Here are some of the pumpkins that my students carved in the computer lab this week.
Monthly Archives: October 2009
Happy Halloween!
Bubble Bobble – Takes Me Back
I think Bubble Bobble is the best video game ever.
And I’m not sure why it isn’t often mentioned in video game circles as a classic. I love playing this game. I can remember plunking in quarter after quarter into the arcade machine at the bowling alley near my house.
The one thing I liked about this game is that you could actually play for quite some time on one quarter. Other games didn’t give you much for your twenty-five cents.
As far as game play, it was pretty basic. Each level was a single screen much like Pac-man. The heroes of the game were Bubble Dragon Twins Bub and Bob. You could either play solo or work together with a partner to pass the levels.
The goal of each level was to capture the bad guys by trapping them in a bubble. They would then float around the screen until you either popped the bubble they were in or they escaped from it after a certain amount of time. Whenever a enemy escaped they became angry and moved across the screen very fast. It made the game more of a challenge.
You collected bonus points by running through the prizes that would appear on the screen, once again, much like Pac-man. But the best prize you could get in this game was rapid-fire bubbles. You could also bounce on the bubbles to get to certain spaces in the level that you couldn’t otherwise travel to.
It was an awesome game and I was super-excited when I found that it was available on Commodore 64. I immediately bought a copy and my brother and I worked hard trying to beat all 99 levels of the game.
I still have my Commodore 64 in a box in the basement. But I am very tempted to break it out, hook it back up, and play this game again. The best thing about it was that the game was just as good on the computer as it was in the arcade, that wasn’t so with a lot of the titles I had.
Did you ever play this game?
What’s your favourite classic video game?
Did you have a Commodore 64 too?
Please leave a comment and share. Thanks!
Teaching Tip Tuesdays – EQAO Testing
The EQAO is a standardized test that is taken by all students in Ontario near the end of Grade 3 and then again in Grade 6.
"We Don’t Buy Those"
I’m at the grocery store in the cookie aisle. I pick up some cookies and put them into my basket.Just then, a father pushes his daughter down the aisle. She’s sitting in the shopping cart and she sees me picking out my cookies. She happily exclaims, “Cookies!”
Her father says doesn’t even slow the cart down. He replies to her, “We don’t buy those.”
Be Satisfied Already
Love Story Meets Viva La Vida
I so love Twitter.
Ryan D. Scott posted this message up yesterday: “Jon Schmidt, Steven Sharp, Taylor Swift and Coldplay = holy fantastic. Thanks @jonschmidty http://bit.ly/BjfHR”
I follow Ryan because he is a good blogger and posts some interesting thoughts, observations, and links on his Twitter page. I followed this link in particular because I have recently become a fan of Taylor Swift. I’m glad that I checked out the video because Ryan was right, it is amazing.
So I retweeted the message so my Twitter followers could check out the video as well. I wrote @ryandscott That was cool! “on Schmidt, Steven Sharp, Taylor Swift & Coldplay = holy fantastic. Thanks” @jonschmidty http://bit.ly/BjfHR
But I know that Twitter isn’t everyone’s cup of tea so I decided to share the video with you here as well. I showed it to my class today and had the students write a response to it. I played it for them as they wrote and then I played them Taylor Swift’s video so they could see the connection.
Isn’t that an awesome video? It’s obvious that they are having a lot of fun with the song. I wanted to show my students that music can be fun and beautiful and that it can be presented in so many different ways. I hope they got the message and I hope you’ve enjoyed this too.
Teaching Tip Tuesdays – Level Everything
I found an efficient way to mark student work a few years ago and I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of it sooner. It is so simple that I almost forgot to share it with you here on Teaching Tip Tuesdays. So here’s my tip, “Level Everything.”
I will go over some of the boring basics here but please don’t let it scare you off. I promise you that if you begin to level student work in your class, you will save yourself a lot of time, your marks will make sense and you will be able to back them up to anyone who would try to scrutinize or criticize you when it comes to your report cards.
The Basics: If you work in the province of Ontario you should be familiar with the four levels of achievement. Teachers are expected to use the achievement charts, and exemplars when assessing student work so that there is consistency within the province as to what actually constitutes an A, B, C, or D mark.
The Problem: I find that many teachers either do not know how to use the Provincial Leveling System or just don’t want to use it. This causes problems for me each and every single year (read my rant about that here)
I always tell parents that if your child receives a grade at level 3 you can be confident that he or she will be prepared for work in the next term and/or grade.
Level 4 Achievement
A grade at level 4 means that a student has exceeded the provincial standard for the grade. Level 4 indicates that a student has demonstrated a thorough or high-degree of knowledge and understanding of the required learning and is able to communicate and apply this learning.
A grade at level 2 means that a student has demonstrated an understanding of some of the required knowledge and skills. The student’s performance is approaching the provincial standard.
A grade at level 1 means that a student has demonstrated a limited or partial understanding of the required knowledge and skills. The student’s performance falls considerably below the provincial standard.
Best Movie Ever – When Harry Met Sally
“When Harry Met Sally” is a classic movie in all aspects of the word. I truly think that it is the best movie ever made. Even now, twenty years later, it still holds up.
Marie: “Harry.”
Harry: “Please, Jess, Marie. Do me a favor, for your own good, put your name in your books right now before they get mixed up and you won’t know whose is whose. ‘Cause someday, believe it or not, you’ll go 15 rounds over who’s gonna get this coffee table. This stupid, wagon wheel, Roy Rogers, garage sale COFFEE TABLE.”
Jess: “I thought you liked it?”
Harry: “I was being nice!”
And I’ll leave you with a great speech that Harry gives when he finally figures out that he wants to be with Sally.
Red Hill Valley – The Trail is Still There
When I was in high school, our cross country team always went to Red Hill Valley to do some nice trail runs.
This isn’t a good first sign. It obviously hasn’t been looked at since my old high school days. And worse yet, it says that the trail is closed. But I’m here and I’m up for a run so I press on anyway.
So far, there doesn’t seem to be any reason why the trail is closed. It looks nice.
It’s still a nice looking trail. I’m feeling pretty good about this run so far. I wonder why there was a sign saying the trail was closed.
Maybe this is why. The bridge is out. I don’t mind though. I can still manage to get across it. Besides, I always like a challenge.
The trail looks good on this side of the bridge. I bet that was the only reason that the trail was closed. The expressway has been up and running for quite some time now. I wonder when they are going to complete the trail.
I remember this hill. Nice, the trail is still here the way I remember it.
I don’t like running on flat ground. I need some hills and steep ones. It makes the run feel all that much more satisfying.
This valley used to be far removed from the city. It was quiet back here. But, today, I have been acutely aware that the highway was hiding here all along. I could hear it, but at least I couldn’t see it before now.
This is the second trail marker that I have passed that hasn’t been finished either.
I can’t believe that I actually haven’t been here in years. This is a great run!
I wanted to show you a picture of the waterfalls but I couldn’t remember exactly how to get there. I’m pretty sure that I would have had to leave the main trail and hike it a bit. I wouldn’t have been able to run all the way there. I will probably go back in the springtime to share that with you.
It’s a little sad seeing this instead of the lush, green space that used to be here. But, what can you do? At least the raised the expressway so that there is still some room for nature here.
Fortunately, the expressway does fade away again. And you can really enjoy the beautiful trail.