Welcome to day 5 of Scratch camp! As today is the final day, the students spent the entire morning finalizing their Scratch animation project and practiced their presentation for the afternoon. If they were done early in regards to their presentation, the students were allowed to play Scratch related games. These games allowed for students to be exposed to different types of Scratch made games, while giving future ideas they might have if they wanted to develop more games.

After they finished their lunch and spent time outside in the sun at the park, the students were prepared to present their final product of their Scratch game. 

Welcome to day 4 of Scratch camp! This morning the students were working on their end-of-week assignment and displaying their work thus far. The students would then discuss what improvements could be made to finalize their projects and overall they helped each other out through out the entire process. 

After displaying their work and all students ate their lunch, it was time to head outside for some fresh air! The students enjoyed spending time at the park playing football, soccer, and basketball. The students also enjoyed their free time to socialize and relax.

In the afternoon, the students spent the majority of their time improving their end-of-week assignment as it is due the next day in class. They took this time to finalize the larger portions of their Scratch animation development and tomorrow (last day) will be spent finalizing any other minor details necessary. These are the depictions of their animations thus far. 

Welcome to the third day of Scratch Camp! The students began their morning with a classic challenge of the logic; River Crossing! All of the students managed to figure out the puzzle in a fairly short period of time.

The previous brain teaser would then be turned into a challenge for the students as they had to display the solution to the puzzle in a animated format using scratch. Here are snapshots of the students displaying their solutions. 

Welcome to day 2 of Scratch camp! This morning the students were introduced to CHALLENGE #2, which was to create an animated dance video with their own choice of theme, sound, dance movement, and sprite. These are several video examples of the work done by the students. 

After the students completed challenge #2, they were set to complete several brain teasers to make them think in different perspectives while using their logic. Post-lunch they competed against each other in several stack-up games by comparing stacking times to group stacking games.

For the last challenge of the day, students were required to make a maze. The maze had to pertain a theme with a surrounding character and challenges venturing through out the maze. 

Welcome to the first day of Scratch Camp! In the morning it began with Omar teaching the students the basic elements of the Scratch program. This week the students will learn all the components of creating their own story board with their sprites, backgrounds, and custom motions!

Students began to gather ideas for their story lines and gained more knowledge by looking at other people's examples. Omar also looked to explain to the students the several ways Scratch can be used from several animations to games.

After the students had their lunch and outdoor break outside, they began to develop the basis of their end-of-week assignment. On the left is the basis for an eye spy themed game and on the right displays a world cup themed shoot-out game. The students then had to present their work thus far and as a class we brainstormed ideas for improvement of each presentation.

Further into the afternoon the students were assigned to a game animation challenge to create a game of Tic-Tac-Toe. They were allowed to decide on any theme or background to display the creative portion of the game while functioning at the same time. END OF DAY 1!

Welcome to day three of Mega Minecraft. To make things more interesting this morning with BrainGym, I found a Minecraft song to play while we did our exercises. I was really impressed when conducting a search for Minecraft music, by the amount of songs that have been written for Minecraft. What a great idea for a next camp, to have the students write their own Minecraft songs and create their own Minecraft music videos. 

After a successful second challenge, students enjoyed their lunch and spent some time outdoors before the rain came down. In the afternoon, campers continued to work on their Dream homes and enjoyed some World Cup action, Holland vs. Argentina.  

To start the day off, I introduced the students to BrainGym. I was introduced to this when supply teaching in England, a few years ago. Doing Brain Gym in the morning helps the students wake up, move and get their brains going. 

Following BrainGym, we had a special guest, Jean-François Jacques, an architect graduate from Carlton University. He came and spoke to the students about the importance of concepts when designing a building. He also spoke to the campers about how their dream home should tell a story and how to use narratives to help them tell their story.  

Students then spent the morning planning their dream home. I was really impressed by the work that they did during this planning stage. 

A long day of Minecraft creativity and building, just wouldn't be there same without some play time outside. After lunch, campers headed to Morrison park and enjoyed soccer, basketball, the water park and talking about Minecraft!

Before the campers begin building in Minecraft, I spent a couple of minutes discussing with the campers, the importance of having proper posture when on the computer. Students took the time to make sure they were properly situated before they begin. 

Over the next few days, when completing activities on the computer, we will set a timer for 30 minutes, and once the timer goes off, the students will do a quick few stretches and eye exercises.


In addition, we also discussed the 10-10-10 rule: 
Every 10 minutes, look at something 10 feet away, for at least 10 seconds. 

5 body exercises for when you are working on the computer:

1. Forearm stretching. Helps prevent conditions like carpal tunnel syndrome.
2. Neck stretching. Helps prevent headaches and keep the deep, supportive neck muscles strong.
3. Wall slides. Stretches upper shoulders and mid-back and keeps the postural muscles strong.
4. Heel raises. Keeps circulation going to the feet and lower legs.
5. Seated knee extension. Helps with flexibility in the backs of the legs and strength of the front of the thighs.

Source: http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/diet-fitness/exercise/exercise-for-computer-workers.htm 

6 refreshing eye exercises for when you are working on the computer:

1. Palming
   Start this exercise in a comfortable position. First, rub your palms together to create a bit of heat. Next, form your hands into cup shapes. Now, take your hands and press them over your (closed) eyes. Put your left hand on your left eye and right hand on your right eye. Let the heat warm your eyes and relax for a few minutes like this.
   
   
2. Blinking
   Since a lack of blinking is one of the contributing factors to computer-induced eyestrain, as it dries your eyes and causes scratchiness, it’s very important to blink. You may have to train yourself to blink normally while computing. Aim for a blink every four seconds to keep your eyes nicely lubricated and happy. This sounds like a simple task, but when focusing on a computer screen it can be difficult to remember.
   
   
3. Eye Rolling
   The next best thing since those relaxing neck rolls, eye rolling can really do wonders when you’ve been sitting in front of a computer screen for hours. Take a minute and make sure your roll your eyes while you’re working. It’s pretty simple to pick up: simply close your eyes and roll your eyes around in circular motions. It almost feels like your eyes are getting a massage, so enjoy! This helps to lubricate your eyes and eases the strain on the muscles.
   
   
4. Visual Scanning
   After so many hours staring at up-close objects on a screen, help your eyes adjust between objects both near and far. Sit back and observe the room you are in. Find an object at one end of the room, and begin to scan the outline of every single thing in the room. For example, start with a television and then move on to the DVD player next to it and then move on the window behind it.
   
   Basically, you want your eyes to be in constant, deliberate motion as you visually take stock of everything around you. You may already think that you are doing this, but most people when working or playing on the computer focus entirely on what is on the screen.
   
   
5. Focusing
   Take a visual break and focus on something else every now and then. It’s important to take your eyes off the computer screen and look away at something else for several seconds or a minute. Aim to do this at least once an hour. If you’re at work try to avoid focusing on the clock when you do this, it will just make your work day seem longer.
   
   
6. Glancing
   Sometimes a glance is more than just a glance! Start this one with your eyes closed while sitting. Keep your eyes closed as you glance up as far as comfortably possible. Hold for a moment, then look down. Repeat a few times and then take an eye-breather (open your eyes and look around). Next, close your eyes again. Now, keeping your eyes closed like before, look to the right and the left. Repeat this a few times.

Source: http://www.rebuildyourvision.com/blog/vision-conditions/computer-vision-syndrome/6-refreshing-eye-exercises-for-tired-computer-users/

This afternoon, students accomplished their first challenge "show off your skills". To get a better idea of the campers abilities in Minecraft, they were given 45 minutes to create whatever they wanted. 

Here are a few examples of what the students created:

For the Grade 3 & 4 unit on biodiversity, the students studied endangered animals. To share their knowledge about an animal of interest, students were introduced to iMovie trailers and combined images and key facts about their endangered animals, to educate others. When working with iMovie trailers, it is always a challenge to choose the right words. However, once successful, a powerful message will come across. Completing an activity like this, helped the Grade 3 & 4 students become more familiar with searching and saving images online to then insert them into their video. This activity also allowed students to develop their French vocabulary related to animals and key terms of biodiversity and extinction. This Grade 3 & 4 class, really enjoy every opportunity they get to create something with the iPads and always work hard to produce a final product. 

Here are their video's:

For the Grade 7's final Math and Technology unit, students were asked to create a carnival game to demonstrate their knowledge of probability. For the last week of school, the students organised an afternoon carnival and invited all the primary students to participate. The Grade 7's begun their games by sharing their instructional video's, which taught the student participants, how to play and win the game. 

Here are the instructional video's that the Grade 7's created!