PNG IS Back!

...AND IT'S GOING TO BE BETTER THAN EVER!

Elmwood Park Public Library is proud to announce a brand new session of Project Next Generation, the technology-for-kids class sponsored by the State Library of Illinois.  PNG has been around for years but now with upgraded equipment, a remodeled classroom and some fresh new ideas we're ready for the best PNG session of all!

The new session will start June 20th and run Mondays and Wednesdays from 11am-1pm for 8 weeks.  It is totally free to participate, but there are a limited number of seats so make sure you sign up online June 1st!

This time around we'll be doing new activities like recording and sampling music as well as new twists on old favorites like making movies and mashing up photos in Photoshop!

So make sure you don't miss out!  Follow this space or ask your librarian to stay up to date with the last about PNG @ EPPL!

Last Day Of Png

The PNG session has almost come to an end. Today being the penultimate class, we tied up some loose ends. We finished our comic books. This involved assembling them into paper form. We also finished up our egg drop power point presentations. To end the class, we took part in playing some technologic charades for some student bonding.

Thurs July 22 -- Egg Drop

Eggs falling from the sky? Why, its the PNG egg drop. The students got to construct devices to hold eggs safely as they were dropped from a ladder and then from the library roof. Out of 7 contestants, only 3 of the eggs survived the final drop from the rooftop.

Tues July 20th -- Comic Books!

Today looked like the comic section of the Sunday newspaper. Students took four photos of various objects and put a short story line to them. They editted the pictures using different techniques on the program photoshop. They added text bubbles and put them into a comic strip format for a realistic look.

Stop Motion Day 2 -- Thurs July 15

Stop Motion Day 1 -- Thurs July 13th

Today everyone was working on stop motion with action figures/dolls. Each made their own little animation with videos that ranged from from master chief being eaten from candy to an epic battle of epic proportions. The students enjoyed their class and were able to add sound and music to their video. When they are completed on Thursday they will be uploaded to youtube.

July 8th -- Photohunt Day 2

Pose as a superhero! Today was another day of photo hunting. This time, we worked as individuals to create a scene described by the instructions. The person with the most pictures won a prize. After that, we participated in an internet math search. The math search consisted of finding answers to questions to such as how many pages are in a the first harry potter book multiplied by how many countries are in north america.

July 6th -- Photo Scavenger Hunt

Define a word.

Every team member points to where they're from on a globe.

Every team member sits in the same chair.

Thurs July 1st -- Podcasts

After a round of Sporcle, we decided to record podcasts. The class broke up into two groups, with each recording a radio show that could include things such as news, weather, commercials, and movie reviews. Once the recording was finished, students had to edit their shows with music and sound effects.

Tues June 29th -- Animation Day 1

THIS IS SPARTA. Seems to be the students favorite catchphrase. In other news, we took on the task of creating pivot man movies. This is a great introduction activity to stop motion animation. Some students practiced stop motion animation with simple objects such as toothpicks.

Thurs June 24th -- Make Your Adventure

Would you like the prize behind door 1, door 2 or door 3? This type of choice was presented to the class by their fellow classmates. Today they created powerpoint presentations with mini stories. The difference with these stories is that the class choose the out come by picking options. Would you rather climb through a window or go through that door. Some stories we had involved traveling though Disneyland, battling with evil lollipops and venturing through a forest.

Tues June 22 -- Commericials

Today was the last day to finish up our videos. They turned out great! The students used video cameras and a program called U-Lead to add special effects to their film. They also uploaded their videos to the Youtube community.

Thurs June 17th -- Inventions Day 2

Today photoshop inventions came to life. The students used their creative skills to build their ideas. We used cardboard, Styrofoam, and a bunch of different colored paper. These products were used to start making cheesy infomercials like the snuggie and slap chop.

Tues June 15th -- Inventions

Inventions

Today the students brainstormed ideas to create inventions. Some ideas included candy machines and an everlasting fountain made from apples. The students are going to created their inventions using materials in 3D and create informercials.

Thurs June 10th -- Action Photography

We continued with Tuesday's photoshop theme. Today the students took photographs of themselves in action poses. They photoshoped themselves into various scenes of movies, videos games and sports events. To get the class started, we played popcorn. The students put on their thinking caps to create ordinary objects using their body. Their favorite was rollercoaster.

Andy Warhol Inspiration-- June 8th 2010

To kick off the summer PNG session, students became apprentices of Andy Warhol. Using photoshop, they created collages with their portraits in his style. At the beginning of class, students competed against each other in their own personalized jeopardy boards.

Thurs Nov 19 -- Wrap up

Today the students had a competition to see who could build the best house on LEGO Digital Designer. Once that was done they got to finish editing their videos and learned how to burn them onto blank CDs.

Tues Nov 17 -- Read Posters and Various Photoshop Projects

A variety of activities were going on in PNG today. The beginning of the class was devoted to finishing up the student's READ posters. Students got all ready to pose with their favorite book. After the creation of the posters, the students had a choice to work on a podcast or creating a trading card.

Thursday Nov 12 -- Filming

We started off class by having the students take pictures and make READ posters. Once the posters were done, the students brought in props and costumes to film their video. After filming they began to edit their video.