Monday, November 17, 2008

Logos!

On the last day of png the students created their own logo for project next generation. They also created mentor profiles.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Choose your fate!!


Today at PNG the students created stories with multiple endings. You could lose your life in sudden twist of fate, or you can test your luck and survive to the end. In their powerpoint students used action buttons to make the story come alive.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Youtube and Movie Editing

The kids were excited to finally create their videos for YouTube. The videos captured on the camera were recorded without sound. The kids later added their own special sound effects and even music such as Shake it by Metro Station. Here are some of the videos created by the png students..





Monday, November 3, 2008

Around the World in 80 Minutes and Youtube

At the beginning of class we gave the kids $10,000. In fake money of course. They were then able to book their flight, hotel, and transportation to any international city. They went to Rome, Istanbul, and even Buenos Aires all in just 80 minutes! They made brochures of all the attractions that their city had to offer. After they finished visiting their cities and staying in fancy 5-star hotels. they made videos to upload on to Youtube. They need a little work on their camera skills, but they will soon be making movies for Hollywood!

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Halloween!




Halloween is just around the corner, so in the spirit of the holidays the students made Halloween masks! They took a picture of themselves which they uploaded to Photoshop to edit them into scarier versions.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Diorama!!



Today the kids created their dream homes. They got to choose from theme such as medieval, Indian, and modern. The PNG class is creating the world's future architects. Students printed out three rooms and connected them to create an actual home.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Decades Day


Today students chose a decade to research on. Kids learned about famous people, events and the atmosphere of the era. They found out how different life was during the different eras. Students gathered up pictures and information to create a paper on the era.


Monday, October 20, 2008

Creative Cities

Today in class we gave the kids some free time at the beginning of class, but we soon got to work. Each student had to come up with an idea for a city or world of their own. Their ideas ranged from Facebook Land to Skateboard Worldz and even a futuristic Electric City. Not only did they have to get an idea for a city, but they also had to come up with its history, population, and pictures of its most famous residents. We used Photoshop to edit pictures of our worlds and entered all the information in a brochure in Microsoft Word.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Website Design

Today we used Google's 'Sites' application to create websites. The students put their interests, hobbies, and favorite things on the site. They also have the option to update it like a blog.


After finishing this, we moved on to playing an online lemonade stand game. The kids controlled the price and ingredients for their lemonade in hopes that they could make the best possible profits. They then entered this data from each day into an Excel Spreadsheet.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Pivot Man

Today in PNG we were going to continue to work on our comics, but the students demanded that we try Pivot Man. This fun and interactive program allows you animate a stick figure by bending him at different points of his body. Along with the stick figure, there is also an elephant, a horse, and even a cowboy to choose from. After the kids became familiar with the program we had a contest to see who could make the best animated short.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

PNG! day 2

Comic strip project today! the guys started taking pictures and making a story line. the photos were edited in photoshop.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Fall Session 2008

The Project Next Generation Fall 2008 Session at Elmwood Park Public Library is almost here!

Sign up now for Monday/Wednesday classes from 6pm-8pm, starting Sept. 27th and running until Nov. 17th!

For more information send us an e-mail or visit the library's Youth Services Department.

Monday, August 4, 2008

Exploring the Universe

Today after the kids worked on typing they used Microsoft Excel to make a replica of the solar system. It was complete with the Sun and all 8 planets from Mercury to Neptune. It's OK Pluto, we're not a planet either.

It's hard to believe that we only have one more class left!

Thursday, July 31, 2008

7/31 Thursday- Payroll

today in class the students made Company payroll. they also spent sometime on typing

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

7/30 Create a Company

Today the students got to create there own company and make a payroll after they finished working on Typer Shark (they sure are getting good at typing). They then learned how to use Microsoft Excel in various new ways. Finding averages and sums of numbers were just a few skills they were able to pick up. And finally at the end of class we determined whose T-shirt design would be used for our summer session shirts! Thanks to Jill Stoller for having such a great design!! We can't believe that there are only 2 more classes left, but we hope that everyone is having fun.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

7/29 Tuesday- Learning about the decades

Today in class the students each had a decade and had to look up 10 facts about it. They also did a work sheet on the United States.

7/28 Monday-Learning the decades

Today in class the students each had a decade and had to look up 10 facts about it. They also did a work sheet on the United States.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

07/24-08 - Lemons and Photoshop

Today, the kids that showed up had a lazy easy day. They played the lemonade game and competed to see who made the most money. Afterwards, they edited pictures on photoshop.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

7/23 - Lemonade Day!


Hot weather and sunny skies call for some lemonade! While we couldn't actually create the real thing, we found an alternative. Kids set up their own virtual lemonade stand on a website. They controlled how many materials they bought and the price of lemonade. Those choices would ultimately determine failure or success of the business. Kids learned that there are several factors that affect a customer's willingness to buy a product. Almost all the kids finished in the green :]

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

7/22 - Birthdays and T-shirts!


Today's class spent their time researching they're birthdays. They found out who was born, who died and what events occured on their birthday. One student found out he and King Henry IV share the same birth date. After the birthday project, the kids designed t-shirts for PNG.


07/22 - Tee-shirts!

Yesterday the kids experienced what it was like to be a tee shirt designer! The kids got to choose from various fonts, pictures and colors to be on their shirt. After everyone submits a design the kids will vote on the winner.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

07/17 - Photobooks and T-shirts!


"I thought it was very interesting and creative! It will help me remember all the great times I had at png!" says student Joselyn. Similar attitudes were shared through out the room. Kids were taking pictures of each other and especially the mentors. After kids finished up the photobooks, custom tee shirts designs were created.


Wednesday, July 16, 2008

07/16 - Wednesday


Today was spent making memories. A great feature of photoshop is the ability to create picture books easily. Students took pictures of the library, of each other and even random people! Some of the students even drew caricatures to depict their greatest features.


Tuesday, July 15, 2008

07/15 - Youtube Videos

Today's kids had a great time making youtube videos once again. Ideas today were talent shows and spying on each other. Messing with microphones and ulead showed kids all that it takes to make a movie.


Monday, July 14, 2008

7/14 - Monday Movie Editing

The kids were dying to create Youtube videos since the first class. Finally, the day comes where they get that chance. The kids wasted no time in getting out there and creating videos. Some ideas were reading a poem, making a horror movie and a coin purse! As we speak, the videos are being uploaded to Youtube.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

7/10 - Thursday Egg Drop

The Tuesday/Thursday class took their turn at The Great Egg Drop today and did not fair nearly as well as the Monday/Wednesday class.

Once again, only one egg made it off the step ladder without breaking, but the same couldn't be said about the drop from the roof. Dreams and eggs were both shattered.










Wednesday, July 9, 2008

7/9 - Wednesday - The Great Egg Drop

No, we're not talking about Egg Drop soup, The Great Egg Drop is an activity the kids did today where they attempted to make a container that would protect an ordinary chicken egg from breaking when dropped from a various heights.

The students were given the following materials:
  • Plastic Straws
  • Paper Towels
  • Rubberbands
  • Paperclips
The class divided into 3 teams but only 1 team emerged victorious!

The winners were Jen and Valentina, who's egg, Junior Jerri, came away unscathed after not only a step-ladder drop but even a 2-story roof drop!

Congratulations!

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

7-8 - Tuesday - Web Design!



Html codes!! Today with the use of Google Page Creator, the kids got a bit of experience with basic coding. The kids made use of different applications on their page. Music, images and other gadgets were used.

Kyle
David
Sam
Alex

Monday, July 7, 2008

7/7 - Monday - Everybody's an Internet Superstar!

Well, after a raucous Fourth of July, the Monday/Wednesday class settle in for some nice relaxing web-design. Usually people don't really associate making websites with being relaxing, but using Google Page Creator made the whole thing a breeze!

Tiaira

Jennifer

Jessica

Megan

Valentina

Michelle

Thursday, July 3, 2008

7/3 - Thursday Comics

Today the Thursday class got to try their hand at making their own comics. Some of the kids got a little more inventive with their designs and decided to filter their images so that they actually look like comic drawings.




Check out the finished product!

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

7/2 - Wednesday Comics!

Today the PNG students finished up putting their Scavenger Hunt findings into a PowerPoint presentation. We'll take a look at those finished products next time and declare a winner!

The rest of the class was spent working on a Comic Strip project where the students use the skills they've learned so far in class to construct their own comic strip.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

7/1 - Tuesday Traveling and Photo Hunting

Today was scavenger hunt day. After finishing up traveling brochures, the kids photoshopped themselves into their destinations. Either they were seen with the Eiffel tower, or overshadowing a building in madrid.


Once given cameras it was a race to the finish. Kids competed with each other to win the hunt.
The winners will be announced next class.

Monday, June 30, 2008

6/30 - Monday Travel & Scavenger Hunt

The kids finished up their travel brochures today! Here is a sample of students inserting themselves into photographs from around the world!

Then, they spent the rest of the day having a photo-scavenger hunt.The PNG Mentors give the students a list of clues and it's up to the students to figure out the clues, take a picture of the item indicated by the clue and then bring it back to the PNG lab and assemble a PowerPoint Slideshow of all the answers!