All of my sixth grade students take a ten-minutes typing quiz every Monday. We track their typing speed and accuracy so that we can see their improvement over the course of the quarter. Last week after the test was over the whole class clustered around one student (I don’t use the students’ names here to help protect their privacy). This student was typing so quickly his fingers were nearly invisible as they darted over the keys with perfect accuracy. We gathered around him and cheered as his speed went from 70 words per minute to 80, then 90, then 100!
I can type 70 words per minute with reasonable accuracy, and this kid puts my typing skills to shame. I think he’s the fastest typer in the whole school. Does anyone want to challenge him for that title?
typing-fiend
Posted on February 17th, 2009 by Ms. Ruthie Hansen
Filed under: typing, video | No Comments »
Sixth grade students are learning a new programming language called Scratch. Scratch is a programming language for kids developed at MIT. The kids have completed several smaller projects in class, and soon each student will get to design and develop an original game in Scratch.
Here are a couple of examples from a recent project:
To see all of the scratch projects created by Lab School students over the past two years, check out the UCLS tag on the scratch Web site.
Posted on February 10th, 2009 by Ms. Ruthie Hansen
Filed under: 6thGrade, Scratch | No Comments »
Dear Students,
Many of you have asked me about how to create a CNet account. This is the name and password that you need to connect to the uchicago wireless network at school or anywhere on the University campus. If you bring your own laptop to school, you need a CNet account to get online.
You can set up your CNet account yourself at home by carefully following the steps here: https://cnet.uchicago.edu/claimacct/index.jsp
The ID number that it will ask you to put in is located on the back of your student ID card.
Remember that your CNet ID is only for you to use. Sharing your name and password with a family member or a classmate will result in disciplinary consequences.
I hope this helps!
Sincerely,
Ms. Hansen
Posted on October 24th, 2008 by Ms. Ruthie Hansen
Filed under: 5thGrade, 6thGrade, Dear Students | 1 Comment »
Welcome new 6th grade students (5th graders, too, but this post is for sixth grade)!!
So glad you’ve found my web site. Great work! Please bookmark this page for future reference.
The secret question: What was the highlight of your first day of sixth grade? Remember to comment with your first name only. See you again soon!
Sincerely,
Ms. Hansen
Posted on September 8th, 2008 by Ms. Ruthie Hansen
Filed under: 6thGrade, Dear Students | 23 Comments »
Dear Sixth Grade Students,
Welcome to your computer science rotation! Your homework for TONIGHT is to find this page (congratulations!) and bookmark it. Also make a bookmark to Custom Typing so that you can find it easily for your 30 minutes of typing homework each week. The secret question is: What is your favorite school subject? Why is it your favorite? Recess and lunch do not count! Please write at least two sentences. Use proper capitalization and punctuation of course.
Remember to put your FIRST NAME on your comment and not your last name. This helps protect your privacy. READ the other responses– you are not allowed to write the exact same thing as someone above you. If your favorite is the same as someone else’s favorite, phrase your sentence differently and give a different reason why it’s your fave.
If you have password troubles, feel confused or just want to get in touch, feel free to email me any time. My email address is rhansen@ the school’s domain name.
I’m looking forward to reading your comments on this post, and I’m really looking forward to a the fun and challenging quarter ahead of us in computer class!
Sincerely,
Ms. Hansen
Posted on March 31st, 2008 by Ms. Ruthie Hansen
Filed under: 6thGrade, Dear Students | 37 Comments »
Dear 6th grade students,
Today was your first taste of Scratch, a programming language for kids from MIT that we will be learning and using for the next four weeks in class. Your homework assignment for tonight is to download Scratch at home (free!) and show a sibling or parent one of the things you learned how to do today. If you need to jog your memory, the scratch cards we used in class (and lots more) are available here. Feel free to experiment with the program at home and see what you can make with it. The more comfortable you get with what Scratch can do, the more you’ll be able to accomplish when we take on our first big programming project– creating a game or an application with Scratch.
Sincerely, Ms. Hansen
Posted on February 11th, 2008 by Ms. Ruthie Hansen
Filed under: 6thGrade, Dear Students, Scratch, homework | 7 Comments »
As seen in the “making of..” featurette (below), my sixth grade students have spent the last two weeks writing, filming and editing original 30-second public service announcements about online safety and ethical issues. Here are a few of the best examples:
Identity Theft
identitytheftpsaweb.mov
Online Bullying
online-bullying-psa.mov
The Internet is Public
publicinternetpsa.mov
Facebook Safety
facebooksafetypsa.mov
Illegal Downloading
illegaldownloadingpsa.mov
I hope you enjoyed these and maybe even learned a little something! Feel free to leave comments here, I will make sure the students see them.
Sincerely, Ms. Hansen
Posted on February 7th, 2008 by Ms. Ruthie Hansen
Filed under: 6thGrade, student work, video | 5 Comments »
My sixth grade classes are making short public service announcements about various ethical issues surrounding computer and Internet use. The whole film-making process, from research to storyboarding, rehearsals, filming and editing takes about two weeks to complete. The kids love using the class Flip cameras and iMovie to bring their ideas to life– the classroom veritably hums with excitement. On a whim today, I grabbed a Flip camera and filmed some of the students in the process of making their movies. Tonight at home I dropped the footage into iMovie, and with a little artistic cutting and editing, a dash of music and a pinch of humor… I hereby present to you my debut film, entitled “Making Movies; A Ms. Hansen Production.” I hope you enjoy watching it half as much as I enjoyed making it.
metamovie.mov
Sincerely, Ms. Hansen
Posted on January 29th, 2008 by Ms. Ruthie Hansen
Filed under: 6thGrade, video | 6 Comments »
Dear 5th Grade Students– Does it feel like we’ve been working on your “All About Me” movies for months? Well, guess what? We have! Since each class only meets once a week for 45 minutes, progress on the movies has been slow but steady. You do know the story about the tortise and the hare, right? (**Spoiler alert!**) Slow and steady wins the race! Over the past ten classes or so we’ve: Brainstormed movie ideas using Inspiration. Gathered important photos from the Internet and from home, as well as snapped some pictures of ourselves and our friends. We’ve pieced together the parts of our movies in iMovie, put in opening titles and ending credits, composed original soundtracks in GarageBand… what else?
I know this project has a lot of bits and peices to keep track of. So, to help you out I have made this handy-dandy checklist for you. When all of the items are checked off, your project will be finished. Hopefully this will be in about two weeks. Don’t worry if you don’t have everything done! We will use class time to wrap up loose ends and get everything finished.
All About Me Movie Project Checklist
Does your movie have…
- At least twenty photos?
- At least two photos of YOU?
- Photos of your family?
- Photos organized by topic?
- It overall shows who you are?
- A title slide at the beginning?
- At least two “category” slides?
- Credits slide at the end?
- Correct spelling on all words?
- Music?
- Music ends at movie’s end?
- One track of music YOU played?
- Music fits with movie’s style?
- Transitions between slides?
- Pacing: ~3 seconds per slide?
Whew! I know it sounds like a lot, but most of you have almost all of these things done already. Remember, I always keep my classroom open for you during your lunch time. Come down after you eat for some extra work time or one on one help. See you soon!
Sincerely, Ms. Hansen
Posted on January 22nd, 2008 by Ms. Ruthie Hansen
Filed under: 5thGrade, Dear Students | 2 Comments »
