8th Grade Homework Blog

Friday, October 31, 2025
You've done a lot of good work to be proud of these past weeks. Because we've done such awesome stuff, it's time to show off! We're going to build a webpage highlighting our strengths in the Web Portfolio activity. Today, we watch a short tutorial and figure out how to work with Google Sites! 

Today's typing lessons are #337-338!    
I CAN: use simple web development tools in order to build a simple and effective webpage.

Friday, October 30, 2025
Today's the final day with Pixel Artistry! Make sure to compile all three of your drawings into a single cohesive (if absurd) piece. Keep these skills in the back of your mind as you move forward!

Today's typing lessons are #335-336!    

I CAN: use online drawing tools to create simple sprites for use in other projects!

Friday, October 29, 2025
We're almost done with Pixel Artistry, and I'm super excited to see the results! Today and tomorrow are our final two days.

Today's typing lessons are #333-334!    

I CAN: use online drawing tools to create simple sprites for use in other projects!

Friday, October 28, 2025
We're continuing our way through Pixel Artistry, slowly but surely! The assignment will be running through Thursday, so be sure you're appropriately pacing yourself!

Today's typing lessons are #329-331! 

I CAN: use online drawing tools to create simple sprites for use in other projects!

Friday, October 27, 2025
Today begins an ALL-NEW assignment called Pixel Artistry! We're going to use the skills developed here in order to make sprites for our final assignment of the eighteen weeks, so make sure to synthesize these skills!

Today's typing lessons are #326-328! 

I CAN: use online drawing tools to create simple sprites for use in other projects!

Friday, October 24, 2025
We're continuing forward on Makeup Week. Let's keep finishing our old assignments!

Today's typing lesson are #323-325!       

IMPORTANT REMINDER: We have ONE school day to finish all unfinished assignments. Remember, any assignments left unfinished by TODAY will be counted as zeroes!

I CAN: complete all past assignments.

Thursday, October 23, 2025
We're continuing forward on Makeup Week. Let's keep finishing our old assignments!

Today's typing lesson are #320-322!    

IMPORTANT REMINDER: We have two school days to finish all unfinished assignments. Remember, any assignments left unfinished by 10/24 will be counted as zeroes!

I CAN: complete all past assignments.

Wednesday, October 22, 2025
We're continuing forward on Makeup Week. Let's keep finishing our old assignments!

Today's typing lesson are #317-319!     

IMPORTANT REMINDER: We have three school days to finish all unfinished assignments. Remember, any assignments left unfinished by 10/24 will be counted as zeroes!

I CAN: complete all past assignments.

Tuesday, October 21, 2025
Today is the final day to finish Turtle Power! I'm so excited to see your art!!

Today's typing lesson is #316!  

 I CAN: create art in a new programming language!

Monday, October 20, 2025
Two more days with Turtle Power! Let's finish strong!

Today's typing lesson are #313-314!      

I CAN: create art in a new programming language!

Friday, October 17, 2025
Turtle Power is almost done! Make sure to finish well! Remember, you can work on this from home if necessary!

Today's typing lesson are #311-312!   

I CAN: create art in a new programming language!

Thursday, October 16, 2025
Heroes in a halfshell! Let's go! We're continuing the week strong with Turtle Power!

Today's typing lesson is #309!      

I CAN: create art in a new programming language!

Wednesday, October 15, 2025
You've never seen a turtle move so fast! Turtle Power goes yet another day.

Today's typing lesson is #291!     

I CAN: create art in a new programming language!

Tuesday, October 14, 2025
Today, we finish up our Python tutorial and start to dive into our assignment with Turtle Power! Make that little guy move!

Today's typing lesson is #289!   

I CAN: create art in a new programming language!

Friday, October 10, 2025
Pythons and turtles! Are we going to the zoo? NO! We're learning how to code in an all new language: Python! Today, we watch (most of) the tutorial on how it works!

Today's typing lesson is #287!
I CAN: create art in a new programming language!

Thursday, October 9, 2025
It's the last day for Drawn To Animation! Exciting!!

DON'T FORGET: You have a new homework assignment, the Frames Exit Slip!

Today's typing lesson is #285!

I CAN: Learn how to create fluid animations that communicate a message effectively!

Wednesday, October 8, 2025
Keep going with Drawn To Animation! I'm proud of you!

Today's typing lessons are #283-284. 

I CAN: Learn how to create fluid animations that communicate a message effectively!

Tuesday, October 7, 2025
Make sure you're good with Drawn To Animation before the end of our time with the assignment!

More typing lessons with #279-280.  

I CAN: Learn how to create fluid animations that communicate a message effectively!

Monday, October 6, 2025
We're closing in on the end of Drawn To Animation. Have fun and take your time!

More typing lessons with #277-278.  

I CAN: Learn how to create fluid animations that communicate a message effectively!

Friday, October 3, 2025
Continuing on with Drawn To Animation. Let's go!

Today's typing lessons is #275-276!   

I CAN: Learn how to create fluid animations that communicate a message effectively!

Thursday, October 2, 2025
We're working through the Drawn To Animation assignment now, and I'm excited to see how you handle it!

Today's typing lessons is #273!   

I CAN: Learn how to create fluid animations that communicate a message effectively!

Wednesday, October 1, 2025
Today, we begin to watch the tutorial for Frames, a new project we're starting in relationship to our Digital Citizenship unit. Pay close attention and then read the Drawn To Animation assignment.

Today's typing lessons are #271-272.   

I CAN: Learn how to create fluid animations that communicate a message effectively!

Tuesday, September 30, 2025
For our final Digital Citizenhip lesson, we're concentrating on digital media and your brain! How do they interact? How do you protect yourself? Here's a video and handout!

Today's typing lessons are #269-270.  

I CAN: practice safe and responsible use of technology and become an informed, responsible digital citizen.

I CAN: find new and inventive ways of communicating ideas and thoughts to an audience. 

Monday, September 29, 2025

Today, we're talking about Hate Speech online. What is it? What can be done to counter it? Let's watch a short video and take a look at a handout.
Today's typing lessons are #267-268. 
I CAN: practice safe and responsible use of technology and become an informed, responsible digital citizen.

Friday, September 26, 2025
What happens when someone from the internet asks you to meet in real life? What should you do? We'll talk about it as we move along today. Here's a video and the gist of the handout for today.

The typing lessons today are #265-266!  

I CAN: practice safe and responsible use of technology and become an informed, responsible digital citizen.

Thursday, September 25, 2025
We're going to make a little turn here and use the next few days to talk about Digital Citizenship. We'll watch a short video and discuss it, in addition to having some discussion about how to use AI ethically. Here's today's handout and the AI research areas!

The typing lessons today are #263-264!  

I CAN: practice safe and responsible use of technology and become an informed, responsible digital citizen.

Wednesday, September 24, 2025
Today, we finish A Unified Game! Finish strong!

The typing lessons today are #261-262!     

I CAN: execute higher-level coding functions in order to assemble a playable game in a professional engine!

Tuesday, September 23, 2025
Today and tomorrow will finish up the A Unified Game project! Work hard! Be tenacious!
The typing lessons today are #257-259!     

I CAN: execute higher-level coding functions in order to assemble a playable game in a professional engine!

Friday, September 19, 2025

You've got a few more days for the A Unified Game project!
The typing lessons today are #254-256 !     

I CAN: execute higher-level coding functions in order to assemble a playable game in a professional engine!

Thursday, September 18, 2025
There are so many options for the A Unified Game project! Choose what excites you!

The typing lessons today are #251-253!     

I CAN: execute higher-level coding functions in order to assemble a playable game in a professional engine!

Wednesday, September 17, 2025
We're gonna be working on A Unified Game until next Tuesday, so let's get the party started!
The typing lessons today are #248-250!       

I CAN: execute higher-level coding functions in order to assemble a playable game in a professional engine!

Tuesday, September 16, 2025
You're off and running on A Unified Game!
Today's typing lesson is #244!  

I CAN: execute higher-level coding functions in order to assemble a playable game in a professional engine!

Monday, September 15, 2025
You're choosing from the menu format for how you'll handle the A Unified Game project today! Choose wisely!
Today's typing lesson is #242! 

I CAN: execute higher-level coding functions in order to assemble a playable game in a professional engine!

Friday, September 12, 2025
We're jumping into an all-new project that's loosely linked to Begin The Game--it's called A Unified Game! Today, to prepare, we watch a short Unity tutorial, and begin to prepare to blast off!
The typing lesson today is #240!

I CAN: execute higher-level coding functions in order to assemble a playable game in a professional engine!

Thursday, September 11, 2025
Today is the final in-class day for the Shopping Spree assignment! If students do not finish this today, they will have to come in during intervention, homeroom, before school, or after school. TRY NOT TO PUT THIS OFF! Assignments can snowball if they aren't taken care of! Don't let your life become a snowball.

Don't forget!: Today, we have a new homework assignment: the Google Sheets exit slip.

The typing lesson today is #238!

I CAN: use spreadsheets to create real budgets to use in your everyday life.

Wednesday, September 10, 2025
It's the week of the Shopping Spree! We'll have it until tomorrow. Go hard!

The typing lesson today is #236!

I CAN: use spreadsheets to create real budgets to use in your everyday life.

Tuesday, September 9, 2025
You're likely done with buying stuff by now--concentrate on making your Shopping Spree beautiful!

The typing lesson today is #234! 

I CAN: use spreadsheets to create real budgets to use in your everyday life.

Monday, September 8, 2025
We are knee-deep into the Shopping Spree assignment, and will be working on it for quite a while. Students are to have Google Spreadsheets open during the course of this week and start their shopping, formatting, and editing.

The typing lesson today is #233!

I CAN: use spreadsheets to create real budgets to use in your everyday life.

Friday, September 5, 2025
We have finished with tutorials, and will be working on the Shopping Spree assignment for most of next week! Students will be putting finishing touches on their assignments by 9/11, hopefully.

The typing lesson today is #230!
I CAN: use spreadsheets to create real budgets to use in your everyday life.

Thursday, September 4, 2025
On this, the final day of Shopping Spree tutorials, we handle the the final part of the tutorial, in which we discuss charts and graphs within the program. Once students have a professional understanding of this topic, they are well prepared to begin the actual assignment. This assignment will continue into next week!

The typing lesson today is #228!   

I CAN: use spreadsheets to create real budgets to use in your everyday life.

Wednesday, September 3, 2025
Today, we learn the ins and outs of Google Spreadsheets today as we move further into the program. We watched the the second third of the tutorial as we moved along. Today, we also formally introduced the Shopping Spree assignment in class, and gave the students a chance to understand how they're applying the skills they've been learning to the assignment itself.

The typing lesson today is #223!  
I CAN: use spreadsheets to create real budgets to use in your everyday life.

Tuesday, September 2, 2025
Now that Begin the Game is complete, we begin a new project, the Shopping Spree! Today, we watch the first third of the tutorial video that is going to teach us how to use Google Sheets, the program we'll be concentrating on with this assignment. We will be doing a bit of practice with the program.

Today's typing lesson is #220! 

I CAN: use spreadsheets to create real budgets to use in your everyday life.

Friday, August 29, 2025
Today, we finish the Begin the Game activity.

Today's typing lesson is #218!

I CAN: learn simple coding concepts and functions. 

Thursday, August 28, 2025
Still moving forward with Begin the Game! I am super excited to see the results of your hard work. We'll have until Friday to work on it!

Today's typing lesson is #213!

I CAN: learn simple coding concepts and functions.

Wednesday, August 27, 2025
We're continuing our work on Begin the Game! If you love coding, awesome! I'm down with that. You can try to do all five of the criteria listed on the assignment page for a fun challenge! If you hate coding, that's okay! Thank you for trying it out with me. Do, at minimum, two of the criteria on the assignment page, then move on to anything else on the What Do I Do board.

Today's typing lesson is #211!

I CAN: learn simple coding concepts and functions.

Tuesday, August 26, 2025
It's a quick project, but Friday will be the the final day to work on Begin the Game! It's short and simple, and is meant to be a quick primer on coding to see if you're interested in moving on with the activity at the end of the year. We'll talk more about that soon!

Today's typing lesson is #209!

I CAN: learn simple coding concepts and functions.

Monday, August 25, 2025
Today, we finish the basics of the Scratch activity. Now that we've learned some very rudimentary skills of programming, we'll see if we can refine them by doing an assignment that dives further into Scratch from Tuesday to Friday.

Let's start the typing lessons with #205!

I CAN: learn simple coding concepts and functions.

Friday, August 22, 2025

Let's start off with a fun mini-activity: coding! Today, we're doing an activity on MIT's Scratch program that teaches us how to make Pong (well, Breakout, really, but let's not split hairs) on our very own! We'll be focusing on this activity today and tomorrow.

Let's start the typing lessons with #203!

I CAN: learn simple coding concepts and functions.

Thursday, August 21, 2025

Welcome to Computers with Mr. Alexander! Today, we simply went over the guidelines and regulations of the classroom. I handed out the syllabus and we discussed various classroom rules.

I CAN: learn about my classroom.

I CAN: familiarize myself with a webpage.