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CTE Update 1/17/20

Dear Parents,
 
Things have been going great in CTE this week.
 
In Multimedia, my students are finished editing their commercial project using iMovie.  The finished products will be posted on each of the students' Google Drive.  We just started a 2D interactive animation project using an online program called Wick Editor (www.wickeditor.com).  The program is a combination of animation and javascript. 
 
In Exploring Technology, we have been working on a computer programming unit learning Python.  We have been using a website called:  The last day to finish work on the lessons will be on Tuesday.  The students are required to finish at least 20 levels in Kithgard Dungeon and 20 levels in Backwoods Forest.  Every level that they complete in addition to the 40 will be for extra credit.  Next week we will start a unit in transportation design by building CO2 Dragsters.  We will be using the class woodshop to create the dragsters.
 
In 6th Grade STEM, We have continued  a unit in structural engineering and manufacturing by creating paper sandals that hold the wearer 1 inch above the ground using prismatic cells. The students are working with a team to create a pair of prototype indoor sandals for each team member.
 
Thanks for having great kids!  Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.
 
Thanks,
 
Mr. Black

CTE Update 1/10/20

Dear Parents,
 
Happy New Year!  Things have been going great in CTE this week.
 
In Multimedia, my students are finishing up editing their commercial project using iMovie.  The finished products will be posted on each of the students' Google Drive by the end of the week.
 
In Exploring Technology, we have been working on a computer programming unit learning Python.  We have been using a website called: www.codecombat.com.
 
In 6th Grade STEM, We have started a unit in structural engineering and manufacturing by creating paper sandals that hold the wearer 1 inch above the ground using prismatic cells.
 
Thanks for having great kids!  Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.
 
Thanks,
 
Mr. Black

CTE Update 12/13/19

Dear Parents,
 
It's been another great week in CTE.
 
In Multimedia, we are continuing a unit in marketing and advertising and will be filming and creating a commercial.  This week we finished learning about camera techniques, angles,and procedures and created storyboards.  We will start to film next week.
 
In Exploring Technology, we have been working on a unit in architecture creating floor plans in 2D and now making them into 3D models on a program called SketchUp.  If your child is behind, they can always work on it at home by going to app.sketchup.com and using their student login.  I will be grading all of the SketchUp houses on Monday.  Please make sure that your student has finished this weekend.
 
In 6th Grade STEM, we started a unit in manufacturing.  We worked on learning about shop and manufacturing safety and took a safety test.  Next week we will be creating pioneer yo-yo's as part of the manufacturing unit.  The students will be a part of an assembly line to layout, drill, sand, design, string, and package each yo-yo.
 
Thanks for having great kids!  Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.  I hope you will all have a great Thanksgiving holiday next week.
 
Thanks,
 
Mr. Black

CTE Update 12/6/19

Dear Parents,
 
It's been another great week in CTE.
 
In Multimedia, we are continuing a unit in marketing and advertising and will be filming and creating a commercial.  This week we have been learning about camera techniques and angles and will be creating storyboards and starting to film next week.
 
In Exploring Technology, we have been working on a unit in architecture creating floor plans in 2D and now making them into 3D models on a program called SketchUp.  If your child is behind, they can always work on it at home by going to app.sketchup.com and using their student login.
 
In 6th Grade STEM, we started a unit in manufacturing.  On Monday and Tuesday, we practiced using an assembly line by creating as many paper airplanes as possible.  The teams were given multiple attempts to try and improve the speed of their paper airplane manufacturing.  They had 2 minutes to create as many planes as possible.  The team that made the most built 21 airplanes.
 
Thanks for having great kids!  Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.  I hope you will all have a great Thanksgiving holiday next week.
 
Thanks,
 
Mr. Black

CTE Update 11/22/19

Dear Parents,
 
It's been another great week in CTE.
 
In Multimedia, we are continuing a unit in marketing and advertising and will be filming and creating a commercial.  This week we have been finishing creating an advertisement in GIMP and will insert the digital advertisement into their commercial.
 
In Exploring Technology, we have been working on a unit in architecture creating floor plans in 2D and now making them into 3D models on a program called SketchUp.  If your child is behind, they can always work on it at home by going to app.sketchup.com and using their student login.
 
In 6th Grade STEM, we are finishing a unit in computer programming by using the code.org website.  The students have been busily working on completing lessons that teach them how to code.  Lesson 1-20 on the Express Course will be due on Monday. If your child is behind, they can always finish at home by going to code.org and using their student login. This project is worth 200 points.
 
Thanks for having great kids!  Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.  I hope you will all have a great Thanksgiving holiday next week.
 
Thanks,
 
Mr. Black

CTE Update 11/15/19

Dear Parents,
 
It's been another great week in CTE.
 
In Multimedia, we just started a unit on marketing and advertising and will be filming and creating a commercial.
 
In Exploring Technology, we have been working on a unit in architecture creating floor plans in 2D and now making them into 3D models on a program called SketchUp.
 
In 6th Grade STEM, we are working on a unit in computer programming by using the code.org website.  The students are busily working on completing lessons that teach them how to code.
 
Thanks for having great kids!  Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.
 
Thanks,
 
Mr. Black
 
 

CTE Update 11/1/19

Dear Parents,
 
It's been another great week in CTE.
 
In Multimedia, we just finished a unit creating soundtracks for a movie clip.  Student projects should be in their Google Drive, so you can see their work.
 
In Exploring Tech, we are working on completing a floor plan on paper and then we will be making it three dimensional on a program called, "SketchUp."
 
In STEM we just started a unit on computer programming using code.org.  The students will be completing lessons to learn how to do basic computer programming.
 
Thanks for having great kids.  Feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.
 
Thanks,
 
Mr. Black
 
 
 

CTE Update 10/11/19

Things are going great in CTE this week!
 
In Multimedia, we just finished a short Digital Media Career Project and have now moved on to a project creating a soundtrack to go with a movie clip that will be edited in iMovie.
 
In Exploring Technology, we are finishing up our Wind Turbine Project and I will be grading the windmills for voltage and light output on Monday.
 
In 6th Grade STEM,  We just finished creating air powered rockets and will launch them on Monday.  We also started creating digital music using Garageband. 
 
The term is quickly coming to an end.  The deadline for any term 1 work is on Monday, October 21st. 
 
Thanks for having amazing kids!
 
Mr. Black

CTE Update 9/27/19

It's been another great week in my Career and Technical Education classes.
 
In Multimedia, we are finishing up a movie poster design project.  The students have been working hard to combine images that they have found online to create a unique movie poster.
 
In Exploring Technology, we have been working to create wind turbine blades that generate at least 3 volts in order to create enough electricity to light up multiple Christmas lights.
 
In 6th Grade STEM, we are working on a unit in rocketry.  We just finished talking about some history of rockets and will have a quiz on Monday from the notes that were taken yesterday.  Next week we will start building paper rockets that we will launch with a compressed air rocket launcher.
 
Thanks for having amazing kids!  Feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.
 
Mr. Black
 
 

CTE Update 9/20/19

It's been another great week in my CTE classes.  
 
In Multimedia, we just finished a unit on photo manipulation and will be starting a movie poster project next week.
 
In Exploring Tech, we are finishing up our shop safety tests and will continue working on our wind turbine unit next week.
 
In 6th Grade STEM, we just finished a unit creating floor plans using a website called, "floorplanner.com"
 
It is a pleasure working with your children and I look forward to another great week next week.
 
Thanks,
 
Mr. Black

CTE Update 9/13/19

It's been another great week in my CTE classes!
 
In Multimedia, we just finished a Stick Animation unit and just started a unit on photo manipulation using a free program called GIMP.  
 
In Exploring Technology, we just finished a short unit about Measurement and just started a unit on Wind Turbines.
 
In 6th grade STEM, we have been working on a unit about Architecture and have been creating floor plans.  The website we are using is: www.floorplanner.com
 
As always, you can view student progress on Aspire by going to:  https://reagan.usoe-dcs.org/Login.aspx
Feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns!
 
Thanks,
 
Mr. Black
 
 

CTE Update 8/30/19

It's been another great week in CTE.  This week in Multimedia, we just finished our unit on digital music using Garageband and started a new unit talking about 2D animation using stick figure animation.  
This week in Exploring Tech, we finished a unit on the Engineering Design Cycle where the students built 1 meter free standing paper towers out of 1 sheet of paper and 1 foot of tape.  We then had a short unit and debate on renewable and sustainable energy.
In STEM, we finished a unit on the Engineering Design Cycle competing in a paper airplane challenge.  Students made airplanes that had to land on an aircraft carrier (table).  We just started another unit on construction and Engineering building a Lego hotel. 
 
In STEM and Exploring Tech, there are a number of students that did not turn in the Engineering Design Worksheet for the Paper Airplane Challenge (STEM) or the Paper Tower Challenge (Expl Tech).  I have attached those worksheets and the Design Challenge Papers below.