”

transforms into…

Scissors

Platypus V.S. Human

Enjoy some of the  final videos from the iLearn students.

Torture Teacher

Awesome and Cool

Detention

Here is our first attempt with Photoshop. Many thanks to Mr. Hoover for stopping by and teaching us the basics.

This is a sample movie showing the basics of a simple but effective movie making program known as Photostory. iLearn students went to work on a practice movie using a set of pictures given to them. Check back later for some of the best.

*All actors are fictional. Any resemblance to real people is purely coincidental.

For travelers interested in going to Subic,  we have  some suggestions to help you plan your trip.

-Jenny, Lea, Grace

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Game Maker is fun. You create games by many creating Events for each Object. You can design games like Pong and Shooting-type games. You can add lives and leave messages. People who are interested in arcade games would to design games with Game Maker.-Sanjana

This podcats talks about MTV or the Music Televison. Hope you like it!

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Young Joo Lee

Young Joo talks about..

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Dale describes an interesting music site.

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hongsooyeon Soo Yeon…

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Kevin also is excited about his special site.

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A great production recommending  a great site! Wow!

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A great overview of a great site.

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Do you want to be a Millionaire? If so, check out “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?”

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Listen to Kaya and Roy’s review of the cartoon site ToonDoo.

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We have experimenting with computer programming in iDesign. Here is what Masha’s came up with using a program called Alice.

Check out the awesome home built by Zar Zar using Google SketchUp. Particular attention to the intricate detail she uses when designing some of the furniture inside her home.

Martin has designed a house using Google Sketchup. Here he gives you a tour of his newly constructed home.

Grade Five iLearn students have produced some cool cartoons relating to technology. Topics such as cyberbullying, online chatting, gaming addiction, cellphone, online scams, spam email, and other tech issues were addressed by the students.
Print outs of the cartoons can be seen in the Grade hallway on the plaza level.

Make your own cartoons at Toondoo.

[slideshare id=1965926&doc=howtoaddadocumenttotheteachersdropbox-090907230349-phpapp02&type=d&w=425]

Recently Grade Five students have been make tutorials to share with others.
[slideshare id=1950332&doc=howtouseaformstoolbar-090903225930-phpapp01&type=d&w=425]

Booting from the Lab Mac Minis

Hold ALT when booting then choose Windows or Mac

Booting from MaBook llaptops

Hold “Option”

Login on all MacMinis

Log in under ISM Password is Bearcat

Computer Lab Rooms

1038A PCs       1038B MacMinis         1039A MacMinis       1039B MacMinis

MS ISM-Online Blog Site http://ms.ism-online.org

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Beginner animators are in luck. Pivot, the popoular stickman animation tool, is no longer being updated and is not available on the Mac. Stykz comes to the rescue!

Stykz is very similar to Pivot. The few differences include:

1) the ablity to create new figures directly in the working window

2) a lack of an installed library

3) Stykz 1.0 when it is released will import Pivot 2 .stk files.

4) you can grow your figures as you go . No need to build seprate figures.

5) you can have  multiple files open and copy and pate form one to another!

6) has a Hints window

Stykz was designed to be a superset of Pivot, attempting to incorporate all (or most) of the features that Pivot has to offer, plus adding additional features and making it available on multiple platforms.

Your password must have:

• at least seven characters
• at least one capital/uppercase letter
• at least one number

Here are some examples:

GoofBall001                        gOOfball11                                  Sturgeon99                  sturgeoN99

iATE my2cats                   HarryPotter8

*Grade Five studnts must ask a Tech teacher to have their passwords changed.

Grade Five and Six laptop carts are being rolled out soon. Here are some tips for students:

• handle with care
• be sure to exchange student ID for a laptop
• be sure to plug in when you return it
• use your USB to save your work as a backup
• handle with care]

If you have other tips, leave a comment