Grisham Middle Presentation - Made w/Code

     Yesterday I had the opportunity to speak with 15 middle school students about the Made w/Code project. I want to thank Mrs. Wassmuth, who is the leader of my Girl Scout troop and the teacher at Grisham Middle that presented me with this wonderful opportunity.
     I was able to speak with the students about their interests and bring it around to coding. One female student wanted to go into dancing and the arts, I was excited to show her the video of Miral Kotb, a dancer from Broadway that uses code to bring together lighting and dancing.
     Even the male students that had attended enjoyed the activities and even the videos. One male student wanted to go into music, I showed him the video of Ebony "Wondagurl" Oshunrinde and how at age 19 she was nominated for a Grammy and was featured on one of Jay-Z's albums. In the video she talked about how the music programs she used is just coding with blocks.
     After the opening and me showing them some of the videos, we went right into the activities. My favorite to always start off with is the Dancing Yeti. I use this first activity because I can explain three different simple and basic coding languages easily within the frame-set of the Yeti project.
     The Yeti itself represents HTML, or the bones. HTML is the base of any website, its what gives it structure. The next step was changing the color, foot size and hand size of the Yeti, I called this the CSS of the Yeti. CSS is the font, the font size, background color and margin spacing of any website you see and/or use. The last step was to make the Yeti dance, I used this action to describe JavaScript. The last language is used to create fancy effects.
     After the explanation, they explored the other projects and visited Scratch, another block coding site.
     I enjoyed speaking with the students and hope that they continue having fun with coding and that they are able to begin coding at school in their own Makers Space soon.

Happy Coding,

Sarah Y.

#fff - Flash Forward Friday - Made w/Code

Today is ‪#‎fastforwardfriday‬! And in coorelation with the new Star Wars trailer out I thought would look at some of the fantasy technology they had. The link below focuses on the mechanism that captures the moisture in the air.

http://news.discovery.com/tech/alternative-power-sources/star-wars-moisture-farming-tech-wont-save-california-150416.htm

It does sound a little interesting to be a Moisture Farmer, but it would be fun to have any job that involves technology whether that be a fashion designer, a doctor, a choreographer and a movie animator. Think these jobs sound like fun? Check out the videos on the ‪#‎madewithcode‬ website.

https://www.clixtrac.com/goto/?191773

Hope y'all have a happy Friday!

Yours in Coding,

Sarah Y.

Throwback Thursday - 20th century interactive timeline - Made w/Code

Have you ever wondered what kinds of items people had in their homes in the early 20th century? Or how each one advanced into the technology we have today? I thought that this morning and was doing a bit of searching and I found this link from PBS website:

http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/ate10.sci.engin.design.techovertime/technology-over-time/

Its a great interactive timeline, you can see things change over the years and its great! I have to say, out of all of them the funniest one to cross over was the Tubberware. I'd always had tubberware in the house but never thought "Oh, when was this invented?" just because it was something so simple I thought it was always around, but no! It was made in 1955.
The "evelution" of radio was interesting as well.

If you check it out and are interested in more technology advancements check out some of the videos on the Made w/Code website! Last time I checked there wasn't any advancement of Tubberware but they're still pretty amazing to watch!

https://www.clixtrac.com/goto/?191773

Hope you have a happy Thursday!

Yours in Coding,
Sarah Y.

New Made w/Code activity!! - Made w/Code

I just figured out how this activity worked and so far its my favorite! It brings together three arts: coding (somewhat of an art), dancing and abstract visuals.
https://www.clixtrac.com/goto/?191773Its the Dance Visualizer activity. Try it out and tell me what you think, then go to the Made w/Code Facebook page ad let them know so they can see your feedback too!
Hope y'all have a happy Tuesday! 

Yours in Coding, 
Sarah Y.

Your phone was more powerful than NASA? - Throwback Thursday - Made w/Code

Its ‪#‎throwbackthursday‬ and I want to take a look and talk about our modern technology we call the cell phone. I remember when my parents got a matching set of phones that had a walkie talkie setting, I also remember when the flip phone was cool. Now we have phones that have absolutely everything. You can have hundreds of apps, have the phone tell you jokes, you can listen to music on it, take photos with it, send emails... you can do anything and everything!

A couple facts I found about the modern phone is that the have more power than NASA did in 1969 when they landed men on the moon. Crazy right? All their computers and pieces of technology don't even compare to a phone that most middle schoolers have today.

And the chip in the singing birthday card you got this year, yeah that tiny chip that sings is stronger than the technology of all the Allied forces in 1974. Wow.

Do you like gaming? The PS3 now is known as an out of date gaming system and you can purchase it for $300 or less. Pretty cheap as far as gaming systems go right? But not as up to date and technologically advanced as the PS4. However the PS3 has more technological power than the US Military Supercomputer did in 1997 (thats only 16 years ago) and costs WAAAAAAAAAAYYY less. The Supercomputer cost a couple MILLION dollars!

Want to see other things that people are doing to advance in technology? Go check out the ‪#‎madewithcode‬ website!
http://www.clixtrac.com/goto/?191773

Do you have any crazy facts about technology? Please share I'm would love to read it :)

Hope y'all have a happy Thursday!

‪

Yours in Coding,

Sarah Y.

Flashback Friday - Made w/Code

Whereas in the past I had used Fastforward Friday, today I thought I'd try and tackle a more popular trend Flashback Friday. Looking for, yet again, another piece (or pieces) of technology from the past that have challenged the youth of today. Thought that you'd like this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pCp8g-VjOs

I actually had that version of the Nintendo Gameboy, some of the first games I had was The Adventures of Mario, Pokemon Blue and Kirby. I remember playing these games and really enjoying them. Some of the kids reactions were really funny.

If someone had given you a Gameboy like that, would you have known what it was and how to use it?
Did you once have a game like the one in the video?
What about other games?

Don't forget, go check out the Made w/Code website and remember to share it with your friends and family!

https://www.clixtrac.com/goto/?191773

Have a happy Friday!

Yours in Coding,
Sarah Y.

Throwback Thursday with Computers - Made w/Code

Its #ThrowbackThursday!

The past couple of times I had posted photos, I thought this time I would find a video that shows how this generation acted towards technology from a couple decades ago, enjoy - 

http://www.toss.com/…/throwback-thursday-kids-react-to-old…/

I found this very funny xD and hope that you enjoyed it too. I actually have never used an "old" apple computer, but I have used and know what a floppy disc is. I actually may or may not still have a couple with some stories I've typed on them.

In the video, they played a game. Why don't you try playing one too! At the ‪#‎madewithcode‬ website smile emoticon 

http://www.clixtrac.com/goto/?191773

Hope y'all have a happy Thursday!

Yours in Coding,

Sarah Y.