Schoolwide Enrichment Model (SEM)

So finally after identifying the students and figuring out schedules my SEM group is up and running.  I'm working with 4 boys (3 six graders and 1 fourth grader).  We meet for 50 minutes every Monday.  Of the four boys, three have had some exposure to Scratch and my 4th grader is new to Scratch. 

We meet for the first time last week, went over expectations and then they started animating their name.  This was to get the 3 boys back into Scratch and opportunity to have the 4th grader explore. 

This week, they continued to finish their name animation and we went over the computer game project that they will begin working on in two weeks.  Each student will create a video game where the object is to touch something or avoid something or a combination.  St. Paul Public Schools put together a Technology Showcase in May at Arlington H.S.  My hope is that we if get done and have a nice product to showcase, I want to take these boys to the event in May.  They all seemed excited about the idea of creating their own video game.  For the new two weeks, they are to plan our their game answering the following questions:  1.  Where does the game take place?  2.  Who is the main player character?  What will the Sprite look like?  3.  What is the story in your game?  What problem is getting solved or goal is being met by the player?  4.  What does the player sprite want to touch?  What happens when the player touches this Sprite or color?  5.  What does the player sprite want to avoid touching?  What happens when the player touches this sprite or color?  6.  How does a player win?  What happens when the player wins?
Once these questions have been answered, students will sketch their main pages.

I also sent a letter home to the parents requesting permission for their student to sign up for a Scratch account.