Mr. Mayoh

Today you are going to use some fairly complicated code to make different levels in Scratch. Here’s what you are aiming to do:

- Add objects for your character to collect (if you haven’t already done it)
- Program your game to move to the next background or level when you collect the object
- Make objects disappear when you move to the next background or level

Instructions

First, make sure you have drawn 6-10 backgrounds on the Stage. These will act as your different levels.

Next, add in a sprite to collect on background 1. You may, for example, like to collect a key. The character you are controlling will be called Sprite 1 (unless you have renamed it) so the object you’re collecting (let’s assume it’s a key) will be called sprite 2.

Once your object is added to your game, click on Sprite 1 (your character) and write the following code in the Scripts tab:

This code tells the game to go to the next level when the character collects the object.

After that, click on the Stage and go to the Scripts tab. Add in the following code:

This code tells the background to change when your character goes to the next level.

You should now be able to move from one background to the next when your character collects the object. However, you will still notice a big issue: when you move to Level 2 the object is still there! There’s a (slightly) complex bit of code which you can add to fix this problem:

First, click on the object you want to show/hide and go to the Scripts tab. Enter the following code:

This code tells the object only to appear when background 1 is shown, and to hide the rest of the time (for example, when on levels 2, 3, etc…)

Once this is complete, you can add other objects for the other levels and use the same code to make objects appear on other levels. You will just need to change the background number.

It’s a tricky one this week! Good luck!

I would like to create a simple, easy-to-use user guide for Scratch which will help next year’s Year 6 to know how to use Scratch.

Please write a set of instructions for any of the following:

- How to open Scratch
- How to edit backgrounds
- How to add/change sprites
- How to Make sprites walk
- How to make objects bigger or smaller
- Anything else you have learnt to do using Scratch.

Make sure you write in full sentences. I will share the best examples on the blog and with next year’s Year 6s.

Thanks,

Mr. Mayoh.

As you know we have been lucky enough to buy some iPad 2s for school recently. The Apple App Store has thousands and thousands of apps, some of which are amazing and some which are dreadful.

Unfortunately, deciding which apps are good and which aren’t is very difficult to do and very time-consuming.

So, please spend some time working in pairs to evaluate some different iPad apps.

To do this, choose any app, spend some time using it and learning what it can do. Then, answer the following questions using the comments button on this blog post. Remember to write in full sentences:

Once you have answered all of the questions, choose another app and start again. Thanks for your help, 6LC!

In SMILE Week this year all of the classes in KS1 and KS2 were taught how to use our brand new iPads by our fantastic team of Digital Leaders.

See below for a link to the blog posts with photos and information about each class’ iPad Launch:

Why not leave a comment to add your thoughts about our SMILE Week iPad Launch?

As you know we have been lucky enough to buy some iPad 2s for school recently. The Apple App Store has thousands and thousands of apps, some of which are amazing and some which are dreadful.

Unfortunately, deciding which apps are good and which aren’t is very difficult to do and very time-consuming.

So, please spend some time working in pairs to evaluate some different iPad apps.

To do this, choose any app, spend some time using it and learning what it can do. Then, answer the following questions using the comments button on this blog post. Remember to write in full sentences:

Once you have answered all of the questions, choose another app and start again. Thanks for your help, 6SF!

This week we are going to begin designing the final game we will create using Scratch.

L.O. To create a plan for a simple 2D Scratch game.

The type of game we are going to make is called a sidescrolling game. This sort of game is simply a game where when your character reaches the edge of the screen, the screen continues to move, revealing a new part of the background.

Probably the most famous sidescrolling games are the early Mario games.

Have a look at this example of a sidescrolling game to give you an idea of what we can create:

Instructions

You must work in pairs. Log onto your computer, open up the Mr. Mayoh blog and find this blog post which contains the rest of the instructions. Open Scratch, as you will need this later.

Planning

Decide what kind of sidescrolling game you would like to create: a car game, a coin-collecting game, a ‘rescue-the-princess’ sort of game…

You will have only one character that you can control. This character could be a person or animal, a car, a ghost, or anything else you can think of! Have a look at the different Sprites available in Scratch. If you would like a different character completely then you will have to be able to draw your own next week, so keep it simple!

Remember, your game needs to make sense. If the character you choose is a car, it would not make much sense for your background to be a jungle or a castle, but much more obvious for it to be a road. This careful planning will help to make your game enjoyable for others to play.

Storyboarding

Once you have come up with an idea for your game you will need to start storyboarding it. You may have used storyboards, story mountains or other similar planning tools when you have been planning stories.

Adult professionals often use storyboards to plan books, movies, animations and games and this is the way you will plan what your game will look like. The storyboard you will use looks like this:

Each box is one screen or background in your Scratch game.

You will need to use the boxes to draw what you would like your background to look like throughout your game. You can use coloured pencils, but NOT felt tips.

Use the space under the boxes to explain clearly the things in the scene: what does the ground look like? What What colours will you use? How will the scene follow on from the previous one? How could you show that the first scene is the beginning and the last scene is the end of the game?

This plan will be used for the next 4 weeks, so make sure it is of a high standard.

Extension activity

If you have finished creating your storyboard please leave a comment on this blog to tell us:

- What your game is about
- What type of character you have chosen
- Your character’s name
- The main colours you will use
- How you plan for your character to win or lose the game (think about points, lives, etc.)

This week we will learn to use a new tool may need to make our final game in Scratch – the Pen tool.

L.O. To program a Sprite move around a maze independently by using the pen tool

First, construct the ‘Using the Pen’ Scratch card on your desk. Remember to glue and cut carefully so they look neat and professional.

Then, open up Scratch and follow the instructions on the Scratch card to make your Sprite run in a diamond.

Once you have completed this, save the project in your Documents area.

Open the Scratch maze game you created last time.

See if you can use the rules from the new Scratch card to make your Sprite move around the maze automatically, without you controlling it. You may need to delete some of the code you wrote last time.

These links may be useful for finding out more about the climate in South Africa, 6SF.

South Africa

http://www.weathersa.co.za/web/Home.asp?f=1222 daily weather

http://www.southafrica.info/travel/advice/climate.htm season weather

http://www.southafrica-travel.net/climate/eklima2.htm season weather

http://www.places.co.za/html/temperaturegr.html annual rainfall and temperature

http://www.eldoradocountyweather.com/forecast/climate/capetownclimate.html annual rainfall and temperature

http://www.climatetemp.info/south-africa/johannesburg.html everything

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_South_Africa everything

http://goafrica.about.com/library/bl.weather.southafrica.htm amount of sun etc.

From now on, ‘Best Bits of the Blog’ will take over from the ‘Blog Highlights from Bowling Park’ series of posts on this blog. This will be a list of some of the best blog posts from the previous week at Bowling Park Primary School. We hope you enjoy reading, watching and interacting.

This week was Safer Internet Week at Bowling Park, in celebration of Safer Internet Day on Tuesday 7th February. Our brilliant Digital Leaders led assemblies on both sites, which can be found here.

Our highly professional School Council took part in their latest Maths Book Scrutiny. Watch a video of them discussing and feeding back on their findings.

As part of our Investors in Pupils application, many members of staff have been interviewed about their roles in school and why they are important. Have a look at lots of brilliant video interviews here.

4IA have been making igloos as part of their topic about the Arctic.

‘My Bradford, Your Bradford’ is the topic in Year 3 at the moment, which was the theme for their excellent assembly on Friday afternoon. Have a look at the superb photos on 3NL’s blog.

Year 2′s topic has recently seen them compete in a ‘Battle of the Bands’ competition with their junk orchestra. An excellent afternoon’s photos can be seen on 2SK’s blog. Or pop over to 2CR’s blog to see if you can work out the sounds these junk instruments might make…

Don’t forget to leave comments on these fantastic blog posts and come back next week for another instalment of Bowling Park’s Best Bits of the Blog.

Mr. Mayoh.

This term, Year 6 have been using programming tool Scratch to create animations and games. It’s a really great piece of software and we’ll continue to use it after half term.

If you would like to download Scratch to use at home it’s really easy to do. Best of all it’s totally FREE!

Follow these instructions to download Scratch at home. (If you do not have the internet at home please come and see me and I’ll find another way to help):

1. Open up Internet Explorer (or Google Chrome, Mozilla FireFox or whatever else you use to browse the internet)

2. Go to this website: http://scratch.mit.edu/

3. Click the orange ‘Download Scratch’ button next to the cat Sprite at the top of the page

4. If you are using a PC which runs Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7 (which will be almost all of you) then click the middle link called ScratchInstaller1.4.exe. If you are using an Apple Mac computer, you’ll need to click the top link called MacScratch1.4.dmg.

5. Save the file to your computer, perhaps in My Documents or on the Desktop

6. Double click on the icon that you have downloaded and click Run if you are asked to, even if it says it may be harmful to your computer. We know it’s safe so it’s OK to install

7. Follow all of the instructions and click Next every time you need to and Finish after the last instruction

8. Scratch is installed on your computer. You can now use it to create brilliant games, animations and other creations.

Don’t forget to leave a comment on this blog if you have managed to make something in Scratch!